Franklin M. Doolittle
Pioneer of stereo radio and early FM broadcasting in Connecticut.
Franklin Malcolm Doolittle was born in New Haven, Connecticut, on June 16, 1893, and got an early start in radio, building his first station at age 13 using a Ford spark coil and a coherer receiver. He later built an arc transmitter capable of sending audio. At 18, he entered Yale’s Sheffield Scientific School, working as a commercial radio operator on merchant ships during breaks and teaching evening radio classes at the New Haven Boys’ Club. He earned a Bachelor of Philosophy in Electrical Engineering in 1915, then spent two years at Bell Telephone Laboratories in New York City. During World War I, he served as an ensign in the Naval Reserve, trained at Annapolis, and became a radio officer in the Atlantic Fleet. After the war, he returned to New Haven and taught communications engineering part-time at Yale for six years.
Operating amateur station 1AGI from his home on Willard Street, Doolittle began broadcasting weekly concerts in 1921. On November 12, 1921, he made one of the first football game broadcasts, relaying sideline commentary from a Yale-Princeton game via telephone. When the Department of Commerce banned entertainment broadcasts by amateurs and required a Limited Commercial license, Doolittle’s company received a broadcasting license on December 2, 1922, with call sign WPAJ. Its debut broadcast was December 10, 1922. Though not Connecticut’s first licensed commercial station, WPAJ—now WDRC in Hartford—is the state’s oldest surviving one.
In 1924, Doolittle was granted U.S. patent 1,513,973 for using dual radio transmissions to create stereo (then called “binaural”) reception. That year, WPAJ temporarily operated a second transmitter, and Doolittle conducted the first reported stereo radio broadcasts for about a year. Left and right audio came from two microphones placed seven inches apart, sent to separate transmitters. He ended the experiments because the crowded AM band made using two frequencies impractical, and listeners found operating two receivers cumbersome and expensive.
Doolittle closed his radio store in 1926 to focus on broadcasting. He married Frances Cooper on November 30, 1933; they had three children. Impressed by Edwin Howard Armstrong’s FM technology for its high fidelity and static resistance, Doolittle announced plans in early 1939 to convert experimental Apex station W1XPW on Meriden Mountain from AM to FM.
Quick Facts
- Birth Name
- Franklin Malcolm Doolittle
- Birth Date
- 1893-06-16
- Birth Place
- New Haven, Connecticut, U.S.
- Death Date
- 1979-03-04
- Known For
- Professional radio
- Occupation
- Radio engineer
- Spouse
- Frances Cooper Doolittle
- Children
- 3
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
Doolittle built his first radio station in 1906 at age 13 using a Ford spark coil and a coherer receiver. He later worked as a commercial radio operator on merchant ships and taught evening radio courses at the New Haven Boys' Club. During World War I he served as a radio officer in the Atlantic Fleet. After the war he taught communications engineering at Yale part-time for six years. Operating amateur station 1AGI from his home, he began broadcasting weekly concerts in 1921 and made one of the first broadcasts of a football game that November. When the Department of Commerce banned entertainment broadcasts by amateurs, Doolittle obtained a Limited Commercial license, and on December 2, 1922, station WPAJ was licensed to the Doolittle Radio Company. That station, now WDRC in Hartford, is Connecticut's oldest surviving AM station. In 1924 Doolittle was issued a patent for dual-transmission stereo, and for about a year WPAJ conducted the first reported stereo radio broadcasts using two transmitters and dual microphones spaced 7 inches apart. The experiments ended due to frequency congestion and the impracticality of listeners using two receivers. In 1939 Doolittle converted experimental station W1XPW on Meriden Mountain from AM to FM, making it the third FM station to broadcast regularly and the first FM outlet built by an independently-owned commercial AM station. In 1952 he returned to stereo experimentation when New York's WQXR paired with its FM sister station for a stereo program relayed by WDRC and WDRC-FM.
Reader's Guide
Doolittle's significance lies in his early and sustained contributions to broadcast technology. His 1924–1925 stereo tests were the first of their kind, demonstrating the feasibility of binaural radio despite practical limitations that prevented its immediate adoption. His patent for dual-transmission stereo laid groundwork later built upon when FM made stereo broadcasting more practical. Doolittle's embrace of FM technology in 1939, converting an experimental Apex station into one of the earliest regular FM broadcasters, helped establish frequency modulation as a viable alternative to AM, particularly for high-fidelity and static-free reception. His station WDRC remains Connecticut's oldest surviving AM broadcaster, and WHCN continues as one of the early FM stations. Doolittle's career spanned from the spark-coil era of amateur wireless through the rise of commercial AM and the introduction of FM, and his experiments in stereo broadcasting anticipated a standard that would not become widespread for decades. After selling his stations in 1959, he died in 1979 at Yale-New Haven Hospital.
Did You Know?
- Doolittle built his first radio station at age 13 using a Ford automobile spark coil as a transmitter.
- He made one of the first broadcasts of a football game on November 12, 1921, between Yale and Princeton.
- His 1924 patent for dual radio transmissions to create stereo reception was U.S. patent 1,513,973.
- W1XPW, later WHCN, was the third FM station to broadcast on a regular schedule.
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