1930
In-car entertainment systems
A man named Frank Conrad, an assistant chief engineer for Westinghouse, tinkered with materials in his garage to create a small receiver that was able to pick up time signals from the US Naval Observatory in Arlington, VA. He used a crystal set — copper wire wrapped around a cylinder connected to a crystal — which allowed the set to find signals without the need for electricity. He obtained a amateur radio license in 1916. In 1919, his radio station called 8XK played music from phonograph records. By 1920, Westinghouse had decided to get a commercial radio license. By 1926, Westinghouse, RCA and General Electric formed the National Broadcasting Co.
In 1930, the Galvin Corporation introduced one of the first commercial car radios, the model 5T71, which sold for between $110 and $130 and could be installed in automobiles. They gave it the name Motorola for “motor” electronics. By 1952, Blaupunkt introduced the first in-car FM radio. A year later in 1953, Becker Mexico launched a premium in-car radio that even had an automatic station-search feature.
In 1955, Chrysler offered a small turntable that played proprietary 7-inch records. Highway Hi-Fi wasn’t a success, in part because tunes were only available from the car dealer.