Radio Facts

A famous comparison claims radio took 38 years to reach 50 million users, television took 13 years, and the World Wide Web just 4 years—though these widely-cited numbers from a Morgan Stanley report lack precise methodology, they illustrate a real trend of accelerating technology adoption.

The first song played on Virgin Radio was Born to be wild by INXS!

In 1977, researchers detected a strong and unusual radio signal from space that lasted 72 seconds. It hasn't been detected since.

Jupiter emits powerful radio bursts that amateur astronomers can detect with a simple shortwave radio antenna, making it one of the few planets you can 'listen' to from Earth.

Since 1982, a radio frequency emanating from Russia has been broadcasting a buzzer-like sound and, periodically, an unknown voice reads orders, names, and numbers. No one knows where exactly it is coming from or what it means.