Mackay Radio refers to a group of closely related radio communications firms, also commonly known as the Mackay Companies, and the Mackay Radio and Telegraph Company. An American company, Mackay was a major early provider of radiotelegraph services, including international communication and shipboard services.
The company was established in 1925 in Nevada by Clarence H. Mackay, as an expansion of his father John Mackay's legacy in telegraph and cable communications.
In 1927, the Federal Telegraph Company was acquired, which was renamed the Mackay Radio and Telegraph Company (California). [2] In 1928, the International Telephone and Telegraph Company (ITT) gained control of the Mackay companies, which were placed under the newly formed Postal Telegraph and Cable Corporation. Mackay's president, Clarence H. Mackay, became Postal's chairman, and was added to the ITT board of directors and executive committee. [3]
During World War II, Mackay established a mobile "press station dispatching news from the European battle theatre". [4] In March 1945, Mackay and RCA Communications were described as the only U.S. firms rendering "anything approximating a world-wide service". [5]
The company was divested in 1987, becoming Mackay Communications, Inc., located in Raleigh, North Carolina. [6]
Following an unsuccessful strike in 1935, Mackay retained some of the strike-breaking workers, which the National Labor Relations Board protested was an unfair labor practice. In 1938 the dispute was reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled in favor of the company. [7]
The nation of Japan currently possesses one of the most advanced communication networks in the world. For example, by 2008 the Japanese government's Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry stated that about 75 million people used mobile phones to access the Internet, said total accounting for about 82% of individual Internet users.
Telecommunications had an early beginning in Mauritius, with the first telephone line installed in 1883, seven years after the invention of the telephone. Over the years, the network and telephony improved. By the late 20th century, the rapid development and convergence of information and telecommunications technologies gave rise to an ICT industry on the island along with many incentives provided by the government. The government thus aims to make the ICT sector the 5th pillar of the Mauritian economy and Mauritius a Cyber Island. Historically, the country is known for tourism, rather than its call centers and business process outsourcing.
The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Company. In 1932, RCA became an independent company after the partners were required to divest their ownership as part of the settlement of a government antitrust suit.
Communications in the United States include extensive industries and distribution networks in print and telecommunication. The primary telecom regulator of communications in the United States is the Federal Communications Commission.
ITT Inc., formerly ITT Corporation, is an American worldwide manufacturing company based in Stamford, Connecticut. The company produces specialty components for the aerospace, transportation, energy and industrial markets. ITT's three businesses include Industrial Process, Motion Technologies, and Connect and Control Technologies.
Cable & Wireless plc was a British telecommunications company. In the mid-1980s, it became the first company in the UK to offer an alternative telephone service to British Telecom. The company later offered cable TV to its customers, but it sold its cable assets to NTL in 2000. It remained a significant player in the UK telecoms market and in certain overseas markets, especially in the former British colonies of the Caribbean, where it was formerly the monopoly incumbent. It was also the main supplier of communication in the British South Atlantic, including Saint Helena and the Falkland Islands. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.
Clarence Hungerford Mackay was an American financier. He was chairman of the board of the Postal Telegraph and Cable Corporation and president of the Mackay Radio and Telegraph Company.
Standard Telephones and Cables Ltd was a British manufacturer of telephone, telegraph, radio, telecommunications, and related equipment. During its history, STC invented and developed several groundbreaking new technologies including pulse-code modulation (PCM) and optical fibres.
The Commercial Cable Company was founded in New York in 1884 by John William Mackay and James Gordon Bennett, Jr.
John William Mackay was an Irish-American industrialist who rose from rags to riches. Born into abject poverty and raised in the slums of New York City, Mackay became one of the four Bonanza Kings, a partnership which capitalized on the wealth generated by the silver mines at the Comstock Lode in Nevada, making him one of the richest Americans in his time. He also headed a telegraph business that laid transatlantic cables, and he helped finance the New York, Texas and Mexican Railway Company. His granddaughter Ellin Berlin was the wife of Irving Berlin.
Andrew Alford was an American electrical engineer and inventor.
The Kellogg Switchboard and Supply Company was an American manufacturer of telecommunication equipment. Anticipating the expiration of the earliest, fundamental Bell System patents, Milo G. Kellogg, an electrical engineer, founded the company in 1897 in Chicago to produce telephone exchange equipment and telephone apparatus.
Haraden Pratt was an American electrical engineer and radio pioneer.
NLRB v. Mackay Radio & Telegraph Co., 304 U.S. 333 (1938), is a United States labor law case of the Supreme Court of the United States which held that workers who strike remain employees for the purposes of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). The Court granted the relief sought by the National Labor Relations Board, which sought to have the workers reinstated by the employer. However, the decision is much better known today for its obiter dicta in which the Court said that an employer may hire strikebreakers and is not bound to discharge any of them if or when the strike ends.
Telex is a telecommunication system that allows text-based messages to be sent and received by teleprinter over telephone lines. The term "telex" may refer to the service, the network, the devices, or a message sent using these. Telex emerged in the 1930s and became a major method of sending text messages electronically between businesses in the post–World War II period. Its usage declined as the fax machine grew in popularity in the 1980s.
American Cable and Radio Corporation was a communications holding company in the middle 20th century. Created in February 1940, it was a part of ITT World Communications, and operated what was known as the American Cable and Radio System, comprising All America Cables and Radio, the Commercial Cable Company, Mackay Radio, and the Sociedad Anonima Radio Argentina.
Ellery Wheeler Stone CBE was a prominent figure in the history of radio, serving both in government and corporations during the first half of the twentieth century and decorated Rear admiral in the United States Naval Reserve during World War II, while served as Chief Commissioner, Allied Control Commission in Italy.
The Federal Telegraph Company was a United States manufacturing and communications company that played a pivotal role in the 20th century in the development of radio communications.
C. Lorenz AG (1880–1958) was a German electrical and electronics firm primarily located in Berlin. It innovated, developed, and marketed products for electric lighting, telegraphy, telephony, radar, and radio. It was acquired by ITT in 1930 and became part of the newly founded company Standard Elektrik Lorenz (SEL) Stuttgart in 1958, when it merged with Standard Elektrizitätsgesellschaft and several other smaller companies owned by ITT. In 1987, SEL merged with the French companies Compagnie Générale d'Electricité and Alcatel to form the new Alcatel SEL.
Postal Telegraph Company was a major operator of telegraph networks in the United States prior to its consolidation with Western Union in 1943. Postal partnered with Commercial Cable Company for overseas cable messaging.