“The growth and influence of broadcasting in the United States constitutes one of the most dramatic chapters in the history of communication. In less than three decades, 90.7 percent of…families…have acquired radio receivers. This means 33,998,000 “radio households,” or approximately 130,000,000 potential listeners” (Bartlett). In the United States, for countless years, Americans have turned on the switches on their radios, whether in their car, at home, or at their workplace, and they have been greeted by the sound of music and of the most popular radio stations of the time. the hosts discuss the most controversial topics of the day. The radio became a common household item in American homes, creating a culture all its own. The use of radio has had a significant impact on American culture from its beginnings, through its amateur recreational use, to its professional broadcasting companies, and to its use across the country. The radio works thanks to transmitted sound waves. from one receiver to another. Electrons moving in one wire create a magnetic field and when a second wire is placed next to the first, the electrons are transmitted. The second wire is then capable of transforming the moving electrons into an electric current that produces the same sound that created the moving electrons in the first wire (Gugliotta). Italian inventor Gulielmo Marconi received the British patent for the radio in 1897. In 1901, Marconi discovered that radio wires did not need to be close together to work and that radio signals could be transmitted over very long distances. On December 13, 1901, Marconi successfully transmitted a radio wave 2,000 miles across the ocean from Poldhu, England to St. John's, Newfoundland. U...... middle of paper ......First transatlantic wireless telegraph in 1901." Social Research 72.1 (2005): 107. Advanced Placement Source. Internet. April 2, 2014. Jenkins, Henry. "Contacting the past; the beginnings of radio and the digital revolution." MIT Communications Forum. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, nd Web. April 11, 2014. Keith, Michael C. “Radio America: The Great Depression and the Rise of Modern Culture.” Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media 53.1 (2009): 157-58. The University of Chicago. University of Chicago Press. Internet. April 2, 2014. Lewis, Tom. "'A Divine Presence': Radio's Impact on the 1920s and 1930s." OAH History Magazine 6.4 (1992): 26-33. JSTOR. Internet. April 2, 2014. “Fireside Chats.” History.com. A&E Television Networks, and Web. April 2, 2014. White, Thomas H. “Amateur Radio after World War I.” Early history of radio in the United States. OneStat, 2003. Web. April 2. 2014.