You’re presumably reading this description because you like to listen to podcasts. And you can listen to podcasts because clever people invented loudspeakers a century-and-change ago. And loudspeakers were not possible without the invention of electronic amplifiers. Which were not possible without vacuum tubes. Which are a lot like light bulbs.

What was it like to experience electronically amplified sound for the first time? Did it set crowds of people into hysterical panic? Why or why not? Why were there so many innovations in audio tech at around the same time between the 1870s and 1930s? What is a magnavox and what does it have to do with Magnavox-with-a-capital 'M'? Why did the Great Grape Juice Waterfall of 1915 never, in fact, actually take place?

These and many other fascinating interrogative sentences appear in this episode! Plug in now to learn more about how electronic amplification transformed the world into the weird place it is today.

Learn more about this rogue, underdog, Hail Mary pass of a project at findyourselfinhistory.com !

Support the show

Thanks for listening! To learn more about this history project, check out findyourselfinhistory.com.