The History of Car Radios

An Overview

Think back to your first ever car. Now think back to your current car. There are most likely large differences between the radios in them. Car radios used to have CD players, dials, and buttons, but now the newest radios look almost like iPads plastered on the dashboard. Car radios have evolved immensely since they first came about.

The Galvin brothers; Paul and Joseph, invented the first car radio in 1930. This invention sprouted into the creation of Motorola, an American telecommunications company. The Galvin brothers priced their radio at $130 and during that time, that was quite a lot, equivalent to around $1,500 today.

Later in 1952 FM radios were created. Then an AM and FM radio. These were introduced in 1952 and 1953.

There were failures with reinventing the car radio. Chrysler, in 1956 put turntables in their car radios. These were placed in their top-tier vehicles, but it did not gain success.

Cassette tapes came about in the 1970s and 1980s. On these devices, the user could make playlists and could use higher levels of volume. For a better sound experience, cars started implementing more than just one speaker in the vehicle.

By the late 80s early 90s, CDs were being introduced. CDs were great because their sound quality was much better than cassettes.

Fast forward to the 2000s, audio systems in cars use MP3 players, USB cords, aux cords, and Bluetooth.

1930

-The first in-car radio was successfully created.

1952

-The first car radio with FM.

1953

-The AM/FM radio was created.

1955

-Chrysler introduced a turntable in higher-end cars.

1965

-Ford and Motorola put eight-track players in their cars.

1969

-The first car stereo with a tuner and amplifier two channels instead of just one.

1970-1977

-Cassette players were created and marketed.

1982

-Bose came into play and marketed entire car systems to Oldsmobile, Buick, and Cadillac.

1985

-The first CD-player was introduced into car radios.

2000’s

-In-car MP3s were connected to existing sound systems in cars.

-USB and aux cords were introduced.

Cites:

https://www.caranddriver.com/features/a15128476/the-history-of-car-radios/

https://industrytoday.com/road-tunes-how-car-audio-systems-have-evolved/