Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space. Information is carried by systematically changing (modulating) some property of the radiated waves, such as amplitude, frequency, phase, or pulse width. When radio waves pass an electrical conductor, the oscillating fields induce an alternating current in the conductor. This can be detected and transformed into sound or other signals that carry information.

Etymology

The etymology of "radio" or "radiotelegraphy" reveals that it was called "wireless telegraphy", which was shortened to "wireless" in Britain. The prefix ''radio-'' in the sense of wireless transmission, was first recorded in the word ''radioconductor'', a description provided by the French physicist Édouard Branly in 1897. It is based on the verb ''to radiate'' (in Latin "radius" means "spoke of a wheel, beam of light, ray"). This word also appears in a 1907 article by Lee De Forest, it was adopted by the United States Navy in 1912, and became common by the time of the first commercial broadcasts in the United States in the 1920s. (The noun "broadcasting" itself came from an agricultural term, meaning "scattering seeds widely".) The term was then adopted by other languages in Europe and Asia. British Commonwealth countries continued to mainly use the term "wireless" until the mid-20th century, though the magazine of the BBC in the UK has been called Radio Times ever since it was first published in the early 1920s.

In recent years the term "wireless" has gained renewed popularity through the rapid growth of short-range computer networking, e.g., Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth, as well as mobile telephony, e.g., GSM and UMTS. Today, the term "radio" often refers to the actual transceiver device or chip, whereas "wireless" refers to the system and/or method used for radio communication; hence one talks about ''radio'' transceivers and ''Radio'' Frequency Identification (RFID), but about ''wireless'' devices and ''wireless'' sensor networks.

Processes

Radio systems used for communications will have the following elements. With more than 100 years of development, each process is implemented by a wide range of methods, specialized for different communications purposes.

Each system contains a transmitter. This consists of a source of electrical energy, producing alternating current of a desired frequency of oscillation. The transmitter contains a system to modulate (change) some property of the energy produced to impress a signal on it. This modulation might be as simple as turning the energy on and off, or altering more subtle properties such as amplitude, frequency, phase, or combinations of these properties. The transmitter sends the modulated electrical energy to a tuned resonant antenna; this structure converts the rapidly changing alternating current into an electromagnetic wave that can move through free space (sometimes with a particular polarization).

Electromagnetic waves travel through space either directly, or have their path altered by reflection, refraction or diffraction. The intensity of the waves diminishes due to geometric dispersion (the inverse-square law); some energy may also be absorbed by the intervening medium in some cases. Noise will generally alter the desired signal; this electromagnetic interference comes from natural sources, as well as from artificial sources such as other transmitters and accidental radiators. Noise is also produced at every step due to the inherent properties of the devices used. If the magnitude of the noise is large enough, the desired signal will no longer be discernible; this is the fundamental limit to the range of radio communications.

The electromagnetic wave is intercepted by a tuned receiving antenna; this structure captures some of the energy of the wave and returns it to the form of oscillating electrical currents. At the receiver, these currents are demodulated, which is conversion to a usable signal form by a detector sub-system. The receiver is "tuned" to respond preferentially to the desired signals, and reject undesired signals.

Early radio systems relied entirely on the energy collected by an antenna to produce signals for the operator. Radio became more useful after the invention of electronic devices such as the vacuum tube and later the transistor, which made it possible to amplify weak signals. Today radio systems are used for applications from walkie-talkie children's toys to the control of space vehicles, as well as for broadcasting, and many other applications.

Electromagnetic spectrum

Radio frequencies occupy the range from a few tens of hertz to three hundred gigahertz, although commercially important uses of radio use only a small part of this spectrum. Other types of electromagnetic radiation, with frequencies above the RF range, are microwave, infrared, visible light, ultraviolet, X-rays and gamma rays. Since the energy of an individual photon of radio frequency is too low to remove an electron from an atom, radio waves are classified as non-ionizing radiation.

History

19th century

The meaning and usage of the word "radio" has developed in parallel with developments within the field of communications and can be seen to have three distinct phases: electromagnetic waves and experimentation; wireless communication and technical development; and radio broadcasting and commercialization. Many individuals—inventors, engineers, developers, businessmen - contributed to produce the modern idea of radio and thus the origins and 'invention' are multiple and controversial. Early radio designs could not transmit sound or speech and were called the "wireless telegraph".

Development from a laboratory demonstration to a commercial entity spanned several decades and required the efforts of many practitioners. In 1878, David E. Hughes noticed that sparks could be heard in a telephone receiver when experimenting with his carbon microphone. He developed this carbon-based detector further and eventually could detect signals over a few hundred yards. He demonstrated his discovery to the Royal Society in 1880, but was told it was merely induction, and therefore abandoned further research.

Experiments, later patented, were undertaken by Thomas Edison and his employees of Menlo Park. Edison applied in 1885 to the U.S. Patent Office for his patent on an electrostatic coupling system between elevated terminals. The patent was granted as on December 29, 1891. The Marconi Company would later purchase rights to the Edison patent to protect them legally from lawsuits.

In 1893, in St. Louis, Missouri, Nikola Tesla made devices for his experiments with electricity. Addressing the ''Franklin Institute'' in Philadelphia and the ''National Electric Light Association'', he described and demonstrated the principles of his wireless work. The descriptions contained all the elements that were later incorporated into radio systems before the development of the vacuum tube. He initially experimented with magnetic receivers, unlike the coherers (detecting devices consisting of tubes filled with iron filings which had been invented by Temistocle Calzecchi-Onesti at Fermo in Italy in 1884) used by Guglielmo Marconi and other early experimenters.

A demonstration of wireless telegraphy took place in the lecture theater of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History on August 14, 1894, carried out by Professor Oliver Lodge and Alexander Muirhead. During the demonstration a radio signal was sent from the neighboring Clarendon laboratory building, and received by apparatus in the lecture theater.

In 1895 Alexander Stepanovich Popov built his first radio receiver, which contained a coherer. Further refined as a lightning detector, it was presented to the Russian Physical and Chemical Society on May 7, 1895. A depiction of Popov's lightning detector was printed in the Journal of the Russian Physical and Chemical Society the same year. Popov's receiver was created on the improved basis of Lodge's receiver, and originally intended for reproduction of its experiments.

In 1895, Marconi built a wireless system capable of transmitting signals at long distances (1.5 mi./ 2.4 km). In radio transmission technology, early public experimenters had made short distance broadcasts. Marconi achieved long range signalling due to a wireless transmitting apparatus and a radio receiver claimed by him. From Marconi's experiments, the phenomenon that transmission range is proportional to the square of antenna height is known as "Marconi's law". This formula represents a physical law that radio devices use. Marconi's experimental apparatus proved to be a complete, commercially successful radio transmission system. According to the ''Proceedings of the United States Naval Institute'' in 1899, the Marconi instruments had a "[...] coherer, principle of which was discovered some twenty years ago, [and was] the only electrical instrument or device contained in the apparatus that is at all new".

In 1896, Marconi was awarded British patent 12039, ''Improvements in transmitting electrical impulses and signals and in apparatus there-for'', for radio. In 1897, he established a radio station on the Isle of Wight, England. Marconi opened his "wireless" factory in Hall Street, Chelmsford, England in 1898, employing around 50 people. Shortly after the 1900s, Marconi held the patent rights for radio.

20th century

The next advancement was the vacuum tube detector, invented by Westinghouse engineers. On Christmas Eve, 1906, Reginald Fessenden used a synchronous rotary-spark transmitter for the first radio program broadcast, from Ocean Bluff-Brant Rock, Massachusetts. Ships at sea heard a broadcast that included Fessenden playing ''O Holy Night'' on the violin and reading a passage from the Bible. This was, for all intents and purposes, the first transmission of what is now known as amplitude modulation or AM radio. The first radio news program was broadcast August 31, 1920 by station 8MK in Detroit, Michigan, which survives today as all-news format station WWJ under ownership of the CBS network. The first college radio station began broadcasting on October 14, 1920, from Union College, Schenectady, New York under the personal call letters of Wendell King, an African-American student at the school. That month 2ADD, later renamed WRUC in 1947, aired what is believed to be the first public entertainment broadcast in the United States, a series of Thursday night concerts initially heard within a radius and later for a radius. In November 1920, it aired the first broadcast of a sporting event. At 9 pm on August 27, 1920, Sociedad Radio Argentina aired a live performance of Richard Wagner's Parsifal opera from the Coliseo Theater in downtown Buenos Aires. Only about twenty homes in the city had receivers to tune in this radio program. Meanwhile, regular entertainment broadcasts commenced in 1922 from the Marconi Research Centre at Writtle, England.

Sports broadcasting began at this time as well, including the first broadcast college football game.

In 1943 the United States Supreme Court upheld Tesla's patent for radio, number 645,576 (1897), with the supreme court's justification that claim 16 in Marconi's related patent, number 763,772 (1904), contained nothing new not having been published earlier and registered by Tesla, Lodge, and others. After years of patent battles by Marconi's company, the United States Supreme Court, in the 1943 case "Marconi Wireless Telegraph co. of America v. United States", held regarding the priority of engineering advances concerning the invention of radio that "[but] it is now held that in the important advance upon his basic patent Marconi did nothing that had not already been seen and disclosed". The decision effectively awarded priority of the invention of radio to Tesla and his 1893 presentation in St. Louis. Although Marconi claimed that he had no knowledge of prior art taken from Tesla's patents, the supreme court considered his claim false. In addition to the June 21, 1943 ruling made by the supreme court, the United States Court of Claims also invalidated the fundamental Marconi patent earlier, in 1935. This case defined radio by the statement: "A radio communication system requires two tuned circuits each at the transmitter and receiver, all four tuned to the same frequency." Because Tesla's 1897 patent for radio was intended for general transmission of energy, the court determined that Tesla's patent clearly was the first to disclose a system which could be used for wireless communication of intelligible messages (such as human voice and music) and used the four-circuit tuned combination. In contrast, related developments in the United Kingdom saw the British High Court uphold Marconi's British Patent 7,777 that was issued on April 26, 1900. This British patent held by Marconi disclosed a four-circuit system, which was strikingly similar to a four-circuit system disclosed in U.S. patent #645,576 that was issued earlier to Tesla on March 20, 1900. On the matter of invention, it is held that Marconi knowingly and unknowingly used the scientific and experimental work of many others who were devising their own radio tuning apparatus' around the same time, such as the work of American electrical engineer John Stone Stone who was issued several U.S. patents between 1904 and 1908. However, what made Marconi more successful than any other was his ability to ''commercialize'' radio and its associated equipment into a global business.

One of the first developments in the early 20th century was that aircraft used commercial AM radio stations for navigation. This continued until the early 1960s when VOR systems became widespread. In the early 1930s, single sideband and frequency modulation were invented by amateur radio operators. By the end of the decade, they were established commercial modes. Radio was used to transmit pictures visible as television as early as the 1920s. Commercial television transmissions started in North America and Europe in the 1940s.

In 1954, the Regency company introduced a pocket transistor radio, the TR-1, powered by a "standard 22.5 V Battery". In 1955, the newly formed Sony company introduced its first transistorized radio. It was small enough to fit in a vest pocket, and able to be powered by a small battery. It was durable, because it had no vacuum tubes to burn out. Over the next 20 years, transistors replaced tubes almost completely except for very high-power transmitter uses. By 1963, color television was being regularly broadcast commercially (though not all broadcasts or programs were in color), and the first (radio) communication satellite, ''Telstar'', was launched. In the late 1960s, the U.S. long-distance telephone network began to convert to a digital network, employing digital radios for many of its links. In the 1970s, LORAN became the premier radio navigation system. Soon, the U.S. Navy experimented with satellite navigation, culminating in the invention and launch of the GPS constellation in 1987. In the early 1990s, amateur radio experimenters began to use personal computers with audio cards to process radio signals. In 1994, the U.S. Army and DARPA launched an aggressive, successful project to construct a software-defined radio that can be programmed to be virtually any radio by changing its software program. Digital transmissions began to be applied to broadcasting in the late 1990s.

Uses of radio

Early uses were maritime, for sending telegraphic messages using Morse code between ships and land. The earliest users included the Japanese Navy scouting the Russian fleet during the Battle of Tsushima in 1905. One of the most memorable uses of marine telegraphy was during the sinking of the RMS ''Titanic'' in 1912, including communications between operators on the sinking ship and nearby vessels, and communications to shore stations listing the survivors.

Radio was used to pass on orders and communications between armies and navies on both sides in World War I; Germany used radio communications for diplomatic messages once it discovered that its submarine cables had been tapped by the British. The United States passed on President Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points to Germany via radio during the war. Broadcasting began from San Jose, California in 1909, and became feasible in the 1920s, with the widespread introduction of radio receivers, particularly in Europe and the United States. Besides broadcasting, point-to-point broadcasting, including telephone messages and relays of radio programs, became widespread in the 1920s and 1930s. Another use of radio in the pre-war years was the development of detection and locating of aircraft and ships by the use of radar (''RA''dio ''D''etection ''A''nd ''R''anging).

Today, radio takes many forms, including wireless networks and mobile communications of all types, as well as radio broadcasting. Before the advent of television, commercial radio broadcasts included not only news and music, but dramas, comedies, variety shows, and many other forms of entertainment (the era from 1930 to the mid-1950s is commonly called radio's "Golden Age"). Radio was unique among methods of dramatic presentation in that it used only sound. For more, see radio programming.

Audio

AM radio uses amplitude modulation, in which the amplitude of the transmitted signal is made proportional to the sound amplitude captured (transduced) by the microphone, while the transmitted frequency remains unchanged. Transmissions are affected by static and interference because lightning and other sources of radio emissions on the same frequency add their amplitudes to the original transmitted amplitude. In the early part of the 20th century, American AM radio stations broadcast with powers as high as 500 kW, and some could be heard worldwide; these stations' transmitters were commandeered for military use by the US Government during World War II. Currently, the maximum broadcast power for a civilian AM radio station in the United States and Canada is 50 kW, and the majority of stations that emit signals this powerful were grandfathered in (see List of 50kw AM radio stations in the USA). In 1986 KTNN received the last granted 50,000 watt license. These 50 kW stations are generally called "clear channel" stations (not to be confused with Clear Channel Communications), because within North America each of these stations has exclusive use of its broadcast frequency throughout part or all of the broadcast day.

FM broadcast radio sends music and voice with higher fidelity than AM radio. In frequency modulation, amplitude variation at the microphone causes the transmitter frequency to fluctuate. Because the audio signal modulates the frequency and not the amplitude, an FM signal is not subject to static and interference in the same way as AM signals. Due to its need for a wider bandwidth, FM is transmitted in the Very High Frequency (VHF, 30 MHz to 300 MHz) radio spectrum. VHF radio waves act more like light, traveling in straight lines; hence the reception range is generally limited to about 50–100 miles. During unusual upper atmospheric conditions, FM signals are occasionally reflected back towards the Earth by the ionosphere, resulting in long distance FM reception. FM receivers are subject to the capture effect, which causes the radio to only receive the strongest signal when multiple signals appear on the same frequency. FM receivers are relatively immune to lightning and spark interference.

High power is useful in penetrating buildings, diffracting around hills, and refracting in the dense atmosphere near the horizon for some distance beyond the horizon. Consequently, 100,000 watt FM stations can regularly be heard up to 100 miles (160 km) away, and farther (e.g., 150 miles, 240 km) if there are no competing signals. A few old, "grandfathered" stations do not conform to these power rules. WBCT-FM (93.7) in Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA, runs 320,000 watts ERP, and can increase to 500,000 watts ERP by the terms of its original license. Such a huge power level does not usually help to increase range as much as one might expect, because VHF frequencies travel in nearly straight lines over the horizon and off into space. Nevertheless, when there were fewer FM stations competing, this station could be heard near Bloomington, Illinois, USA, almost 300 miles (500 km) away.

FM subcarrier services are secondary signals transmitted in a "piggyback" fashion along with the main program. Special receivers are required to utilize these services. Analog channels may contain alternative programming, such as reading services for the blind, background music or stereo sound signals. In some extremely crowded metropolitan areas, the sub-channel program might be an alternate foreign language radio program for various ethnic groups. Sub-carriers can also transmit digital data, such as station identification, the current song's name, web addresses, or stock quotes. In some countries, FM radios automatically re-tune themselves to the same channel in a different district by using sub-bands.

Aviation voice radios use VHF AM. AM is used so that multiple stations on the same channel can be received. (Use of FM would result in stronger stations blocking out reception of weaker stations due to FM's capture effect). Aircraft fly high enough that their transmitters can be received hundreds of miles (or kilometres) away, even though they are using VHF.

Marine voice radios can use single sideband voice (SSB) in the shortwave High Frequency (HF—3 MHz to 30 MHz) radio spectrum for very long ranges or narrowband FM in the VHF spectrum for much shorter ranges. Narrowband FM sacrifices fidelity to make more channels available within the radio spectrum, by using a smaller range of radio frequencies, usually with five kHz of deviation, versus the 75 kHz used by commercial FM broadcasts, and 25 kHz used for TV sound.

Government, police, fire and commercial voice services also use narrowband FM on special frequencies. Early police radios used AM receivers to receive one-way dispatches.

Civil and military HF (high frequency) voice services use shortwave radio to contact ships at sea, aircraft and isolated settlements. Most use single sideband voice (SSB), which uses less bandwidth than AM. On an AM radio SSB sounds like ducks quacking, or the adults in a Charlie Brown cartoon. Viewed as a graph of frequency versus power, an AM signal shows power where the frequencies of the voice add and subtract with the main radio frequency. SSB cuts the bandwidth in half by suppressing the carrier and one of the sidebands. This also makes the transmitter about three times more powerful, because it doesn't need to transmit the unused carrier and sideband.

TETRA, Terrestrial Trunked Radio is a digital cell phone system for military, police and ambulances. Commercial services such as XM, WorldSpace and Sirius offer encrypted digital Satellite radio.

Telephony

Mobile phones transmit to a local cell site (transmitter/receiver) that ultimately connects to the public switched telephone network (PSTN) through an optic fiber or microwave radio and other network elements. When the mobile phone nears the edge of the cell site's radio coverage area, the central computer switches the phone to a new cell. Cell phones originally used FM, but now most use various digital modulation schemes. Recent developments in Sweden (such as DROPme) allow for the instant downloading of digital material from a radio broadcast (such as a song) to a mobile phone.

Satellite phones use satellites rather than cell towers to communicate.

Video

Television sends the picture as AM and the sound as AM or FM, with the sound carrier a fixed frequency (4.5 MHz in the NTSC system) away from the video carrier. Analog television also uses a vestigial sideband on the video carrier to reduce the bandwidth required.

Digital television uses 8VSB modulation in North America (under the ATSC digital television standard), and COFDM modulation elsewhere in the world (using the DVB-T standard). A Reed–Solomon error correction code adds redundant correction codes and allows reliable reception during moderate data loss. Although many current and future codecs can be sent in the MPEG transport stream container format, as of 2006 most systems use a standard-definition format almost identical to DVD: MPEG-2 video in Anamorphic widescreen and MPEG layer 2 (''MP2'') audio. High-definition television is possible simply by using a higher-resolution picture, but H.264/AVC is being considered as a replacement video codec in some regions for its improved compression. With the compression and improved modulation involved, a single "channel" can contain a high-definition program and several standard-definition programs.

Navigation

All satellite navigation systems use satellites with precision clocks. The satellite transmits its position, and the time of the transmission. The receiver listens to four satellites, and can figure its position as being on a line that is tangent to a spherical shell around each satellite, determined by the time-of-flight of the radio signals from the satellite. A computer in the receiver does the math.

Radio direction-finding is the oldest form of radio navigation. Before 1960 navigators used movable loop antennas to locate commercial AM stations near cities. In some cases they used marine radiolocation beacons, which share a range of frequencies just above AM radio with amateur radio operators. LORAN systems also used time-of-flight radio signals, but from radio stations on the ground. VOR (Very High Frequency Omnidirectional Range), systems (used by aircraft), have an antenna array that transmits two signals simultaneously. A directional signal rotates like a lighthouse at a fixed rate. When the directional signal is facing north, an omnidirectional signal pulses. By measuring the difference in phase of these two signals, an aircraft can determine its bearing or radial from the station, thus establishing a line of position. An aircraft can get readings from two VORs and locate its position at the intersection of the two radials, known as a "fix." When the VOR station is collocated with DME (Distance Measuring Equipment), the aircraft can determine its bearing and range from the station, thus providing a fix from only one ground station. Such stations are called VOR/DMEs. The military operates a similar system of navaids, called TACANs, which are often built into VOR stations. Such stations are called VORTACs. Because TACANs include distance measuring equipment, VOR/DME and VORTAC stations are identical in navigation potential to civil aircraft.

Radar

Radar (Radio Detection And Ranging) detects objects at a distance by bouncing radio waves off them. The delay caused by the echo measures the distance. The direction of the beam determines the direction of the reflection. The polarization and frequency of the return can sense the type of surface. Navigational radars scan a wide area two to four times per minute. They use very short waves that reflect from earth and stone. They are common on commercial ships and long-distance commercial aircraft.

General purpose radars generally use navigational radar frequencies, but modulate and polarize the pulse so the receiver can determine the type of surface of the reflector. The best general-purpose radars distinguish the rain of heavy storms, as well as land and vehicles. Some can superimpose sonar data and map data from GPS position.

Search radars scan a wide area with pulses of short radio waves. They usually scan the area two to four times a minute. Sometimes search radars use the Doppler effect to separate moving vehicles from clutter. Targeting radars use the same principle as search radar but scan a much smaller area far more often, usually several times a second or more. Weather radars resemble search radars, but use radio waves with circular polarization and a wavelength to reflect from water droplets. Some weather radar use the Doppler effect to measure wind speeds.

Data (digital radio)

Most new radio systems are digital, see also: Digital TV, Satellite Radio, Digital Audio Broadcasting. The oldest form of digital broadcast was spark gap telegraphy, used by pioneers such as Marconi. By pressing the key, the operator could send messages in Morse code by energizing a rotating commutating spark gap. The rotating commutator produced a tone in the receiver, where a simple spark gap would produce a hiss, indistinguishable from static. Spark-gap transmitters are now illegal, because their transmissions span several hundred megahertz. This is very wasteful of both radio frequencies and power.

The next advance was continuous wave telegraphy, or CW (Continuous Wave), in which a pure radio frequency, produced by a vacuum tube electronic oscillator was switched on and off by a key. A receiver with a local oscillator would "heterodyne" with the pure radio frequency, creating a whistle-like audio tone. CW uses less than 100 Hz of bandwidth. CW is still used, these days primarily by amateur radio operators (hams). Strictly, on-off keying of a carrier should be known as "Interrupted Continuous Wave" or ICW or on-off keying (OOK).

Radioteletype equipment usually operates on short-wave (HF) and is much loved by the military because they create written information without a skilled operator. They send a bit as one of two tones using frequency-shift keying. Groups of five or seven bits become a character printed by a teleprinter. From about 1925 to 1975, radioteletype was how most commercial messages were sent to less developed countries. These are still used by the military and weather services.

Aircraft use a 1200 Baud radioteletype service over VHF to send their ID, altitude and position, and get gate and connecting-flight data. Microwave dishes on satellites, telephone exchanges and TV stations usually use quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM). QAM sends data by changing both the phase and the amplitude of the radio signal. Engineers like QAM because it packs the most bits into a radio signal when given an exclusive (non-shared) fixed narrowband frequency range. Usually the bits are sent in "frames" that repeat. A special bit pattern is used to locate the beginning of a frame. Communication systems that limit themselves to a fixed narrowband frequency range are vulnerable to jamming. A variety of jamming-resistant spread spectrum techniques were initially developed for military use, most famously for Global Positioning System satellite transmissions. Commercial use of spread spectrum began in the 1980s. Bluetooth, most cell phones, and the 802.11b version of Wi-Fi each use various forms of spread spectrum.

Systems that need reliability, or that share their frequency with other services, may use "coded orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing" or COFDM. COFDM breaks a digital signal into as many as several hundred slower subchannels. The digital signal is often sent as QAM on the subchannels. Modern COFDM systems use a small computer to make and decode the signal with digital signal processing, which is more flexible and far less expensive than older systems that implemented separate electronic channels. COFDM resists fading and ghosting because the narrow-channel QAM signals can be sent slowly. An adaptive system, or one that sends error-correction codes can also resist interference, because most interference can affect only a few of the QAM channels. COFDM is used for Wi-Fi, some cell phones, Digital Radio Mondiale, Eureka 147, and many other local area network, digital TV and radio standards.

Heating

Radio-frequency energy generated for heating of objects is generally not intended to radiate outside of the generating equipment, to prevent interference with other radio signals. Microwave ovens use intense radio waves to heat food. Diathermy equipment is used in surgery for sealing of blood vessels. Induction furnaces are used for melting metal for casting, and induction hobs for cooking.

Amateur radio service

Amateur radio, also known as "ham radio", is a hobby in which enthusiasts are licensed to communicate on a number of bands in the radio frequency spectrum non-commercially and for their own enjoyment. They may also provide emergency and public service assistance. This has been very beneficial in emergencies, saving lives in many instances. Radio amateurs use a variety of modes, including nostalgic ones like Morse code and experimental ones like Low-Frequency Experimental Radio. Several forms of radio were pioneered by radio amateurs and later became commercially important, including FM, single-sideband (SSB), AM, digital packet radio and satellite repeaters. Some amateur frequencies may be disrupted by power-line internet service.

Unlicensed radio services

Unlicensed, government-authorized personal radio services such as Citizens' band radio in Australia, the USA, and Europe, and Family Radio Service and Multi-Use Radio Service in North America exist to provide simple, (usually) short range communication for individuals and small groups, without the overhead of licensing. Similar services exist in other parts of the world. These radio services involve the use of handheld units.

Free radio stations, sometimes called pirate radio or "clandestine" stations, are unauthorized, unlicensed, illegal broadcasting stations. These are often low power transmitters operated on sporadic schedules by hobbyists, community activists, or political and cultural dissidents. Some pirate stations operating offshore in parts of Europe and the United Kingdom more closely resembled legal stations, maintaining regular schedules, using high power, and selling commercial advertising time.

Radio control (RC)

Radio remote controls use radio waves to transmit control data to a remote object as in some early forms of guided missile, some early TV remotes and a range of model boats, cars and airplanes. Large industrial remote-controlled equipment such as cranes and switching locomotives now usually use digital radio techniques to ensure safety and reliability.

In Madison Square Garden, at the Electrical Exhibition of 1898, Nikola Tesla successfully demonstrated a radio-controlled boat. He was awarded U.S. patent No. 613,809 for a "Method of and Apparatus for Controlling Mechanism of Moving Vessels or Vehicles."

See also

References

;General information

''A História da Rádio em Datas (1819-1997)'' (in Portuguese) - notes on etymology

L. de Forest, article in Electrical World 22 June 1270/1 (1907), early use of word "radio".

http://web.mit.edu/varun_ag/www/bose.html - It contains a proof that Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose invented the Mercury Coherer which was later used by Guglielmo Marconi and along with other patents.

;Footnotes

Further reading

Hugh G. J. Aitkin: ''The Continuous Wave: Technology and the American Radio, 1900-1932'' (Princeton University Press, 1985).

Asa Briggs: ''The History of Broadcasting in the United Kingdom'' (Oxford University Press, 1961).

John Dunning: ''On the Air. The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio''. New York; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998. ISBN 0-19-507678-8

Henry Ewbank and Sherman P. Lawton: ''Broadcasting: Radio and Television'' (Harper & Brothers, 1952).

Marc Fisher: ''Something In The Air: Radio, Rock, and the Revolution That Shaped A Generation'' (Random House, 2007).

Leland I. Anderson (ed.), "John Stone Stone, Nikola Tesla's Priority in Radio and Continuous-Wave Radiofrequency Apparatus". The AWA Review, Vol. 1. 1986. 24 pages, illustrated.

Tom Lewis: ''Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio'', 1st ed., New York : E. Burlingame Books, 1991. ISBN 0060182156. "Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio" (1992) by Ken Burns was a PBS documentary based on the book.

W. Rupert Maclaurin: ''Invention and Innovation in the Radio Industry'' (The Macmillan Company, 1949).

William B. Ray: ''FCC: The Ups and Downs of Radio-TV Regulation'' (Iowa State University Press, 1990).

Alexander Russo: ''Points on the Dial: Golden Age Radio Beyond the Networks'' (Duke University Press; 2010) 278 pages; discusses regional and local radio as forms that "complicate" the image of the medium as a national unifier from the 1920s to the 1950s.

Scannell, Paddy, and Cardiff, David. ''A Social History of British Broadcasting, Volume One, 1922-1939'' (Basil Blackwell, 1991).

Schwoch James. ''The American Radio Industry and Its Latin American Activities, 1900-1939'' (University of Illinois Press, 1990).

Christopher H. Sterling with Michael C. Keith (ed.): ''Encyclopedia of Radio''. New York; London: Fitzroy Dearborn, 2004 (three vols.)

Llewellyn White: ''The American Radio'' (University of Chicago Press, 1947).

Ulrich L. Rohde, Jerry Whitaker: ''Communications Receivers, Third Edition'', McGraw Hill, New York, NY, 2001, ISBN 0-07-136121-9.

External links

;General

"It's Radi-O! Essay by Richard Rubin, ''The Atlantic Monthly'', January 1998.

;History

U.S. Supreme Court, "''Marconi Wireless Telegraph co. of America v. United States''". 320 U.S. 1. Nos. 369, 373. Argued 9–12 April 1943. Decided 21 June 1943.

"''Who Invented Radio?''" Buzzle.com Date unknown. retrieved 20 January 2011.

Steven Schoenherr's History of Radio

The Broadcast Archive - Radio History on the Web! Retrieved 20 January 2011.

Canadian Communications Foundation - The History on Canadian Broadcasting - 1920 onward. Retrieved 20 January 2011.

United States Early Radio History -1897 to 1927. Retrieved 20 January 2011.

Historic Radios from Around the World at Kurrajong Radio Museum, Australia - a private collection. Retrieved 20 January 2011.

;Antiques

George H. Clark Radioana Collection, ca. 1880 - 1950 - Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution

A gallery of Antiques from the 1920s to the 1960s

;Technical

Radio Frequency Chart National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA).

IAteacher: Interactive Explanation of Radio Receiver Construction

How Stuff Works - Radio

VOR Basic Information

Dr. Phil's Receiver Designs Single-Triode and Single-Transistor Regenerative Radio Designs

;DX

The British DX Club

World of Radio Glenn Hauser's internationally known DX radio show

Category:British inventions

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Name	Fur Patrol
Background	group_or_band
Origin	Wellington, New Zealand
Genre	Rock
Years active	1996–present
Label	Tardus (New Zealand)
Current members	Julia DeansAndrew BainSimon Braxton
Past members	Steve Wells }}

Fur Patrol is a rock band, originally from Wellington, New Zealand, now based in Melbourne, Australia.

Their debut EP, ''Starlifter'', was released on the independent Wellington label Wishbone in 1998. Their debut album ''Pet'' was produced by David Long, guitarist of the Six Volts and the The Mutton Birds and was released in 2000, also on Wishbone Records. ''Pet'' featured the single ''Lydia'' which reached number one on the New Zealand singles charts. The band scooped the pool at the 2001 Tui New Zealand Music Awards, walking away with 4 "Tuis".

In 2001 the band moved to Melbourne, Australia where they inked their first major record deal, with Universal Music Australia. Their second album, Collider, was released in New Zealand in 2003 and Australia in early 2004. The album, produced by British producer Mark Wallis and recorded in Melbourne's Sing Sing studios, was a move away from the catchy, more radio-friendly pop sound of ''Pet''. The first single, ''Precious'', was heavier and darker than earlier offerings. Its music video, which showed the band members collecting fan's ears, was filmed in Hollywood, California, United States.

Fur Patrol became a three-piece when Guitarist Steve Wells left the band in late 2004. Steve shifted to France to pursue a career as a photographer.

The 3-piece released the 4-track ''Long Distance Runner EP'' in May 2007 and their third full length album ''Local Kid'' on 29 September 2008. ''Local Kid'' was produced by Australian producer Tony Cohen.

Current members

Julia Deans (vocals and guitar)

Andrew Bain (bass)

Simon Braxton (drums)

Past members

Steve Wells (guitar)

Discography

Date of Release	Title	Label	Charted	Country	Catalog Number
		Wishbone Music	17	-
		Wishbone Music	7	NZ
		Universal Music Australia	31	NZ
		Tardus	-	-
		Tardus	-	-

Singles

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External links

Fur Patrol's MySpace page

All Those Other Stupid Things

Club Fur - Yahoo Group established in 1999

Category:New Zealand musical groups

pl:Fur Patrol

name	Clint Walker
birth name	Norman Eugene Walker
birth date	May 30, 1927
birth place	Hartford, Illinois, United States
website	http://www.clintwalker.com/
years active	1954 - present
spouse	Susan Cavallari (1997-present)Giselle Hennessy (1974-1994) (her death)Verna Garver (1948-1968) (divorced) 1 child
notable role	Cheyenne Bodie in ''Cheyenne'' }}

Norman Eugene Walker, known as Clint Walker (born May 30, 1927), is an American actor best known for his cowboy role as "Cheyenne Bodie" in the TV Western series, ''Cheyenne''.

Biography

Walker was born in Hartford, Illinois; he was a twin, and is of one-quarter Cherokee descent. He left school to work at a factory and on a river boat, then joined the United States Merchant Marine at the age of seventeen in the last months of World War II. After leaving the Merchant Marine, he labored at odd jobs in Brownwood, Texas, Long Beach, California, and Las Vegas, where he worked as a doorman at the Sands Hotel. He also was employed as a sheet-metal worker and a nightclub bouncer.

In Los Angeles, he was hired by Cecil B. DeMille to appear in ''The Ten Commandments''. A friend in the film industry helped get him a few bit parts that brought him to the attention of Warner Bros., which was developing a western style television series.

Walker's good looks and imposing physique, he stood 6 feet, 6 inches (198 cm) tall with a 48-inch chest and a 32-inch waist, helped him to land an audition where he won the lead role in the TV series ''Cheyenne''. Billed as "Clint" Walker, he was cast as Cheyenne Bodie, a cowboy hero in the post-American Civil War era. While the series regularly capitalized on Walker's rugged frame with frequent bare-chested scenes, it was well-written and acted. It proved hugely popular for eight seasons on the ABC television network. Walker's pleasant baritone singing voice was also occasionally utilized on the series and led Warner Brothers to produce an album of Walker doing traditional songs and ballads.

Walker then played roles in several big-screen films, including a trio of westerns for Gordon Douglas - ''Fort Dobbs'' in 1958, ''Yellowstone Kelly'' in 1959, and ''Gold of the Seven Saints'' in 1961, the comedy ''Send Me No Flowers'' in 1964, the actual leading role despite being billed under Frank Sinatra in the wartime drama ''None But the Brave'' in 1965, ''The Night of the Grizzly'' in 1966, and as the meek convict Samson Posey, in the war drama ''The Dirty Dozen'' in 1967. In 1969, New York Times film critic Howard Thompson, in reviewing Walker's performance in the movie ''More Dead Than Alive'', described the actor as "a big, fine-looking chap and about as live-looking as any man could be. And there is something winning about his taciturn earnestness as an actor, although real emotion seldom breaks through". In 1958, Thompson described the actor, then starring in ''Fort Dobbs'', as "the biggest, finest-looking Western hero ever to sag a horse, with a pair of shoulders rivaling King Kong's".

During the 1970s he returned to television, starring in a number of made-for-TV western films as well as a short-lived series in 1974 called ''Kodiak''. He starred in the made-for-television cult film ''Killdozer!'' the same year. In 1998, he voiced Nick Nitro in the film ''Small Soldiers''. In December 2009, several internet movie websites had indicated that Sylvester Stallone had or was about to make an approach to Walker to come out of retirement to play the father of John Rambo in Stallone's forthcoming film Rambo V.

Literary pursuits

Walker met western author Kirby Jonas through James Drury, a mutual friend. Jonas and Walker subsequently spent two years collaborating on a story idea suggested by Walker involving gold and the Yaqui, a partnership that led to the publication of the 2003 Western novel ''Yaqui Gold'' (ISBN 978-1-891423-08-6).

Honors

Clint Walker has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1505 Vine Street, near its intersection with Sunset Boulevard (approximate coordinates: ).

In 2004, he was inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Personal life

Walker has been married to:

Verna Garver, married 1948, divorced 1968. They had one daughter, Valerie (born 1950).

Giselle Hennessy, married 1974, died 1994.

Susan Cavallari, married 1997.

Walker's twin sister, Neoma L. "Lucy" Westbrook (born May 30, 1927), died November 11, 2000 at her residence in Hartford, Illinois, aged 73.

Walker currently lives in Grass Valley, California.

Walker, who is on the political right, is an occasional guest on ''The Mark Levin Show'' to discuss politics.

Filmography

1954 - Jungle Gents

1956 - The Ten Commandments

1958 - Fort Dobbs

1959 - Yellowstone Kelly

1961 - Gold of the Seven Saints

1964 - Send Me No Flowers

1965 - None But the Brave

1966 - The Night of the Grizzly

1966 - Maya

1967 - The Dirty Dozen

1969 - More Dead Than Alive

1969 - Sam Whiskey

1969 - The Great Bank Robbery

1971 - Yuma (TV)

1972 - Hardcase (TV)

1972 - Pancho Villa

1972 - The Bounty Man (TV)

1974 - Scream of the Wolf (TV)

1974 - Killdozer! (TV)

1977 - The White Buffalo

1977 - Deadly Harvest

1977 - Centennial (TV mini-series)

1977 - Snowbeast (TV)

1983 - Hysterical

1983 - Love Boat - guest star, episode, "Friend of the Family/Affair on Demand/Just Another Pretty Face"

1985 - The Serpent Warriors

1985 - All American Cowboy (TV)

1991 - The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw (TV movie) - guest star as Cheyenne Bodie

1993 - Tropical Heat (TV) - guest star, episode "The Last of the Magnificent"

1995 - Kung Fu: The Legend Continues (TV) - guest star as Cheyenne Bodie, episode "Gunfighters"

1998 - Small Soldiers - Voice only

See also

Cheyenne (game)

References

External links

Official website

"Clint Walker: Top Gun of Warner's TV" by Herb Fagen (1999 interview) @ ''Classic Images'' magazine, issue # 212, p. 12

"Belleville had its share of fame: Nice guy Clint Walker became Hollywood hunk" by Jaime Ingle - ''News-Democrat'' (Wednesday, June 18, 2008)

"Cowboy actor inspires local Western writer" - From the ''Idaho State Journal'' - December 2003

"Actor Clint Walker to be Inducted into National Cowboy Museum's Hall of Great Western Performers" - March 3, 2004 - National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum

Category:1927 births Category:Living people Category:American television actors Category:American film actors Category:Western (genre) film actors Category:American military personnel of World War II Category:American sailors Category:American people of Cherokee descent Category:People from Madison County, Illinois

de:Clint Walker es:Clint Walker fr:Clint Walker pl:Clint Walker simple:Clint Walker fi:Clint Walker

name	Mark Reed Levin
birth date	September 21, 1957
birth place	Pennsylvania
show	The Mark Levin Show
network	Citadel Media
timeslot	6-9 p.m. EST
style	Talk radio
country	United States
religion	Judaism
web	http://marklevinshow.com }}

Mark Reed Levin (born September 21, 1957) was appointed to the Reagan administration and is a lawyer, author and the host of American syndicated radio show ''The Mark Levin Show.'' He is president of the Landmark Legal Foundation, has authored bestselling books and contributes commentary to various media outlets such as ''National Review Online'' where he is a currently credited author.

Biography

Mark R. Levin grew up in Cheltenham Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Levin graduated from Cheltenham High School and holds a bachelor of arts from Temple University, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude. Levin also earned a juris doctorate from Temple University Beasley School of Law.

Beginning in 1981, Levin served as advisor to several members of President Ronald Reagan's cabinet, eventually becoming Associate Director of Presidential Personnel and ultimately Chief of Staff to Attorney General Edwin Meese; Levin also served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education at the U.S. Department of Education, and Deputy Solicitor of the U.S. Department of the Interior.

He practiced law in the private sector and is president of Landmark Legal Foundation, a conservative public interest law firm founded in 1976 and based in Leesburg, Virginia.

Levin is married with two children. He has never revealed the names of his two children, requesting that the public respect their privacy.

Levin has participated in Freedom Concerts, an annual benefit concert to aid families of fallen soldiers, and he uses his radio program to promote same. Levin is also involved with Troopathon, a charity which sends care packages to soldiers serving overseas.

In 2001, the American Conservative Union awarded Levin its Ronald Reagan Award.

Radio broadcasting

Levin began his broadcast career as a guest on conservative talk radio programs. For many years he was a frequent contributor of legal opinions to ''The Rush Limbaugh Show'', where Limbaugh referred to him on-air as "F. Lee Levin," a tongue-in-cheek reference to the famous defense attorney F. Lee Bailey. He was also a contributor to ''The Sean Hannity Show'' and eventually got a radio slot of his own on WABC, following Sean Hannity's program. Hannity has nicknamed Mark Levin "The Great One". Levin and Hannity remain frequent contributors to each other's programs.

Writer

''Men In Black: How The Supreme Court is Destroying America''

Levin authored the bestselling book, ''Men In Black: How The Supreme Court Is Destroying America'' in 2005, in which Levin advanced his thesis that activist judges on the Supreme Court (from all parts of the political spectrum) have "legislated from the bench." In her review of ''Men in Black'', ''Slate'' magazine's legal correspondent and Canadian journalist Dahlia Lithwick wrote that "no serious scholar of the court or the Constitution, on the ideological left or right, is going to waste their time engaging Levin's arguments once they've read this book." In contrast, a review in the ''Defense Counsel Journal'' described ''Men in Black'' as "a forceful indictment of what Levin identifies as an increasingly 'activist' court for amending our national Constitution in the guise of construing it."

''Rescuing Sprite: A Dog Lover's Story of Joy and Anguish''

In 2007, Levin released a book about his dogs, Pepsi and Sprite. Specifically, the book was about Sprite, a Spaniel mix that his wife and son persuaded him to adopt from the local shelter in 2004. The book was titled ''Rescuing Sprite: A Dog Lover's Story of Joy and Anguish''. ''Rescuing Sprite'' chronicles Sprite’s health deterioration in 2006 and how Levin and his family dealt with their loss.

''Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto''

''Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto'' was released on March 24, 2009, and became a No. 1 New York Times best seller for eleven of twelve weeks, as well as No. 1 on Nielsen's BookScan. It comes in at No. 2 on Amazon.com's list of bestselling books of 2009. The book includes discussion of a variety of issues that, according to Levin, need to be addressed in the United States. ''Liberty and Tyranny'' has sold over one million copies according to Threshold Editions, the book's publisher. Former federal prosecutor and fellow National Review Online author Andrew C. McCarthy wrote of ''Liberty and Tyranny'' in ''The New Criterion'':

Taking a contrary view, Steve Almond of ''Salon'' wrote that

References

External links

Mark Levin Show, The Official Mark Levin Website

marklevinshow Twitter feed

The Official Mark Levin Show Audio Rewind

Landmark Legal Foundation

Mark Levin is on the air from NationalReview.com

Category:American broadcast news analysts Category:American columnists Category:American Jews Category:American political pundits Category:Pennsylvania lawyers Category:American political writers Category:The American Spectator people Category:American talk radio hosts Category:Conservatism in the United States Category:National Review people Category:School board members in the United States Category:People from Montgomery County, Pennsylvania Category:Radio programs on XM Radio Category:Reagan Administration personnel Category:Temple University alumni Category:Temple University Beasley School of Law alumni Category:United States Department of Education officials Category:1957 births Category:Living people

sh:Mark Levin yi:מארק לעווין

name	Barbara Stanwyck
birth name	Ruby Catherine Stevens
birth date	July 16, 1907
birth place	Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
death date	January 20, 1990
death place	Santa Monica, California, U.S.
occupation	Actress
years active	1927–86
spouse	Frank Fay (1928–35)Robert Taylor (1939–51) }}

Barbara Stanwyck (July 16, 1907 – January 20, 1990) was an American actress. A film and television star, known during her 60-year career as a consummate and versatile professional with a strong screen presence, and a favorite of directors including Cecil B. DeMille, Fritz Lang and Frank Capra. After a short but notable career as a stage actress in the late 1920s, she made 85 films in 38 years in Hollywood, before turning to television.

Stanwyck was nominated for the Academy Award four times, and won three Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe. She was the recipient of honorary lifetime awards from the Motion Picture Academy, the Film Society of Lincoln Center, the Golden Globes, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, and the Screen Actors Guild, has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and is ranked as the eleventh greatest female star of all time by the American Film Institute.

Early life and career

Barbara Stanwyck was born Ruby Catherine Stevens in Brooklyn, New York on July 16, 1907. She was the fifth and youngest child of Byron and Catherine (née McGee) Stevens; the couple were working-class natives of Chelsea, Massachusetts, of English and Irish extraction, respectively. When Ruby was four, her mother was killed when a drunken stranger pushed her off a moving streetcar. Two weeks after the funeral, Byron Stevens joined a work crew digging the Panama canal; and was never seen again. Ruby and her brother Byron were raised by their elder sister Mildred, five years Ruby's senior. When Mildred got a job as a John Cort showgirl, Ruby and Byron were placed in a series of foster homes (as many as four in a year), from which Ruby often ran away. Ruby attended various public schools in Brooklyn, where she received uniformly poor grades and routinely picked fights with the other students.

During the summers of 1916 and 1917, Ruby toured with Mildred, and practiced her sister's routines backstage. Another influence toward performing was watching the movies of Pearl White, whom Ruby idolized. At age 14, she dropped out of school to take a job wrapping packages at a Brooklyn department store. Soon after she took a job filing cards at the Brooklyn telephone office for a salary of $14 a week, a salary that allowed her to become financially independent. She disliked both jobs; she was interested in show business, but her sister Mildred discouraged the idea, so Ruby next took a job cutting dress patterns for ''Vogue'', however customers complained about her work and she was fired. Her next job was as a typist for the Jerome H. Remick Music Company, a job she reportedly enjoyed; however her true interest was still show business and her sister gave up trying to dissuade her.

In 1923, a few months short of her 16th birthday, Ruby auditioned for a place in the chorus at the Strand Roof, a night club over the Strand Theatre in Times Square. A few months thereafter she obtained a job as a Ziegfeld girl in the 1922 and 1923 editions of the Ziegfeld Follies. For the next several years, she worked as a chorus girl, performing from midnight to seven a.m. at nightclubs owned by Texas Guinan; she also occasionally served as a dance instructor at a speakeasy for gays and lesbians owned by Guinan.

In 1926, Ruby was introduced to Willard Mack by Billy LaHiff, who owned a popular pub frequented by showpeople. Mack was casting his play ''The Noose''; LaHiff suggested that the part of the chorus girl could be played by a real chorus girl, and Mack agreed to let Ruby audition. Ruby obtained the part, but the play was not a success. In a bid to add pathos to the drama, Ruby's part was expanded. At the suggestion of either Mack or David Belasco, Ruby adopted the stage name of Barbara Stanwyck; the "Barbara" came from Barbara Frietchie and the "Stanwyck" from English actress Jane Stanwyck. ''The Noose'' re-opened on October 20, 1926, became one of the most successful of the season, running for nine months and 197 performances. Stanwyck co-starred with actors Rex Cherryman and Wilfred Lucas.

Her performance in ''The Noose'' earned rave reviews, and she was summoned by film producer Bob Kane to make a screen test for his upcoming 1927 silent film ''Broadway Nights'' where she won a minor part of a fan dancer after losing out on the lead role, because she could not cry during the screen test. This marked Stanwyck's first film appearance. She played her first lead part on stage that year in ''Burlesque''; the play was critically panned, but Stanwyck's performance netted her rave reviews. While playing in ''Burlesque'', Stanwyck was introduced to actor Frank Fay by Oscar Levant; Stanwyck and Fay both later claimed they had hated each other immediately, but became close after the sudden death of fellow actor Rex Cherryman at the age of 30. Cherryman had become ill early in 1928, and his doctor had advised a sea voyage; while on a ship to Paris, where he and Stanwyck had arranged to meet, Cherryman died of septic poisoning. Stanwyck and Fay married on August 26, 1928, and moved to Hollywood.

Film career

Stanwyck's first sound film was ''The Locked Door'' (1929), followed by ''Mexicali Rose'' in 1929. Neither film was successful; nonetheless, Frank Capra chose Stanwyck for his ''Ladies of Leisure'' (1930). Numerous memorable roles followed, among them the children's nurse who saves two would be juvenile murder victims in ''Night Nurse'' (1931), the ambitious woman from "the wrong side of the tracks" in ''Baby Face'' (1933), the self-sacrificing mother in ''Stella Dallas'' (1937), the con artist who falls for her would-be victim (played by Henry Fonda) in ''The Lady Eve'' (1941), the woman who talks an infatuated insurance salesman (Fred McMurray) into killing her husband in ''Double Indemnity'' (1944), the columnist caught up in white lies and Christmas romance in ''Christmas in Connecticut'' (1945) and the doomed wife in ''Sorry, Wrong Number'' (1948). Stanwyck was reportedly one of the many actresses considered for the role of Scarlett O'Hara in ''Gone With The Wind'' (1939), although she wasn't given a screen test. In 1944, Stanwyck was the highest-paid woman in the United States.

Pauline Kael described Stanwyck's acting, "[she] seems to have an intuitive understanding of the fluid physical movements that work best on camera" and in reference to her early 1930s film work "early talkies sentimentality ... only emphasizes Stanwyck's remarkable modernism."

Stanwyck was known for her accessibility and kindness to the backstage crew on any film set. She knew the names of their wives and children, and asked after them by name. Frank Capra said she was "destined to be beloved by all directors, actors, crews and extras. In a Hollywood popularity contest she would win first prize hands down."

Television career

When Stanwyck's film career declined in 1957, she moved to television. Her – series ''The Barbara Stanwyck Show'' was not a ratings success but earned her first Emmy Award. The – Western series ''The Big Valley'' on ABC made her one of the most popular actresses on television, winning her another Emmy. She was billed as "Miss Barbara Stanwyck", and her role as frontier family matron Victoria Barkley was likened to that of Ben Cartwright, played by Lorne Greene in the series ''Bonanza''. Stanwyck's costars included Richard Long as Jarrod Thomas Barkley, (who had been in Stanwyck's 1953 film ''All I Desire''), Peter Breck as the hot headed Nick Barkley, Linda Evans as the seductress Audra Barkley, and Lee Majors as Heath Barkley, the son fathered out-of-wedlock by the Stanwyck character's husband.

Years later, Stanwyck earned her third Emmy for ''The Thorn Birds''. In , she made three guest appearances on the hit primetime soap opera ''Dynasty'' prior to the launch of its ill-fated spin-off series ''The Colbys'' in which she starred alongside Charlton Heston, Stephanie Beacham and Katharine Ross. Unhappy with the experience, Stanwyck remained with the series for only one season (it lasted for two), and her role as Constance Colby Patterson would prove to be her last. Earl Hamner Jr. (producer of ''The Waltons'') had initially wanted Stanwyck for the lead role of Angela Channing on the successful 1980s soap opera, ''Falcon Crest'', but she turned it down; the role was ultimately given to her best friend Jane Wyman.

William Holden credited her with saving his career when they co-starred in ''Golden Boy'' (1939). They remained lifelong friends. When Stanwyck and Holden were presenting the Best Sound Oscar, Holden paused to pay a special tribute to Stanwyck. Shortly after Holden's death, Stanwyck returned the favor. Upon receiving her honorary Oscar, she said aloud: "And tonight, my golden boy, you got your wish."

Personal life

Her first husband was actor Frank Fay. They were married on August 26, 1928. On December 5, 1932, they adopted a son, Dion Anthony "Tony" Fay. (He and Stanwyck eventually became estranged.) The marriage was a troubled one; Fay's successful career on Broadway did not translate to the big screen, whereas Stanwyck achieved Hollywood stardom, after a bumpy start. Fay did not shy from physical confrontations with his young wife, especially when he was inebriated. Some claim that this union was the basis for ''A Star is Born''. The couple divorced on December 30, 1935. Subsequently, Stanwyck won custody of their adoptive son.

In 1936, while making the film ''His Brother's Wife'', Stanwyck met and fell in love with her co-star, Robert Taylor. Following a whirlwind romance, the couple began living together. Their 1939 marriage was arranged with the help of Taylor's studio MGM, a common practice in Hollywood's golden age. She and Taylor enjoyed time together outdoors during the early years of their marriage, and were the owners of acres of prime West Los Angeles property. Their large ranch and home in the Mandeville Canyon section of Brentwood, Los Angeles is to this day referred to by locals as the old "Robert Taylor ranch".

Taylor reportedly had affairs during the marriage. When Stanwyck learned of Taylor's fling with Lana Turner, she filed for divorce in 1950 when a starlet made Turner's romance with Taylor public. The decree was granted on February 21, 1951. After the divorce, they acted together in Stanwyck's last feature film ''The Night Walker'' (1964). Stanwyck never remarried, collecting alimony of 15 percent of Taylor's salary until his death in 1969.

Stanwyck had an affair with actor Robert Wagner, whom she met on the set of ''Titanic''. Wagner, who was 22, and Stanwyck, who was 45 at the beginning of the affair, had a four-year romance, as described in Wagner's 2008 memoir, ''Pieces of My Heart''. Stanwyck broke off the relationship.

She was reportedly a conservative-minded Republican along with such contemporaries as William Holden, Ginger Rogers, and Gary Cooper.

Later years

Stanwyck's retirement years were active, with charity work outside the limelight. Her decline began after she was robbed and assaulted inside her Beverly Hills home in 1981. The following year, while filming ''The Thorn Birds'', the inhalation of special-effects smoke on the set caused her to contract bronchitis. The illness was compounded by her cigarette habit; she had been a smoker since age 9 until four years before her death.

Death

Stanwyck died of congestive heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease at Saint John's Health Center, in Santa Monica, California, in 1990. Her body was cremated, and her ashes scattered in Lone Pine, California.

Filmography

Awards and honors

Academy Awards

1938 - ''nominated'' - "Best Actress in a Leading Role" - ''Stella Dallas''

1942 - ''nominated'' - "Best Actress in a Leading Role" - ''Ball of Fire''

1945 - ''nominated'' - "Best Actress in a Leading Role" - ''Double Indemnity''

1949 - ''nominated'' - "Best Actress in a Leading Role" - ''Sorry, Wrong Number''

1982 - ''won'' - Honorary Award: "For superlative creativity and unique contribution to the art of screen acting."

Emmy Awards

1961 - ''won'' - "Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Series (Lead)" - ''The Barbara Stanwyck Show''

1966 - ''won'' - "Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Dramatic Series" - ''The Big Valley''

1967 - ''nominated'' - "Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Dramatic Series" - ''The Big Valley''

1968 - ''nominated'' - "Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Dramatic Series" - ''The Big Valley''

1983 - ''won'' "Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or a Special" - ''The Thorn Birds'' (part 1)

Golden Globes

1966 - ''nominated'' - "Best TV Star - Female" - ''The Big Valley''

1967 - ''nominated'' - "Best TV Star - Female" - ''The Big Valley''

1968 - ''nominated'' - "Best TV Star - Female" - ''The Big Valley''

1984 - ''won'' - "Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV" - ''The Thorn Birds''

1986 - ''won'' - Cecil B. DeMille Award

Other awards

1967 - ''won'' - Screen Actors Guild - Life Achievement Award

1981 - ''won'' - Film Society of Lincoln Center - Gala Tribute

1981 - ''won'' - Los Angeles Film Critics Association - Career Achievement Award

1987 - ''won'' - American Film Institute - Life Achievement Award

Hollywood Walk of Fame - star at 1751 Vine Street

In 1973, she was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Notes

Bibliography

Bachardy, Don. ''Stars in My Eyes.'' University of Wisconsin Press, 2000. ISBN 0299167305.

Balio, Tino. ''Grand design: Hollywood as a modern business enterprise, 1930-1939'' University of California Press, 1995; ISBN 0520203348.

"A Century of Stanwyck." ''The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)'' by John Beifuss on July 16, 2007

Chierichetti, David, and Edith Head. ''Edith Head: the life and times of Hollywood's celebrated costume designer''. HarperCollins, 2003. ISBN 0060567406.

Eyman, Scott. "The Lady Stanwyck". ''The Palm Beach Post (FL)'', July 15, 2007. pg. 1J; accessed through Access World News on 16 June 2009.

Flint, Peter B. "Barbara Stanwyck, Actress, Dead at 82.", ''The New York Times''. January 22, 1990; pg. D11.

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Lesser, Wendy. ''His Other Half: Men Looking at Women Through Art''. Harvard University Press, 1992; ISBN 0674392116.

Madsen, Axel. ''Stanwyck: A Biography''. HarperCollins, 1994. ISBN 006017997X.

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Schackel, Sandra. "Barbara Stanwyck: Uncommon Heroine." In ''Back in the saddle: essays on Western film and television actors.'' McFarland Publishing, 1998; ISBN 078640566X.

"The Rumble: An Off-the-Ball Look at Your Favorite Sports Celebrities", ''New York Post'', December 31, 2006; accessed June 16, 2009.

External links

That Old Feeling: Ruby in the Rough Time Magazine, 2001

Saluting Stanwyck: A Life On Film Los Angeles Times, 1987

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