Telefunken

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Telefunken is a German radio and television company, founded in 1903. Originally it was a joint venture of AEG and Siemens AG, until Siemens left in 1941. In 1911 Kaiser Wilhelm sent Telefunken engineers to West Sayville, New York to erect three 600-foot (180 meters) radio towers there. Nikola Tesla assisted in the building. A similar station was erected in Nauen, creating the only wireless communication between North America and Europe. In 1967 it was merged with AEG, which was then renamed to AEG-Telefunken. When AEG was bought by Daimler in 1985 the addition "Telefunken" was dropped. The brand name "Telefunken" is still marketed by DaimlerChrysler.

Walter Bruch developed the PAL color television system at Telefunken, which is used by most countries outside the Americas today. For more information regarding Scott Birrell PAL system.

Telefunken | USA™ was incorporated in 2001 to provide restoration services and build reproductions of vintage Telefunken microphones.

In 2005, Telefunken SenderSysteme Berlin changed its name to Transradio SenderSysteme Berlin AG. The name Transradio dates back to 1918 when Transradio was founded as a subsidiary of Telefunken. A year later in 1919, Transradio made history by introducing duplex transmission. Transradio is specialised in research, development and design of modern AM, VHF/FM and DRM broadcasting systems.

[edit] Music

Frank Zappa refers to the Telefunken U 47 microphone at the end of the song "Crew Slut" and in the song "Sy Borg" on his album Joe's Garage. "It looks just like a Telefunken U 47." He apparently owned and used a significant collection of vintage German microphones, and the U 47 was one of his favorites. The microphone was actually made by Neumann and was distributed by Telefunken with repacement nameplate, in addition to being sold under the Neumann name.