RCA Rocky Point Station records
Creation: 1913-1978Abstract
The Radio Corporation of America (renamed RCA Corporation in 1969) was a major American electronics company founded in 1919. RCA dominated electronics and communications for over fifty years. RCA Rocky Point Station was built as a communication hub known as Radio Central. Radio Central was the largest radio station in the world at one time, and its primary focus was intercontinental communications. This collection documents the activities of RCA Rocky Point Station, including its construction plans, blueprints, reports, and files relating to antenna data and calculations, building systems information, and radio propagation. Rocky Point Station was in operation from 1921 to 1978. This collection would be useful to researchers interested in RCA communications, early radio broadcasting, radio engineering, and radio propagation.
Dates
- Creation: 1913-1978
Creator
- RCA Corporation (Organization)
Extent
27.5 Linear Feet
Historical Note
The Radio Corporation of America (renamed RCA Corporation in 1969) was a major American electronics company founded in 1919. RCA dominated electronics and communications for over fifty years. The company was well known for innovation and was a leader in manufacturing radio receivers when the radio industry was rapidly growing. RCA operated until 1986 when it was acquired by GE and broken up.
RCA Rocky Point Station was built as a communication hub known as Radio Central. Radio Central was the largest radio station in the world at one point, and its primary focus was intercontinental communications. Additionally, it was also home to important developments in radio engineering and communication due to ongoing experiments and innovation. Construction began in Rocky Point, Long Island, New York, in July 1920. RCA opened Radio Central in 1921.
Harold Henry Beverage (1893-1993), an inventor and researcher in electrical engineering, was the Chief Research Engineer of Communications at RCA from 1929 to 1940. He invented the wave antenna, also known as the Beverage antenna. The Beverage antenna and Alexanderson alternator were used in conjunction to provide reliable worldwide radio communication.
Initially, the plan for the Rocky Point Station was that it would focus on long-wave communication utilizing lots of Alexanderson alternators connected to large antennas and arranged in a network with steel towers in a wheel spoke configuration. However, shortly after construction began, it was discovered that short-wave communication was just as effective as intercontinental communication, so the original plan was scrapped. The antennas that were built remained in use. Eventually, in the 1960s, communication satellites would become the preferred method for communication. By the end of the 1970s, Rocky Point Station was no longer lucrative, and RCA sold the property to New York State in 1978 for almost nothing.
Scope and Contents
This collection documents the activities of RCA Rock Point Station, including its construction plans, blueprints, reports, and subject files. Some of the significant topics represented in these files are antenna data and calculations, building systems information, photographs and negatives of radio transmission and receiving equipment, and radio propagation. This collection would be useful to researchers interested in RCA, early radio broadcasting, radio engineering, and radio propagation.
The collection is arranged into five series: Subject files, Reports, Instructions, Blueprints and diagrams, and Publications.
The Subject file series consists of documents and materials that were originally found in file folders belonging to various RCA Rocky Point Station staff throughout the years. Many of the files in this series are related to specific buildings on the property, antennas, transmitters, and other various pieces of equipment. This series also includes photographs and negatives of radio and electrical equipment, buildings, and antennas.
The Reports series consists of four subseries: Engineering, Specification, Memorandum, and Technical.
The Engineering subseries contains engineering reports from RCA Rocky Point Station, including calculations, charts, tables, descriptions, and operating instructions for amplifiers, generators, transmitters, and other equipment, equipment comparisons, measurements, performance tests, and data summaries.
The Specification subseries contains specification reports from RCA Rocky Point Station. These reports could include instructions covering equipment manufacture, its performance requirements, acceptance tests, installation instructions, technical description of theory and functioning, operating instructions, adjustment instructions, and maintenance instructions.
The Memoranda subseries contains engineering memorandum reports from RCA Rocky Point Station. The memorandum reports include comparison tests, research information related to radio frequency and radio propagation, and the results of testing performed in research.
The Technical subseries contains technical reports primarily from the RCA Laboratories division in Princeton, New Jersey. The technical reports describe research and conclusions on subjects related to radio, television, and other broadcasting and receiving equipment.
The Instructions series contains manuals for commercial tools used on the Rocky Point site; instruction bulletins for radio equipment; instruction books for alternators, amplifiers, audio equipment, radio transmitters, plant operations, broadcast equipment, oscillators, vacuum tube radio telegraph transmitting equipment, relays, scopes, and other various equipment.
The Blueprints and diagrams series contains eighteen rolls of blueprints and smaller blueprints of various building systems, architectural drawings of buildings and antennas, structural drawings, power supply, radio towers, electrical schematics, wiring diagrams, topography, land surveys, and architect's tracings. There are also drawings of installation plans, antennas, assembly drawings, outdoor substations, lighting plans, electrical, and maps of properties owned by RCA.
The Publications series contains two subseries: RCA and non-RCA. The RCA subseries includes reprints of articles from RCA magazines like RCA Review and RCA Facsimile. Also included are articles, booklets, and bulletins related to antennas, radio propagation, receiving and transmitting equipment, broadcasting, applied research, and research and development.
The non-RCA subseries includes Bell Telephone System technical publications on topics related to scientific research, various companies' trade catalogs, product information, price lists, magazines, Radio Club of America proceedings, and various scientific and technical publications.
Access Restrictions
No restrictions on access; this collection is open for research.
Negatives are stored offsite in cold storage (Box 25). At least 48 hours notice required to allow retrieval of these items.
Language of Materials
English
Additional Description
Separated Materials
RCA Rocky Point Station records (accession 20230927.RPS.001) published materials Published Collections Department, Hagley Museum and Library.
Subjects
Finding Aid & Administrative Information
- Title:
- RCA Rocky Point Station records
- Author:
- Alexis Jimenez
- Date:
- 2024
- Description rules:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description:
- English
- Script of description:
- Latin
Repository Details
Repository Details
Part of the Manuscripts and Archives Repository
