March 4
MIC DAY
This day is celebrated by disc jockeys, TV hosts, movie stars, department store announcers, rock groups, politicians and many, many others. For it was on this day in 1877 that Emile Berliner, the man behind so many inventions, came up with a thing called the microphone. Good thing, too, because the Bell System, run by Alexander Graham Bell, was in desperate need of something to save it from financial ruin -- and to help the progress of the telephone.
So, the Bell Labs came up with a compact way to put Mr. Berliner’s microphone on a wooden box, with a crank, an earpiece, a cradle hook for the earpiece and some wires, and called it the telephone.
There was no such thing as a telephone dial. One rang up ‘Jenny’ (the operator) with three turns on the crank. That got her to put a cord into the switchboard connecting you directly to the phone you were calling. Because of the microphone, people could hear you speak. Neat, huh?
And in 1957, operators in upstate New York (90 miles from Manhattan) and other somewhat rural areas throughout the U.S. were still saying, “Number, plee-uz” into their little mouthpiece microphones attached to headsets.
Even as late as the 1980s, the average Joe would shy away when a microphone was stuck in his face. Today, with all the amazing electronic gadgets we have, hardly a soul is afraid of a microphone. Witness karaoke!
Those Were the Days, the Today in History service from 440 International
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