WEBVTT - TechStuff Classic: The AT&T Story - Part Two 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:12.399 Welcome to Tech Stuff production from I Heart Radio. Hey there, 0:00:12.400 --> 0:00:15.160 and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. 0:00:15.160 --> 0:00:17.200 I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio and a 0:00:17.280 --> 0:00:20.520 love of all things tech. And we are continuing our 0:00:20.720 --> 0:00:24.840 look back in the classic episode archive with the A 0:00:25.000 --> 0:00:27.880 T and T Story. Now, last week we published or 0:00:27.960 --> 0:00:31.040 republished the A T and T Story Part one. This week, 0:00:31.520 --> 0:00:34.360 surprise surprise, it's the A T and T Story Part two. 0:00:34.560 --> 0:00:38.960 Originally this published on November six, two thousand thirteen. Let's 0:00:39.000 --> 0:00:41.920 listen in. How about an episode on the history of 0:00:41.920 --> 0:00:45.800 A T and T, especially the deregulation of the telco industry. Now, 0:00:45.840 --> 0:00:48.120 of course we already talked about the founding of A 0:00:48.200 --> 0:00:50.960 T and T, but and how it started off kind 0:00:51.000 --> 0:00:53.960 of as a natural monopoly. Um, now we're going to 0:00:54.080 --> 0:00:57.960 really look into how that continued and how the United 0:00:57.960 --> 0:01:01.440 States government began to uh put the brakes on A 0:01:01.560 --> 0:01:03.400 T and T a little bit, all right, because at 0:01:03.400 --> 0:01:05.240 the beginning they had kind of been saying, you know, 0:01:05.440 --> 0:01:07.920 you guys have this terrific infrastructure, you go on and 0:01:07.959 --> 0:01:10.960 build that. That's terrific, right, This would be incredibly useful 0:01:11.040 --> 0:01:13.280 for the United States and so and then, and they 0:01:13.280 --> 0:01:15.120 took it over just for example, during World War One, 0:01:15.120 --> 0:01:17.440 which we talked about in the first episode, government said 0:01:17.480 --> 0:01:19.400 let's just take over this for a little bit, and 0:01:19.440 --> 0:01:22.720 then returned it barely used just a couple of years later. 0:01:23.560 --> 0:01:26.319 So we left off in the twenties. So we're picking 0:01:26.400 --> 0:01:29.160 up right around nineteen twenty four, which is when A 0:01:29.480 --> 0:01:33.959 T and T developed something that frankly, I was shocked 0:01:34.000 --> 0:01:36.480 at how early the development for this technology came. I 0:01:36.680 --> 0:01:40.360 didn't expect to see this. It's a telephotography, which is 0:01:40.400 --> 0:01:45.280 also called a fax machine in goods. Yeah, I had 0:01:45.280 --> 0:01:49.320 no idea. Yeah, people were faxing goofy little pictures of 0:01:49.320 --> 0:01:53.400 of early twentieth century folklore back and forth, you know, 0:01:53.480 --> 0:01:56.320 letting people know that if you if you forward this 0:01:56.520 --> 0:01:59.120 one letter, Rockefeller will give you free M and m's 0:01:59.200 --> 0:02:01.600 or something. I don't I I don't think that's what 0:02:01.680 --> 0:02:04.320 was actually being facts at the time. I honestly, UH 0:02:04.760 --> 0:02:07.200 just made all that up because it didn't research that. 0:02:07.280 --> 0:02:09.240 But then I don't know what the first facts was, 0:02:10.000 --> 0:02:12.880 hopefully not not some sort of email scam. We should 0:02:12.880 --> 0:02:14.280 do we should do another. I think we actually got 0:02:14.320 --> 0:02:16.959 a request for a facts related episode we should totally 0:02:17.000 --> 0:02:18.960 look into that. Sometimes we should do one about facts 0:02:19.000 --> 0:02:21.200 machines and one on facts lore, which is kind of 0:02:21.200 --> 0:02:24.959 the predecessor to the Internet email memes that we see 0:02:25.000 --> 0:02:30.080 today or Facebook games exactly. Okay, So things that we 0:02:30.120 --> 0:02:33.920 do know about Bell Telephone Laboratories Incorporated open for business, 0:02:34.040 --> 0:02:36.640 that is, that is Bell's R and D Lab, which 0:02:36.639 --> 0:02:38.880 would come out with some of the most important pieces 0:02:38.880 --> 0:02:42.720 of technology of the twentieth century. Exactly. Yes, Bell Labs 0:02:42.960 --> 0:02:47.160 famous for their research. And here's the thing is that 0:02:47.120 --> 0:02:50.160 the research that Bell Labs did was not always directly 0:02:50.240 --> 0:02:53.120 related to the telephone industry, at least not in a 0:02:53.160 --> 0:02:55.120 way that you could tell from the surface. But but 0:02:55.240 --> 0:02:59.960 down the line would become critical. Exactly. It's it's instrument 0:03:00.000 --> 0:03:02.800 at all in the way telephones work today. Now. Nineteen 0:03:02.800 --> 0:03:06.040 twenty six, that's when Bell Labs and Western Electric begin 0:03:06.120 --> 0:03:09.960 to make sound equipment for these crazy moving pictures that 0:03:10.040 --> 0:03:13.840 are coming out of the Hollywood these days. That's crazy. Yeah, 0:03:14.120 --> 0:03:17.680 so obviously not too far from the whole idea of 0:03:17.720 --> 0:03:20.920 transmitting sound. Now it's recording and playing back sound in 0:03:20.960 --> 0:03:24.639 a way that works in a synchronized fashion with moving pictures. 0:03:25.160 --> 0:03:29.960 Nineteen seven A T and T begins trans atlantic telephone 0:03:30.000 --> 0:03:33.040 service between London and the United States. But they don't 0:03:33.040 --> 0:03:35.600 have a cable. There's no cable connecting the US in 0:03:35.680 --> 0:03:38.560 London at this point. That would be via a radio signal. Yeah, 0:03:38.680 --> 0:03:40.960 and uh, it was, you know, it was. It was 0:03:41.000 --> 0:03:43.720 a slight a little expensive to make a phone call. 0:03:44.960 --> 0:03:48.080 It was seventy five bucks for three minutes. Yeah, which 0:03:48.280 --> 0:03:50.640 if you're looking at nineteen twenty seven dollars and then 0:03:50.640 --> 0:03:52.880 you compare them to today's dollars. I I used the 0:03:52.920 --> 0:03:55.880 Bureau of Labor Statistics, which uses the Consumer Price Index 0:03:55.960 --> 0:03:58.600 two factor in how much stuff costs from one era 0:03:58.640 --> 0:04:02.600 to another. According to that, that would be about a 0:04:02.800 --> 0:04:06.280 thousand and eight dollars for those three minutes. So if 0:04:06.320 --> 0:04:09.320 you've got an extremely important phone call right to your 0:04:09.320 --> 0:04:13.600 British buddy, or if you're in London your Yankee friend, yeah, 0:04:13.680 --> 0:04:18.240 that's pretty much. That's that's pretty expensive. UM ninety nine, 0:04:18.279 --> 0:04:21.800 Bell Labs broadcast the first public demonstration of a color 0:04:21.960 --> 0:04:26.440 television picture. That's early too. Yeah, and it was. The 0:04:27.400 --> 0:04:31.000 thing they showed was a telephone operator, of course, dressed 0:04:31.040 --> 0:04:34.480 in a colorful costume. And uh, A T and T 0:04:34.680 --> 0:04:37.719 researchers that year filed a patent for coaxial cable for 0:04:37.839 --> 0:04:41.000 broadband transmission. As of that year, there are more than 0:04:41.040 --> 0:04:44.320 twenty million phones in the United States, and fifteen point 0:04:44.360 --> 0:04:47.840 four million of those are operated by Bell. UH and 0:04:48.000 --> 0:04:52.720 they've got how many four hundred and fifty thousand employees 0:04:52.760 --> 0:04:55.839 They started off with one Thomas Watson. UH. Now they're 0:04:56.160 --> 0:04:59.120 up to four hundred and fifty thousand. Of course Watson 0:04:59.200 --> 0:05:01.760 was no longer with a company at that point, but 0:05:01.880 --> 0:05:05.320 at any rate, Yeah, it's pretty amazing. And so nineteen 0:05:05.440 --> 0:05:09.719 thirty Bill starts to hold demonstrations to teach customers how 0:05:09.800 --> 0:05:13.960 to use dial service, the rotary dial, right, because before that, 0:05:14.000 --> 0:05:15.880 whenever you picked up a phone, you would reach an 0:05:15.880 --> 0:05:18.279 operator and you tell the operator where you wanted to 0:05:18.279 --> 0:05:20.360 place your call. They would find out how to root 0:05:20.400 --> 0:05:22.719 it and do it for you. And UH, I think 0:05:22.720 --> 0:05:24.440 in the nine twenties they were starting to get into 0:05:24.480 --> 0:05:27.000 some electro mechanical systems that would do that for you 0:05:27.640 --> 0:05:29.960 but or for the operators, but you still had to 0:05:29.960 --> 0:05:31.800 talk to an operator to get your call to where 0:05:31.800 --> 0:05:34.080 it was going. This was the first time that you 0:05:34.080 --> 0:05:36.880 would use a number a data set to tell the 0:05:36.960 --> 0:05:39.120 phone what you wanted to do, right, So this is 0:05:39.160 --> 0:05:41.760 where people started to get phone numbers and you would 0:05:41.800 --> 0:05:45.800 start to dial numbers and uh and all the all 0:05:45.839 --> 0:05:49.560 the switching was handled by electro mechanical switches at that 0:05:49.640 --> 0:05:52.240 point forward. But you had to teach people how to 0:05:52.279 --> 0:05:55.040 do this because it was new. No one had ever 0:05:55.120 --> 0:05:57.040 had to do it before. And I don't know how 0:05:57.080 --> 0:05:59.560 many of our listeners are familiar with the old rotary 0:05:59.640 --> 0:06:03.960 dial phones. Dialing on those could be really fun if 0:06:03.960 --> 0:06:06.159 you were a kid, but if you were an adult 0:06:06.240 --> 0:06:09.080 making the Earth fifth or six phone call that day, 0:06:09.480 --> 0:06:11.279 you just sit there and hope that none of the 0:06:11.360 --> 0:06:14.920 numbers you had to call were in that nine range. Yeah, 0:06:15.040 --> 0:06:17.720 where you know, you dial and you just the whole 0:06:17.880 --> 0:06:20.040 thing click click ci ci cick click cick cick click. 0:06:20.520 --> 0:06:24.600 Good times. So by nineteen thirty two, Bell had was 0:06:24.640 --> 0:06:30.240 in control of seventy nine percent of national telecommunications market 0:06:30.279 --> 0:06:34.000 in the United States. They had made acquisitions throughout those 0:06:34.080 --> 0:06:37.880 years and had bought up smaller companies, so nearly of 0:06:38.000 --> 0:06:41.720 all telecommunications in the US falls under that's an effectively 0:06:41.720 --> 0:06:44.720 a monopoly, Oh sure, right right, And it's also up 0:06:44.760 --> 0:06:49.760 from what's that about only a few years ago. So yeah, 0:06:49.800 --> 0:06:53.680 so they were, they were continuing to grow, and they 0:06:53.680 --> 0:06:58.000 were already practically the only game in town. So and 0:06:58.279 --> 0:07:01.960 a monopoly doesn't have to really be the only business, right. 0:07:02.000 --> 0:07:04.520 You don't have to be just the only one out 0:07:04.560 --> 0:07:06.920 there offering something. To have a monopoly, you just have 0:07:07.000 --> 0:07:11.080 to be so large that no one can realistically compete 0:07:11.120 --> 0:07:15.080 with you on any similar level. So let's say, for example, 0:07:15.480 --> 0:07:20.239 that Google were to to completely dominate search. They're they're 0:07:20.280 --> 0:07:22.840 pretty far in the lead. Let's say they completely dominated 0:07:22.880 --> 0:07:27.320 to the point where no other search engine is even close. 0:07:27.840 --> 0:07:30.640 Then Google would have to start worrying about being identified 0:07:30.680 --> 0:07:33.520 as a monopoly. And this is the funny thing is 0:07:33.880 --> 0:07:38.440 this doesn't necessarily mean that people are practicing unfair you know, tactics. 0:07:38.640 --> 0:07:40.840 That just may mean that the way they do business 0:07:40.920 --> 0:07:42.880 was the way that resonated with a lot of people. 0:07:43.280 --> 0:07:45.640 So you can have different views of monopolies. You can 0:07:45.680 --> 0:07:48.480 either see people trying their best to try and grab 0:07:48.600 --> 0:07:50.520 up as much as the pie as possible, or you 0:07:50.560 --> 0:07:52.720 just see people just doing a really good job and 0:07:52.760 --> 0:07:54.600 then being punished for it. So there are two sides 0:07:54.640 --> 0:07:57.240 to this coin. I think in this case, in particular, 0:07:57.360 --> 0:08:01.160 it was due to that entire government regulation of basically 0:08:01.200 --> 0:08:03.400 allowing them to be a monopoly could be. Yeah, they 0:08:03.400 --> 0:08:05.760 had a huge head start, and then the government gave 0:08:05.800 --> 0:08:08.080 them an even bigger boost. Well, first of all, because 0:08:08.080 --> 0:08:09.920 of that whole patent thing we talked about in the 0:08:10.000 --> 0:08:12.800 last episode, they had exclusive rights for the longest time, 0:08:12.880 --> 0:08:18.040 so yeah, they definitely benefited quite a bit. Moving on, so, 0:08:18.240 --> 0:08:22.640 nineteen thirty four, A t T began trans Pacific telephone 0:08:22.680 --> 0:08:25.640 service between the United States and Japan via radio signals. 0:08:26.160 --> 0:08:29.320 So again, as with many of these beginning services, you 0:08:29.320 --> 0:08:31.160 could only put through a single call at a time, 0:08:31.440 --> 0:08:34.560 right and now granted they had they had improved the 0:08:34.559 --> 0:08:38.120 efficiency of radio by that time. So remember just a 0:08:38.120 --> 0:08:40.800 few years earlier, that transatlantic call was around seventy five 0:08:40.840 --> 0:08:43.960 bucks for three minutes. They lowered the costs for Pacific calls, 0:08:43.960 --> 0:08:46.200 which is amazing. It was only thirty nine bucks for 0:08:46.240 --> 0:08:48.600 three minutes, yep, which in today's money would be about 0:08:48.600 --> 0:08:54.080 six hundred and didn't yeah you know, forget your friends 0:08:54.080 --> 0:08:58.080 in London, call your buddies over in Tokyo. Um. Yeah, 0:08:58.840 --> 0:09:01.560 still expensive, but not nearly as much as it was before. 0:09:02.080 --> 0:09:05.200 Now this brings us up. Ninety four is big year 0:09:05.320 --> 0:09:08.600 for a T and T because that's also when the 0:09:08.679 --> 0:09:12.560 United States government passed the Communications Act of nineteen thirty four. 0:09:12.640 --> 0:09:15.240 They thought about passing the Communications Act of nineteen thirty 0:09:15.280 --> 0:09:17.720 four nineteen thirty three, but the name just didn't work, 0:09:18.440 --> 0:09:20.240 so they held off for a full year. Lawrence just 0:09:20.280 --> 0:09:22.360 staring at me. She doesn't like it when I throw 0:09:22.400 --> 0:09:27.600 in jokes, so especially bad ones established that that that's 0:09:27.679 --> 0:09:32.000 the act that actually established the Federal Communications Commission, also 0:09:32.080 --> 0:09:36.480 known as the f c C. Now the FCC did 0:09:36.480 --> 0:09:40.000 not just spring out fully formed and have brand new powers. 0:09:40.040 --> 0:09:45.360 It actually kind of absorbed some previously existing organizations like 0:09:45.440 --> 0:09:48.880 the Federal Radio Commission and parts not all of it, 0:09:48.920 --> 0:09:52.800 but parts of the Interstate Commerce Commission that governed telephone 0:09:52.800 --> 0:09:56.040 and telegraph operations and kind of centralized all this because 0:09:56.080 --> 0:10:00.000 this was one of those examples of how technology outpaces 0:10:00.080 --> 0:10:02.840 is legislation absolutely, and so this was the United States 0:10:02.920 --> 0:10:06.040 government attempt to try and catch up to the state 0:10:06.040 --> 0:10:08.360 of affairs because they said, well, you know, back when 0:10:08.360 --> 0:10:10.440 this was starting, we had no idea where it was 0:10:10.440 --> 0:10:12.800 going to go, and now we need to be big 0:10:12.880 --> 0:10:15.680 enough thing. And especially considering that more and more people 0:10:15.679 --> 0:10:17.880 were using radio signals. In the way that radio signals 0:10:17.880 --> 0:10:20.440 work is that you cannot have two signals on the 0:10:20.440 --> 0:10:23.440 same bandwidth going out near each other because they'll conflict. 0:10:23.800 --> 0:10:27.120 You end up getting interference. Interference, right, So so yeah, 0:10:27.200 --> 0:10:31.600 so so government regulations starting to crack down on how 0:10:31.679 --> 0:10:34.800 people could use these new fancy radio signals in order 0:10:34.880 --> 0:10:37.600 to keep the airways clear for everyone's use, right. And 0:10:37.640 --> 0:10:40.680 it also gave the FCC authority to regulate rates of 0:10:40.760 --> 0:10:45.680 interstate and international common carriers and administration relating to electronic communication, 0:10:45.880 --> 0:10:48.520 which was basically saying don't gouge your customers, right. So, 0:10:48.760 --> 0:10:51.640 in other words, A T and T remember was pretty 0:10:51.720 --> 0:10:54.560 much exclusive as far as long distance goes. So any 0:10:54.679 --> 0:10:57.600 regional operator had to pay a toll in order for 0:10:57.720 --> 0:11:01.160 their customers to be able to access law distance. So 0:11:01.559 --> 0:11:04.040 if you're if let's say Lauren, You're in Atlanta and 0:11:04.080 --> 0:11:06.480 you want to call me, and for some reason, I'm 0:11:06.520 --> 0:11:10.440 in Omaha, Nebraska, and there are two different regional carriers, 0:11:10.800 --> 0:11:14.360 and so you are using your regional carrier to tie 0:11:14.400 --> 0:11:17.960 into the A T and T long distance service, and 0:11:18.000 --> 0:11:21.439 then that call goes to me, Well, your regional service 0:11:21.440 --> 0:11:23.079 has to pay a fee in order to access that 0:11:23.200 --> 0:11:25.200 a T N T long distance, and then that fee 0:11:25.360 --> 0:11:28.640 usually gets passed down to you, the customer. And this 0:11:28.760 --> 0:11:32.839 was a way of preventing any company, specifically A T 0:11:33.000 --> 0:11:34.600 and T, because they were really the only one who 0:11:34.679 --> 0:11:36.480 could have that kind of wheeld that kind of power 0:11:36.600 --> 0:11:39.400 right from raising prices so much that it puts other 0:11:39.440 --> 0:11:42.320 companies out of business or it puts undue harm on 0:11:42.320 --> 0:11:45.800 the consumer. That was the intent. Uh. That brings us 0:11:45.880 --> 0:11:48.720 up to nine. When A T and T completed the 0:11:48.800 --> 0:11:52.520 first around the world call. It went all the way 0:11:52.520 --> 0:11:57.360 around the world. That seems uh, less than useful in 0:11:57.400 --> 0:11:59.760 a technical sense, but good to know that they could 0:11:59.760 --> 0:12:03.439 do it. It was an impressive display of technology, not practical. 0:12:04.040 --> 0:12:05.840 If I want to if I want to call you, 0:12:05.920 --> 0:12:08.839 I just stand up and shout over the divider between 0:12:08.880 --> 0:12:15.839 our desks. I don't, I don't. No, I don't. I 0:12:15.880 --> 0:12:18.439 don't not anymore, not on not on Tuesdays anyway. Not 0:12:18.480 --> 0:12:23.280 after hr taught to me ninety seven, that's when Clinton 0:12:23.440 --> 0:12:27.160 Davison of Bell Telephone Labs wins the Nobel Prize in 0:12:27.240 --> 0:12:32.120 Physics for experimental confirmation of the wave nature of electrons. 0:12:32.360 --> 0:12:35.520 So this is the first Nobel Prize awarded to someone 0:12:35.600 --> 0:12:37.720 working out of Bell Labs. It would not be the last. 0:12:39.480 --> 0:12:42.880 And uh, in case you're wondering the whole wave nature 0:12:42.920 --> 0:12:46.120 of electrons, well, electrons are particles, but in the lab 0:12:46.200 --> 0:12:49.840 we have, I say, we scientists have observed that electrons 0:12:49.880 --> 0:12:53.160 could also behave like waves. And so this was that 0:12:53.240 --> 0:12:56.199 whole wave particle duality thing you can hear about in 0:12:56.760 --> 0:13:00.880 various types of particle physics, quantum mechanics, that kind thing. Uh, 0:13:01.040 --> 0:13:03.040 we won't go into it here because it's outside the 0:13:03.040 --> 0:13:06.720 realm of this podcast, but fascinating stuff. So it's no 0:13:06.720 --> 0:13:10.400 no surprise they got the Nobel Prize. Now nineteen nine, 0:13:10.640 --> 0:13:15.000 the telephone is deployed as quote a weapon of preparedness 0:13:15.120 --> 0:13:19.120 end quote. That's also when Western Electric makes signal core 0:13:19.320 --> 0:13:22.160 sets leading up to the US involvement in World War Two. 0:13:22.160 --> 0:13:25.960 So signal core sets are essentially kind of like radio telephones. 0:13:26.000 --> 0:13:28.920 It is something that certain h certain units in World 0:13:28.960 --> 0:13:31.720 War Two had access to in order to maintain communications. 0:13:32.240 --> 0:13:36.240 And UH just showed that this company was still very 0:13:36.320 --> 0:13:40.560 much involved in government uh projects, which will become important 0:13:40.600 --> 0:13:42.520 in just a minute. But before we get to that, 0:13:43.320 --> 0:13:46.800 let's take a quick break to thank our sponsor. You've 0:13:46.840 --> 0:13:50.000 probably tried Hulu dot com. Now with Hulu Plus, you 0:13:50.040 --> 0:13:53.640 can watch your favorite shows anytime, anywhere. Hulu Plus let's 0:13:53.640 --> 0:13:55.920 you watch thousands of hit TV shows in the selection 0:13:56.000 --> 0:13:58.720 of acclaimed movies on your television or on the go 0:13:58.920 --> 0:14:01.319 with your smartphone or tap blet and it all streams 0:14:01.320 --> 0:14:04.280 an HD for the best viewing experience. With Hulu Plus, 0:14:04.320 --> 0:14:07.800 you can watch your favorite current TV shows like Supernatural 0:14:08.200 --> 0:14:11.439 or South Park or Parks and Recreation. You can also 0:14:11.520 --> 0:14:14.920 check out exclusive content, including Hulu originals like The Awesome 0:14:15.000 --> 0:14:17.800 starring s n. L Seth Meyers and moon Boy starring 0:14:17.880 --> 0:14:21.400 Chris Odwald from Bride'smaids. Hulu Plus also offers a great 0:14:21.440 --> 0:14:24.440 selection of acclaimed films for only seven dollars and nine 0:14:24.480 --> 0:14:26.400 nine cents a month. You can stream as many TV 0:14:26.480 --> 0:14:29.720 shows and movies as you want, wherever you want. Right now, 0:14:29.760 --> 0:14:31.840 you can try Hulu Plus free for two weeks when 0:14:31.840 --> 0:14:34.520 you go to Hulu plus dot com forward slash Tech. 0:14:34.840 --> 0:14:37.280 That's a special offer for our listeners. Make sure you 0:14:37.400 --> 0:14:39.960 use Hulu plus dot com forward slash tech so you 0:14:40.080 --> 0:14:42.600 get the extended free trial and they know that we 0:14:42.640 --> 0:14:45.280 sent you go to Hulu plus dot com Forward slash 0:14:45.320 --> 0:14:48.160 Tech now and uh, you know, I always like to 0:14:48.200 --> 0:14:51.160 talk about the shows I watch when I use Hulu Plus, 0:14:51.840 --> 0:14:54.840 I gotta talk about Community. Community is one of those 0:14:54.840 --> 0:14:57.400 shows where when I watched the first couple of episodes, 0:14:57.440 --> 0:15:00.440 it didn't quite grab me. But as I again to 0:15:00.480 --> 0:15:03.520 get more invested in the characters and really enjoy the 0:15:03.560 --> 0:15:06.760 way that jokes would play out, not just over an episode, 0:15:07.040 --> 0:15:10.600 but over several episodes, I couldn't help but feel that 0:15:10.720 --> 0:15:13.360 was a really clever, really funny show. So if you 0:15:13.400 --> 0:15:16.040 like running gags and if you listen to this show, 0:15:16.680 --> 0:15:19.960 you pretty much have to go check out Community. And 0:15:19.960 --> 0:15:23.680 we're back, all right. So now we're up to nineteen 0:15:23.960 --> 0:15:28.520 forty one. And we talked earlier about how Bell Labs 0:15:28.640 --> 0:15:34.880 was was pioneering coaxial cable development in the laboratory is 0:15:34.920 --> 0:15:39.000 when they actually installed the first non experimental coaxial cable 0:15:39.280 --> 0:15:43.840 for Bell service between Minneapolis, Minnesota and Steven's Point, Wisconsin. 0:15:43.960 --> 0:15:46.560 So this is physical cable they're laying down for the 0:15:46.560 --> 0:15:50.840 transmission of signals as opposed to transmitting them over the air. 0:15:51.400 --> 0:15:54.280 UM and uh, and it was a success. Ended up 0:15:54.320 --> 0:15:58.760 being the basis for the cable industry, also for the 0:15:58.800 --> 0:16:04.720 early internet industry. Pretty impressive stuff. Now, this is when 0:16:04.760 --> 0:16:08.320 World War two is being waged around the world, mostly 0:16:08.360 --> 0:16:13.560 and of course the European and UH Southeast Asia theaters. Um. 0:16:13.600 --> 0:16:18.240 This is also a time when Bell employees would serve 0:16:18.440 --> 0:16:21.920 in World War two. UH and and Bell companies would 0:16:21.960 --> 0:16:24.280 wind up producing more than one thousand two D defense 0:16:24.360 --> 0:16:29.240 projects for all all kinds of stuff. I mean, you know, materials, radios, radar, 0:16:29.440 --> 0:16:34.320 mind fuses, all of that technical stuff that needed to happen. Yeah. 0:16:34.400 --> 0:16:37.120 So that another government project that was a big part 0:16:37.160 --> 0:16:39.400 of what a T and T was doing at that 0:16:39.480 --> 0:16:43.640 point was when A T and T begins automation of 0:16:43.760 --> 0:16:48.160 long distance switching. So now there at this point. The 0:16:48.240 --> 0:16:51.080 rolling it out would take years, sure, but but it 0:16:51.160 --> 0:16:54.000 was just not only local service but also across different 0:16:54.320 --> 0:16:58.800 local UH networks. Right right, local operators connecting to the 0:16:58.840 --> 0:17:02.520 long distance one. We're starting to see the switching become automated. UH. 0:17:02.640 --> 0:17:07.840 That would be a big it. Proven inefficiency to as 0:17:07.960 --> 0:17:12.000 American households had a telephone, the problem was they all 0:17:12.040 --> 0:17:15.960 wanted to call the other half. Yeah, so darned when 0:17:15.960 --> 0:17:19.199 are they when are the Johnsons get that phone. We 0:17:19.240 --> 0:17:22.000 have more to say about the early days or middling 0:17:22.080 --> 0:17:24.160 days of a T and T, but first let's take 0:17:24.240 --> 0:17:34.960 a quick break. Was when A T and T offers 0:17:35.000 --> 0:17:37.840 mobile telephone service in St. Louis, Missouri, And it's not 0:17:37.880 --> 0:17:43.800 what you're thinking of, Well, I had a car, Yeah, 0:17:44.240 --> 0:17:46.800 these were These were not the kind of handheld devices 0:17:46.840 --> 0:17:50.800 that that even Zach Morris would have many decades later. 0:17:50.960 --> 0:17:54.880 That's saved by the bell reference. That's that's that's after 0:17:54.960 --> 0:17:58.800 my time. But I get it. Um. I think each 0:17:58.960 --> 0:18:01.960 region of service had a single antenna which could handle 0:18:01.960 --> 0:18:05.960 about twenty calls at once at most most and sometimes 0:18:05.960 --> 0:18:08.320 it was between twelve and twenty. It all depended upon 0:18:08.359 --> 0:18:11.960 the antenna. Yeah. These were again using radio signals, sort 0:18:12.000 --> 0:18:15.399 of like those those transatlantic and trans Pacific connections that 0:18:15.440 --> 0:18:18.600 we talked about earlier, but on a more mobile scale. 0:18:18.640 --> 0:18:21.720 You would call in and it would it would communicate 0:18:21.800 --> 0:18:24.240 to it to his tower, kind of similar to cell service, 0:18:24.240 --> 0:18:27.280 but it's not cell service. Yeah, if you if you 0:18:27.359 --> 0:18:30.400 moved outside the range of that antenna, you would not 0:18:30.440 --> 0:18:32.560 be able to place that call because there were there 0:18:32.560 --> 0:18:35.199 weren't cells. You know, we will have to do a 0:18:35.240 --> 0:18:37.480 full episode on how cell phones work at some point 0:18:37.480 --> 0:18:41.120 to explain that handoff process. But there was no handoff process, 0:18:41.119 --> 0:18:42.480 so if you moved out of range, that was it. 0:18:42.840 --> 0:18:45.720 And these mobile telephones were enormous and heavy. They were 0:18:45.720 --> 0:18:47.560 more akin to the sort of stuff you would have 0:18:47.600 --> 0:18:50.520 seen in like if you've ever watched the World War 0:18:50.560 --> 0:18:53.320 two movie where they have one of those backpack radios. Yeah, 0:18:53.359 --> 0:18:55.480 I think I think Patent carries a few around sometimes 0:18:55.520 --> 0:18:57.840 it's a it's a little closer to that, not quite 0:18:57.840 --> 0:19:00.840 as military looking, but similar in size and weight. So 0:19:00.960 --> 0:19:04.080 not something that was terribly useful for the average person, 0:19:04.119 --> 0:19:07.080 but for some people like truck drivers it might come 0:19:07.080 --> 0:19:10.399 in handy or other other people who happened to be 0:19:10.480 --> 0:19:13.720 very mobile but have a large carrying capacity. On the 0:19:13.720 --> 0:19:17.760 middle of times, um, so the this is also the 0:19:17.800 --> 0:19:22.359 year seven when Bell Labs employees invent a particular piece 0:19:22.359 --> 0:19:24.639 of technology that would go on to play a very 0:19:24.680 --> 0:19:28.360 important role I think, and not only telephone industry, but 0:19:29.160 --> 0:19:31.680 computers the future as we know it. But we're talking 0:19:31.680 --> 0:19:34.440 about the transistor. Yep, that it was Bell Labs that 0:19:34.520 --> 0:19:37.399 came up with the transistor. And we've talked about and 0:19:37.440 --> 0:19:39.760 then we talked about these gentlemen before. There were three 0:19:39.800 --> 0:19:43.480 people in particular leading that project who ended up later 0:19:43.520 --> 0:19:47.160 on winning a Nobel Prize for that invention. That's John Bardine, 0:19:47.560 --> 0:19:51.160 Walter Brittaine, and then William Shockley, who we talked about 0:19:51.160 --> 0:19:56.720 recently when we were talking about another company. Shockley's shocking 0:19:56.920 --> 0:19:59.919 views that led the some people to to become the 0:20:00.000 --> 0:20:03.679 traitor usk or something like that. Yeah, yeah, and and 0:20:03.880 --> 0:20:06.400 and this transistor. We talked in the previous episode about 0:20:06.480 --> 0:20:09.439 vacuum tubes being such a huge development in the telecommunications 0:20:09.480 --> 0:20:13.760 industry because they allowed for those first electro mechanical computers 0:20:13.800 --> 0:20:15.959 to to work. And the transistor was what would replace 0:20:16.040 --> 0:20:20.400 these vacuum tubes in anything that was doing computing work. Yeah, 0:20:20.680 --> 0:20:23.320 it would allow you to do amplification, it would allow 0:20:23.359 --> 0:20:27.960 you to do and miniaturization. Maniaturization was the big thing. 0:20:28.200 --> 0:20:32.240 It reduced heat and it allowed for miniaturization, something that 0:20:32.280 --> 0:20:34.760 you couldn't do with vacuum tubes, which meant that our 0:20:34.800 --> 0:20:37.920 computers no longer would take up the space of a building, 0:20:38.040 --> 0:20:40.640 could eventually take up the space of you know, your 0:20:40.720 --> 0:20:44.480 pocket smartphones. All of this really makes me wonder what 0:20:44.600 --> 0:20:46.200 would have happened. If A T and T had not 0:20:46.400 --> 0:20:49.840 had the reach and power and the money to have 0:20:49.920 --> 0:20:52.520 this research and development lab. You know, if if they 0:20:52.560 --> 0:20:55.560 had not been the crazy not quite monopoly sort of 0:20:55.560 --> 0:20:58.040 a monopoly that they were, you know, would you know 0:20:58.280 --> 0:21:01.960 parallel development was going on in some other last Yeah, 0:21:01.960 --> 0:21:04.119 I think we would have eventually seen the transistor, but 0:21:04.160 --> 0:21:06.320 it probably would have come out later, and it probably 0:21:06.359 --> 0:21:10.680 would have taken longer to get ramped up into a 0:21:10.680 --> 0:21:14.359 a form that would be manufacturable, because this early transistor 0:21:14.680 --> 0:21:16.919 was not something you would put in any kind of electronics. 0:21:16.960 --> 0:21:18.600 It was more of a proof of concept. If you've 0:21:18.640 --> 0:21:21.399 ever seen a replica of it, it was enormous. I mean, 0:21:21.400 --> 0:21:25.399 it's one transistor. Keep in mind that your average microprocessor 0:21:25.440 --> 0:21:28.480 could have a billion or more transistors on it. This 0:21:28.480 --> 0:21:30.280 thing was big enough to fit like it was, it 0:21:30.280 --> 0:21:34.240 would fit in the palm of your hand. But the wood. Yeah, 0:21:34.320 --> 0:21:36.520 so so this is this is early days yet, so 0:21:36.560 --> 0:21:39.359 I think our world would be significantly different had that 0:21:39.400 --> 0:21:43.760 not happened. So let's move on to Uh. That was 0:21:43.800 --> 0:21:48.200 when A T. T began offering networking services for TV. Yeah, 0:21:48.280 --> 0:21:51.679 in the Northeast and the Midwest, So you know, The 0:21:51.680 --> 0:21:54.359 way it would work is that your your networks, your 0:21:54.400 --> 0:21:57.760 big networks, would use this service to transmit programming to 0:21:57.840 --> 0:22:00.679 affiliated stations in different regions of the states. So that 0:22:00.720 --> 0:22:04.080 way you could have like the Big Network broadcast out 0:22:04.080 --> 0:22:06.440 of some place like New York and then have that 0:22:07.000 --> 0:22:10.680 sent to to an affiliate station that might be far 0:22:10.720 --> 0:22:13.399 across the country. This was also the year that A 0:22:13.480 --> 0:22:16.479