Zenith Media Communications Timeline
Fraai overzicht van Zenith Media!
1000s – 1100s – 1200s – 1300s – 1400s – 1500s – 1600s – 1700s – 1800s – 1900s – 2000s
1000 Writing paper made out of tree bark in Mexico (by the Mayas)
1019 The novel Genji Monogatari was written in Japan
1020 Julius Work Calendar written in England in Latin on vellum
1023 Paper money printed in China
1035 Paper recycled in Japan
1041 First movable type printing system using clay characters – in China
1066 Westminster Abbey opened
1086 The Domesday Book produced for William the Conqueror
1091 Arabic decimal system forms the basis of modern mathematics
1093 Trade guilds in England
1095 First Crusade sparks renewal of trade between Europe and Asia
1114 Trade fairs held at Champagne in France
1116 Chinese make stitched books
1130 First travel book is written by a French priest
1140 In Egypt paper made from cloth stripped from mummies
1147 Crusader taken prisoner returns with papermaking art
1153 A chicken restaurant (world's oldest existing eatery) opens in Kai-Feng
1155 A map of western China is the oldest known printed map
1174 The earliest known English horse races were held
1189 First European university – in Bologna, Italy
1200 European monasteries communicate by letter
1200 Messenger service started by the University of Paris
1210 St. Francis founds the Franciscans
1241 Metal type is used to print books in Korea
1250 China manufactures guns
1271 In China – free daily newspapers and mass-circulation booklets
1282 Paper watermarks are produced in Italy
1285 Spectacles invented in Italy
1298 The “Travels of Marco Polo” are published
1300 Wooden type is found in central Asia
1300 England recruits Flemish weavers promising “good beer, good food, good bed and good bedfellow.”
1305 Private postal service created in Europe
1309 First use of paper in England
1314 Football is banned in England for being too violent
1423 Europeans start using the Chinese method of block printing
1440 Johannes Gutenberg develops first workable printing press
1450 A few newsletters begin circulating in Europe
1452 Metal plates are used in printing
1453 First European printed book – Gutenberg prints the Bible in Latin
1454 Gutenberg prints 300 bibles in Latin at Mainz, Germany
1464 King of France establishes the French postal service
1475 William Caxton produces the first book printed in English, The Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye
1477 First handbill advertisement in England
1490 Printing of books on paper becomes more common in Europe
1492 Christopher Columbus discovers America
1500 Arithmetic + and – symbols are first used in Europe
1500 By now about 35,000 books have been printed (and 10 million copies)
1500 The watch is invented
1516 Hans Holbein in Basel painted a wooden shingle as an advertisement for the schoolmaster Oswald Geishüsler
1545 Garamond designs his printing typeface
1550 Wallpaper arrives in Europe – brought from China
1560 The portable camera obscura (Italy) allows precise tracing of an image
1565 The pencil is invented
1566 One of the world's first newspapers, “Notizie Scritte”, in Venice
1604 Robert Cawdrey's A Table Alphabeticall, the first English dictionary
1608 The telescope is invented
1609 World's first regularly published newspaper appears in Germany
1622 First English newspaper Weekly News
1622 First newspaper advertisement in England
1627 France introduces registered mail
1631 A French newspaper carries classified ads
1639 The first American books – Stephen Day prints Freeman's Oath and An Almanack in Cambridge, Massachusetts
1640 Kirchner builds a magic lantern – the first 'cinema projector'
1650 Leipzig has a daily newspaper
1650 The slide rule is invented (Edmund Gunter and William Oughtred)
1653 Mail boxes in Paris for postage-paid letters
1659 The first cheque is drawn in London on February 6
1659 The penny post in London
1663 The world's first magazine, Erbauliche Monaths-Unterredungen (Edifying Monthly Discussions), is published in Germany
1689 America's first newspaper, Publick Occurrences Both Forreign and Domestick, is printed in Boston, Massachusetts
1696 100 paper mills exist in England
1702 Mar 11: first daily newspaper in UK The Daily Courant (till 1735)
1704 The first newspaper advertisements in America – the Boston News Letter carries paid announcements such as one seeking a buyer for an Oyster bay, Long Island estate
1706 First evening newspaper The Evening Post issued in London
1710 Three-colour printing invented by Le Blon in Germany
1714 The first typewriter is patented by Henry Mill in England
1719 Reaumur proposes using wood to make paper
1720 South Sea Bubble, stock-market crash on Exchange Alley in UK
1725 Stereotyping printing system in Scotland
1727 Science of photochemistry starts (Schulze)
1727 The Gentleman's Magazine, the first modern magazine, in England
1732 A circulating library is started by Ben Franklin in Philadelphia
1741 First magazine in America is published – American Magazine
1742 Benjamin Franklin's General Magazine prints the first American magazine ads
1755 Regular mail ship sails between England and the colonies
1755 Dictionary of the English Language by Dr Samuel Johnson
1768 First edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica published in Edinburgh by William Smellie
1770 The eraser is invented
1772 Morning Post published in UK – until 1937
1774 Paper whitener invented in Sweden
1776 United States Declaration of Independence signed
1780 Electricity is discovered by Benjamin Franklin in the US
1780 Steel pen points start to replace quill feathers
1784 Vegetation used to print French book (instead of cloth)
1784 First edition of The Times (called The Daily Universal Register for 3 years)
1784 The Pennsylvania Packet & Daily Advertiser, America's first successful daily newspaper
1785 Stagecoaches carry the mail between towns in US
1790 The hydraulic press is invented in England
1791 Dec 4: The Observer – oldest Sunday newspaper in UK
1792 Mechanical semaphore signaler built in France
1792 Postal money orders are used in Britain
1792 Postal Act provides regular mail throughout the US
1794 The forerunner of cinemas, Panorama, opens in the US
1794 A signaling system connects Paris and Lille
1798 Lithography is invented by Senefelder in Germany
1799 A paper-making machine invented in France by Robert
1800 A letter takes 20 days to cross the US, coast to coast
1801 Semaphore system is built along the coast of France
1801 A loom using punch cards invented by Joseph-Marie Jacquard
1806 Carbon paper invented
1807 Camera lucida improves image tracing
1810 An electro-chemical telegraph is constructed in Germany
1813 Louis Appert – the first to can food
1814 A steam-powered rotary press prints The Times in England
1816 Newspapers delivered for less than 2 cents postage in the US
1816 Niépce captures image with 8-hour exposure
1818 Berzelius isolates selenium; its electric conductivity reacts to light
1820 The first manufactured calculating machine, the Arithmometer
1821 Sound is reproduced in England by Wheatstone
1823 Babbage builds a section of a calculating machine
1823 In England, Ronalds builds a telegraph in his garden; no one is interested
1827 Niépce makes the first true photograph
1827 The first microphone constructed by Wheatstone in England
1829 Daguerre joins Niépce to pursue photographic inventions
1829 First US patent for a typewriter given to Burke
1830 877,972 ads appeared in British newspapers
1832 Start of motion pictures – the Phenakistoscope and Stroboscope
1833 New York newspapers cost a penny – start of a mass market
1833 An electric telegraph runs nearly two miles in Germany
1834 Babbage conceives the Analytical Engine, forerunner of the computer
1835 Bennett publishes the first of his penny press editions
1837 William Procter and James Gamble found P&G in Cincinnati
1837 An electric telegraph patented by Wheatstone and Cooke in England
1837 An electric telegraph exhibited by Morse in the US
1837 The world's largest newspaper, the Sun, circulates 30,000 copies in the US
1837 Pitman publishes a book on shorthand in England
1838 3-D pictures produced by Wheatstone's Stereoscope in England
1838 Daguerre-Niépce method begins photography craze
1839 Fox Talbot in England produces photographs
1839 Electrotyping (duplicating of printing plates) invented by Jacobi in Russia
1839 Electricity runs a printing press
1839 Photographs printed from negatives by Fox Talbot in England
1840 First postage stamps are sold in Britain
1841 Volney Palmer, the first advertising agent “media broker”- charges newspapers a commission for bringing them ads
1841 The first type-composing machine is used in London
1841 Population of Britain is 18.5 million, USA 17 million
1842 Illustrated London News appears
1842 The Christmas card is 'invented'
1843 The photographic enlarger is invented in the US
1843 Ada, Lady Lovelace publishes her Notes explaining a computer
1843 First public telegraph line, from Paddington to Slough in UK
1844 Samuel F.B. Morse's telegraph connects Washington and Baltimore
1845 Cable is laid across the English Channel
1845 The typewriter ribbon is invented
1845 Tarmac laid for first time in Nottingham, UK
1846 Lenses are manufactured by Zeiss in Germany
1846 Double cylinder rotary press produces 8,000 sheets an hour
1847 Jeans are invented by Levi Strauss
1847 Rotary printing press prints newspapers in Philadelphia
1847 First use of telegraph as business tool
1847 A “copying telegraph” constructed by Bakewell in England
1848 Forerunner of the Associated Press is founded in New York
1849 The photographic slide
1850 The paper bag arrives
1850 The number of magazines published in the US reaches 685
1851 Wet-plate photography process invented by Archer
1851 A flash photograph taken at 1/100,000 second exposure by Talbot
1851 Newspaper postage cut in half in US; free distribution within county
1852 Postage stamps are widely used
1853 Envelopes made by paper folding machine
1854 Telegraph used in Crimean War
1854 An experimental telephone built by Bourseul in France
1854 Carte-de-visite process simplifies photography
1854 Curved stereotype plate obviates column rules; wide ads soon
1855 The printing telegraph is invented in the US
1855 Pre-payment of letters is made compulsory in US
1855 Registered letters enter service in US
1856 Photolithography started by Poitevan
1856 Blotting paper replaces sand boxes
1856 Machine folds newspapers and paper for books
1857 A machine to set type is demonstrated
1857 In France, Scott's phonautograph is a forerunner of Edison's phonograph
1858 Mail boxes appear on American streets
1858 First effort at transatlantic telegraph service fails
1858 Eraser is fitted to the end of a pencil
1858 An aerial photograph is taken
1859 Camera gets a wide-angled lens
1859 P&G employs 80 people and attracts sales of $1m
1860 In US, Sholes builds a functional typewriter
1861 The telegraph brings the Pony Express to an abrupt end
1861 First colour photography
1861 Stereoscope invented by Oliver Wendell Holmes
1862 A drawing is sent over a wire by Caselli in Italy
1862 The first paper money in the USA
1863 Large US cities get free home delivery of mail
1864 The railroad train hooks on a mail car
1864 Wireless electromagnetic waves are transmitted 14 miles in Virginia
1865 Atlantic cable ties Europe and US for instant communication
1868 Writing machine is called a “Type-Writer”; so is the typist
1869 N.W. Ayer, the first ad agency in the US
1869 Postcards are invented in Austria
1869 Transcontinental railway completed in America
1869 Ballbearings, celluloid, margarine, washing machine all invented
1870 Stock ticker comes to Wall Street
1870 Oct 1: First British postcard – halfpenny post
1871 Charles Bates establishes first ad agency offering “creative services” as well as media placement
1871 First newspaper printing of pictures (using halftone)
1872 Simultaneous transmission from both ends of a telegraph wire
1873 US postcard debuts costing one penny
1873 Illustrated daily newspaper appears in New York
1873 Maxwell publishes theory of radio waves
1873 Remington starts manufacturing Sholes' typewriters
1873 Typewriters get the QWERTY pseudo-scientific keyboard
1873 Lord Kelvin calculates the tides with a machine
1873 In Ireland, May uses selenium to send a signal through the Atlantic cable
1874 Universal Postal Union formed in the US
1875 Francis Ayer establishes the fixed ad commission system (15%)
1875 The mimeograph is invented by Edison
1875 Selenium mosaic used to transmit a picture by Carey in the US
1876 Alexander Graham Bell invents the telephone
1877 In France, Charles Cros invents the phonograph (record player)
1877 The first commercial telephone is introduced and the first telephone line is installed between Charlie William's electrical shop on Court Street, Boston and his home about three miles away.
1877 Edison also invents the phonograph
1877 James Walter Thompson buys Carlton & Smith, paying $500 for the business and $800 for the furniture. As JWT he moves into general magazine advertising.
1878 Muybridge photographs a horse in motion
1878 The cathode ray tube is invented by Crookes in England
1878 The microphone is invented in the US and Germany
1878 Telephone directories are issued
1878 Full page newspaper ads
1878 The Praxinoscope, an optical toy, in France (a step toward movies)
1878 Dry-plate photography
1879 Benday process aids newspaper production of maps and drawings
1880 First photos in newspapers, using halftones
1880 Edison invents the electric light
1880 France's Leblanc theorises transmitting a picture in segments
1880 The first parcel post
1882 The first Wirephotos, in England
1882 P&G's first national US ad – for Ivory soap in The Independent newspaper
1883 Edison stumbles onto the “Edison effect”; basis of broadcast tubes
1884 An early version of television – the Nipkow scanning disc in Germany
1884 Long distance telephone calls can now be made
1884 The electric tabulator is introduced
1884 Waterman's fountain pen blots out earlier versions
1885 Dictating machines are bought for offices
1885 Coated photo printing paper made by Eastman
1885 Trains deliver newspapers daily
1886 Graphophone's wax cylinder and sapphire stylus improve sound
1886 Mergenthaler constructs a linotype machine for setting type
1886 Coca-Cola syrup is invented by Dr John Styth Pemberton and sold in chemists, mixed with carbonated water
1887 Celluloid film; it will replace glass plate photography
1887 Montgomery Ward mails out a 540-page catalog
1887 Berliner gets music from a flat disc stamped out by machine
1887 The Newspaper Publishers Association is formed in US
1887 Comptometer multi-function adding machine is manufactured
1888 “Kodak” box camera makes picture taking simple for all
1888 Heinrich Hertz proves the existence of radio waves
1888 The coin-operated public telephone
1888 Edison's phonograph is manufactured for sale to the public
1889 Herman Hollerith counts the population with punch cards
1889 The automatic telephone exchange invented by Strowger in the US
1889 Mrs. WA Cockran produces a dishwashing machine in US.
1889 William Dickson builds the first motion-picture camera, the Kinetograph
1890 4,400 magazines reach 18 million circulation in the US
1890 AB Dick markets the mimeograph
1890 Typewriters are in common use in offices
1890 Kinematograph camera/projector built by Friese-Greene in England
1890 Branly's coherer conducts radio waves in France
1891 Large press prints and folds 90,000 4-page papers an hour
1891 Telephoto lens is attached to the camera
1891 First telephone link between London & Paris
1892 Edison and Dickson invent the peep-show Kinetoscope
1892 4-colour rotary press
1892 Portable typewriters
1892 Automatic telephone switchboard comes into service
1893 Coca-Cola is registered as a trademark by Atlanta pharmacist Asa Briggs Chandler
1893 Dickson builds a motion picture studio in New Jersey
1893 Addressograph joins office machinery
1894 Wireless telegraphy invented by Marconi
1894 Box making machines give impetus to packaging industry
1894 Berliner's flat phonograph disc competes with the cylinder
1894 The first Kinetoscope parlor opens at 1155 Broadway in New York. Spectators can watch films for 25 cents
1895 Marconi invents radio – sends message over a mile
1895 The first movies – in France, Auguste and Louis Lumière invent the Cinématograph, a combination camera and projector. The image of an oncoming train causes a stampede at the first screening.
1895 Phototypesetting invented by Friese-Greene in England
1895 Kellogg's Corn Flakes in the US
1896 Henry Ford builds the Quadricycle – the first car
1896 Underwood model permits typists to see what they are typing
1896 The monotype sets type by machine in single characters
1896 Electric power is used to run a paper mill
1896 The motion picture projector is manufactured in Britain
1896 X-ray photography invented
1896 First US cinema opens
1897 In England, postmen deliver mail to every home
1897 K.F. Braun invents the cathode-ray tube in Germany
1897 General Electric creates a publicity department
1898 Photographs taken by artificial light
1898 New York State passes a law against misleading advertising
1899 The loudspeaker is invented
1899 Sound is recorded magnetically by Poulsen of Denmark
1899 J. Walter Thompson – the first ad agency in the UK
1899 The Association of American Advertisers in the US
1899 American Marconi Company incorporated; forerunner of RCA
1900 Kodak Brownie makes photography cheaper and simpler
1900 Advertiser Protection Society in UK, renamed Incorporated Society of British Advertisers in 1920
1901 Sale of phonograph disc made of hard resinous shellac
1901 The first electric typewriter, the Blickensderfer
1901 First UK cinema opens
1901 King Camp Gillette introduces the double-edged safety razor.
1901 Marconi sends a radio signal across the Atlantic – Morse code from Cornwall to Newfoundland
1902 Germany's Zeiss invents the four-element Tessar camera lens
1902 Etched zinc engravings start to replace hand-cut wood blocks
1902 US Navy installs radio telephones aboard ships
1902 Photoelectric scanning can send and receive a picture
1902 Trans-Pacific telephone cable connects Canada and Australia
1903 London Daily Mirror illustrates only with photographs
1904 The telephone answering machine is invented
1904 Offset lithography becomes a commercial reality
1904 A photograph is transmitted by wire in Germany
1904 The Great Train Robbery creates demand for fiction movies
1904 The comic book
1904 The double-sided phonograph disc
1905 In Pittsburgh the first nickelodeon opens
1905 Photo, printing, and post combine in the year's craze, picture postcards
1905 In France, Pathe colours black and white films by machine
1905 In New Zealand, the postage meter is introduced
1905 The Yellow Pages
1905 The juke box; 24 choices
1906 In Britain, new process colours books cheaply
1906 The first radio broadcast, classical music, in the US
1906 Lee de Forest invents the three-element vacuum tube
1906 Dunwoody and Pickard build a crystal-and-cat's-whisker radio
1906 An animated cartoon film is produced
1906 Reginald Fessenden invents wireless telephony, a means for radio waves to carry signals a significant distance – he plays the violin to startled ship wireless operators
1906 An experimental sound-on-film motion picture
1906 First UK film newsreel (changed each day at the Empire, Leicester Square)
1906 Strowger invents automatic dial telephone switching
1907 Bell and Howell develop a film projection system
1907 Lumiere brothers invent still colour photography process
1907 First UK radio broadcast – concert for the Fleet at Chatham
1907 Lee de Forest begins regular radio music broadcasts
1907 In Russia, Rosing develops the theory of television
1907 The electric washing machine – The Thor, Hurley Machine Corp, USA
1908 True colour motion pictures introduced by Smith in the US
1908 Henry Ford introduces his Model T automobile.
1909 Radio distress signal saves 1,700 lives after ships collide
1909 First broadcast talk; the subject – women's suffrage
1910 Sweden's Elkstrom invents “flying spot” camera light beam
1910 First colour photograph, France
1911 Efforts are made to bring sound to motion pictures
1911 Rotogravure aids magazine production of photos
1912 The sinking of the Titanic, is relayed overnight to New York via radio
1912 US passes law to control radio stations
1912 First car assembly line from Ford
1912 First neon sign, for a Paris barber, then for Cinzano
1912 Motorised movie cameras replace hand cranks
1912 Feedback and heterodyne systems usher in modern radio
1912 First mail to be carried by airplane
1913 The portable phonograph is manufactured
1913 The first assembly line produces the Model T Ford
1913 Type composing machines roll out of the factory
1914 Radio message is sent to an airplane
1914 In Germany, the 35mm still camera, a Leica
1914 In the US, Goddard begins rocket experiments
1914 American Audit Bureau of Circulations formed
1914 The first transcontinental telephone call
1915 Wireless radio service connects US and Japan
1915 Radio-telephone carries speech across the Atlantic
1915 Birth of a Nation sets new movie standards
1915 The electric loudspeaker
1916 David Sarnoff envisions radio as “a household utility”
1916 Cameras get optical rangefinders
1916 Radios get tuners
1917 Photocomposition begins
1917 Frank Conrad builds a radio station, later KDKA
1917 Condenser microphone aids broadcasting, recording
1917 Association of British Advertising Agencies in UK, renamed Institute of Practitioners in Advertising in 1927
1918 First regular airmail service: Washington, DC to New York
1919 People can now dial telephone numbers themselves
1919 Shortwave radio is invented
1920 The first broadcasting stations are opened
1920 Sound recording is done electrically
1920 Advertiser Protection Society in UK, renamed Incorporated Society of British Advertisers
1920 KDKA in Pittsburgh broadcasts first scheduled radio programs
1921 The word “robot” enters the language
1921 Western Union begins a wirephoto service
1921 Soap powder for washing machines, Chipso from P&G in US
1921 First hamburger chain, White Castle, US
1922 British Broadcasting Company formed – daily radio begins in UK
1922 Technicolour introduces two-colour process for movies
1922 First film with optical sound track produced by Germany's UFA
1922 First radio advertisement in USA, $100 for ten minutes
1922 First 3-D movie, requires spectacles with one red and one green lens
1922 Singers desert phonograph horn mouths for acoustic studios
1922 BBC starts radio broadcasts in UK
1922 564 radio stations in the US
1922 Nanook of the North, the first documentary
1922 First portable radio in US
1923 Walt and Roy Disney found a film studio in Hollywood
1923 Zworykin's electronic iconoscope camera, and kinescope display, tube
1923 People on a ship can talk to people on another
1923 Ribbon microphone becomes the studio standard
1923 Women's Advertising Club of London founded
1923 A picture, broken into dots, is sent by wire
1923 A.C. Nielsen Company is founded and provides measurements of radio audiences for advertisers in the US
1923 16 mm nonflammable film makes its debut
1923 John Orr Young and Raymond Rubicam form Young & Rubicam in US
1923 Kodak introduces home movie equipment
1923 First publication of Radio Times in UK
1923 Neon advertising signs
1924 Marlboro is launched, targeted at women with the line “Mild as May”. Pink filters hide lipstick marks.
1924 Low tech achievement: notebooks get spiral bindings
1924 The Eveready Hour is the first sponsored radio program
1924 At KDKA, Conrad sets up a short-wave radio transmitter
1924 Pictures are transmitted over telephone lines
1924 Birth of IBM
1924 Two and a half million radio sets in the US
1925 The Leica 35 mm camera sets a new standard
1925 Commercial picture facsimile radio service across the US
1925 The electric phonograph is built
1925 Advertising Association founded in UK
1925 Radio's The Smith Family introduces the soap opera format in the US
1925 A moving image, the blades of a model windmill, is telecast
1925 From France, a wide-screen film
1926 The first radio jingle: Wheaties
1926 Commercial picture facsimile radio service across the Atlantic
1926 The birth of TV – John Logie Baird demonstrates an electro-mechanical TV system
1926 Some radios get automatic volume control, a mixed blessing
1926 The first 16mm movie is shot in the US
1926 Goddard launches liquid-fuel rocket
1926 Permanent radio network, NBC, is formed
1926 Bell Telephone Labs transmit film by television
1927 NBC begins two radio networks; CBS formed
1927 Farnsworth assembles a complete electronic TV system
1927 Jolson's “The Jazz Singer” is the first popular “talkie”
1927 Movietone offers newsreels in sound
1927 US Radio Act declares public ownership of the airwaves
1927 Association of British Advertising Agencies in UK, renamed Institute of Practitioners in Advertising
1927 Technicolour
1927 Solus Club founded in UK
1927 Negative feedback makes hi-fi possible
1928 NAB bans radio ads during 'family hour': 7-11pm
1928 Baird demonstrates colour TV on electro-mechanical system
1928 Lintas (Lever International Advertising Services) is formed as a house agency for Unilever in England, Holland and Germany
1928 The first Mickey Mouse cartoon
1928 The teletype machine makes its debut
1928 TV sets are put in three UK homes; programming begins
1928 Baird invents a video disc to record television
1928 John Baird beams a TV image from England to the US
1928 In Schenectady, NY, the first scheduled television broadcasts
1928 GE introduces a television set with a 3″ × 4″ screen. The first television is sold — a Daven for $75
1928 Steamboat Willie introduces Mickey Mouse
1928 A motion picture is shown in colour
1928 First all talking movie
1928 Times Square gets moving headlines in electric lights
1928 IBM adopts the 80-column punched card
1928 Battery eliminators allow radios to run on normal current
1929 Experiments begin on colour television
1929 Telegraph ticker sends 500 characters per minute
1929 BBC starts experimental TV broadcasts
1929 Ship passengers can phone relatives ashore
1929 William Benton and Chester Bowles open Benton & Bowles
1929 First packaged frozen food, Fresh Ice Fillets, Canada
1929 Brokers watch stock prices on an automated electric board
1929 The car radio
1929 In Germany, magnetic sound recording on plastic tape
1929 The first television studio is built in London
1929 American Tobacco Co. spends $12.3 million to advertise Lucky Strikes – the most any company has ever spent on single-product advertising.
1929 Bell Lab transmits stills in colour by mechanical scanning
1929 Zworykin's cathode-ray tube “kinescope” receiver, 60 scan lines
1930 Experimental 30-line TV transmissions in the UK
1930 Penny press becomes first truly mass medium in the US
1930 Photo flashbulbs replace dangerous flash powder
1930 “Golden Age” of radio begins in US
1930 First use of TV for advertising, closed circuit, in UK and US
1930 Lowell Thomas begins first regular network newscast
1930 TVs based on British mechanical system roll off factory line
1930 Bush's differential analyzer introduces the computer
1930 AT&T tries the picture telephone
1931 Commercial teletype service
1931 Electronic TV broadcasts in Los Angeles and Moscow
1931 Exposure meters go on sale to photographers
1931 NBC experimentally doubles TV transmission to 120-line screen
1932 Disney adopts a three-colour Technicolour process for cartoons
1932 First colour photo in a British newspaper, The Times, 17 March
1932 Kodak introduces 8 mm film for home movies
1932 George W. Gallup joins Y&R as director of research
1932 The “Times” of London uses its new Times Roman typeface
1932 Stereophonic sound in a motion picture, “Napoleon”
1932 Zoom lens is invented (but a practical model is 21 years off)
1932 NBC and CBS allow prices to be mentioned in radio commercials
1933 The first Mars bar
1933 Edwin Armstrong invents FM (but its real future is 20 years off)
1933 Multiple-flash sports photography
1933 Singing telegrams
1933 First household detergrent, Dreft, in US
1933 Phonograph records go stereo
1934 Drive-in movie theater opens in New Jersey
1934 Associated Press starts wirephoto service
1934 In Germany, a mobile television truck roams the streets
1934 In Scotland, teletypesetting sets type by phone line
1934 Three-colour Technicolour used in live action film
1934 Half of the homes in the US have radios
1934 Mutual Radio Network begins operations
1935 German single lens reflex roll film camera synchronized for flash bulbs
1935 Audio tape recorders go on sale in Germany
1935 IBM's electric typewriter comes off the assembly line
1935 First Kit Kat in UK
1935 The Penguin paperback book sells for the price of 10 cigarettes
1935 Leo Burnett leaves Erwin, Wasey to start his own agency in Chicago
1935 All-electronic VHF television comes out of the lab
1935 Eastman-Kodak develops Kodachrome colour film
1936 Berlin Olympics are televised closed circuit
1936 BBC starts first regular 'high definition' TV service in the world, three hours each day
1936 Bell Labs invents a voice recognition machine
1936 Kodachrome film sharpens colour photography
1936 First National Readership Survey in UK
1936 Co-axial cable connects New York to Philadelphia
1936 Alan Turing describes a general purpose computer
1936 Maltesers launched in UK
1937 Stibitz of Bell Labs invents the electrical digital calculator
1937 Pulse Code Modulation points the way to digital transmission
1937 NBC sends mobile TV truck onto New York streets
1937 The Hindenburg crash, is broadcast coast to coast in the US
1937 The photocopier is invented by Carlson
1937Snow White is the first feature-length cartoon
1938 Baird demonstrates live TV in colour
1938 Broadcasts can be taped and edited
1938 Two brothers named Biro invent the ballpoint pen in Argentina
1938 CBS “World News Roundup” ushers in modern newscasting
1938 Radio surpasses magazines as a source of ad revenue in US
1938 DuMont markets electronic television receiver for the home
1938 International Advertising Association formed
1938 Radio drama, “War of the Worlds”, causes national panic
1938 In the UK, ISBA/IPA first survey of radio listening
1939 Mechanical scanning system abandoned
1939 The world's first electronic digital computer, the Atanasoff-Berry Computer is created with a $7000 grant at Iowa State University
1939 New York World's Fair shows television to public
1939 Regular TV broadcasts begin in the US – P&G is on air within five minutes with an ad for Ivory soap
1939 Air mail service across the Atlantic
1939 Hewlett-Packard Company is born
1939 Many TV firsts: sports coverage, variety show, feature film, etc
1940 Fantasia introduces stereo sound to American public
1940 CBS demonstrates color television in New York.
1940 Ted Bates leaves Benton & Bowles to start his own agency in US
1940-45 UK Government adspend during WWII was £9.5m
1940 WNBT, the first regularly operating television station, debuts in New York with an estimated 10,000 viewers.
1941 Stereo is installed in a Moscow movie theater
1941 FCC sets US TV standards
1941 CBS and NBC start commercial transmission; WW II intervenes
1941 Goldmark at CBS experiments with electronic colour TV
1941 7,500 TV sets in New York City, NBC's WNBT starts telecasting July 1
1941 The first colour TV commercial, for Bulova watches, in US
1941 Microwave transmission
1941 Zuse's Z3 is the first computer controlled by software
1942 Kodacolour process produces the colour print
1944 Harvard's Mark I, first digital computer, put in service
1944 IBM offers a typewriter with proportional spacing
1944 First high-fidelity recordings, from Decca in UK
1944 NBC presents first US network newscast, a curiosity
1945 Clarke envisions geo-synchronous communication satellites
1946 Faraway Hill, the first network soap opera, debuts on the DuMont network
1946 BBC licence fee for TV and radio costs £2 per annum
1946 Jukeboxes go into mass production
1946 The first electronic computer – ENIAC – from the Univ. of Pennsylvania makes 5,000 additions in one second, contains 17,468 valves, is 8 feet high and 80 feet long and weighs 30 tons
1946 Automobile radio telephones connect to telephone network
1946 French engineers build a phototypesetting machine
1946 UK cinema admissions are 635 million to 4,703 cinemas
1947 Meet the Press debuts on NBC – becomes TV's longest-running program
1947 Hungarian engineer in England invents holography
1947 The transistor is invented, will replace vacuum tubes
1947 The zoom lens covers baseball's world series for TV
1947 Holography is invented
1947 First recorded TV transmission in US
1948 The LP record arrives on a vinyl disk
1948 Land's Polaroid camera prints pictures in a minute
1948 Airplane re-broadcasts TV signal across nine states
1948 News of the World sells 8 million copies in UK
1949 The birth of network TV in the US
1949 RCA introduces the 45 rpm record
1949 Cable television brings better reception to rural areas in US
1949 Whirlwind at MIT is the first commercial computer
1949 Magnetic core computer memory is invented
1950 Phonevision, the first pay-per-view service, in the US
1950 AC Nielsen's Audimeters track TV viewer watching
1950 Regular colour television transmission in USA
1950 Changeable typewriter typefaces in use
1950 First credit cards, Diners Club, US
1951 One and a half million TV sets in US, a tenfold jump in one year
1951 Cinerama dazzles with a wide, curved screen and three projectors
1951 Computers are sold commercially
1951 Still cameras get built-in flash units
1951 Coaxial cable reaches coast to coast in the US
1952 3-D movies offer thrills to the audience
1952 Bing Crosby's company tests video recording
1952 Sony produces the first transistor radios – the TR-55
1952 EDVAC takes computer technology a giant leap forward
1952 Univac projects the winner of the presidential election on CBS
1952 Zenith proposes pay-TV system using punched cards
1953 NTSC colour standard adopted in the US
1954 USSR launches Sputnik
1954 Radio sets in the world now outnumber daily newspapers
1954 Regular colour TV broadcasts begin in the US
1954 NBC broadcasts the World Series in colour for the first time
1954 TV revenue exceeds radio revenues in the US for the first time
1955 Tests begin to communicate via fiber optics
1955 Disneyland is opened
1955 The Marlboro Man campaign debuts
1955 First fluoride toothpaste, Crest, US
1955 Music is recorded on tape in stereo
1955 First UK TV commercial, Gibbs SR Toothpaste, 22 September
1956 The first hard disk drive is born at IBM – the size of two refrigerators and holding 5MB of data at a cost of about $10,000 per MB
1956 Ampex builds a practical videotape recorder
1956 Bell tests the picture phone
1956 Launch of longest running TV campaign, PG Tips Chimps, in UK
1956 First transatlantic telephone calls by cable
1957 Soviet Union's Sputnik sends signals from space
1957 FORTRAN becomes the first high-level computer language
1957 First transistor radio, Sony TR63, Japan
1957 A surgical operation is televised
1957 Vance Packard's “The Hidden Persuaders,” attacks advertising
1957 First sponsored sports event in UK, Whitbread Gold Cup
1957 First book to be entirely phototypeset is offset printed
1958 Videotape delivers colour
1958 Stereo recording is introduced
1958 Data moves over regular phone circuits
1958 Broadcast bounced off rocket, pre-satellite communication
1958 The laser is invented at Bell labs
1958 Cable carries FM radio stations
1959 Local ads go on cable TV in the US
1959 Xerox debuts the first automatic paper copier
1959 First cassette recorder in UK, Garrad
1959 “A Mars a day helps you work, rest and play”
1959 The microchip is invented
1959 Bell Labs experiments with artificial intelligence
1959 French SECAM and German PAL TV systems introduced
1960 Echo I, a US balloon in orbit, reflects radio signals to Earth
1960 A movie gets Smell-O-Vision, but the public just sniffs
1960 McCann restructures agencies under Interpublic Group of Cos.
1960 Zenith tests subscription TV in the US; unsuccessful
1961 First electronic game – Spacewars – from MIT
1961 US boxing match test shows potential of pay-TV
1961 FCC approves FM stereo broadcasting; spurs FM development
1961 Bell Labs tests communication by light waves
1961 IBM introduces the “golf ball” typewriter
1961 Letraset makes headlines simple
1961 The time-sharing computer is developed
1962 The minicomputer arrives
1962 Telstar satellite transmits a TV image across the Atlantic
1962 US Ranger 4 lands on the moon
1962 The first plastic Visa credit card in United States invented by Bank of America
1963 First international standard compact audio tape cassette, Phillips Corporation
1963 Zip codes started in the US
1963 CBS and NBC TV newscasts expand to 30 minutes in colour
1963 PDP-8 becomes the first popular minicomputer
1963 Polaroid camera instant photography adds colour
1963 Communications satellite is placed in geo-synchronous orbit
1963 TV news “comes of age” in reporting JFK assassination
1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo telecast live globally by satellite
1964 Touch Tone telephones and Picturephone service
1964 From Japan, the videotape recorder for home use
1964 Russian scientists bounce a signal off Jupiter
1964 Intelsat, international satellite organization, is formed
1964 Epson's EP-101 dot matrix printer (a timer for the Olympics)
1965 Electronic phone exchange gives customers extra services
1965 Satellites begin domestic TV distribution in the Soviet Union
1965 Computer time-sharing becomes popular
1965 Colour news film
1965 Cigarette ads banned on UK television
1965 Communications satellite Early Bird (Intelsat I) orbits above the Atlantic
1965 Ted Nelson coins the term 'hypertext'
1965 Kodak offers Super 8 film for home movies
1965 Cartridge audio tapes go on sale for a few years
1965 Most broadcasts are in colour in the USA
1966 Linotron can produce 1,000 characters per second
1966 Fiber optic cable multiplies communication channels
1966 Xerox sells the Telecopier, the first fax machine
1966 First direct TV pictures from the moon
1966 20,000 people in UK ad agencies
1967 BBC2 launches first colour TV transmissions in Europe
1967 Dolby eliminates audio hiss
1967 Sony introduces the Trinitron colour TV
1967 Computers get the light pen
1967 Pre-recorded movies on videotape sold for home TV sets
1967 Cordless telephones get some calls
1967 200 million telephones in the world – half are in the US
1968 Intel is founded
1968 Japanese invent eight inch floppy diskette
1968 Intelsat completes global communications satellite loop
1968 200 million TV sets in the world – 78 million are in US
1968 The RAM microchip reaches the market
1969 ARPANET, the birth of the Internet, in the US
1969 Astronauts send live video from the moon
1969 Videotex, the birth of Teletext in the UK
1969 Sony's U-Matic puts videotape on a cassette
1969 First UK colour TV commercial, Bird's Eye Peas, 15 november
1969 The FCC bans all cigarette advertising on television and radio in US
1969 Seiko produces the first quartz wristwatch
1970 In Germany, a videodisc is demonstrated
1970 The first ATM (Automated Teller Machine)
1970 Saatchi & Saatchi is established in London
1970 First Jumbo Jet service, Boeing 747, London-New York
1970 US Post Office and Western Union offer Mailgrams
1970 The computer floppy disc is an instant success
1971 Intel builds the microprocessor, “a computer on a chip”
1971 Wang 1200 is the world's first word processor
1971 Cigarette ad ban on radio and TV in US
1972 E-mail invented by BBN's Ray Tomlinson
1972 First desktop electronic calculator by Hewlett Packard, the model 35 for $395
1972 Time Inc.'s HBO starts the first pay-TV service for cable
1972 Sony introduces 3/4 inch “U-Matic” cassette VCR
1972 Polaroid camera can focus by itself
1972 The compact disc is invented in the US
1972 The Inter-Networking Group is created to develop standards
1972 Digital television comes out of the lab
1972 The BBC offers “Ceefax,” two-way cable information system
1972 Landsat I, “eye-in-the-sky” satellite, is launched
1972 The first handheld calculator, from Texas Instruments
1972 Sony's Port-a-Pak, a portable video recorder
1972 First electronic video game for TV as an add-on, “Pong”
1973 The microcomputer, Micral, is born in France costing $1,750, 2K of RAM, 500 sold
1973 First non-US connections to the internet
1973 First radio commercial in UK, on Capital Radio
1973 IBM's Selectric typewriter is now “self-correcting”
1974 BBC transmits Teletext data to TV sets
1974 WordStar – world's first word processor computers
1974 First products with barcodes
1974 First domestic video cassette recorder, from Philips
1974 First use of the word “internet”
1975 Microsoft Corporation founded
1975 First wireless handheld telephone
1975 First major Internet Service Provider – CompuServe
1975 The microcomputer, in kit form, reaches the US home market
1975 Sony's Betamax and JVC's VHS battle for public acceptance
1976 Apple I – Jobs and Wozniak's first Apple computer
1976 Ted Turner delivers programming nationwide by satellite
1976 Still cameras are controlled by microprocessors
1976 First supercomputer, Cray-1, makes 240 million calculations per second
1976 First Concorde flight, British Airways London-Bahrain
1976 Viking 1 & Viking 2 landed on Mars
1976 British TV networks begin first teletext system
1977 Columbus, Ohio, residents try 2-way cable experiment, QUBE
1977 The Apple II PC has colour graphics and a floppy disk intead of cassette tapes
1978 From Konica, the point-and-shoot camera
1978 PBS goes to satellite for delivery, abandoning telephone lines
1978 Electronic typewriters go on sale
1979 Speech recognition machine has a vocabulary of 1,000 words
1979 First TV teletext service, Prestel by UK Post Office
1979 From Holland comes the digital videodisc read by laser
1979 In Japan, first cellular phone network
1979 Computerized laser printing is a boon to Chinese printers
1980 Sony Walkman tape player starts a fad
1980 In France, a holographic film shows a gull flying
1980 Phototypesetting can be done by laser
1980 Microsoft DOS version 1.0
1980 Intelsat V relays 12,000 phone calls and 2 colour TV channels
1980 Public international electronic fax service, Intelpost, begins
1980 Atlanta gets first fiber optics system
1980 Birth of CNN 24-hour news channel
1980 Wordstar is first PC word processor and Lotus 1-2-3 is first spreadsheet
1980 Addressable converters pinpoint individual homes
1980 First compact discs, from Phillips, in Netherlands
1981 450,000 transistors fit on a silicon chip 1/4-inch square
1981 Hologram technology improves, now in video games
1981 The IBM PC costs $4,500
1981 The laptop computer is introduced
1981 The Space Shuttle
1981 MTV launches
1981 First portable home video game, Game & Watch, from Nintendo
1981 The first mouse pointing device
1982 From Japan, a camera with electronic picture storage, no film
1982 USA Today type set in regional plants by satellite command
1982 The first PC Local Area Network
1982 Sky Channel (first European satellite TV channel) launched
1982 Kodak camera uses film on a disc cassette
1982 200 computers connected to the internet worldwide
1983 Cellular phone network starts in US
1983 Lasers and plastics improve newspaper production
1983 Computer chip holds 288,000 bits of memory
1983 Time names the computer as “Man of the Year”
1983 AT&T forced to break up; 7 Baby Bells are born
1983 First cordless telephone in UK
1983 American videotext service starts; fails in three years
1984 Portable compact disc player arrives
1984 National Geographic puts a hologram on its cover
1984 A television set can be worn on the wrist
1984 First PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) the Psion Organiser in the UK
1984 First UK satellite TV channel, Sky TV
1984 Japanese introduce high quality facsmile
1984 Camera and tape deck combine in the camcorder
1984 Apple Macintosh, IBM PC AT
1984 The 32-bit microprocessor
1984 The one megabyte memory chip
1985 First colour printers and photocopiers
1985 Digital image processing
1985 The first CD-ROM, from Philips, can put 270,000 pages of text on a CD record
1985 Cellular telephones go into cars in the US
1985 Picture, broken into dots, can be transmitted and recreated
1985 US TV networks begin satellite distribution to affiliates
1985 At Expo, a Sony TV screen measures 40×25 meters
1985 Sony builds a radio the size of a credit card
1985 In Japan, 3-D television; no spectacles needed
1985 Pay-per-view channels open for business
1986 HBO scrambles its signals
1986 Cable shopping networks
1986 Needham Harper Worldwide, BBDO International and Doyle Dane Bernbach merge to create Omnicom Group
1986 Microsoft Windows 1.0
1986 Saatchi & Saatchi buys Ted Bates Worldwide, becoming the world's largest agency holging company
1987 Half of all US homes with TV are on cable
1987 Government deregulates US cable industry
1987 Martin Sorrell's WPP Group, buys JWT for $600 million
1987 First debit card in UK, for Barclays Connect
1988 Government brochure mailed to 107 million US addresses
1988 WPP acquires the Ogilvy Group for $864 million
1989 Tiananmen Square demonstrates power of media to inform the world
1989 Pacific Link fiber optic cable opens, can carry 40,000 phone calls
1990 World Wide Web invented by Tim Berners-Lee
1990 The World comes on-line (world.std.com) – the first commercial provider of Internet dial-up access
1990 IBM sells Selectric, a sign of the typewriter's passing
1990 First palmtop computers
1990 99% of U.S. households have at least one radio, the average owning 5
1990 Most 2-inch videotape machines are also gone
1990 Videodisc returns in a new laser form
1991 Beauty and the Beast, a cartoon, Oscar nominee as best picture
1991 The Line Mode Browser – the first internet browser
1991 CNN dominates news coverage worldwide during Gulf War
1991 Live TV news switching from world capitals during Gulf War looks simple
1991 Denver viewers order movies at home from list of more than 1,000 titles
1991 Moviegoers astonished by computer morphing in Terminator 2
1991 More than 4 billion video cassette tape rentals in the US
1991 3 in 4 US homes own VCRs; fastest selling domestic appliance in history
1992 US Cable TV revenues reach $22 billion
1992 First CD-ROM for computers released (single speed)
1992 900 million TV sets in the world; 201 million in the US
1992 First use of the term “surfing the internet”
1992 Text messaging (SMS) on mobile phones starts in the UK
1992 At least 50 US cities have competing cable services
1993 DVD invented by Toshiba
1993 Dinosaurs roam the earth in Jurassic Park
1993 “V-chip” invented to block out violent television programs
1993 Mosaic – the first graphical internet browser
1993 Kodak and Apple produce first digital still image camera for consumers
1993 1 in 3 Americans does some work at home instead of driving to work
1994 World's first digital TV service – DirecTV in the US by satellite
1994 Netscape launches
1994 First cyberstation, RT-FM, broadcasts from Interop in Las Vegas
1994 135 million PCs worldwide
1994 After 25 years, US government privatises Internet management
1994 First ad on the World Wide Web, for Wired magazine
1994 Pizza Hut sells pizzas over the internet
1994 To reduce Western influence, 12 nations ban or restrict satellite dishes
1994 First Virtual, the first cyberbank, opens up for business
1994 Interactive TV introduced in the US
1995 zenithmedia.com launches
1995 Amazon.com launches
1995 Maurice and Charles Saatchi create M&C Saatchi
1995 Sony demonstrates flat TV set
1995 RealAudio lets internet users hear in near real-time
1995 Major US dailies create national on-line newspaper network
1996 High Definition Television, HDTV, standard accepted
1996 Saudi Arabia confines Internet access to universities and hospitals
1997 Sony and Philips / Magnavox release WebTV Internet television tuner
1997 Sony releases DVD 4 GB five inch compact disk format
1997 The first personal video recorder – TiVo in the US
1998 The first digital terrestrial TV service, OnDigital, in the UK
1998 Hewlett Packard releases the first colour Palmtop computer
1998 Panasonic releases first hand held DVD player
1998 Titanic is the highest-grossing film of all time, $580 million in the US
1998 Optical Automation announces portable wrist computer with still camera
1999 150 million Internet users worldwide: over 50% in the US
1999 Mobile phones used to buy from vending machines in Finland
1999 Vodafone (UK) buys AirTouch (US) for $56 billion
1999 Telephone commercials in exchange for free calls
1999 Open… launches the worlds first interactive TV service, in the UK
1999 First WAP mobile phone advertisement in Finland
2000 More e-mail than postal mail in the US
2000 First impulse purchase interactive TV advertisement, in the UK
2000 Internet goes free – no access or use charges – and fails
2000 TV banking starts with Open…. in the UK
2000 Mobile phone banking starts
2000 ADSL delivers on-demand TV down phone wires
2000 30m domain names registered on the World Wide Web on October 4
2000 The first e-books
2001 Recordable DVD triggers beginning of the end of video tape…and VCRs
2001 In the UK Tesco gets 70,000 online grocery orders each week
2001 505 million e-mail accounts worldwide
2001 Most hotels provide in-room internet access
2001 More mobile phones than PCs in the world
2001 520 million Internet users worldwide: 32% in the US
2002 Web cameras provide cheap home security
2002 Internet used to supply in-home “jukeboxes”
2003 First personally customised TV ads
2003 Internet enabled refrigerators
2003 Digital photography sends camera film on a fast road to extinction
2004 More mobile phones than fixed line phones worldwide
2004 Internet enabled car radios provide weather and ads
2005 Billboards send electronic coupons to mobile phones
2005 36 billion person-to-person e-mails sent each day
2006 Portable device batteries last weeks without recharge
2006 Photo-realistic virtual reality games for all ages
2006 Instant internet PCs – no 'boot up' or 'dial up'
2006 Digital TV recorders can store hundreds of hours on single disc
2007 PCs, phones and TVs recognise voice commands
2007 Pre-recorded TV rapidly gains share of viewing vs live
2008 Wrist watches become internet communicators
2008 TV-on-demand at mass market prices – viewers create channels
2009 Analogue TV signal switched off in the UK
2009 Digital-to-analogue TV adaptors a big new sector (for bedroom sets)
2010 The video phone takes off (all PCs are also phones and TVs)
2010 Thin, flat, large screens used for PC/TV/Phone
2010 Internet provides vast array of interactive TV services
2010 Most TV ads are interactive
2011 Bathroom mirrors display e-mail ticker while you shave / put on makeup
2012 Computers generate photo-realistic movies and ads – including actors
2015 In home entertainment becomes largest daily household expense
2015 One third of American workforce telecommutes
2017 Low cost electronic displays match quality of ink and paper
2020 Humans walk on Mars
2020 Average life expectancy in western world passes 100
2020 In home shopping larger than out of home
2025 Coronation Street still highest rating TV programme in UK
2030 “Home help” robots are actually helpful and affordable
2030 Most books, newspapers, magazines and libraries are electronic
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