« 051: Aphasia | Main | 053: The Five Faces of Jack Maratre » July 08, 2003

052: Marconi's Radio

In 1894, Guglielmo Marconi reads an obituary of Heinrich Hertz and sees something which opens a door in his head. Prior to this event, the budding scientist had been drifting along, dabbling in the sciences, but afterward, he is fired by the idea of wireless transmissions. Two years later he's in London, filing a patent for his method of transmitting signal, and, in 1898, he's demonstrating the device to the aged Queen Victoria, allowing her to talk with her ailing brother at their Isle of Wight estate.

Four years later, he's crossing the Atlantic Ocean aboard the steamer, the SS Philadelphia, with a Marconi wireless device in his cabin. He had managed to send and receive a signal across the ocean the previous year, but there were still skeptics. During the boat ride across the ocean, Marconi remained in constant contact with his wireless transmitter in England, maintaining a consistent signal for nearly 2100 miles. The skeptics can't avoid the truth: Guglielmo Marconi knows how to send and to receive invisible signals.

The world just became a smaller place.

Marconi is also a shrewd businessman and over the next two decades, he forms a number of companies that are still with us today. The Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company of America eventually becomes the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) and when wireless broadcasts become ubiquitous in England, he and a number of his competitors form the British Broadcast Company (the BBC). Marconi understands the importance of keeping knowledge secret and, during the early years of the integration of wireless into the framework of communication, he keeps a strong grip on the spread of the secrets of the wireless. Ships which are outfitted with Marconi devices come with a Marconi operator as well -- these people are the only ones allowed to operate the machinery. They are the only ones who can send and receive the invisible signals.

Now, a century or so later, we've got invisible signals everywhere. The Hertzian spectrum has been carved up like a roast pig. The ether is thick with noise. If you are even listening, how can you know what is worth hearing?

The BOOK OF LIES is becoming populated with listeners. There's Felix Shiers who has always had the sobriquet of "Casper" attached to him. There's crazy, paranoid, reefer-smoking dude. There's Liz Kimbrel, distant siren voice calling out to them through the radio. There's Daniel Caretti, bitter and twisted and looking for a reason for his father's death.

And now there's Jack Maratre. Felix's nickname may not be one that he picked out for himself which meant I needed one that he could use on Jack when the need arose. Something quicker off the tongue than "Jack." Something like "JM." Which has a wonderful two-fold echo. Most think it is a shortened version of Jack's full name, but Felix is thinking "Junior Marconi" when he says it.

Posted by Teppo at July 8, 2003 11:23 PM

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