What is "radiogram"

Etymology 1 n. A message, like a telegram, transmitted by radio rather than wires. Etymology 2

n. An entertainment device that combined a radio and a record player or gramophone. Etymology 3

n. A radiograph.

1. n. a message transmitted by wireless telegraphy

2. a photographic image produced on a radiosensitive surface by radiation other than visible light (especially by X-rays or gamma rays) [syn: radiograph, shadowgraph, skiagraph, skiagram]

Radiogram is a comedy album by The Bob & Tom Show, which was first released in November 2001. It is a two-disc set which represents original material recorded during their syndicated, daily radio show and other studio numbers which had not been previously presented on air.

A radiogram is a formal written message transmitted by radio. Also known as a radio telegram or radio telegraphic message, radiograms use a standardized message format, form and radiotelephone and/or radiotelegraph transmission procedures. These procedures typically provide a means of transmitting the content of the messages without including the names of the various headers and message sections, so as to minimize the time needed to transmit messages over limited and/or congested radio channels. Various formats have been used historically by maritime radio services, military organizations, and Amateur Radio organizations.

Radiograms are typically employed for conducting Record communications, which provides a message transmission and delivery audit trail. Sometimes these records are kept for proprietary purposes internal to the organization sending them, but are also sometimes legally defined as public records. For example, maritime Mayday/SOS messages transmitted by radio are defined by international agreements as public records.

Radiogram may refer to:

• Radiogram (message), a telegram style message transmitted by radio
• Radiogram (furniture), a piece of furniture combining a radio with an amplified gramophone
• Radiogram (album), a 2001 comedy album by The Bob and Tom Show
• Radiogram (medicine), a photographic image produced on a radiosensitive surface by radiation other than visible light (especially by X-rays or gamma rays)

In British English, a radiogram is piece of furniture that combined a radio and record player. The word radiogram is a portmanteau of radio and gramophone.

Radiograms reached their peak of popularity in the post-war era, supported by a rapidly growing interest in records. Originally they were made of polished wood to blend with the furniture of the 1930s, with many styled by the leading designers of the day. An expensive instrument of entertainment for the house, fitted with a larger loudspeaker than the domestic radio, the radiogram soon began to develop features such as the record autochanger, which would accept six or seven records and play them one after another. Certain recordings could be ordered as a box set which would combine the recorded piece in order, to suit an autochanger set-up. In the 1940s and 1950s, sales of the radiogram, coupled with the then-new F.M. waveband, and the advent of the 45 rpm single and the LP record, meant that many manufacturers considered the radiogram to be more important than the fledgling television set sales. Later models took on the modern lines, piano gloss finish and plastic and gilt trim of the 1960s. Stereogram versions became available to take advantage of stereo records.

As valve radio development ended in the late 1960s and transistors began to take over, radiograms started to become obsolete. By the late 1970s, they had been replaced by more compact equipment, such as the hi-fi and the music centre.

Since radiograms were manufactured in such huge numbers they are not as rare or valuable as TV sets or table radios from the same period. An exception to this are models from certain manufacturers which have become collectable such as Hacker Radio Ltd., Dynatron, Blaupunkt, Braun, and SABA.