On May 7, 1895, Russian physicist and electrical engineer, professor, inventor in the sphere of radio communications Alexander Popov, at the meeting of the Russian physico-chemical Society, demonstrated "the instrument designed to show rapid fluctuations in atmospheric electricity". In other words, the scientist carried out the world's first radio communication session using a radio receiver that he invented. Only 120 years have passed - and we can no longer imagine our life without radio and its sequels: television, mobile communications, the Internet, that is, types of communication based on the transmission of a physical (electrical or electromagnetic) signal. In parallel with the improvement of the sound signal form of transmission, the possibilities of its recording also changed.

Experiments on recording sound onto music media for playback began during the Industrial Revolution of the 1800s. Many innovative attempts to record and reproduce sound were made in the second half of the 19th century - notably by the phonautographer of Scott in 1857 - and these efforts culminated the invention of the phonograph by Thomas Edison in 1877.

The first radio stations were launched in the early 1920s - and radios were another reason for families, friends and neighbors to get together around them. Listening musical pieces or the latest news in the epoch of the first radio stations and shellac records was somewhat close to the perception of music by the ancients - a unifying ritual. It is not for nothing that the gramophone is called the “image of the epoch”. Hardly anyone will argue that information is the most significant and expensive product today. Since ancient times, people have tried to preserve and pass it on to future generations. Primarily, it was only available in oral form. There was writing, photography, than audio appeared.

The invention of a device capable of producing reasonably good sound quality contributed to the creation of the gramophone record. The gramophone became widespread after 1902, when the songs of the Italian tenor Enrico Caruso were recorded. It was a success, both for the singer and for the gramophone development. The public was enthused.

Today a gramophone has many worshipers. The gramophone is a unique antique item that retains the intonations of the past and helps to feel a performer character and peculiarities.

The museum “Collection” section "Recordingand Playback devices” features gramophones, phonographs and juke boxes - all these items can be confidently called the predecessors of radio ...