[SFDXA] Motorola

[Norman Alexander]

An Addendum to Bill's and Elliot's emails regarding Motorola's early beginnings.
Bill,Elliot
>
>The Wavering-Lear story and how Paul Galvin started the Battery Eliminator 
>device was part of the indoctrination into Motorola Culture         when I first 
>joined.  Paul Galvin was still around, so was         Wavering as president of 
>Motorola. The company was Galvin Mfg. before WWII, and was one of the many 
>suppliers of radio equipment to the War effort. One of the contributions was the 
>'Walkie Talkie', a handheld HF transceiver, often being shown in the hands of an 
>infantryman.  
>
>
>It was post war that Galvin Manufacturing became Motorola Inc. and organized 
>around key markets, Home Entertainment for HIFI and TV, Automotive Products 
>which supplied Chrysler and Ford in-car radios and a host of after market 
>models. Some who have lived in cold climates may remember 'Tropic Aire', a 
>gasoline fuel after market car heater made by Motorola.  Other major divisions 
>was the Government Electronics Division, and Communications Division (two way 
>radio). Lear started many businesses in California and we bought 'Lear Cal' 
>which was an         aviation radio business from Bill Lear around 1960. (lousy 
>product).  
>
>
>I         think I was lucky enough to be around when some of the greats         
>still lived.  Another guy probably more significant then those         above was 
>Dan Noble,who got Motorola into FM police communications,         and later 
>started our phoenix semiconductor business.  Dan was a         professor at Univ 
>of Conn. and a consultant for Conn. State PD, sold         them on FM radio 
>which Armstrong designed and supplied.  Motorola hired Dan         (that may 
>have been the real stroke of genius of Paul Galvin)         and Motorola was off 
>to the races in supplying two way radio to Police and Fire.  The product before 
>FM was AM radio just above the broadcast band, around 1720 kc (they were 
>kilocycles in those days).  Motorola is still the dominant         supplier of 
>police and fire communications systems World Wide.
>
> 
Regards,
>
>
>Norm 
>
>
>
>
>
________________________________
>From Elliot KB2TZ:
>
>  Seems like cars have always had radios, but they didn't.
>Here's the true story:
>
>One of the unmentioned contributions to successful car radios was the antenna.  
>Two basic types, one attached under the 'running boards' and another popular 
>location was in the Cloth tops that was normal in most cars of the 30's. (does 
>anyone remember running boards?}
>
>SUNSET
>One evening, in 1929, two young men named William Lear and               Elmer 
>Wavering drove their girlfriends to a lookout point high               above the 
>
>Mississippi River town of Quincy , Illinois , to watch the               sunset. 
>It 
>
>was a romantic night to be sure, but one of the women               observed 
>that it 
>
>would be even nicer if they could listen to music in the               car.
>Lear and Wavering liked the idea. Both men had tinkered               with 
>radios 
>
>(Lear had served as a radio operator in the U.S. Navy               during World 
>War 
>
>I) and it wasn't long before they were taking apart a home               radio 
>and 
>
>trying to get it to work in a car. But it wasn't as easy               as it 
>sounds: 
>
>automobiles have ignition switches, generators, spark               plugs, and 
>other 
>
>electrical equipment that generate noisy static               interference, 
>making it 
>
>nearly impossible to listen to the radio when the engine               was 
>running.
>
>SIGNING ON
>One by one, Lear and Wavering identified and eliminated               each 
>source of 
>
>electrical interference. When they finally got their radio               to 
>work, they 
>
>took it to a radio convention in Chicago . There they met               Paul 
>Galvin, 
>
>owner of Galvin Manufacturing Corporation. He made a               product 
>called a 
>
>"battery eliminator" a device that allowed battery-powered               radios 
>to run 
>
>on household AC current. But as more homes were wired for               
>electricity, 
>
>more radio manufacturers made AC-powered radios. Galvin               needed a 
>new 
>
>product to manufacture. When he met Lear and Wavering at               the radio 
>
>convention, he found it. He believed that mass-produced,               
>affordable car 
>
>radios had the potential to become a huge business.
>
>Lear and Wavering set up shop in Galvin's factory, and               when they 
>perfected their first radio, they installed it in his               Studebaker. 
>Then 
>
>Galvin went to a local banker to apply for a loan.               Thinking it 
>might 
>
>sweeten the deal, he had his men install a radio in the               banker's 
>Packard. Good idea, but it didn't work -- Half an hour               after the 
>installation, the banker's Packard caught on fire. (They               didn't 
>get the 
>
>loan.) Galvin didn't give up. He drove his Studebaker               nearly 800 
>miles 
>
>to Atlantic City to show off the radio at the 1930 Radio               
>Manufacturers 
>
>Association convention. Too broke to afford a booth, he               parked the 
>car 
>
>outside the convention hall and cranked up the radio so               that 
>passing 
>
>conventioneers could hear it. That idea worked -- He got               enough 
>orders 
>
>to put the radio into production.
>
>WHAT'S IN A NAME
>That first production model was called the 5T71. Galvin               decided he 
>
>needed to come up with something a little catchier. In               those days 
>many 
>
>companies in the phonograph and radio businesses used the               suffix 
>"ola" 
>
>for their names -- Radiola, Columbiola, and Victrola were               three of 
>the 
>
>biggest. Galvin decided to do the same thing, and since               his radio 
>was 
>
>intended for use in a motor vehicle, he decided to call it               the 
>Motorola.
>
>But even with the name change, the radio still had               problems:
>When Motorola went on sale in 1930, it cost about $110               
>uninstalled, at a 
>
>time when you could buy a brand-new car for $650, and the               country 
>was 
>
>sliding into the Great Depression. (By that measure, a               radio for a 
>new 
>
>car would cost about $3,000 today.) In 1930 it took two               men 
>several days 
>
>to put in a car radio -- The dashboard had to be taken               apart so 
>that the 
>
>receiver and a single speaker could be installed, and the               ceiling 
>had to 
>
>be cut open to install the antenna. These early radios ran               on 
>their own 
>
>batteries, not on the car battery, so holes had to be cut               into the 
>
>floorboard to accommodate them. The installation manual               had eight 

>complete diagrams and 28 pages of instructions.
>
>HIT THE ROAD
>Selling complicated car radios that cost 20 percent of the               price 
>of a 
>
>brand-new car wouldn't have been easy in the best of               times, let 
>alone 
>
>during the Great Depression -- Galvin lost money in 1930               and 
>struggled 
>
>for a couple of years after that. But things picked up in               1933 
>when Ford 
>
>began offering Motorola's pre-installed at the factory. In               1934 
>they got 
>
>another boost when Galvin struck a deal with B.F. Goodrich               tire 
>company 
>
>to sell and install them in its chain of tire stores.
>By then the price of the radio, installation included, had               dropped 
>to 
>
>$55. The Motorola car radio was off and running. (The name               of the 

>company would be officially changed from Galvin               Manufacturing to 
>"Motorola" in 1947.) In the meantime, Galvin continued to               develop 
>new 
>
>uses for car radios. In 1936, the same year that it               introduced 
>push-button tuning, it also introduced the Motorola Police               
>Cruiser, a 
>
>standard car radio that was factory preset to a single               frequency 
>to pick 
>
>up police broadcasts. In 1940 he developed with the first               handheld 
>
>two-way radio -- The Handie-Talkie -- for the U. S. Army.
>
>A lot of the communications technologies that we take for               granted 
>today 
>
>were born in Motorola labs in the years that followed               World War 
>II. In 
>
>1947 they came out with the first television to sell under               $200. 
>In 1956 
>
>the company introduced the world's first pager; in 1969 it               
>supplied the 
>
>radio and television equipment that was used to televise               Neil 
>Armstrong's first steps on the Moon. In 1973 it invented               the 
>world's 
>
>first handheld cellular phone. Today Motorola is one of               the 
>largest cell 
>
>phone manufacturer in the world -- And it all started with               the car 
>radio.
>
>WHATEVER HAPPENED TO
>The two men who installed the first radio in Paul Galvin's               car, 
>Elmer 
>
>Wavering and William Lear, ended up taking very different               paths in 
>life. 
>
>Wavering stayed with Motorola. In the 1950's he helped               change the 

>automobile experience again when he developed the first               automotive 
>
>alternator, replacing inefficient and unreliable               generators. The 
>invention lead to such luxuries as power windows, power               seats, 
>and,eventually, air-conditioning.
>
>Lear also continued inventing. He holds more than 150               patents. 
>Remember 
>
>eight-track tape players? Lear invented that. But what               he's really 
>
>famous for are his contributions to the field of aviation.               He 
>invented 
>
>radio direction finders for planes, aided in the invention               of the 

>autopilot, designed the first fully automatic aircraft               landing 
>system, 
>
>and in 1963 introduced his most famous invention of all,               the Lear 
>Jet, 
>
>the world's first mass-produced, affordable business jet.               (Not bad 
>for a 
>
>guy who dropped out of school after the eighth grade.)
>______________________________________________________________
>
>