1 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:07,800 Speaker 1: Welcome to Tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 2 00:00:12,039 --> 00:00:14,880 Speaker 1: Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 3 00:00:15,000 --> 00:00:17,720 Speaker 1: Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with iHeart Radio and 4 00:00:17,720 --> 00:00:20,079 Speaker 1: a lot of all things tech. It is time for 5 00:00:20,160 --> 00:00:22,720 Speaker 1: a classic episode and we are going to have a 6 00:00:22,880 --> 00:00:25,960 Speaker 1: three partner in a series of classics. So this is 7 00:00:26,000 --> 00:00:29,400 Speaker 1: going to be part one of three, and it's all 8 00:00:29,440 --> 00:00:34,200 Speaker 1: about A. T and T, a huge company that has 9 00:00:34,720 --> 00:00:38,080 Speaker 1: more than a century worth of history to it. So 10 00:00:38,159 --> 00:00:40,159 Speaker 1: that's why I ended up being a three partner. And 11 00:00:40,200 --> 00:00:43,360 Speaker 1: of course I could easily record another part to this. 12 00:00:44,040 --> 00:00:45,960 Speaker 1: Just the amount of stuff that's happened in the past 13 00:00:45,960 --> 00:00:49,040 Speaker 1: seven years alone would warrant such a thing, and maybe 14 00:00:49,080 --> 00:00:51,479 Speaker 1: I will. But first let's listen back to where it 15 00:00:51,479 --> 00:00:54,120 Speaker 1: all began with the A. T. And T story Part one. 16 00:00:54,880 --> 00:00:57,520 Speaker 1: We've had other discussions about other companies that, you know, 17 00:00:57,640 --> 00:01:00,360 Speaker 1: you have to start with like a like the company 18 00:01:00,360 --> 00:01:02,840 Speaker 1: appearance General General Electric. You know, you have to go 19 00:01:02,920 --> 00:01:06,200 Speaker 1: back way before General Electric to really talk about the company. 20 00:01:06,240 --> 00:01:08,600 Speaker 1: So in this case, we have to talk about a man, 21 00:01:09,319 --> 00:01:14,200 Speaker 1: a man who has been credited officially and through other 22 00:01:14,280 --> 00:01:17,120 Speaker 1: sources as the inventor of the telephone although as we 23 00:01:17,200 --> 00:01:20,800 Speaker 1: all know, when it comes to inventions, it's a lot trick. 24 00:01:20,840 --> 00:01:23,120 Speaker 1: It's very tricky to narrow it down to a single person. 25 00:01:23,400 --> 00:01:26,960 Speaker 1: It takes a research society to make a technology, and 26 00:01:27,080 --> 00:01:28,840 Speaker 1: turns out that there are a lot of people who 27 00:01:28,920 --> 00:01:31,360 Speaker 1: are working on things all at the same time, and 28 00:01:31,440 --> 00:01:35,360 Speaker 1: sometimes it's just the person who gets the first. In 29 00:01:35,480 --> 00:01:38,240 Speaker 1: the case of Alexander Graham Bell, Uh, not that he 30 00:01:38,319 --> 00:01:41,720 Speaker 1: didn't work very hard and make great contributions. It's just 31 00:01:41,760 --> 00:01:44,520 Speaker 1: that there were other people doing the same sort of stuff. Right, 32 00:01:45,200 --> 00:01:49,560 Speaker 1: So in February, on February eighteen seventy six, that is 33 00:01:49,600 --> 00:01:52,480 Speaker 1: when he filed this first pattern yep to a way 34 00:01:52,480 --> 00:01:57,000 Speaker 1: to electronically transmit speech by quote causing electrical undulations similar 35 00:01:57,000 --> 00:01:59,640 Speaker 1: informed to the vibrations of the air accompanying the said 36 00:01:59,720 --> 00:02:05,040 Speaker 1: voke or other sounds substantially as set forth end quote. Now. Uh, 37 00:02:05,120 --> 00:02:08,840 Speaker 1: it's interesting he had already written the patent out earlier 38 00:02:08,840 --> 00:02:12,919 Speaker 1: in January of that year, but there was a peculiar 39 00:02:13,160 --> 00:02:17,040 Speaker 1: sort of legal loophole that he had to leap through 40 00:02:17,160 --> 00:02:19,880 Speaker 1: in order for him to get this patent recognized in 41 00:02:20,320 --> 00:02:23,440 Speaker 1: not just the United States, but also the United Kingdom. 42 00:02:23,600 --> 00:02:26,360 Speaker 1: See the UK had a rule that stated if you 43 00:02:26,400 --> 00:02:28,640 Speaker 1: wanted to patent something in the UK, it could not 44 00:02:28,840 --> 00:02:33,000 Speaker 1: first have been patented anywhere else. So Graham Bell writes 45 00:02:33,080 --> 00:02:35,400 Speaker 1: up this patent he wants to get patented. He's ready 46 00:02:35,400 --> 00:02:37,480 Speaker 1: to submit it, except that he first has to get 47 00:02:37,600 --> 00:02:40,320 Speaker 1: over to the UK. And uh, guys, who don't know 48 00:02:40,360 --> 00:02:42,799 Speaker 1: if you're familiar with this. In eighteen seventy six, there 49 00:02:42,840 --> 00:02:45,760 Speaker 1: were very few options on how to get from say 50 00:02:45,800 --> 00:02:48,440 Speaker 1: the United States to England that didn't involve a really 51 00:02:48,440 --> 00:02:51,320 Speaker 1: long journey, right. It was basically swimming a horse right 52 00:02:51,360 --> 00:02:54,840 Speaker 1: across that. Yep, you just hitch a steam of horses 53 00:02:54,880 --> 00:02:58,000 Speaker 1: to a boat and say, giddy up. I mean, we 54 00:02:58,120 --> 00:03:01,440 Speaker 1: didn't really research that part, so we'd be a little inaccurate. 55 00:03:01,680 --> 00:03:04,960 Speaker 1: Make sure you tweet us and let us know. But no, no, 56 00:03:05,080 --> 00:03:07,640 Speaker 1: I mean, you know, because a telecommunications were not a 57 00:03:07,680 --> 00:03:10,359 Speaker 1: thing at this point, because he hadn't patented it yet, 58 00:03:10,480 --> 00:03:12,960 Speaker 1: all right, So it was it was taken a while, 59 00:03:13,400 --> 00:03:16,120 Speaker 1: and so as it turned out, that very same day, 60 00:03:16,400 --> 00:03:20,200 Speaker 1: another electrician began the filing process. I don't think actually 61 00:03:20,240 --> 00:03:22,680 Speaker 1: filed what he what he did. We're talking about Elisha 62 00:03:22,800 --> 00:03:25,720 Speaker 1: Gray and Elishah Gray or or We'll just call him 63 00:03:25,720 --> 00:03:28,080 Speaker 1: Gray because first of all, I assume it's Elisha. I 64 00:03:28,080 --> 00:03:30,040 Speaker 1: did not look up at the pronunciation of his first name. 65 00:03:30,080 --> 00:03:34,320 Speaker 1: But Mr Gray had submitted a preliminary application for a 66 00:03:34,400 --> 00:03:38,400 Speaker 1: similar apparatus. It was also called a caveat. That was 67 00:03:38,440 --> 00:03:42,120 Speaker 1: the technical name for the preliminary application. He submitted a 68 00:03:42,160 --> 00:03:46,440 Speaker 1: caveat for consideration for a patent the very same day 69 00:03:46,440 --> 00:03:49,920 Speaker 1: that Graham Bell posted it filed his pen or technically 70 00:03:50,000 --> 00:03:52,280 Speaker 1: Bell's lawyer filed the pattern right here in the United 71 00:03:52,320 --> 00:03:56,440 Speaker 1: States we're talking about, yes, exactly. So Gray applied for 72 00:03:56,480 --> 00:03:59,560 Speaker 1: a pattern with a very similar idea, and the story 73 00:03:59,640 --> 00:04:01,640 Speaker 1: go and I don't know the truth of this, And 74 00:04:01,680 --> 00:04:06,200 Speaker 1: in fact, I have proposed to Lauren, not romantically, I 75 00:04:06,240 --> 00:04:09,120 Speaker 1: mean an episode title. I've proposed to her that we 76 00:04:09,200 --> 00:04:13,480 Speaker 1: actually cover the content the topic of Alexander Graham Bell 77 00:04:13,840 --> 00:04:18,360 Speaker 1: and Elisha Gray, because the story about who got that 78 00:04:18,400 --> 00:04:21,480 Speaker 1: patent is really interesting and I think could merit its 79 00:04:21,480 --> 00:04:25,520 Speaker 1: own episode at any rate. Uh. The story is that 80 00:04:25,720 --> 00:04:30,839 Speaker 1: Bell's lawyer got a look at Gray's application, which included 81 00:04:31,360 --> 00:04:35,680 Speaker 1: an element that was not in Bell's work. But then 82 00:04:35,800 --> 00:04:38,960 Speaker 1: when the patent was filed, there was a little scroll 83 00:04:39,120 --> 00:04:43,120 Speaker 1: in the margin that covered the same idea. So the 84 00:04:43,320 --> 00:04:46,960 Speaker 1: story is that Bell's lawyer, or perhaps Bell himself, It 85 00:04:47,040 --> 00:04:51,000 Speaker 1: all depends upon the account you read, lifted an idea 86 00:04:51,080 --> 00:04:55,680 Speaker 1: directly from Gray's work in order to essentially beat him tempt. 87 00:04:56,960 --> 00:05:00,480 Speaker 1: So Bell's patent application goes in ahead of raise, and 88 00:05:00,520 --> 00:05:04,480 Speaker 1: so Bell is at least initially awarded the patent, although 89 00:05:04,920 --> 00:05:10,200 Speaker 1: it was not uncontested. There was actually quite a vigorous 90 00:05:10,240 --> 00:05:12,600 Speaker 1: battle in the legal system of that was gone for 91 00:05:12,680 --> 00:05:17,719 Speaker 1: a few years. And so moving ahead on in that 92 00:05:17,880 --> 00:05:21,000 Speaker 1: same year March tenth, eighteen seventy six, and remember he's 93 00:05:21,000 --> 00:05:23,600 Speaker 1: already filed the patent, But it was only on March tenth, 94 00:05:23,680 --> 00:05:27,520 Speaker 1: eighteen seventy six that we had the famous message from 95 00:05:27,560 --> 00:05:31,239 Speaker 1: Alexander Graham Bell to his assistant Thomas Watson. Mr Watson 96 00:05:31,279 --> 00:05:34,440 Speaker 1: being in another room in the same building. Yeah, and 97 00:05:34,440 --> 00:05:37,560 Speaker 1: and he heard it over this device what would what 98 00:05:37,600 --> 00:05:41,120 Speaker 1: would become the telephone, and the message, of course was 99 00:05:41,240 --> 00:05:44,360 Speaker 1: Mr Watson, come here, I want you. And it turns 100 00:05:44,360 --> 00:05:47,479 Speaker 1: out that Corey to the story, Alexander Graham Bell had 101 00:05:47,520 --> 00:05:50,360 Speaker 1: acidentally spilled some acid and needed Thomas Watson to come 102 00:05:50,400 --> 00:05:52,480 Speaker 1: over and help him clean it up before it did 103 00:05:52,480 --> 00:05:58,279 Speaker 1: any damage to the surroundings. So not only was March tenth, 104 00:05:58,360 --> 00:06:01,000 Speaker 1: eighteen seventy six the first phone call, it was the 105 00:06:01,040 --> 00:06:07,320 Speaker 1: first emergency phone call. So yeah, that's a fun little 106 00:06:07,480 --> 00:06:10,400 Speaker 1: little side note about this. And we are leading up 107 00:06:10,440 --> 00:06:14,400 Speaker 1: to the company, but we have to lay this groundwork. Yeah, 108 00:06:14,480 --> 00:06:17,600 Speaker 1: and I find all of this pretty fascinating overall. So, 109 00:06:17,600 --> 00:06:20,400 Speaker 1: so on October eighth of that year, eighty six, they 110 00:06:20,400 --> 00:06:24,360 Speaker 1: had the first two way telephone call between Watson and Bell. Now, 111 00:06:24,520 --> 00:06:26,520 Speaker 1: before it was a one way thing. You you could 112 00:06:26,560 --> 00:06:29,840 Speaker 1: have a transmitter and receiver essentially. Now there was one 113 00:06:29,880 --> 00:06:32,640 Speaker 1: on either side. You could actually have this communication. And 114 00:06:32,680 --> 00:06:35,599 Speaker 1: this is where Bell introduced his idea of what the 115 00:06:35,640 --> 00:06:41,039 Speaker 1: perfect telephone salutation was, Hoi hoi, yeah, which is what 116 00:06:41,200 --> 00:06:42,920 Speaker 1: Mr Burns says when he picks up the phone on 117 00:06:42,920 --> 00:06:47,719 Speaker 1: on the Simpsons, Hoy hoy, that's delightful. Yeah, Alexander Graham, 118 00:06:47,720 --> 00:06:51,599 Speaker 1: Bell and everyone involved in phone companies hated the word hello. 119 00:06:51,960 --> 00:06:54,240 Speaker 1: They did, and we've got some notes about that. In 120 00:06:54,320 --> 00:06:55,960 Speaker 1: just a little bit. There was there was a very 121 00:06:56,040 --> 00:07:00,360 Speaker 1: serious and an intense contention about this. Do you wonder 122 00:07:00,440 --> 00:07:05,120 Speaker 1: it was important with a capital I? But so in 123 00:07:07,040 --> 00:07:10,000 Speaker 1: Bell was getting financial backing from the fathers of two 124 00:07:10,000 --> 00:07:13,120 Speaker 1: of his students at Boston University, Thomas Sanders and um 125 00:07:13,240 --> 00:07:17,880 Speaker 1: Gardner Hubbard, and wound up forming the Bell Telephone Company right. 126 00:07:17,920 --> 00:07:20,360 Speaker 1: In fact, at first he tried to sell the telephone 127 00:07:20,400 --> 00:07:23,360 Speaker 1: patents to a rival company called Western Union. You may 128 00:07:23,400 --> 00:07:25,280 Speaker 1: have heard of that company. At the time, it was 129 00:07:25,320 --> 00:07:28,400 Speaker 1: the largest corporation in the world, and he offered to 130 00:07:28,400 --> 00:07:30,520 Speaker 1: sell it to them for the princely sum of one 131 00:07:30,640 --> 00:07:32,920 Speaker 1: hundred thousand dollars, and Western Union told him to take 132 00:07:32,960 --> 00:07:35,320 Speaker 1: a long walk off a short pier. Yeah, they didn't 133 00:07:35,320 --> 00:07:39,000 Speaker 1: at that particular point in time understand what this whole 134 00:07:39,000 --> 00:07:40,800 Speaker 1: telephone thing was about. They were like, that's a toy. 135 00:07:41,160 --> 00:07:43,480 Speaker 1: We don't get it right. If you wanted to send 136 00:07:43,480 --> 00:07:45,840 Speaker 1: a message to someone, why would you go through all 137 00:07:45,880 --> 00:07:48,720 Speaker 1: this bother when you could just telegraph it to them. 138 00:07:48,800 --> 00:07:51,800 Speaker 1: We've got perfectly good telegraph lines and swimming horses, why 139 00:07:52,280 --> 00:07:56,520 Speaker 1: exactly So, so they they poo pooed the idea, and 140 00:07:56,560 --> 00:07:59,000 Speaker 1: that's when Bell decided to go the other route and 141 00:07:59,080 --> 00:08:02,119 Speaker 1: form this company. And with that financial backing that Lauren 142 00:08:02,160 --> 00:08:06,960 Speaker 1: talked about, the Bell Telephone Company came into being. UM 143 00:08:07,000 --> 00:08:10,600 Speaker 1: and UH at first, it was a pretty modest affair 144 00:08:11,280 --> 00:08:14,440 Speaker 1: in the early days. They were seven seventy eight telephones 145 00:08:14,480 --> 00:08:18,120 Speaker 1: in existence period, and the company had a grand total 146 00:08:18,240 --> 00:08:21,840 Speaker 1: of one employee, and that one employee was Thomas Watson, 147 00:08:21,880 --> 00:08:25,520 Speaker 1: the former assistant to Alexander Graham Bell, and he was 148 00:08:26,080 --> 00:08:29,000 Speaker 1: He was paid the salary of three dollars per day 149 00:08:29,160 --> 00:08:32,040 Speaker 1: and also had one tenth interest in the company, which, 150 00:08:32,080 --> 00:08:33,920 Speaker 1: as it turns out, would probably be worth a little 151 00:08:33,920 --> 00:08:38,920 Speaker 1: bit more than his salary. Yeah, so Bell goes ahead 152 00:08:38,920 --> 00:08:42,840 Speaker 1: with his company. Uh. Meanwhile, Gray, who had done some 153 00:08:42,880 --> 00:08:45,640 Speaker 1: work for Western Union and had founded a company called 154 00:08:45,679 --> 00:08:50,040 Speaker 1: Western Electric that was acquired by Western Union, began to 155 00:08:50,840 --> 00:08:55,400 Speaker 1: compete against Bell, and uh, it got pretty nasty. Bell 156 00:08:55,600 --> 00:08:58,600 Speaker 1: started to look into how he wanted to well, really 157 00:08:58,640 --> 00:09:00,600 Speaker 1: the company was looking into how they wanted to form 158 00:09:00,640 --> 00:09:03,960 Speaker 1: the business, and they took a queue off the Morse 159 00:09:04,080 --> 00:09:07,320 Speaker 1: Company Telegraph Company and went with a franchise model. The 160 00:09:07,360 --> 00:09:12,599 Speaker 1: idea being that they would they would license out technology 161 00:09:12,640 --> 00:09:15,320 Speaker 1: and telephones and things of that nature to companies that 162 00:09:15,400 --> 00:09:20,880 Speaker 1: wanted to oversee the administrative efforts of handling this kind 163 00:09:20,880 --> 00:09:25,360 Speaker 1: of local regionalized phone system. And so Bell would end 164 00:09:25,440 --> 00:09:28,599 Speaker 1: up getting a company Bell would end up getting a 165 00:09:29,440 --> 00:09:33,080 Speaker 1: portion of that revenue uh in return for the fact 166 00:09:33,120 --> 00:09:36,560 Speaker 1: that they're licensing the technology to this other company. Right right, 167 00:09:36,600 --> 00:09:39,560 Speaker 1: because until Bell's patents would expire, the company was the 168 00:09:39,559 --> 00:09:43,600 Speaker 1: exclusive manufacturer and provider of telephones. UM. Those those patents 169 00:09:43,640 --> 00:09:47,920 Speaker 1: would expire in and that was a date that everyone 170 00:09:48,200 --> 00:09:51,559 Speaker 1: in Bell was very very anxious about. They were cognizant 171 00:09:51,600 --> 00:09:54,000 Speaker 1: of it, they were anxious about it. There were other 172 00:09:54,040 --> 00:09:59,200 Speaker 1: companies that did attempt to spring up despite this um 173 00:09:59,200 --> 00:10:04,280 Speaker 1: this legal uh monopoly that the Bell system had because 174 00:10:04,320 --> 00:10:06,960 Speaker 1: of the patents. UH. But we'll talk about that in 175 00:10:07,000 --> 00:10:09,480 Speaker 1: a second before we get too far into this, because 176 00:10:09,480 --> 00:10:12,160 Speaker 1: there's a lot to talk about. Let's take a quick 177 00:10:12,200 --> 00:10:16,920 Speaker 1: break to thank our sponsor. You've probably tried Hulu dot com. 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H John Benjamin plays the 201 00:11:23,200 --> 00:11:27,040 Speaker 1: lead role of Bob, and uh, it's it's certainly one 202 00:11:27,040 --> 00:11:31,280 Speaker 1: of those dysfunctional family shows with lots of absurd characters 203 00:11:31,400 --> 00:11:34,360 Speaker 1: and events. Uh, you just gotta go see it, So 204 00:11:34,440 --> 00:11:38,080 Speaker 1: go check that out. Okay, so we're now up to 205 00:11:38,440 --> 00:11:42,840 Speaker 1: eighteen seventy eight. Now, in eight seventy eight, that's when 206 00:11:42,880 --> 00:11:46,720 Speaker 1: we saw the first regional telephone company actually launched. Not 207 00:11:46,960 --> 00:11:50,439 Speaker 1: this was one operated by Bell Telephone, right, it was 208 00:11:50,480 --> 00:11:53,880 Speaker 1: a franchise called New Haven District Telephone Company and uh 209 00:11:53,880 --> 00:11:57,400 Speaker 1: in New Haven, Connecticut. And Bell and Western Union began 210 00:11:57,480 --> 00:12:00,760 Speaker 1: to compete even more viciously. They were both launching franchises 211 00:12:00,800 --> 00:12:03,480 Speaker 1: across the United States. Western Union began to use leverage 212 00:12:03,840 --> 00:12:07,000 Speaker 1: by saying that they would not install any telegraph lines 213 00:12:07,040 --> 00:12:10,120 Speaker 1: in any locations that were using Bell systems. So any 214 00:12:10,120 --> 00:12:14,160 Speaker 1: region that relied heavily upon telegraph services wouldn't do business 215 00:12:14,160 --> 00:12:16,760 Speaker 1: with Bell because they were afraid that they did, they 216 00:12:16,760 --> 00:12:19,680 Speaker 1: would never have any improvements or repair or maintenance of 217 00:12:19,720 --> 00:12:22,920 Speaker 1: the telegraph systems or even operation of the telegraph system. 218 00:12:23,160 --> 00:12:26,880 Speaker 1: So it's kind of you know, holding Bell Systems hostage thing. 219 00:12:26,960 --> 00:12:29,600 Speaker 1: You don't you know, if you don't uh, you don't 220 00:12:29,600 --> 00:12:33,320 Speaker 1: get to play in this game because I own this game. Um. Now, 221 00:12:33,440 --> 00:12:37,359 Speaker 1: Western Union's telephones were based on the work of two inventors, 222 00:12:37,360 --> 00:12:41,440 Speaker 1: one of them Elisha Gray and the other Thomas Edison. Yeah, 223 00:12:41,520 --> 00:12:46,760 Speaker 1: so some big names here. And on September twelve, that's 224 00:12:46,760 --> 00:12:50,560 Speaker 1: when Bell Telephone Company sued Western Union, which is a 225 00:12:50,559 --> 00:12:56,839 Speaker 1: big story because Bell had a small fortune at his disposal. 226 00:12:57,120 --> 00:13:00,200 Speaker 1: Western Union was the largest corporation in the world at 227 00:13:00,240 --> 00:13:02,559 Speaker 1: that time. It worth more than forty one million dollars 228 00:13:02,640 --> 00:13:05,679 Speaker 1: and had the backing of a certain powerful family in 229 00:13:05,720 --> 00:13:08,760 Speaker 1: the United States, the Vanderbilts, And so it was a 230 00:13:08,760 --> 00:13:12,520 Speaker 1: big deal that Bell would go up against this corporate giant. 231 00:13:12,880 --> 00:13:17,520 Speaker 1: And that same year Gardner Hubbard, one of those financiers 232 00:13:17,679 --> 00:13:20,520 Speaker 1: who backed the Bell system in the very early days, 233 00:13:21,040 --> 00:13:24,880 Speaker 1: hired on a man named Theodore Newton Vale to act 234 00:13:24,920 --> 00:13:29,440 Speaker 1: as general manager slash president of Bell Telephone. Right. Veil 235 00:13:29,520 --> 00:13:32,520 Speaker 1: had previously worked for the US Postal Service and and 236 00:13:32,600 --> 00:13:36,120 Speaker 1: he was very key in orchestrating this legal battle. Yeah, 237 00:13:36,160 --> 00:13:40,200 Speaker 1: it's also interesting because Veil will play another important role 238 00:13:40,240 --> 00:13:42,400 Speaker 1: a bit further down the line. Veil had kind of 239 00:13:42,600 --> 00:13:46,600 Speaker 1: on again off again relationship with Bell Telephone. Not necessarily 240 00:13:46,679 --> 00:13:48,960 Speaker 1: all by choice, no, no, but but he did help 241 00:13:49,000 --> 00:13:52,719 Speaker 1: shape the company and absolutely and even as early as this, 242 00:13:52,920 --> 00:13:55,720 Speaker 1: he had this vision of building a national long distance 243 00:13:55,760 --> 00:13:59,640 Speaker 1: telephone network um and doing it before Bell's patents ran out, 244 00:14:00,120 --> 00:14:04,280 Speaker 1: so which was hugely ambitious, incredibly ambitious, a little too 245 00:14:04,280 --> 00:14:07,720 Speaker 1: ambitious it might turn out to be. In eighteen eighty, 246 00:14:07,880 --> 00:14:11,200 Speaker 1: Alexander Graham Bell decided to resign from the Bell Telephone 247 00:14:11,200 --> 00:14:15,520 Speaker 1: Board of directors um and the next year one Thomas 248 00:14:15,520 --> 00:14:18,880 Speaker 1: Watson would also resign. So at this point the two 249 00:14:18,920 --> 00:14:22,240 Speaker 1: inventors who gave the company the very basic invention that 250 00:14:22,320 --> 00:14:25,600 Speaker 1: it was all centered around, had left the board of 251 00:14:25,600 --> 00:14:28,640 Speaker 1: directors at that time, I believe was putting a lot 252 00:14:28,680 --> 00:14:33,400 Speaker 1: of pressure on. They didn't really see the immediate monetary 253 00:14:33,480 --> 00:14:37,880 Speaker 1: purpose of this whole nationwide network thing, and so they 254 00:14:37,880 --> 00:14:41,400 Speaker 1: were they were really getting down people's throats about like, 255 00:14:41,760 --> 00:14:43,120 Speaker 1: we kind of want to make money, we kind of 256 00:14:43,120 --> 00:14:44,960 Speaker 1: put some money in, we kind of want a little 257 00:14:44,960 --> 00:14:47,760 Speaker 1: bit back, And this is digging your heels in. Yeah, 258 00:14:47,840 --> 00:14:49,600 Speaker 1: this is a whole lot of us giving you money 259 00:14:49,640 --> 00:14:51,880 Speaker 1: and not a whole lot of us getting anything back. Right. Yeah, 260 00:14:51,880 --> 00:14:54,520 Speaker 1: there were there were many years when this company was 261 00:14:54,680 --> 00:14:59,280 Speaker 1: operating in debt because they were setting this stuff up. Also, 262 00:14:59,640 --> 00:15:03,440 Speaker 1: interest seeing little side note, Thomas Watson had a second 263 00:15:03,520 --> 00:15:08,280 Speaker 1: career after his work with telephone systems. He would begin 264 00:15:08,320 --> 00:15:12,640 Speaker 1: a career as a ship builder. He built ships him. Yeah, 265 00:15:12,680 --> 00:15:15,880 Speaker 1: it's kind of interesting, I just thought it was neat two. 266 00:15:16,280 --> 00:15:20,320 Speaker 1: This is about when Western Union and Bell Systems settle 267 00:15:20,960 --> 00:15:25,160 Speaker 1: this lawsuit. That's this ongoing dispute that had been pretty 268 00:15:25,280 --> 00:15:28,320 Speaker 1: much taking up all their time over the last couple 269 00:15:28,320 --> 00:15:32,480 Speaker 1: of years um because the pen infringement lawsuits were something 270 00:15:32,480 --> 00:15:36,280 Speaker 1: that was just nasty on all parts. Well, in that settlement, 271 00:15:36,280 --> 00:15:39,400 Speaker 1: Western Union ended up selling its telephone network to Bell, 272 00:15:39,920 --> 00:15:42,160 Speaker 1: so that was a network that was what there was. Like, 273 00:15:43,920 --> 00:15:47,720 Speaker 1: that's significant, So fifty five more cities go to Bell Systems. 274 00:15:47,720 --> 00:15:52,760 Speaker 1: Bell in return promised Western Union of its telephone rental revenue. 275 00:15:53,120 --> 00:15:55,880 Speaker 1: So Bell Telephone also acquired from Western Union the company 276 00:15:55,920 --> 00:15:58,720 Speaker 1: Western Electric that was the one that was founded by 277 00:15:58,720 --> 00:16:01,200 Speaker 1: Elisha Gray and that became a T and T s 278 00:16:01,280 --> 00:16:05,560 Speaker 1: manufacturing division. Hey guys, it's Jonathan from twenty. We are 279 00:16:05,600 --> 00:16:07,720 Speaker 1: going to take a quick break, but we will be 280 00:16:07,840 --> 00:16:19,120 Speaker 1: right back. So here's just a little information about how 281 00:16:19,240 --> 00:16:21,680 Speaker 1: the phone system used to work in the United States. 282 00:16:22,080 --> 00:16:24,560 Speaker 1: It used to be that you would go to a 283 00:16:24,640 --> 00:16:27,400 Speaker 1: store to get a phone and you leased it. You 284 00:16:27,400 --> 00:16:31,200 Speaker 1: didn't own that phone, so you actually that phone remained 285 00:16:31,280 --> 00:16:33,960 Speaker 1: the property of the parent company, which at this time 286 00:16:34,000 --> 00:16:36,320 Speaker 1: is Bell Systems, and shortly will become a T and T, 287 00:16:37,200 --> 00:16:40,440 Speaker 1: and so you would pay a leasing fee, and in turn, 288 00:16:40,800 --> 00:16:43,120 Speaker 1: the company that you got it from was likely not 289 00:16:43,400 --> 00:16:45,960 Speaker 1: directly a T and T. It was probably some regional 290 00:16:46,000 --> 00:16:49,760 Speaker 1: office that also was leasing that same phone from a 291 00:16:49,880 --> 00:16:54,520 Speaker 1: T and T. Certainly at this point it was Bell Systems. 292 00:16:54,760 --> 00:16:56,760 Speaker 1: But yeah, so Bell Systems leases out a phone to 293 00:16:56,800 --> 00:16:59,440 Speaker 1: a regional office, the regional office leases the phone out 294 00:16:59,480 --> 00:17:02,080 Speaker 1: to the custom So you didn't you never actually owned 295 00:17:02,320 --> 00:17:04,840 Speaker 1: that phone, which I think some people might find a 296 00:17:04,880 --> 00:17:07,800 Speaker 1: little unusual today because they think, well, I bought this 297 00:17:08,160 --> 00:17:10,440 Speaker 1: piece of electrically. I mean, you turn off the service. Fine, 298 00:17:10,480 --> 00:17:13,800 Speaker 1: I understand that, but that's my phone. Um, yeah not 299 00:17:14,520 --> 00:17:17,320 Speaker 1: back then, Nope, you were just renting it. Really, So 300 00:17:18,600 --> 00:17:21,000 Speaker 1: Western Union gets out of the way. So Bell system 301 00:17:21,040 --> 00:17:24,879 Speaker 1: effectively becomes a monopoly. And according to research terms of 302 00:17:25,200 --> 00:17:28,560 Speaker 1: telephone network capacity, yeah, they're they're pretty much the There 303 00:17:28,600 --> 00:17:32,560 Speaker 1: are other competing telephone networks, but they're all they're all 304 00:17:32,600 --> 00:17:37,080 Speaker 1: technically illegal at this time because this is still exactly so. 305 00:17:37,240 --> 00:17:41,240 Speaker 1: According to researcher John Brooks, Bell Telephone would have a 306 00:17:41,440 --> 00:17:45,600 Speaker 1: level more than six hundred patent infringement lawsuits against other 307 00:17:45,640 --> 00:17:48,160 Speaker 1: companies over the course of a decade, and they won 308 00:17:48,440 --> 00:17:52,359 Speaker 1: every single one of them. Because anytime a company would 309 00:17:52,359 --> 00:17:54,040 Speaker 1: come up, like there were companies that were trying to 310 00:17:54,119 --> 00:17:58,080 Speaker 1: create telephone systems in rural areas that Bell just had 311 00:17:58,160 --> 00:18:01,560 Speaker 1: not reached, and so they wanted to give people the 312 00:18:01,600 --> 00:18:04,520 Speaker 1: benefit of this technology. Bell did not have either the 313 00:18:04,560 --> 00:18:07,320 Speaker 1: ability or interest to go into that market. So they 314 00:18:07,359 --> 00:18:08,840 Speaker 1: would go ahead and do it themselves, and then Bell 315 00:18:08,880 --> 00:18:10,840 Speaker 1: would soothe them because they you can't do that. We 316 00:18:10,920 --> 00:18:15,919 Speaker 1: have the exclusivity rights to this technology, um, and you know, 317 00:18:16,040 --> 00:18:17,760 Speaker 1: and there's like, We're gonna get there and just give 318 00:18:17,840 --> 00:18:19,919 Speaker 1: us time. Meanwhile, everyone's like, but I wanted to call 319 00:18:20,000 --> 00:18:23,280 Speaker 1: my buddy. There's no nothing to call them on other 320 00:18:23,320 --> 00:18:25,879 Speaker 1: than sticking ahead out the window and shotting, hey, Jeb, 321 00:18:26,320 --> 00:18:28,840 Speaker 1: so I don't know why his name is Jeb short 322 00:18:28,840 --> 00:18:33,480 Speaker 1: for Jebediah eighty five. That is when a T and 323 00:18:33,520 --> 00:18:36,920 Speaker 1: T is officially formed as a subsidiary of Bell. Yeah, 324 00:18:36,960 --> 00:18:42,439 Speaker 1: and this is the the formal implementation of VAL's vision 325 00:18:42,560 --> 00:18:45,640 Speaker 1: of creating a long distance network. That's the main purpose 326 00:18:45,680 --> 00:18:47,960 Speaker 1: of a T and T. So a T and T 327 00:18:48,200 --> 00:18:51,879 Speaker 1: is all about building out a long distance network so 328 00:18:51,920 --> 00:18:56,359 Speaker 1: that people can call each other across states and across countries. 329 00:18:56,960 --> 00:19:00,000 Speaker 1: Right by the end of eighty five, the company would 330 00:19:00,080 --> 00:19:03,160 Speaker 1: established the very first long distance connection between New York 331 00:19:03,200 --> 00:19:06,520 Speaker 1: and Philadelphia. It was capable of hand handling a huge 332 00:19:06,680 --> 00:19:10,760 Speaker 1: one call at a time, one call capacity. So I 333 00:19:10,800 --> 00:19:12,880 Speaker 1: can just imagine the circuits being busy over and over 334 00:19:12,880 --> 00:19:16,600 Speaker 1: and thinking they need to just wrap this up. Those 335 00:19:16,600 --> 00:19:20,080 Speaker 1: people in Philly are chatter boxes. Uh yeah, So that 336 00:19:20,119 --> 00:19:21,600 Speaker 1: was but it was really more of a proof of 337 00:19:21,640 --> 00:19:24,480 Speaker 1: concept obviously at that point, not necessarily something that was 338 00:19:24,480 --> 00:19:26,399 Speaker 1: going to be terribly practical. We're talking a little bit 339 00:19:26,400 --> 00:19:29,000 Speaker 1: about how expensive these phone calls were too. Oh yeah, yeah, 340 00:19:29,040 --> 00:19:33,840 Speaker 1: they got a little little dear. Um So that same 341 00:19:33,920 --> 00:19:37,200 Speaker 1: year was when the state of Indiana passed a law 342 00:19:37,320 --> 00:19:40,919 Speaker 1: restricting the price of telephone rental fees. So remember I 343 00:19:40,960 --> 00:19:44,400 Speaker 1: was saying, you rent your telephone, both the regional offices 344 00:19:44,440 --> 00:19:47,360 Speaker 1: do it and then the customers do it. But because 345 00:19:47,560 --> 00:19:50,200 Speaker 1: Bell was the only game in town, they could pretty 346 00:19:50,280 --> 00:19:53,560 Speaker 1: much dictate what those rental prices were going to be. Uh. 347 00:19:53,600 --> 00:19:56,640 Speaker 1: This this lawsuit said, well, you need to cut back 348 00:19:56,640 --> 00:20:01,159 Speaker 1: on those costs. So um Bell's response, The company's response 349 00:20:01,200 --> 00:20:03,800 Speaker 1: was saying, well, you know, we have to have these 350 00:20:03,840 --> 00:20:07,840 Speaker 1: prices because the service is expensive to to build out, 351 00:20:07,840 --> 00:20:12,600 Speaker 1: to administer, to maintain. We cannot operate at a lower cost. 352 00:20:13,080 --> 00:20:15,840 Speaker 1: We if we were to lower these this amount of money, 353 00:20:16,280 --> 00:20:18,480 Speaker 1: we would not make a profit. We would lose money 354 00:20:18,520 --> 00:20:20,840 Speaker 1: on the deal. We can't do it. So your phones 355 00:20:20,840 --> 00:20:24,639 Speaker 1: are off and they shut off the phones in Indiana. Yeah, 356 00:20:24,840 --> 00:20:29,760 Speaker 1: no more calls India. Yeah sorry, and um it would 357 00:20:29,760 --> 00:20:34,760 Speaker 1: be a couple of years before they would when service 358 00:20:34,840 --> 00:20:39,800 Speaker 1: was restored for one corporation to have. Yeah. Some people 359 00:20:39,960 --> 00:20:42,040 Speaker 1: said the A. T and T statement was that this 360 00:20:42,080 --> 00:20:45,040 Speaker 1: was an example of quote the futility of public action 361 00:20:45,119 --> 00:20:48,280 Speaker 1: and ignorance end quote, saying that you know, you guys 362 00:20:48,280 --> 00:20:50,199 Speaker 1: were all upset and you told us that we had 363 00:20:50,240 --> 00:20:52,280 Speaker 1: to do this thing, but you didn't understand that we 364 00:20:52,280 --> 00:20:55,080 Speaker 1: were doing it because that's financially what we have to do. 365 00:20:55,640 --> 00:20:57,639 Speaker 1: Other people said, no, A T and T held the 366 00:20:57,680 --> 00:21:00,800 Speaker 1: state hostage by saying you don't get phone calls until 367 00:21:00,800 --> 00:21:04,399 Speaker 1: you play ball, which I think is a fair that's 368 00:21:04,400 --> 00:21:08,440 Speaker 1: that's that's pretty awful. So well, without actually looking at 369 00:21:08,520 --> 00:21:11,360 Speaker 1: the financial books share and knowing that the company did 370 00:21:11,359 --> 00:21:14,760 Speaker 1: operate in debt for a while, entirely it's hard to say, 371 00:21:15,000 --> 00:21:17,080 Speaker 1: although you know at the time they were positing themselves 372 00:21:17,119 --> 00:21:20,600 Speaker 1: as sort of a public service almost that's right, akin 373 00:21:20,680 --> 00:21:22,840 Speaker 1: to something like the post Office, which would become much 374 00:21:22,960 --> 00:21:27,960 Speaker 1: more their their message in a few years. So seven 375 00:21:28,000 --> 00:21:32,560 Speaker 1: that was the first year that Theodore Vale resigned as president. Yea, 376 00:21:33,040 --> 00:21:36,040 Speaker 1: that that was directly, I think in due to his 377 00:21:36,119 --> 00:21:38,600 Speaker 1: frustration with the board, like he was saying earlier. And 378 00:21:38,640 --> 00:21:42,119 Speaker 1: there was a dispute with some Boston financial backers as well, 379 00:21:42,160 --> 00:21:47,040 Speaker 1: and all of that kind of fed into Veil's resignation. 380 00:21:47,080 --> 00:21:48,920 Speaker 1: He just decided that that was not where he needed 381 00:21:48,920 --> 00:21:52,960 Speaker 1: to be, so that he leaves. Don't worry, He's part 382 00:21:53,000 --> 00:21:56,280 Speaker 1: of the story is not over yet without him. Meanwhile, 383 00:21:56,320 --> 00:21:59,960 Speaker 1: in eighteen eighty nine, the Bell system would adopt the 384 00:22:00,040 --> 00:22:05,000 Speaker 1: first official Bell logo. Yeah what it looked like a bell? Yeah, okay, 385 00:22:05,200 --> 00:22:09,000 Speaker 1: that makes sense alright. That was when the first long 386 00:22:09,000 --> 00:22:11,960 Speaker 1: distance connection was established between New York and Chicago. And 387 00:22:11,960 --> 00:22:14,760 Speaker 1: this was the real display of long distance. You know, 388 00:22:14,800 --> 00:22:18,040 Speaker 1: New York to Philadelphia was impressive. New York to Chicago 389 00:22:18,080 --> 00:22:23,080 Speaker 1: was a much greater distance. So this was marked by 390 00:22:23,080 --> 00:22:25,840 Speaker 1: a ceremonial phone call. Graham Bell would make that one 391 00:22:25,880 --> 00:22:29,000 Speaker 1: as well, yep, Alexander Graham bells on the call. I 392 00:22:29,040 --> 00:22:31,520 Speaker 1: did not see who he was calling. Maybe it was 393 00:22:31,600 --> 00:22:33,440 Speaker 1: just you know, prank calls, and he was making prank 394 00:22:33,440 --> 00:22:35,479 Speaker 1: calls to Chicago and ordering pizza and then saying, our 395 00:22:35,480 --> 00:22:37,480 Speaker 1: pizza is better than your pizza. I can only hope, 396 00:22:37,680 --> 00:22:40,119 Speaker 1: I would really hope. So, I mean you think prank 397 00:22:40,119 --> 00:22:43,600 Speaker 1: called pizza, it fits so the after all, the very 398 00:22:43,640 --> 00:22:45,400 Speaker 1: first call on a mobile phone was a prank call. 399 00:22:45,760 --> 00:22:48,960 Speaker 1: But the capacity of this line was just like the 400 00:22:48,960 --> 00:22:52,639 Speaker 1: one from Philadelphia, one at a time, and it cost 401 00:22:52,800 --> 00:22:55,600 Speaker 1: nine dollars for the first five minutes, which you you 402 00:22:55,640 --> 00:22:58,719 Speaker 1: did the math on inflation, yeah, I used in the 403 00:22:58,760 --> 00:23:02,240 Speaker 1: inflation calculator. Now, normally I would use the Bureau of 404 00:23:02,320 --> 00:23:06,040 Speaker 1: Labor Statistics calculator, which factors in the consumer price index, 405 00:23:06,480 --> 00:23:09,600 Speaker 1: but that only goes back to n So I used 406 00:23:09,640 --> 00:23:13,080 Speaker 1: the inflation calculator. I honestly don't know where they pulled 407 00:23:13,200 --> 00:23:17,440 Speaker 1: their their figures from. So, but based upon the inflation calculator, 408 00:23:17,560 --> 00:23:21,440 Speaker 1: that nine dollars would translate into sixty dollars today. So 409 00:23:21,520 --> 00:23:24,800 Speaker 1: sixty dollars for five minutes of a phone call. So, 410 00:23:24,840 --> 00:23:26,800 Speaker 1: if you think your cell phone bill is high. Yeah, 411 00:23:27,000 --> 00:23:29,879 Speaker 1: that's no talk about how I'm almost all the minute. 412 00:23:30,000 --> 00:23:33,000 Speaker 1: Well those minutes are precious. Look how much they cost 413 00:23:33,000 --> 00:23:38,000 Speaker 1: back in the eighties. Uh so that was when those 414 00:23:38,040 --> 00:23:40,679 Speaker 1: patents that we were talking about expired. Yeah, and uh 415 00:23:40,960 --> 00:23:45,320 Speaker 1: the day had happened. The columns at Bell System tremble. 416 00:23:45,480 --> 00:23:49,119 Speaker 1: Then there was a great whaling. Over the next ten years, 417 00:23:49,160 --> 00:23:52,879 Speaker 1: six thousand independent telephone companies would open across the United States. 418 00:23:52,880 --> 00:23:55,520 Speaker 1: Now these were legal at this point because the patents 419 00:23:55,560 --> 00:23:59,320 Speaker 1: no longer gained exclusivity rights to Bell Systems. So you 420 00:23:59,359 --> 00:24:02,680 Speaker 1: had all these companies that suddenly could operate legally within 421 00:24:02,720 --> 00:24:06,800 Speaker 1: the United States and offer a competing product or service. Rather, 422 00:24:07,280 --> 00:24:10,240 Speaker 1: there are some problems here. So let's say, Lauren, that 423 00:24:10,280 --> 00:24:12,359 Speaker 1: you and I both live in the same city back 424 00:24:12,440 --> 00:24:16,719 Speaker 1: in eight and it's a small city that Bell System 425 00:24:16,760 --> 00:24:19,600 Speaker 1: really hasn't gotten into. But there's this regional company that 426 00:24:19,680 --> 00:24:23,240 Speaker 1: has introduced a telephone system, and a second regional company 427 00:24:23,280 --> 00:24:26,639 Speaker 1: that competes and also sets up a telephone system. You 428 00:24:26,840 --> 00:24:29,160 Speaker 1: become a customer of one of those companies, I become 429 00:24:29,200 --> 00:24:31,760 Speaker 1: the customer of the other company. And then one night 430 00:24:31,840 --> 00:24:34,679 Speaker 1: you realize, Hey, I left my notes at work. I 431 00:24:34,720 --> 00:24:37,440 Speaker 1: need you to grab them and bring them home. Uh, 432 00:24:37,520 --> 00:24:39,800 Speaker 1: and you know, can you swing by my place and 433 00:24:39,840 --> 00:24:41,560 Speaker 1: you try and call me, but you can't because you're 434 00:24:41,560 --> 00:24:43,040 Speaker 1: on one system and I'm on the other, and there's 435 00:24:43,080 --> 00:24:46,679 Speaker 1: no interconnectivity. Right, And this was partially because you know, 436 00:24:47,240 --> 00:24:49,840 Speaker 1: those those lines might literally not have been connected, and 437 00:24:49,880 --> 00:24:52,840 Speaker 1: even if they were, you're talking to The way that 438 00:24:52,840 --> 00:24:54,879 Speaker 1: telephones worked at the time is is you would you 439 00:24:54,880 --> 00:24:56,840 Speaker 1: would pick it up, and you would get an operator 440 00:24:56,880 --> 00:24:59,359 Speaker 1: and tell the operator where you want your call to 441 00:24:59,400 --> 00:25:02,520 Speaker 1: go to operation or would manually switch you through, manually 442 00:25:02,560 --> 00:25:05,560 Speaker 1: look at a system of switches and figure out the 443 00:25:05,640 --> 00:25:08,359 Speaker 1: route to get your call to that house or that 444 00:25:08,400 --> 00:25:11,200 Speaker 1: other phone, right or as long as the line wasn't engaged, 445 00:25:11,240 --> 00:25:13,600 Speaker 1: they could try the line, but if it's not on 446 00:25:13,680 --> 00:25:16,680 Speaker 1: their system, then you couldn't call them. So so there 447 00:25:16,720 --> 00:25:19,359 Speaker 1: there were speaking of these these numbers of customers, there 448 00:25:19,359 --> 00:25:23,800 Speaker 1: were some seven hundred thousand customers using these other services 449 00:25:23,840 --> 00:25:27,639 Speaker 1: and about a million using Bell. Yeah, so around that 450 00:25:27,880 --> 00:25:30,640 Speaker 1: so when you think about that six thousand companies and 451 00:25:30,920 --> 00:25:33,480 Speaker 1: seven hundred thousand customers and then one company and a 452 00:25:33,520 --> 00:25:38,359 Speaker 1: million customers, that shows you that they were still they 453 00:25:38,359 --> 00:25:41,160 Speaker 1: were still effectively a monopoly because there was no other 454 00:25:41,480 --> 00:25:44,919 Speaker 1: single company that could compete with them. So while they weren't, 455 00:25:45,480 --> 00:25:48,280 Speaker 1: by the letter of the law, a true monopoly as 456 00:25:48,320 --> 00:25:50,920 Speaker 1: in the only game in town, effectively that's what they were. 457 00:25:51,320 --> 00:25:55,000 Speaker 1: And one of the things that happened in was that well, 458 00:25:55,160 --> 00:25:59,240 Speaker 1: the Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company, which later became Pacific Telesis, 459 00:25:59,440 --> 00:26:03,000 Speaker 1: opened the first exchange operated entirely in a language other 460 00:26:03,040 --> 00:26:06,399 Speaker 1: than English within the United States, operated in Chinatown in 461 00:26:06,400 --> 00:26:08,399 Speaker 1: San Francisco, and it was all in Chinese. All the 462 00:26:08,520 --> 00:26:12,440 Speaker 1: customers spoke Chinese, and all the operators spoke Chinese. Eight 463 00:26:14,240 --> 00:26:17,280 Speaker 1: that's when A. T and T acquired its former rival, 464 00:26:17,400 --> 00:26:21,400 Speaker 1: Western Union. And I sure probably some people said ha 465 00:26:21,400 --> 00:26:24,800 Speaker 1: ha when it happened. So remember Western Union was the 466 00:26:24,840 --> 00:26:28,720 Speaker 1: company that had they purchased those patents from Bell, this 467 00:26:28,760 --> 00:26:30,679 Speaker 1: would be a totally different story. There would not have 468 00:26:30,720 --> 00:26:34,280 Speaker 1: been an A T and T. But instead they had 469 00:26:34,520 --> 00:26:37,720 Speaker 1: decided to fight against Bell and Bell Systems, and now 470 00:26:37,760 --> 00:26:40,480 Speaker 1: they became a property of A T and T itself. 471 00:26:41,040 --> 00:26:44,280 Speaker 1: Um So A T. T acquires the assets of the 472 00:26:44,320 --> 00:26:48,040 Speaker 1: American Bell Telephone Company, which means that A T and 473 00:26:48,080 --> 00:26:51,320 Speaker 1: T the subsidiary, now becomes the parent company. Yeah, so 474 00:26:51,400 --> 00:26:54,480 Speaker 1: A T and T was now the big company. The 475 00:26:54,560 --> 00:26:58,439 Speaker 1: student has become the teacher. So eight is when we 476 00:26:58,480 --> 00:27:01,240 Speaker 1: can say the company of A. T and T really 477 00:27:01,280 --> 00:27:04,920 Speaker 1: came into being. It was no longer a subsidiary or division. 478 00:27:05,040 --> 00:27:08,760 Speaker 1: It was it was in charge. So by this time 479 00:27:08,760 --> 00:27:11,159 Speaker 1: the company's size was pretty big. You know. Keep in 480 00:27:11,200 --> 00:27:13,400 Speaker 1: mind when it was founded there was one employee. Now 481 00:27:13,440 --> 00:27:16,960 Speaker 1: there were a million, three two thousand phones in the 482 00:27:17,119 --> 00:27:21,560 Speaker 1: system and more than forty five thousand employees. And that 483 00:27:21,640 --> 00:27:25,600 Speaker 1: same year, researchers independently developed a theory about something called 484 00:27:25,760 --> 00:27:31,399 Speaker 1: loading coils. The loading coils are a part of technology 485 00:27:31,480 --> 00:27:33,600 Speaker 1: that was very important in the early days of the 486 00:27:33,640 --> 00:27:36,480 Speaker 1: telephone system. It actually would reduce the rate at which 487 00:27:36,480 --> 00:27:39,720 Speaker 1: a traveling telephone signal would weaken, which made it possible 488 00:27:39,920 --> 00:27:42,480 Speaker 1: to build longer phone lines and build out this long 489 00:27:42,480 --> 00:27:46,120 Speaker 1: distance network. Right that That loss of signal is called attenuation, 490 00:27:46,400 --> 00:27:48,720 Speaker 1: and it right, it's it's a loss of intensity of 491 00:27:48,760 --> 00:27:51,560 Speaker 1: a signal as it travels through any medium, right Yeah, 492 00:27:51,600 --> 00:27:54,919 Speaker 1: So this was a huge help and getting around just 493 00:27:55,040 --> 00:27:59,000 Speaker 1: a practical problem that existed with the technology. So several 494 00:27:59,000 --> 00:28:02,240 Speaker 1: other advancements would be made later on. We have more 495 00:28:02,280 --> 00:28:04,080 Speaker 1: to say about the early days of A T and T. 496 00:28:04,280 --> 00:28:14,439 Speaker 1: But first let's take another quick break. Al right, So 497 00:28:14,520 --> 00:28:18,000 Speaker 1: back to A T and T. In nineteen oh four, 498 00:28:18,480 --> 00:28:21,399 Speaker 1: we start seeing some states began to pass laws requiring 499 00:28:21,480 --> 00:28:25,120 Speaker 1: the interconnection between phone networks. And it's still a state 500 00:28:25,160 --> 00:28:28,800 Speaker 1: by state case basis at this point, so it's not like, um, 501 00:28:28,800 --> 00:28:32,000 Speaker 1: it's not like this is a national movement yet, but 502 00:28:32,119 --> 00:28:36,040 Speaker 1: it's starting to kind of develop into that. And remember 503 00:28:36,520 --> 00:28:39,400 Speaker 1: A T and T. There, they were taking a pretty 504 00:28:40,800 --> 00:28:44,560 Speaker 1: nasty competitive approach. Nasty might be the wrong word, how 505 00:28:44,600 --> 00:28:50,800 Speaker 1: about enthusiastic. Yeah, So, but technically this is what everyone 506 00:28:50,880 --> 00:28:53,479 Speaker 1: had to do. Everyone was building out their networks and 507 00:28:53,560 --> 00:28:57,000 Speaker 1: not connecting with other networks. A T and T had 508 00:28:57,320 --> 00:29:00,320 Speaker 1: the most power here because they had the largest number 509 00:29:00,320 --> 00:29:04,760 Speaker 1: of customers among any single telephone company. So by not 510 00:29:04,840 --> 00:29:08,120 Speaker 1: playing ball by not allowing connectivity with these other networks. 511 00:29:08,640 --> 00:29:10,800 Speaker 1: If you know that A T and T is the 512 00:29:10,920 --> 00:29:13,560 Speaker 1: big telephone company and that the majority of the people 513 00:29:13,600 --> 00:29:15,720 Speaker 1: you would want to get in touch with are going 514 00:29:15,800 --> 00:29:18,520 Speaker 1: to be connected to that company, that's the company you 515 00:29:18,560 --> 00:29:21,560 Speaker 1: go with, even if there's a regional company that ends 516 00:29:21,640 --> 00:29:24,240 Speaker 1: up having a better deal for you financially. If no 517 00:29:24,280 --> 00:29:27,120 Speaker 1: one you know is on that service then and you 518 00:29:27,200 --> 00:29:30,200 Speaker 1: can't get a call from another service, right, So just 519 00:29:30,280 --> 00:29:32,560 Speaker 1: imagine for you cell phone users out there that if 520 00:29:32,640 --> 00:29:34,400 Speaker 1: you're an a T and T customer, you would be 521 00:29:34,480 --> 00:29:37,400 Speaker 1: unable to call anyone using Verizon, Sprint, or T Mobile, 522 00:29:37,920 --> 00:29:40,200 Speaker 1: and the same would be true for each of those companies. 523 00:29:40,200 --> 00:29:43,040 Speaker 1: No one would be able to call anyone cross company. 524 00:29:43,160 --> 00:29:45,880 Speaker 1: Then you see how how this becomes a problem. But 525 00:29:45,960 --> 00:29:48,520 Speaker 1: this is still in the early days. So we get 526 00:29:48,560 --> 00:29:51,719 Speaker 1: to nineteen o six, right, Yeah, it was around that 527 00:29:51,800 --> 00:29:55,160 Speaker 1: time that the head of the Chicago Bell Exchange instituted 528 00:29:55,240 --> 00:29:59,160 Speaker 1: coin operated telephones to prevent people from freeloading in in shops, 529 00:29:59,160 --> 00:30:01,600 Speaker 1: you know, drug stores something might have a telephone in them, 530 00:30:01,640 --> 00:30:04,760 Speaker 1: and since it was still relatively expensive to place calls, 531 00:30:05,320 --> 00:30:07,200 Speaker 1: this was a way they you know, it was a 532 00:30:07,280 --> 00:30:11,080 Speaker 1: nickel perk hall and um. By by six, there were 533 00:30:11,120 --> 00:30:16,120 Speaker 1: nearly forty coin operated telephones in Chicago, And now you 534 00:30:16,160 --> 00:30:19,400 Speaker 1: don't see them hardly anywhere. Yeah, I love seeing them 535 00:30:19,400 --> 00:30:21,760 Speaker 1: in movies these days, because once in a while, like 536 00:30:21,800 --> 00:30:24,080 Speaker 1: maybe an airport or something, you might see some, but 537 00:30:24,200 --> 00:30:27,040 Speaker 1: otherwise they're you know, they used to be everywhere heck, 538 00:30:27,040 --> 00:30:29,560 Speaker 1: I remember where they were everywhere. Oh yeah, yeah, I 539 00:30:29,600 --> 00:30:33,960 Speaker 1: remember that too. I'm not that young. Was big. That 540 00:30:34,160 --> 00:30:37,560 Speaker 1: is the year that Theodore Veil became president of A 541 00:30:37,600 --> 00:30:40,480 Speaker 1: T and T again again, Well, he had technically been 542 00:30:40,560 --> 00:30:43,360 Speaker 1: president of Bell I think, yeah, that's true. Previously he 543 00:30:43,400 --> 00:30:44,960 Speaker 1: was president of Bell and now he's first of the 544 00:30:45,120 --> 00:30:47,960 Speaker 1: time president of A T and So he was brought 545 00:30:48,000 --> 00:30:50,800 Speaker 1: back on when the JP Morgan group had gained a 546 00:30:50,840 --> 00:30:53,040 Speaker 1: majority control of A T and T and said, you 547 00:30:53,080 --> 00:30:55,200 Speaker 1: know this Veil guy, we like what he has to say. 548 00:30:55,200 --> 00:30:57,320 Speaker 1: We're going to put him back on the top of 549 00:30:57,360 --> 00:31:01,280 Speaker 1: the company. Yeah, j P. JP Morgan especially like because 550 00:31:01,280 --> 00:31:03,480 Speaker 1: he was still alive at the time, and he's specifically 551 00:31:03,840 --> 00:31:06,280 Speaker 1: I'm possibly even called up Veil. I think Veil was 552 00:31:06,320 --> 00:31:09,040 Speaker 1: in South America at the time doing stuff and you know, 553 00:31:09,080 --> 00:31:11,000 Speaker 1: had been retired, and he convinced him to come out 554 00:31:11,000 --> 00:31:16,280 Speaker 1: of retirement. Yep. And Veil again started to really laid 555 00:31:16,320 --> 00:31:19,200 Speaker 1: down the vision of A T and T and started 556 00:31:19,200 --> 00:31:22,400 Speaker 1: an ad campaign in nineteen o eight, and Veil would 557 00:31:22,400 --> 00:31:25,959 Speaker 1: really be responsible yet again for setting the vision of 558 00:31:26,120 --> 00:31:28,800 Speaker 1: A T and T. He' set up a challenge to 559 00:31:28,880 --> 00:31:31,480 Speaker 1: have a line, a single line stretching from New York 560 00:31:31,520 --> 00:31:34,480 Speaker 1: to San Francisco in the next seven years. It's pretty 561 00:31:34,520 --> 00:31:37,720 Speaker 1: again ambitious, it's very ambitious considering the technology at the time. 562 00:31:38,040 --> 00:31:41,640 Speaker 1: So en eight he starts to kind of spearhead an 563 00:31:41,680 --> 00:31:45,040 Speaker 1: ad campaign that set the A, T and T corporate policy. Yeah, 564 00:31:45,120 --> 00:31:47,200 Speaker 1: that this was this was the other really big important 565 00:31:47,240 --> 00:31:49,160 Speaker 1: part of his vision, and and it was connected to 566 00:31:49,240 --> 00:31:52,840 Speaker 1: this a single line concept. Yeah, it was one policy, 567 00:31:53,240 --> 00:31:57,640 Speaker 1: one system, universal service. The idea here being that in 568 00:31:57,760 --> 00:32:01,680 Speaker 1: order to guarantee that you could that every person in 569 00:32:01,720 --> 00:32:05,960 Speaker 1: America would have access to telephones, you had to essentially 570 00:32:05,960 --> 00:32:08,400 Speaker 1: take the stance of we're the only game in town, 571 00:32:08,520 --> 00:32:12,440 Speaker 1: because if there's none of this interconnectivity through different companies, 572 00:32:12,800 --> 00:32:14,440 Speaker 1: that's the only option you have is you have to 573 00:32:14,480 --> 00:32:17,800 Speaker 1: have someone come out and become the dominant player so 574 00:32:17,840 --> 00:32:20,800 Speaker 1: that everyone has access to the phone and can call 575 00:32:20,880 --> 00:32:23,760 Speaker 1: anyone else. He also Vail had this very kind of 576 00:32:23,840 --> 00:32:28,920 Speaker 1: pro monopoly stance of competition is what turns consumers away 577 00:32:29,160 --> 00:32:32,080 Speaker 1: from brands. It's this this kind of cutthroat thing that 578 00:32:32,200 --> 00:32:36,000 Speaker 1: happens is bad publicity for everyone. So if you know, 579 00:32:36,400 --> 00:32:39,080 Speaker 1: just it's kind of that doctor horrible sort of thing 580 00:32:39,200 --> 00:32:41,200 Speaker 1: like where the world is terrible place, and I just 581 00:32:41,240 --> 00:32:44,680 Speaker 1: need to rule it. Yeah. Now, it's exactly that kind 582 00:32:44,720 --> 00:32:46,800 Speaker 1: of approach. In fact that I had read several things 583 00:32:46,840 --> 00:32:50,800 Speaker 1: about how the the telegraph companies had entered an era 584 00:32:50,880 --> 00:32:53,040 Speaker 1: of competition and they all decided they did not like 585 00:32:53,160 --> 00:32:55,960 Speaker 1: that very much. And so the telephone company was following 586 00:32:56,000 --> 00:32:59,640 Speaker 1: the same route. They weren't so crazy about competition. And 587 00:33:00,160 --> 00:33:02,640 Speaker 1: to be fair, this is a case where competition wasn't 588 00:33:02,840 --> 00:33:06,480 Speaker 1: really helpful to the consumer simply because of that lack 589 00:33:06,520 --> 00:33:10,680 Speaker 1: of interconnectivity. It wasn't that you know, the problem with 590 00:33:10,800 --> 00:33:13,600 Speaker 1: is that without the competition, you don't have the benefit 591 00:33:13,640 --> 00:33:15,560 Speaker 1: of the consumer being able to choose the right kind 592 00:33:15,560 --> 00:33:18,640 Speaker 1: of plan or price or whatever. But on the downside 593 00:33:18,680 --> 00:33:21,120 Speaker 1: is you know, if there's no interconnectivity, then it really 594 00:33:21,160 --> 00:33:23,760 Speaker 1: gets you stuck. Yeah, and in these early days that 595 00:33:23,800 --> 00:33:28,600 Speaker 1: was the bigger issue. So, um, some important, very important 596 00:33:29,040 --> 00:33:32,520 Speaker 1: thing in the history of the phone industry happens. Well, 597 00:33:32,640 --> 00:33:35,320 Speaker 1: phones were still new enough that we didn't really have 598 00:33:35,400 --> 00:33:40,520 Speaker 1: phone etiquette. Yeah, And so Bell would publish a a 599 00:33:40,640 --> 00:33:44,520 Speaker 1: little Bell Engineer magazine would would sponsor contest for the 600 00:33:44,560 --> 00:33:48,920 Speaker 1: best essay about the proper telephone etiquette, and they published 601 00:33:48,960 --> 00:33:53,720 Speaker 1: the best essay um and this was kind of when 602 00:33:53,720 --> 00:33:58,520 Speaker 1: the war on hello began. Yeah, so hello was being 603 00:33:58,520 --> 00:34:02,480 Speaker 1: adopted as the salutation of choice by a lot of people, 604 00:34:02,960 --> 00:34:05,600 Speaker 1: and phone executives and other people thought that this was 605 00:34:05,640 --> 00:34:08,920 Speaker 1: a vulgar means of greeting someone on the phone. I 606 00:34:08,960 --> 00:34:11,919 Speaker 1: have a quote from that winning essay. It is, would 607 00:34:11,920 --> 00:34:13,640 Speaker 1: you rush into an officer up to the door of 608 00:34:13,640 --> 00:34:15,880 Speaker 1: a residence and blurt out, Hello, Hello, who am I 609 00:34:15,880 --> 00:34:19,319 Speaker 1: talking to? No one should open conversations with phrases such 610 00:34:19,360 --> 00:34:21,839 Speaker 1: as Mr Wood of Carson Sun's wishes to talk with 611 00:34:21,960 --> 00:34:27,560 Speaker 1: Mr White without any unnecessary and undignified hello's. Huh. Now. 612 00:34:27,560 --> 00:34:31,560 Speaker 1: I remember hearing once upon a time an apocryphal tale 613 00:34:32,120 --> 00:34:35,600 Speaker 1: that the telephone is what gave rise to the word hello, 614 00:34:36,120 --> 00:34:39,120 Speaker 1: But in fact, the word hello pre dates the telephone 615 00:34:39,320 --> 00:34:43,239 Speaker 1: by a few decades. I think the earliest written examples 616 00:34:43,400 --> 00:34:46,960 Speaker 1: date from the eighteen thirties. However, I will say that 617 00:34:47,000 --> 00:34:50,800 Speaker 1: the telephone gave rise to the popularity of the word hello. 618 00:34:51,360 --> 00:34:55,680 Speaker 1: And obviously, you know, any any sensible civilized human being 619 00:34:55,719 --> 00:35:00,800 Speaker 1: would use ahyhoy uh. There's all ends of other etiquette 620 00:35:00,840 --> 00:35:03,000 Speaker 1: notes in these manuals that were coming out at the time, 621 00:35:03,239 --> 00:35:07,720 Speaker 1: one from California instructed speakers to speak directly into the mouthpiece, 622 00:35:07,800 --> 00:35:10,400 Speaker 1: keeping the mustache out of the opening. Yes, and that 623 00:35:10,440 --> 00:35:14,600 Speaker 1: would come into play again in the late two thousand's, 624 00:35:14,600 --> 00:35:17,440 Speaker 1: like the two thousand ten era, when hipsters would come 625 00:35:17,480 --> 00:35:22,319 Speaker 1: back and the mustache got out of control again. Come on, guys, seriously, 626 00:35:22,600 --> 00:35:28,239 Speaker 1: candlebar mustaches are amazing. It's not anyone's one before. So 627 00:35:28,280 --> 00:35:30,000 Speaker 1: what you're saying is that you had one before it 628 00:35:30,080 --> 00:35:35,200 Speaker 1: was cool. Uh. T and T becomes a government sanctioned 629 00:35:35,239 --> 00:35:38,359 Speaker 1: monopoly as the result of an antitrust lawsuit, he said, 630 00:35:38,400 --> 00:35:42,040 Speaker 1: ignoring her appointedly. It's documented in something that's called the 631 00:35:42,160 --> 00:35:45,320 Speaker 1: Kingsbury Commitment. So at that time, A T and T 632 00:35:45,440 --> 00:35:48,960 Speaker 1: divested itself of controlling interest in Western Union, so you 633 00:35:49,000 --> 00:35:51,359 Speaker 1: know they had acquired it earlier. Now they divested their 634 00:35:51,400 --> 00:35:54,960 Speaker 1: control of it and also allowed competing telephone services to 635 00:35:54,960 --> 00:35:57,680 Speaker 1: connect to the A T and T long distance network. 636 00:35:57,920 --> 00:35:59,560 Speaker 1: They had to do so with a fee. There was 637 00:35:59,560 --> 00:36:01,799 Speaker 1: a toll fee every time they would connect to A 638 00:36:01,880 --> 00:36:03,640 Speaker 1: T and T S line. So that's how A T 639 00:36:03,719 --> 00:36:07,759 Speaker 1: and T could gain revenue through this this relationship. A 640 00:36:07,960 --> 00:36:09,960 Speaker 1: right JP Morgan was still a partial owner of A 641 00:36:10,040 --> 00:36:11,480 Speaker 1: T and T at the time, and he was fighting 642 00:36:11,480 --> 00:36:15,200 Speaker 1: with the lawmakers known as trustbusters, who were trying to 643 00:36:15,680 --> 00:36:18,239 Speaker 1: uh trying to break up A T and T right 644 00:36:18,320 --> 00:36:20,560 Speaker 1: up until he passed away in this year in ninet 645 00:36:21,480 --> 00:36:24,319 Speaker 1: and Veil did not continue the fight the way that 646 00:36:24,440 --> 00:36:27,719 Speaker 1: Morgan really wanted to. He he chose to dominate through 647 00:36:27,719 --> 00:36:32,760 Speaker 1: this kind of terrifically sneakily backhanded cooperation with these smaller 648 00:36:32,760 --> 00:36:36,040 Speaker 1: independent companies, and because it meant that he still made 649 00:36:36,040 --> 00:36:38,200 Speaker 1: money from them, a lot of money. Yeah, I mean, 650 00:36:38,360 --> 00:36:40,200 Speaker 1: you know this, this worked out really well for everyone 651 00:36:40,239 --> 00:36:43,800 Speaker 1: except the independence because you know, the the arrangement helps 652 00:36:43,880 --> 00:36:47,279 Speaker 1: allow customers of different telephone companies connect with each other 653 00:36:47,640 --> 00:36:49,680 Speaker 1: because it mandates that A T and T has to 654 00:36:49,719 --> 00:36:55,279 Speaker 1: play with everyone's uh so the network interconnectivity is now 655 00:36:55,320 --> 00:36:57,560 Speaker 1: no longer a problem. But it gave A T and 656 00:36:57,600 --> 00:37:00,480 Speaker 1: T permission to function like a national utility, and and 657 00:37:00,520 --> 00:37:05,319 Speaker 1: it would dominate the telephone market until ninety uh And 658 00:37:05,400 --> 00:37:07,600 Speaker 1: some would argue, well beyond that, Well, yeah, well it's 659 00:37:07,600 --> 00:37:10,040 Speaker 1: certainly into the eighties two, you could argue, and so 660 00:37:10,040 --> 00:37:12,480 Speaker 1: so right, So, if independent companies wanted to use the 661 00:37:12,560 --> 00:37:16,200 Speaker 1: widespread bell system. They had to agree to use Bell's equipment, 662 00:37:16,239 --> 00:37:18,120 Speaker 1: they had to adhere to their standards, and they had 663 00:37:18,120 --> 00:37:21,120 Speaker 1: to again pay fees. So if you use of those wires. 664 00:37:21,160 --> 00:37:24,440 Speaker 1: If you're thinking that this antitrust story sounds familiar, it 665 00:37:24,480 --> 00:37:27,640 Speaker 1: will get increasingly familiar as this series goes on. Yes, 666 00:37:27,760 --> 00:37:31,080 Speaker 1: one competitor wrote that that this entire ordeal was like 667 00:37:31,120 --> 00:37:33,560 Speaker 1: trying to fight an octopus, which I just think is 668 00:37:33,640 --> 00:37:37,160 Speaker 1: terrifically like, I want that steampunk comic book about that. 669 00:37:37,880 --> 00:37:41,640 Speaker 1: I'm moving on into nineteen fourteen, we see another technological development, 670 00:37:41,640 --> 00:37:45,160 Speaker 1: the three element vacuum tube, which was an amplifier that 671 00:37:45,360 --> 00:37:49,520 Speaker 1: enabled the first transcontinental line to exist, which didn't exist yet, 672 00:37:49,520 --> 00:37:52,160 Speaker 1: it hadn't been laid down yet, but this technology is 673 00:37:52,200 --> 00:37:54,560 Speaker 1: what made it possible. All right, This is an important 674 00:37:54,560 --> 00:37:59,000 Speaker 1: advancement because of that aforementioned attenuation. And you know, unless 675 00:37:59,040 --> 00:38:02,080 Speaker 1: people could come up with a better material than copper 676 00:38:02,160 --> 00:38:04,080 Speaker 1: to transmit a signal with, or or a way to 677 00:38:04,120 --> 00:38:06,680 Speaker 1: amp amplify the signal, it just wasn't going to work. 678 00:38:06,920 --> 00:38:11,479 Speaker 1: And Dr leed to Forrest created this audion uh three 679 00:38:11,480 --> 00:38:14,960 Speaker 1: element vacuum tube, and it would be really big, and 680 00:38:15,000 --> 00:38:19,280 Speaker 1: lots of other industries that enabled the development of radio, radar, television, 681 00:38:19,320 --> 00:38:22,960 Speaker 1: and computers right up until transistors became a thing in 682 00:38:22,960 --> 00:38:25,080 Speaker 1: the nineteen sixties. Yeah. Yeah, you have to go all 683 00:38:25,120 --> 00:38:28,560 Speaker 1: the way. Remember that the first transistor isn't even invented 684 00:38:28,680 --> 00:38:32,760 Speaker 1: in the prototype stage until the late forties. So from 685 00:38:32,760 --> 00:38:35,840 Speaker 1: this point until the late forties, just in the in 686 00:38:35,880 --> 00:38:38,800 Speaker 1: the lab, not not let alone out in the real world. 687 00:38:39,400 --> 00:38:42,120 Speaker 1: This is this is the best the technology could offer 688 00:38:42,239 --> 00:38:44,320 Speaker 1: us at the time, right, Yeah, I think nineteen sixties 689 00:38:44,360 --> 00:38:48,600 Speaker 1: was a number that was incorrect listening to Jonathan Well, 690 00:38:48,600 --> 00:38:51,120 Speaker 1: by the nineteen sixties it was certainly common, and the 691 00:38:51,160 --> 00:38:53,520 Speaker 1: fifties it wasn't common because they still had they still 692 00:38:53,520 --> 00:38:57,440 Speaker 1: had to refine the design. Certainly, the first transistor looks terrible. 693 00:38:57,560 --> 00:39:02,239 Speaker 1: That's very generous. Um. And meanwhile, via eighteen ties manufacturing 694 00:39:02,280 --> 00:39:05,799 Speaker 1: subsidiary that we have previously mentioned, Western Electric Company International 695 00:39:05,800 --> 00:39:09,000 Speaker 1: affiliates were starting to sell equipment around Europe, South America 696 00:39:09,080 --> 00:39:12,120 Speaker 1: and also in Japan and Australia. Yeah. Yeah, we could 697 00:39:12,120 --> 00:39:15,640 Speaker 1: not call them yet, but that would that would change shortly, 698 00:39:16,719 --> 00:39:20,600 Speaker 1: relatively speaking. January fifteen, that's when the first long distance 699 00:39:20,600 --> 00:39:24,040 Speaker 1: call is between Alexander Graham Bell in New York and 700 00:39:24,080 --> 00:39:28,040 Speaker 1: Thomas Watson all the way in San Francisco Thomas Watson. 701 00:39:28,239 --> 00:39:32,640 Speaker 1: So this was this is that promise about getting that 702 00:39:32,640 --> 00:39:35,840 Speaker 1: that long distance connection all the way from coast to 703 00:39:35,840 --> 00:39:38,399 Speaker 1: coast in the United States. It also had two other 704 00:39:38,480 --> 00:39:41,759 Speaker 1: connections on that one call. There was the President of 705 00:39:41,760 --> 00:39:44,520 Speaker 1: the United States who was in Washington, d C. And 706 00:39:44,920 --> 00:39:48,000 Speaker 1: Thomas Vale, who at the time was in Jekyl Island, 707 00:39:48,040 --> 00:39:52,319 Speaker 1: Georgia's there. I've been there as well, so yeah, it's 708 00:39:52,360 --> 00:39:55,280 Speaker 1: kind of interesting. I think I've even seen a historic 709 00:39:55,360 --> 00:39:58,920 Speaker 1: plaque that referenced this. But then again, I have a 710 00:39:58,920 --> 00:40:01,160 Speaker 1: feeling that Jackyl Island must be the place where they 711 00:40:01,200 --> 00:40:04,680 Speaker 1: make those historic plaques because they are everywhere. So the 712 00:40:04,719 --> 00:40:07,560 Speaker 1: cost for those first three minutes of phone time on 713 00:40:07,600 --> 00:40:10,399 Speaker 1: a typical long distance call between New York and San 714 00:40:10,400 --> 00:40:15,439 Speaker 1: Francisco is twenty dollars and seventy cents in nineteen fifteen dollars. Now, 715 00:40:15,520 --> 00:40:17,759 Speaker 1: in this one, I used the Bureau of Labor Statistics 716 00:40:17,880 --> 00:40:19,759 Speaker 1: because that was late enough for me to do that. 717 00:40:19,760 --> 00:40:22,640 Speaker 1: That's based on the consumer Price Index, so that's the 718 00:40:23,040 --> 00:40:25,920 Speaker 1: general price of goods and services in one year versus 719 00:40:25,960 --> 00:40:29,600 Speaker 1: another year. So based on that twenty and seventy cents 720 00:40:29,680 --> 00:40:33,520 Speaker 1: is about four hundred seventy nine dollars. So that's how 721 00:40:33,600 --> 00:40:35,720 Speaker 1: much it would cost you for three minutes of phone 722 00:40:35,719 --> 00:40:39,800 Speaker 1: time on a call between New York and San Francisco. Yikes. 723 00:40:41,320 --> 00:40:44,759 Speaker 1: Uh So nineteen sixteen was the first year that they 724 00:40:44,760 --> 00:40:48,200 Speaker 1: started testing phone service to Europe. It would not work 725 00:40:48,280 --> 00:40:51,280 Speaker 1: for another little bit. Yeah, and so this phone service, 726 00:40:51,280 --> 00:40:53,600 Speaker 1: you might think, oh, did they lay a really long cable. No, 727 00:40:53,840 --> 00:40:57,319 Speaker 1: the early phone service that would become the Transatlantic phone 728 00:40:57,320 --> 00:41:01,360 Speaker 1: service was based on radio waves, not on a physical cable. 729 00:41:02,080 --> 00:41:05,640 Speaker 1: Nineteen seventeen, that's the beginning of the US involvement in 730 00:41:05,680 --> 00:41:09,799 Speaker 1: World War One. Employees start to volunteer for service during 731 00:41:09,840 --> 00:41:11,799 Speaker 1: World War One, and A T and T develops the 732 00:41:11,840 --> 00:41:15,520 Speaker 1: first air to ground ground to air radio communications systems. 733 00:41:15,560 --> 00:41:17,359 Speaker 1: And that was also in the U S. Government took 734 00:41:17,360 --> 00:41:20,759 Speaker 1: control of a nation's telephone services. They would not give 735 00:41:20,800 --> 00:41:24,839 Speaker 1: it back to its proprietary owners until nineteen nineteen. Yeah, 736 00:41:24,840 --> 00:41:29,960 Speaker 1: it was considered a wartime resource. So getting to nineteen nineteen, 737 00:41:29,960 --> 00:41:34,600 Speaker 1: that's when Bell System first dial telephones. There they are 738 00:41:34,640 --> 00:41:38,200 Speaker 1: released in Norfolk, Virginia. And so before this, like we 739 00:41:38,239 --> 00:41:39,840 Speaker 1: said before, you would pick up a phone, and you 740 00:41:39,840 --> 00:41:42,080 Speaker 1: would speak to an operator who would make the physical 741 00:41:42,120 --> 00:41:46,680 Speaker 1: switching to let you complete your call. The dialing, of course, 742 00:41:46,800 --> 00:41:49,200 Speaker 1: is more what we're familiar with today, unless we've all 743 00:41:49,239 --> 00:41:51,600 Speaker 1: just used the automated settings on our smartphones and don't 744 00:41:51,640 --> 00:41:54,759 Speaker 1: even remember how to dial anymore. But in general, it's 745 00:41:54,800 --> 00:41:57,439 Speaker 1: where you type in the series, or in this case 746 00:41:57,440 --> 00:42:01,479 Speaker 1: they were rotary phones, you would dial literal around the dial. 747 00:42:01,560 --> 00:42:04,000 Speaker 1: Did you ever use a rotary phone? Okay? Just checking. 748 00:42:04,480 --> 00:42:06,520 Speaker 1: That was also the year that Vale retired for the 749 00:42:06,560 --> 00:42:08,919 Speaker 1: second time. He would he would die the following year. 750 00:42:10,280 --> 00:42:14,320 Speaker 1: So in nineteen twenty one, the United States government passed 751 00:42:14,360 --> 00:42:18,839 Speaker 1: the Willis Graham Act, which removed antitrust restrictions to the 752 00:42:18,880 --> 00:42:24,560 Speaker 1: telephone industry. So it's essentially saying open game for for 753 00:42:24,680 --> 00:42:28,760 Speaker 1: a T and T and would acquire over two hundred 754 00:42:28,800 --> 00:42:32,279 Speaker 1: and seven thousand telephones worth of exchanges within the next 755 00:42:32,360 --> 00:42:35,240 Speaker 1: six years after this was passed. It was really again 756 00:42:35,280 --> 00:42:38,680 Speaker 1: to help facilitate that interconnected network of telephone systems, so 757 00:42:38,719 --> 00:42:41,440 Speaker 1: this is continuing the work that was done back in 758 00:42:41,520 --> 00:42:45,239 Speaker 1: nineteen um and it was also so that the United 759 00:42:45,239 --> 00:42:47,359 Speaker 1: States wouldn't be played with hundreds of networks that had 760 00:42:47,400 --> 00:42:50,759 Speaker 1: no inner connectivity. But it also meant that it gave A. 761 00:42:50,840 --> 00:42:53,560 Speaker 1: T and T the ability to really cubment itself as 762 00:42:53,600 --> 00:42:57,560 Speaker 1: a monopoly in the United States. So nineteen twenty two 763 00:42:57,640 --> 00:43:00,040 Speaker 1: was a big year for multiple reasons, and that's the 764 00:43:00,080 --> 00:43:02,480 Speaker 1: year we're gonna end this first episode on A T 765 00:43:02,600 --> 00:43:05,640 Speaker 1: and T launched the w e a F radio station 766 00:43:05,640 --> 00:43:07,800 Speaker 1: in New York, which was the very first radio station 767 00:43:07,840 --> 00:43:10,919 Speaker 1: to broadcast a commercial. It's also the very first radio 768 00:43:10,920 --> 00:43:14,320 Speaker 1: station to broadcast a college football game. Princeton beat University 769 00:43:14,360 --> 00:43:19,840 Speaker 1: of Chicago. On August two, nineteen twenty two, Alexander Graham 770 00:43:19,840 --> 00:43:23,680 Speaker 1: Bell died and on August four, nineteen twenty two, during 771 00:43:23,719 --> 00:43:28,120 Speaker 1: Alexander Graham Bell's funeral, all telephone service was suspended for 772 00:43:28,160 --> 00:43:31,319 Speaker 1: a full minute in memory of Bell. So you know 773 00:43:31,360 --> 00:43:38,160 Speaker 1: you're important when an entire country's communication system shuts down. Yeah. 774 00:43:38,200 --> 00:43:41,880 Speaker 1: So that's a pretty powerful stuff. That wraps up the 775 00:43:41,920 --> 00:43:45,040 Speaker 1: A T and T story. Part one originally published on 776 00:43:45,080 --> 00:43:48,600 Speaker 1: November four, two thousand thirteen. We will be back next 777 00:43:48,640 --> 00:43:52,239 Speaker 1: week to continue this with Part two, and until then, 778 00:43:52,360 --> 00:43:54,759 Speaker 1: if you guys have any suggestions for future topics I 779 00:43:54,800 --> 00:43:58,320 Speaker 1: should cover on tech stuff, send me a message via Twitter. 780 00:43:58,480 --> 00:44:01,160 Speaker 1: The handle is tech stuff h W and I'll talk 781 00:44:01,160 --> 00:44:08,879 Speaker 1: to you again really soon. Y text Stuff is an 782 00:44:08,880 --> 00:44:12,600 Speaker 1: I Heart Radio production. For more podcasts from I Heart Radio, 783 00:44:12,920 --> 00:44:16,120 Speaker 1: visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever 784 00:44:16,200 --> 00:44:17,720 Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.