Early Transmission Technology
The original technical basis for Muzak was developed by inventor Major General George O. Squier who, in the early 1920s, was granted several US patents related to transmission of information signals, among them a system for the transmission and distribution of signals over electrical lines.
Squier recognized the potential for this technology to be used to deliver music to listeners without the use of radio, which at the time was in a nascent state and required fussy and expensive equipment.
The rights to Squier’s patents were acquired by the North American Company utility conglomerate, which created a company named Wired Radio Inc. with the intent to use the technique to deliver music subscriptions to private customers of the utility company's power service.
Squier remained involved in the project and was reportedly intrigued by the made-up word Kodak being used as a trademark and so took the "mus" syllable from "music" and added the "ak" from "Kodak" to create his word Muzak.
By the time a workable Muzak system was fully developed, commercial radio had become well established, and so the company re-focused its efforts on using the technology to deliver music to hotels and restaurants. The first actual delivery of Muzak to commercial customers took place in New York City in 1936.
Due to such a positive response, Muzak began contracting the best arrangers, conductors, music producers and engineers available, hiring the best singers and musicians, partnering with noted soloists and sidemen and recording in a then-new High Fidelity music format in order to get the best sound possible for its customers. To this day, many classic one-of-a-kind performances by famous artists remain the property of Muzak.
Other companies with nowhere near the deep pockets and political as well as industry connections of Muzak, had to settle for conventional products recorded in a conventional format by whatever out-of-work individuals needed to feed their families.
Read more about this topic: Muzak Holdings
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