[BC] can technology create a significant revenue source

[Mark Humphrey]

On Tue, Nov 23, 2010 at 10:43 AM, David Reaves <rrsounds at aol.com> wrote:

>  If I recall correctly, AM stereo was developed and successfully demonstrated by Kahn roughly concurrently with FM stereo (circa 1960), but the FCC decided to only approve FM stereo in order to promote FM listenership, which at that time was a very small fraction of AM's. So yes, AM stereo was adopted MUCH too late to have much value, but don't blame Kahn. And I think it's fair to say that Kahn's earlier rejection by the FCC set the stage for his petulant yet somewhat understandable response when they once again rejected his system 20 years later.

David, you're correct -- Kahn actually filed his first AM stereo
patent application in February 1960, which can be seen (with numerous
later references) here:

http://www.google.com/patents/about?id=6jphAAAAEBAJ&dq=3218393

But as Dana points out, success depends not only on the good idea, but
also on timing and luck.

Mark