Singing Eskimos

On his 1925 Arctic expedition, Admiral Donald B. MacMillan used singing eskimos to test the effectiveness of short wave radio as a communication tool for the world's navies. His experiments are credited with helping to open up previously "useless" radio frequencies.

In the picture, MacMillan is second from right. The guy standing behind him is Eugene McDonald, founder of Zenith Radio Corporation. His company built the special short wave radio gear used on the expedition. All others in the picture are the singing eskimos.

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Posted By: Alex - Tue Apr 30, 2013
Category: Music | Radio | Experiments | 1920s

Comments

Little did they realize that THIS is the very reason why some populations of natives DON'T interact with the rest of the world. :lol:

Posted by EvilSpaceLordMang on 04/30/13 at 01:36 PM

We will melt all their coastal villages into the ocean along with the polar bears it seems.

Posted by BrokeDad in Midwest US on 04/30/13 at 06:47 PM

One of the earliest shortwave radio tests used an excerpt from "Parsifal" as test audio. I have noticed that a lot of shortwave stations using music come across with less distortion than voice as the signal wanders.

Did you know that Reverend Gene Scott is alive and well on shortwave?

Posted by KDP on 05/01/13 at 11:10 AM

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