  Location within Maryland | |
| Established | June 1999 |
|---|---|
| Location | 2608 Mitchellville Rd Bowie, Maryland |
| Coordinates | 38°55′36″N76°44′00″W / 38.926667°N 76.733333°W |
| President | Christopher Sterling |
| Curator | Brian Belanger |
| Website | ncrtv |
The National Capital Radio & Television Museum, located in Bowie, Maryland, was established to educate the public on the development and history of electronic media while exhibiting a collection of radio and television technology from the past.[ citation needed ]
The National Capital Radio & Television Museum contains educational resources and displays to increase public awareness on the impact of electronic media. The museum's collection contains a history of the development of pre-radio technology and progresses into television and other modern radio-based technology. The museum also includes interactive demonstrations of how radio waves work, early recordings of radio and television programs, and exhibits appealing to children. Visitor hours are Fridays 9 AM to 4 PM, Saturdays and Sundays 12 PM to 4 PM. Groups and school tours are arranged by prior appointment. Admission is now charged. [1]
The National Capital Radio & Television Museum is organized into seven related exhibit galleries:
In 1984, a number of antique radio collectors in the Washington/Baltimore area formed a hobby group called the Mid-Atlantic Antique Radio Club (MAARC). MAARC has thrived and today is an active club of some 800 members and publishes a monthly journal.
Soon after MAARC’s founding, club members began exploring the possibility of creating a museum to share their interest in vintage radio with the general public. Several possibilities were investigated but it became clear that to be successful, a separate organization dedicated to the task of creating and operating a museum has to be established. The resulting Radio & Television Museum (R&T Museum) operated by the Radio History Society, Inc. (now the National Capital Radio & Television Museum [NCRTV Museum]) is a Maryland non-profit corporation established in 1993 for the express purpose of creating a museum of radio and television. R&T Museum sought and received IRS 501(c)(3) nonprofit status.
Starting with no building, no funds, no collection, and only a handful of dedicated volunteers, the Museum began by borrowing artifacts from local radio collectors and mounting temporary exhibits in several of the region’s public libraries, downtown at the George Washington University, and at the City Place Mall in Silver Spring, Maryland. Efforts sought an affordable building in which to create a permanent museum.
In 1998, the Society learned of a century-old former farmhouse in Bowie, Maryland, that was owned and had been refurbished by the City of Bowie. The fully restored building is located at the intersection of Mitchellville and Mount Oak Roads, located just off of Route 50 and the D.C. Beltway, east of Washington, D.C. After a visit, the Museum leadership determined it might be suitable for creation of a museum. The Society’s officers made a presentation to the Bowie City Council, after which the city manager agreed to a long-term lease agreement with the Society. In March 1999 a long-term lease agreement for the Radio & Television Museum was signed by then-president Ed Walker and the City of Bowie. The Museum opened its doors to the public in June 1999, and celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2009.
In recent years, it became increasingly evident that the two entities Radio History Society and the Radio & Television Museum were confusing. Consequently, in 2011 the board determined to change the organization name to National Capital Radio & Television Museum, doing away with the Society and the old Radio & Television Museum. The name change was publicly announced on May 9, 2012. In addition, the board brought on its first paid professional staff in mid-2011.
This mutually beneficial public-private partnership continues today. The building and grounds continue to be maintained by the city, while NCRTV operates the museum.
In other partnering, the Museum also has developed exhibits at the George Washington University (since 2001), and at the Library of American Broadcasting at the University of Maryland. Recently it is partnering with the Prince George's County Memorial Library System to present regularly scheduled programs.
The early history of radio is the history of technology that produces and uses radio instruments that use radio waves. Within the timeline of radio, many people contributed theory and inventions in what became radio. Radio development began as "wireless telegraphy". Later radio history increasingly involves matters of broadcasting.
College Park is a city in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States, located approximately four miles (6.4 km) from the northeast border of Washington, D.C. Its population was 34,740 at the 2020 United States census. It is the home of the University of Maryland, College Park.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly called Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with Maryland to its north and east. Washington, D.C., was named for George Washington, a Founding Father and the first president of the United States. The district is named for Columbia, the female personification of the nation.
Bowie is a city in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. Per the 2020 census, the population was 58,329. Bowie has grown from a small railroad stop to the largest municipality in Prince George's County, and the fifth most populous city and third largest city by area in the U.S. state of Maryland. In 2014, CNN Money ranked Bowie 28th in its Best Places to Live list.
National Educational Television (NET) was an American educational broadcast television network owned by the Ford Foundation and later co-owned by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. It operated from May 16, 1954, to October 4, 1970, and was succeeded by the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), which has memberships with many television stations that were formerly part of NET.
The Smithsonian American Art Museum is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds one of the world's largest and most inclusive collections of art, from the colonial period to the present, made in the United States. More than 7,000 artists are represented in the museum's collection. Most exhibitions are held in the museum's main building, the Old Patent Office Building, while craft-focused exhibitions are shown in the Renwick Gallery.
WUSA is a television station in Washington, D.C., affiliated with CBS. It is the flagship property of Tegna Inc., which is based in suburban McLean, Virginia. WUSA's studios and transmitter are at Broadcast House on Wisconsin Avenue in northwest Washington's Tenleytown neighborhood. Among CBS affiliates not owned and operated by the network, WUSA is the third-largest by market size.
Hans K. Schuler was a German-born American sculptor and monument maker. He was the first American sculptor ever to win the Salon Gold Medal. His works are in several important museum collections, and he also created many public monuments, mostly for locations in Baltimore, Maryland and in the Washington, D.C. area. For over a quarter of a century he served as president of the Maryland Institute College of Art.
Questacon – The National Science and Technology Centre is an interactive science communication facility in Canberra, Australia. It is a museum with more than 200 interactive exhibits related to science and technology.
CINW was the final call sign used by an English language AM radio station in Montreal, Quebec, which, along with French-language sister station CINF, ceased operations at 7:00 p.m. ET on January 29, 2010. Owned and operated by Corus Quebec, it broadcast on 940 kHz with a full-time power of 50,000 watts as a clear channel, Class A station, using a slightly directional antenna designed to improve reception in downtown Montreal.
The George Washington University Museum and Textile Museum is a museum in Washington, D.C., dedicated to the history of George Washington University and textile arts, located in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood. The museum was founded by collector George Hewitt Myers in 1925 and was originally housed in two historic buildings in D.C.'s Kalorama neighborhood: the Myers family home, designed by John Russell Pope, and an adjacent building designed by Waddy Wood. It reopened in March 2015 as part of George Washington University.
Vintage amateur radio is a subset of amateur radio hobby where enthusiasts collect, restore, preserve, build, and operate amateur radio equipment from bygone years, such as those using vacuum tube technology. Popular modes of operation include speaking over amplitude modulation (AM), and communicating using Morse code through continuous wave (CW) radiotelegraphy. Some enthusiasts have interest in owning, restoring and operating vintage military and commercial radio equipment such as those from 1940s to 1960s. Some undertake to construct their own gear, known in ham slang as homebrewing, using vintage parts and designs. A number of amateur radio clubs and organizations sponsor contests, events, and swap meets that cater to this specialized aspect of the hobby.
The SPARK Museum of Electrical Invention is an interactive museum located in Bellingham, Washington, United States, which offers educational experiences for audiences of all ages through galleries and public programs that illustrate the development and use of electricity, radio and the related inventions that changed the course of human history. The museum features a collection of artifacts showcasing four centuries of human innovation from 1580 into the 1950s.
The National Electronics Museum, located in Linthicum, Maryland, displays the history of the United States defense electronics. The museum houses exhibits containing assortments of telegraphs, radios, radars and satellites. Located near the Baltimore/Washington International Airport and rail station, the museum displays hands-on electronics. The library serves as a research center open to the public. In addition, an amateur radio station is broadcast live from the museum each week. K3NEM/W3GR includes both antique and updated communication equipment.
The Albany Institute of History & Art (AIHA) is a museum in Albany, New York, United States, "dedicated to collecting, preserving, interpreting and promoting interest in the history, art, and culture of Albany and the Upper Hudson Valley region". It is located on Washington Avenue in downtown Albany. Founded in 1791, it is among the oldest museums in the United States.
Jonathan Leo Fairbanks is an American artist and expert of American arts and antiques. Fairbanks created the American Decorative Arts and Sculpture department at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and served as Curator of the department from 1970 to 1999.
Smithsonian Libraries and Archives is an institutional archives and library system comprising 21 branch libraries serving the various Smithsonian Institution museums and research centers. The Libraries and Archives serve Smithsonian Institution staff as well as the scholarly community and general public with information and reference support. Its collections number nearly 3 million volumes including 50,000 rare books and manuscripts.
A United States postage stamp and the names of a number of recreational and cultural facilities, schools, streets and other facilities and institutions throughout the United States have commemorated Benjamin Banneker's documented and mythical accomplishments throughout the years since he lived (1731–1806). Among such memorializations of this free African American almanac author, surveyor, landowner and farmer who had knowledge of mathematics, astronomy and natural history was a biographical verse that Rita Dove, a future Poet Laureate of the United States, wrote in 1983 while on the faculty of Arizona State University.