Home About us Products Services Contact us Bookmark
:: wikimiki.org ::
KFI

KFI

KFI is an AM radio station that began operating on March 31, 1922 as one of the United States' first high-powered, "clear channel" stations. The original station used a 50-watt transmitter built by Earle C. Anthony, who operated it from his garage. In its early days, it was typically on the air only four and a half hours a day. The "FI" segment of its call sign was an abbreviation of "farmer's information." For many years, KFI was the Los Angeles area affiliate of the National Broadcasting Company radio network, most particularly the NBC Red Network, as distinguished from the NBC Blue Network of less powerful stations, which became the American Broadcasting Company. It also carried such sporting events as the World Series and the Rose Bowl. From 1960 to 1972, the station was the flagship station of the Los Angeles Dodgers radio network. In the 1960's KFI played Top 40 music. By the 1970's theough they softened to an Adult top 40 format (sort of in between Top 40 and adult Contemporary). By the mid 70's the station was more news and personality intensive than music intensive with a Full Service format. For nearly 20 years during the 1970s and 1980s, KFI boasted one of the most listened-to shows in Los Angeles radio history, "The Lohman and Barkley Show," featuring the comedy duo of Al Lohman and Roger Barkley. During this time, throughout the day the station featured a hybrid format combining adult contemporary music with comedian hosts. Other hosts included Hudson and Landry (of "Ajax Liquor Store" fame), Charlie and Mitzi (Charlie Brill and Mitzi McCall of Laugh-In), and Gary Owens. By the mid 1980's ratings began to slip. KFI moved the music to more of a Soft gold based AC and began to play less and less of it. The talk shows moved from a blend of entertainment, comedy, and lifestyle to more political issues. The music was dropped in 1988 and KFI evolved bit by bit to an issues talk format.

Ownership History

The station was owned by Cox Communications until 1997 when Chancellor would buy it along with KOST 103.5. Cox opted to exit the Los Angeles market and focus on medium market radio stations and its TV stations. Chancellor would merge with capstar in 1999 and became known as AMFM inc. In 2000 they merged with Clear Channel Communications making KFI Clear Channel's flagship AM radio station.

Programming

KFI's current programming is a talk radio format and is owned by Clear Channel Communications. Syndicated personalities who began on KFI include Dr. Laura Schlessinger. Local programs include Bill Handel, John and Ken, and John Ziegler (not to be confused with NHL team owner John Ziegler, Jr.). The weekend lineup includes tech expert Leo Laporte, topical-talkers Wayne Resnick and Ken Gallacher, and syndicated Internet news personality Matt Drudge. The John and Ken show was once syndicated but the show has reverted to being a local program. KFI carries other well-known syndicated programs such as "Coast-to-Coast AM." Like that of most talk radio stations, programming on KFI has a reputation for political conservatism. However, while KFI's highest-rated syndicated hosts such as Rush Limbaugh and Laura Schlessinger are indeed unabashedly conservative, in general the local hosts on the station in recent years would more accurately be described as tending towards Libertarianism. KFI also has an extensive news department, and produces news updates for other Clear Channel stations in the Los Angeles market. KFI's newscasts air at :00 and :30 past the hour, with brief headlines approximately halfway between the fuller newscasts on weekdays. The newscasts primarily focus on local news with relevant national and international stories included. KFI also has traffic reports four times an hour. Only two news reports and traffic reports an hour are provided during the overnight hours on Coast-to-Coast.

Broadcasting

Today, KFI broadcasts from its Burbank, California studios on 640 kHz on a 50,000-watt non-directional AM transmitter which is located in nearby La Mirada at 33° 52' 47" N, 118° 00' 47" W. As a class A signal, KFI can be heard throughout Southern California and some distance into Nevada, Arizona, northwestern Mexico, and, at night, in some parts of Hawaii and most of the western United States. According to a May 1, 2004 broadcast by Art Bell, this station can even be heard by sensitive receivers in parts of the Eastern United States. In Summer 2004, KFI became the most listened to talk radio station in the United States, beating New York City's WABC in cumulative audience during the rating period.

FEC Complaint

In recent years, especially since the 2003 California recall, afternoon drive hosts John and Ken have become actively involved in several poltical causes, most notably that of illegal immigration. In the months leading up to the 2004 election, the hosts instigated several political rallies advocating the defeat of Congressmen David Dreier (a Repulican) and Joe Baca (a Democrat), both of whom they felt were wrongly supportive of illegal immigration. As a result, the John and Ken show was the subject of a Federal Election Commission complaint filed by the National Republican Congressional Committee alleging that John and Ken engaged in an illegal campaign against Congressman Dreier. Although the large amount of publicity received was quite amazing, the "Political Human Sacrifice" campaign as they dubbed it was not successful, since both Dreier and Baca were re-elected, albeit Dreier by a substantially smaller percentage than in past terms.

Tower Destroyed

On Sunday, December 19, 2004 at 9:45 a.m. Pacific Standard Time, Jim and Mary Ghosoph were killed when their rented Cessna 182P single engine airplane travelling from the El Monte Airport to Fullerton Municipal Airport struck KFI's 760' Ideco transmission tower, originally erected in 1948. The solid steel truss collapsed upon itself, mostly landing in a parking lot to the north of the site. KFI's signal was knocked off the air for approximately one hour. Pilots had complained for years to KFI management that it needs to put strobe lights on the tower and highly reflective balls on the guy wire, KFI and Clear Channel Communications management responded by saying the tower was in compliance with FCC and FAA regulations and that it did not need to make any changes. Until a replacement tower is erected, the station is transmitting from a 250-foot auxiliary tower at a power of 22,500 watts.

Former hosts and on-air alumni

April Winchell - Hosted a variety talk show from 2000 until 2002. Mr. KFI - Hosted a question and answer talk show from 1993-1996. He has since changed his name to Mr. KABC, a reflection of his new job at competing Los Angeles talk radio station KABC. Scott and Casey- A live call-in talk show, hosted by Scott Hasick and Casey Bartholomew, aired from 1994-1997, and again from 1998-1999. They exited KFI in 1999, for weekday afternoons on New Jersey 101.5. Tom Leykis - Hosted a talk show from 1988 until 1992, which was more political issue-oriented than his syndicated show is today. Joe Crummey - Hosted an evening talk show in 1988 and from 1994 to 1995 and can now be heard at KFYI in Phoenix, Arizona. Phil Hendrie - Hosted an evening talk show from 1988 to 1989 (sometimes alternating with Joe Crummey) and can now be heard on XTRA Sports Radio. Mark Denis - Worked the KFI Traffic Center from 1986 until his death in April 2000 from a viral infection at the age of 59. Mark was the imaging voice of "KFI, More Stimulating Talk Radio" and was the voice of the Disneyland Monorail ride. Tammy Bruce - Hosted weekend talk show from 1993 to 1998. Was fired for making comments about Bill Cosby and his wife Camille who had recently lost their son Ennis in a brutal murder. Tammy is now syndicated on 153 stations including her flagship station KABC in Los Angeles.

External links


- [http://www.kfi640.com/ KFI homepage]
- [http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/GenPDF.asp?id=LAX05FA054&rpt=p National Transportation Safety Board preliminary report on the 'plane crash] 19 December 2004
- [http://oldradio.com/archives/warstories/640.htm Pictures of the fallen KFI tower]
- Transmission Tower: FI Category:Class A radio stations in North America Category:Clear Channel radio stations

Am radio

AM radio is radio broadcasting using Amplitude Modulation.

History

AM was the dominant method of broadcasting during the first two thirds of the 20th century and remains widely used into the 21st. The Central Intelligence Agency World Factbook list approximately 16,265 AM [http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/fields/2013.html stations worldwide]. AM radio began with the first, experimental broadcast in 1906 by Reginald Fessenden, and was used for small-scale voice and music broadcasts up until World War I. The great increase in the use of AM radio came the following decade. The first commercial radio services began on AM in the 1920s (the first American radio station was started by Frank Conrad: KDKA in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania). Radio programming boomed during the "Golden Age of Radio" (1920s–1950s). Dramas, comedy and all other forms of entertainment were produced, as well as broadcasts of news and music. see History of radio for main article

Operation

AM radio technology is simpler than either FM radio or DAB. An AM receiver detects amplitude variations in the radio wave. It then amplifies changes in the signal voltage to drive a loudspeaker or earphones. The earliest crystal radio receivers used a crystal diode detector with no amplification.

Frequencies

AM radio is broadcast in on several frequency bands:
- Long wave is 153–279 kHz; it is not available in the Western Hemisphere, and European 9kHz channel spacing is generally used.
- Medium wave is 530–1,710 kHz in the Americas and 530-1620 in other parts of the world. In the Americas 10kHz spacing is used; elsewhere it is 9kHz.
- Short wave is 2,300–26,100 kHz, divided into 15 broadcast bands. Shortwave broadcasts generally use a narrow 5kHz channel spacing. The allocation of these bands is governed by the ITU's Radio Regulations and, on the local level, by each country's national telecommunications administration — for instance, in the U.S., the FCC.
- Long wave is used for commercial radio broadcasting in Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australasia (ITU regions 1 and 3). In the Americas this band is reserved for aeronautical navigation. Due to the propagation characteristics of long wave signals, the frequencies are used most effectively in latitudes north of 50°.
- Medium wave is by far the most heavily used band for commercial broadcasting. This is the "AM radio" that most people are familiar with.
- Short wave is used by radio services intended to be heard at great distances from the transmitting station. The long range of short wave broadcasts comes at the expense of lower audio fidelity. The mode of propagation for short wave is different (see high frequency). AM is used mostly by broadcast services — other shortwave users may use a modified version of AM such as SSB or an AM-compatible version of SSB such as SSB with carrier reinserted. In many parts of the world short wave radio also carries audible, encoded messages of unknown purpose from numbers stations. Frequencies between the broadcast bands are used for other forms of radio communication, such as baby monitors, walkie talkies, cordless telephones, radio control, "ham" radio, etc.

Limitations of AM radio

Because of its susceptibility to atmospheric interference and generally lower-fidelity sound, AM broadcasting is better suited to talk radio and news programming, while music radio and public radio mostly shifted to FM broadcasting in the late 1960s and 1970s. Medium wave and short wave radio signals act differently during daytime and nighttime. During the day, AM signals travel by groundwave, refracting around the curve of the earth over a distance up to a few hundred kilometres (or miles) from the signal transmitter. However, after sunset, changes in the ionosphere cause AM signals to travel by skywave, enabling AM radio stations to be heard much farther from their point of origin than is normal during the day. This phenomenon can be easily observed by scanning an AM radio dial at night. As a result, many broadcast stations are required as a condition of license to reduce their broadcasting power significantly after sunset, or even to suspend broadcasting entirely during nighttime hours. (Such stations are commonly referred to as daytimers.) Some other radio stations are granted clear channel rights, meaning that they broadcast on frequencies whose use is restricted and thus relatively unaffected by interference from other stations. The hobby of listening to long distance signals is known as DX or DX'ing, from an old telegraph abbreviation for "distant". Several non-profit hobbyist clubs are devoted exclusively to DXing the AM broadcast band, including the National Radio Club and International Radio Club of America. Similarly, people listening to short wave transmissions are SWLing. AM radio signals can be disrupted in large urban centres by skyscrapers and other sources of radio frequency interference (RFI). FM signals, however, are not affected as much by these types of interference. As a result, AM radio has lost its dominance as a music broadcasting service, and in many cities is now relegated to news, sports and talk radio stations.

Other distribution methods

Stereo transmissions are possible (see AM stereo), and there is work underway to add digital radio services to currently existing AM transmissions. In the United States, the iBiquity company is developing a proprietary standard for medium wave transmissions, while Digital Radio Mondiale is a more open effort often used on the shortwave bands, and can be used alongside many AM broadcasts. While FM radio can also be received by cable, AM radio cannot be, although an AM station can be converted into an FM cable signal. In Canada, cable operators that offer FM cable services are required by the CRTC to distribute all locally available AM stations in this manner.

See also


- FM broadcasting
- Extended AM broadcast band
- CAM-D, a proposed hybrid digital radio format for AM broadcasting

External link


- [http://www.salestores1.com/woreltab.html Table of Voltage, Frequency, TV Broadcasting system, Radio Broadcasting, by Country].
- [http://www.dxtuners.com Listen to live AM radio transmissions]. Category:Radio

1922

1922 (MCMXXII) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar).

Events


- January 7 - Dáil Éireann, the extra-legal parliament of the Irish Republic, ratifies the Anglo-Irish Treaty by 64-57 votes.
- January 10 - Arthur Griffith is elected President of Dáil Éireann.
- January 11 - First successful insulin treatment of diabetes.
- January 12 - British government releases remaining Irish prisoners captured in the War of Independence.
- January 13 - Flu epidemic has claimed 804 victims in Britain.
- January 15 - Michael Collins becomes Chairman of the Irish Provisional Government.
- January 24 - Christian K. Nelson patents the Eskimo Pie.
- January 29 - Union of Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador is dissolved
- February 1 - William Desmond Taylor, Hollywood director, is shot in his home
- February 2 - Ulysses (novel) by James Joyce is published in Paris on his fortieth birthday by Sylvia Beach.
- February 5 - DeWitt and Lila Wallace publish the first issue of Reader's Digest.
- February 6 - Achille Ratti becomes Pope Pius XI.
- February 6 - Five Power Naval Disarmament Treaty signed between United States, Britain, Japan, France, and Italy
- February 8 - President of the United States, Warren G. Harding introduces the first radio in the White House.
- February 8 - Cheka becomes GPU, a section of NKVD
- February 14 - Finnish Minister of the Interior Heikki Ritavuori is assassinated by Ernst Tandefelt.
- February 25 - Murderer Henri Désiré Landru's head is chopped off by the guillotine.
- February 27 - A challenge to the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, allowing women the right to vote, is rebuffed by the Supreme Court of the United States.
- February 28 - The United Kingdom accepts the independence of Egypt.
- March 1 - Ice mass breaks the Oder dam in Breslau
- March 1 - The British Civil Aviation Authority is established.
- March 11 - Mohandas Gandhi is arrested in Bombay for sedition
- March 15 - Egypt having gained nominal independence from the United Kingdom, Fuad I becomes King of Egypt.
- March 18 - In India, Mohandas Gandhi is sentenced to six years in prison for sedition. He would serve only two years.
- March 20 - The USS Langley is commissioned as the first United States Navy aircraft carrier.
- April 7 - Teapot Dome scandal: United States Secretary of the Interior leases Teapot Dome oil reserves in Wyoming.
- April 7 - First air collision between Daimler Airways DH 18 ja Grands Express Farman Goliat collide over Poix
- April 10 - The historic Genoa Conference commences in Genoa. The representatives of 34 countries convened to speak about monetary economics in the wake of World War I.
- April 13 - State of Massachusetts opens all public offices to women
- April 16 - The Treaty of Rapallo marks rapprochement between the Weimar Republic and Bolshevist Russia.
- May 5 - In The Bronx, construction begins on Yankee Stadium.
- May 12 - 20-ton meteorite lands near Blackstone, Virginia, USA
- May 19 - Young Pioneer organization of the Soviet Union is established.
- May 29 - British Liberal MP Horatio Bottomley jailed for 7 years for fraud fraud
- May 30 - In Washington, D.C., the Lincoln Memorial is dedicated.
- June 1 - Official founding of the Royal Ulster Constabulary.
- June 1 - Bolshevik forces defeat Asmachi troops under Enver Pasha
- June 22 - IRA rebels assassinated British field marshal Henry Wilson in Belgravia - assassins are sentenced to death July 18.
- June 24 - Assassination of Weimar Republic foreign minister Walter Rathenau - murderers are captured July 17
- June 26 - Louis Honoré Charles Antoine Grimaldi becomes Reigning Prince Louis II of Monaco.
- June 28 - The Irish Civil War begins
- August 12 - Death of Arthur Griffith, President of Dáil Éireann
- August 22 - Death of General Michael Collins - President of the Irish Provisional Government and Commander-in-Chief of the Provisional Army, killed in an ambush.
- August 23 - Revolt against the Spanish in Morocco
- August 28 - Japan agrees to withdraw its troops from Siberia
- September 9 - Turkish forces pursuing withdrawing Greek troops enter Smyrna
- September 11 - One of the Herald Sun of Melbourne, Australia's predecessor papers The Sun News-Pictorial is founded.
- September 13 - 15 - Fire, probably started by Turkish troops, destroys most of Smyrna. Death toll estimated 100,000
- September 18 - Hungary joins the League of Nations
- October 9 - Sir William Horwood, London Metropolitan Police Service commissioner is poisoned by arsenic-filled chocolates
- October 23 - German army occupies Saxony and crushes Soviet Republic of Saxony
- October 25 - The Third Dáil enacts the Constitution of the Irish Free State.
- October 28 - In Italy, with the March on Rome, Fascism obtains power and Benito Mussolini becomes prime minister
- October 28 - Red Army occupies Vladivostok
- October 31 - Benito Mussolini becomes the youngest Premier in the history of Italy.
- September 23 - Gdynia Seaport Construction Act passed by the Polish parliament.
- November 1 - Ottoman Empire is abolished and its last sultan Mehmed VI Vahdettin abdicates.
- November 1 - The broadcasting license fee of ten shillings introduced in the United Kingdom
- November 4 - In Egypt, British archaeologist Howard Carter and his men find the entrance to King Tutankhamen's tomb in the Valley of the Kings.
- November 14 - The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) begins radio service in the United Kingdom. 2LO became the first radio station in the United Kingdom.
- November 17 - Former Ottoman sultan Mehmed VI leaves for exile in Italy.
- November 19 - Abdul Mejid II, Crown Prince of the Ottoman Empire is elected Caliph.
- November 21 - Rebecca Felton of Georgia takes the oath of office, becoming the first woman United States Senator.
- November 24 - Popular author and Irish Republican Army member Robert Erskine Childers is executed by an Irish Free State firing squad for illegally carrying a revolver.
- November 26 - Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon become the first people to enter the tomb of Egyptian King Tutankhamun in over 3000 years. Tutankhamun
- December 5 - British parliament enacts the Irish Free State Constitution Act, by which it legally sanctions the new Constitution of the Irish Free State.
- December 6 - The Irish Free State officially comes into existence. George V becomes the Free State's monarch. Tim Healy is appointed first Governor-General of the Irish Free State and W.T. Cosgrave becomes President of the Executive Council.
- December 14 - Assassination of Gabriel Narutowicz, the president of Poland
- December 30 - Russia and allied Soviet republics form the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).

Exact month/day of event unknown


- Invention of Vegemite by Australian Fred Walker
- Kurd Istigdul Djemijetin, the Kurdish Independence Committee, founded
- Ring Magazine first published
- Molly Pitcher Club formed to promote the repeal of prohibition in United States
- Raymond Pearl founds Quarterly Review of Biology.
- Thompson Webb founds The Webb Schools

Births

January-March


- January 1 - Ernest "Fritz" Hollings, U.S. Senator from South Carolina
- January 7 - Jean-Pierre Rampal, French flutist (d. 2000)
- January 9 - Har Gobind Khorana, Indian biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- January 13 - Albert Lamorisse, French film director (d. 1970)
- January 16 - Ernesto Bonino, Italian singer
- January 17 - Nicholas Katzenbach, American politician
- January 17 - Betty White, American television actress
- January 19 - Guy Madison, American actor (d. 1996)
- January 21 - Paul Scofield, English actor
- January 22 - Leonel Brizola, Brazilian politician
- January 28 - Robert W. Holley, American biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1993)
- January 30 - Dick Martin, American comedian
- February 1 - Renata Tebaldi, Italian soprano (d. 2004)
- February 6 - Patrick Macnee, British actor
- February 6 - Bill Johnston, Australian cricketer
- February 6 - Denis Norden, British television and radio scriptwriter and personality
- February 7 - Hattie Jacques, British actress (d. 1980)
- February 9 - Kathryn Grayson, American actress
- February 15 - John Bayard Anderson, U.S Congressman and Presidential candidate
- February 17 - Marshall Teague, American race car driver (d. 1959)
- February 18 - Helen Gurley Brown, American editor and publisher
- February 24 - Richard Hamilton, British painter
- February 24 - Steven Hill, American actor
- March 1 - William Gaines, American publisher of MAD Magazine (d. 1992)
- March 1 - Yitzhak Rabin, Prime Minister of Israel, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1995)
- March 5 - Pier Paolo Pasolini, Italian film director
- March 8 - Mizuki Shigeru, Japanese author
- March 9 - Tommy Cooper, British comedian and magician (d. 1984)
- March 12 - Jack Kerouac, American author (d. 1969)
- March 12 - Lane Kirkland, American union leader (d. 1999)
- March 18 - Egon Bahr, German politician
- March 20 - Carl Reiner, American film director, producer, actor, and comedian
- March 21 - Russ Meyer, American film director and producer (d. 2004)
- March 27 - Stefan Wul, French writer (d. 2003)
- March 28 - Felice Chiusano, Italian singer (Quartetto Cetra)
- March 28 - Joey Maxim, American boxer (d. 2001)
- March 31 - Richard Kiley, American actor and singer (d. 1999)

April-June


- April 1 - William Manchester, American writer (d. 2004)
- April 3 - Maurice Riel, Canadian Senator
- April 4 - Elmer Bernstein, American composer (d. 2004)
- April 5 - Sir Tom Finney, English footballer
- April 5 - Christopher Hewett, British actor (d. 2001)
- April 5 - Gale Storm, American singer and actress
- April 7 - Mongo Santamaria, Cuban jazz musician (d. 2003)
- April 13 - Julius Nyerere, President of Tanzania (d. 1999)
- April 16 - Sir Kingsley Amis, English novelist (d. 1995)
- April 22 - Charles Mingus, American musician (d. 1979)
- April 28 - Alistair MacLean, Scottish writer (d. 1987)
- May 7 - Darren McGavin, American actor
- May 14 - Franjo Tuđman, President of Croatia (d. 1999)
- May 15 - Setouchi Jakucho, Japanese writer and Buddhist nun
- May 18 - Kai Winding, Danish-born musician (d. 1983)
- May 21 - James Lopez Watson, American judge (d. 2001)
- May 22 - Quinn Martin, American television producer (d. 1987)
- May 25 - Enrico Berlinguer, Italian politician (d. 1984)
- May 27 - Christopher Lee, English actor
- May 28 - Lou Duva, American boxing trainer
- May 29 - Iannis Xenakis, Greek composer (d. 2001)
- May 30 - Hal Clement, American writer (d. 2003)
- May 31 - Denholm Elliott, English actor (d. 1992)
- June 1 - Povel Ramel, Swedish musican
- June 2 - Charlie Sifford, American golfer
- June 10 - Judy Garland, American singer and actress (d. 1969)
- June 18 - Claude Helffer, French pianist (d. 2004)
- June 19 - Aage Niels Bohr, Danish physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- June 24 - Tata Giacobetti, Italian singer and lyricist (Quartetto Cetra)
- June 29 - Vasko Popa, Yugoslavian poet (d. 1991)

July to December


- July 15 - Leon M. Lederman, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- July 18 - Thomas Kuhn, American philosopher of science (d. 1996)
- July 19 - Tuanku Jaafar ibni Almarhum Tuanku Abdul Rahman, King of Malaysia
- July 31 - Bill Kaysing, American writer
- August 15 - Lukas Foss, German-born composer
- August 17 - Agostinho Neto, Angolan politician (d. 1979)
- August 22 - Sosuke Uno, Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1998)
- August 23 - George Kell, baseball player
- September 1 - Vittorio Gassmann, Italian actor and director (d. 2000)
- September 3 - Salli Terri, Canadian mezzo-soprano (d. 1996)
- September 8 - Sid Caesar, American actor and comedian
- September 9 - Hans Georg Dehmelt, German-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- September 12 - Jackson Mac Low, American poet (d. 2004)
- September 15 - Jackie Cooper, American actor and director
- September 22 - Chen Ning Yang, Chinese-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- September 25 - Hammer DeRoburt, first President of Nauru (d. 1992)
- October 1 - Burke Marshall, American lawyer and politician (d. 2003)
- October 5 - José Froilán González, Argentine race car driver
- October 15 - Luigi Giussani, Italian Catholic priest (d. 2005)
- October 22 - John Chafee, American politician (d. 1999)
- October 27 - Poul Bundgaard, Danish actor and singer (d. 1998)
- October 31 - Barbara Bel Geddes, film and stage actress (d. 2005)
- November 8 - Christiaan Barnard, South African surgeon (d. 2001)
- November 11 - Kurt Vonnegut, American novelist
- November 14 - Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Egyptian Secretary General of the United Nations
- November 14 - Veronica Lake, American actress
- November 16 - José Saramago, Portuguese author, Nobel Prize laureate
- November 17 - Stanley Cohen, American physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- November 19 - Yuri Knorosov, Russian linguist and epigrapher (d. 1999)
- November 26 - Charles M. Schulz American cartoonist (d. 2000)
- December 11 - Dilip Kumar, Indian actor
- December 14 - Nikolay Basov, Russian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2001)
- December 22 - Barbara Billingsley, American actress
- December 22 - Jack Brooks, American politician
- December 23 - Micheline Ostermeyer, French athlete and musician (d. 2001)
- December 23 - Donald Tennant, American advertising agency executive (d.2001)
- December 28 - Stan Lee, American comics creator

Deaths


- January 5 - Ernest Shackleton, Irish explorer (b. 1874)
- January 22 - Pope Benedict XV (b. 1854)
- January 22 - Fredrik Bajer, Danish politician and pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1837)
- February 2 - William Desmond Taylor, Irish-born film director (b. 1872)
- March 1 - Rafael Moreno Aranzadi, Spanish footballer (b. 1892)
- March 24 - Walter Parr, British preacher (b. 1871)
- April 1 - Emperor Karl I of Austria (b. 1887)
- April 2 - Hermann Rorschach, Swiss psychiatrist (b. 1884)
- May 18 - Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran, French physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1845)
- May 19 - Son, Byong-Hi, Korean leader of the March 1st Movement (b. 1861)
- June 6 - Lillian Russell, American singer and actress (b. 1861)
- June 18 - Jacobus Kapteyn, Dutch astronomer (b. 1851)
- June 26 - Albert I of Monaco (b. 1848)
- July 20 - Andrey Markov, Russian mathematician (b. 1856)
- August 2 - Alexander Graham Bell, Scottish-born inventor (b. 1847)
- August 5 - Harry Boland, Irish republican (b. 1887)
- August 12 - Arthur Griffith, President of Ireland (b. 1871)
- August 22 - Michael Collins, Irish leader (assassinated) (b. 1890)
- September 4 - Sarah L. Winchester, builder of the Winchester Mystery House (b. 1837)
- October 30 - Géza Gárdonyi, Hungarian author (b. 1863)
- November 7 - Sam Thompson, baseball player (b. 1860)

Marriages

January-March


- January 27 - Bill Robinson & Fannie S. Clay
- February 4 - Pauline Frederick & Dr. C.A. Rutherford
- February 10 - Leslie Groves & Grace Hulbert Wilson
- February 14 - Douglas MacArthur & Louise Cromwell Brooks
- February 14 - Joan Lindsay & Sir Daryl Lindsay
- February 16 - Thelma Morgan & James Vail Converse
- March 3 - Sarah T. Hughes & George Ernest Hughes

April-June


- April 4 - Dorothy Cumming & Frank Elliott Dakin
- April 25 - Brooke Temple & Dana Alvina Turner
- May 2 - Isadora Duncan & Sergei Esenin
- May 20 - James Thurber & Althea Adams
- May 21 - Dorothy Cottrell & Walter MacKenzie Cottrell
- May 28 - Priscilla Bonner & Allen Wynes Alexander
- June 8 - Aleksandar Karagjorgjevic & Marija Karagjorgjevic
- June 8 - King Alexander of Yugoslavia & Princess Marie Hohenzollern
- June 8 - Marshall Neilan & Blanche Sweet
- June 14 - Bernard Freyberg & Barbara MacLaren

July to December


- July 12 - Ruth Etting & Moe Schneider
- July 18 - Edwina Mountbatten & Louis Mountbatten
- July 30 - Jack Pickford & Marilyn Miller
- August 18 - Al Jolson & Ethel Delmar
- August 26 - Jean Fonteyne & Andrée De Lannay
- August 26 - Barbara Bedford & Alan Roscoe
- September 2 - Margaret Mitchell & Red Berrien Upshaw
- September 28 - James Cagney & Mrs. James Cagney
- October 22 - Robert Crawley Sr. & Muriel Louise Westmore
- October 29 - Robert E. Sherwood & Mary Brandon
- November 5 - Kaiser Wilhelm II & Hermine Reuss-Greiz

Nobel Prizes


- Physics - Niels Henrik David Bohr
- Chemistry - Francis William Aston
- Medicine - Archibald Vivian Hill, Otto Fritz Meyerhof
- Literature - Jacinto Benavente
- Peace - Fridtjof Nansen

Heads of state in 1922


- Albania -
  - Xhafer Ypi, Prime Minister of Albania (acting, 1922).
  - Ahmet Zogu, Prime Minister of Albania (acting, 1922 - 1924).
- Belgium - King Albert I of Belgium (1909 - 1934).
- Bolshevist Russia/Soviet Union - Mikhail Kalinin, President of the Soviet Union (1919/1922 - 1946).
- Costa Rica - Julio Acosta García, President of Costa Rica (1920 - 1924).
- Denmark - King Christian X of Denmark (1912 - 1947).
- Egypt - King Fuad I of Egypt (1917/1922 - 1936).
- Ethiopia - Empress Zawditu of Ethiopia (1916 - 1930).
- France - Alexandre Millerand, President of France (1920 - 1924).
- Germany - Friedrich Ebert, Reich President (1919 - 1925).
- Italy - King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy (1900 - 1946).
- Japan - Yoshihito, the Taisho Emperor (1912 - 1926).
- Mexico - Álvaro Obregón, President of Mexico (1920 - 1924).
- Monaco -
  - Reigning Prince Albert I of Monaco (1889 - 1922).
  - Reigning Prince Louis II of Monaco (1922- 1949).
- Netherlands - Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands (1890 - 1948).
- Norway - King Haakon VII of Norway (1905 - 1957).
- Ottoman Empire -
  - Sultan Mehmed VI (1918 - 1922).
  - Caliph Abdul Mejid II (1922 - 1924).
- Republic of China -
  - Xu Shichang of the Beijing government, President of the Republic of China (1918 - 1922).
  - Sun Yat-sen of the Guangzhou government, rival President of the Republic of China (1921 - 1925).
- Saudi Arabia - Ibn Saud, King of Saudi Arabia (1902 - 1953).
- Sweden - King Gustav V of Sweden (1907 - 1950).
- United Kingdom - King George V of the United Kingdom (1910 - 1936).
- United States - Warren Gamaliel Harding, President of the United States (1921 - 1923).

See also


- 1922 Committee
- ko:1922년 ms:1922 ja:1922年 simple:1922 th:พ.ศ. 2465

United States of America

:For alternative meanings, see the disambiguation page for US, USA, United States, or American. The United States of America is a federal democratic republic situated primarily in central North America. It comprises 50 states and one federal district, and has several territories. It is also referred to, with varying formality, as the United States, the U.S., the U.S.A., the States, or simply and most commonly, America. The official founding date of the United States is July 4, 1776, when the Second Continental Congress—representing thirteen British colonies—adopted the Declaration of Independence. However, the structure of the government was profoundly changed in 1788, when the states replaced the Articles of Confederation with the United States Constitution. The date on which each of the fifty states adopted the Constitution is typically regarded as the date that state "entered the Union" (became part of the United States). Since the mid-20th century, following World War II, the United States has emerged as a dominant global influence in economic, political, military, scientific, technological, and cultural affairs.

Geography and climate

The United States shares land borders with Canada (to the north) and Mexico (to the south), and territorial water boundaries with Canada, Russia, the Bahamas, and numerous smaller nations. It is otherwise bounded by the Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea, in the west; the Arctic Ocean, in the northernmost areas; and the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea, in the eastern and southeastern areas. Forty-eight of the states are in the single region between Canada and Mexico; this group is referred to, with varying precision and formality, as the continental or contiguous United States, sometimes abbreviated CONUS, and as the Lower 48. Alaska, which is not included in the term contiguous United States, is at the northwestern end of North America, separated from the Lower 48 by Canada. The archipelago of Hawaii is in the Pacific Ocean. The capital city, Washington, District of Columbia is a federal district located on land donated by the state of Maryland. (Virginia also donated land, but it was returned in 1847.) The United States also has overseas territories with varying levels of independence and organization. When inland water is included in the total area, only Russia and Canada are larger than the United States; if inland water is excluded, China ranks third and the U.S. ranks fourth. The United States' total area is 3,718,711 square miles (9,631,418 km²), of which land makes up 3,537,438 square miles (9,161,923 km²) and water makes up 181,273 square miles (469,495 km²). The United States' landscape is one of the most varied among those of the world's nations: among its many features are temperate forestland and rolling hills, on the east coast; mangrove, in Florida; the Great Plains, in the center of the country; the Mississippi–Missouri river system; the Great Lakes, four of the five of which are shared with Canada; the Rocky Mountains, west of the Great Plains; deserts and temperate coastal zones, west of the Rocky Mountains; and temperate rain forests, in the Pacific northwest. Alaska's tundra, and the volcanic, tropical islands of Hawaii add to the geographic diversity. Hawaii The climate varies along with the landscape, from tropical in Hawaii and southern Florida to tundra in Alaska and atop some of the highest mountains. Most of the North and East experience a temperate continental climate, with warm summers and cold winters. Most of the South experiences a subtropical humid climate with mild winters and long, hot, humid summers. Rainfall decreases markedly from the humid forests of the Eastern Great Plains to the semi-arid shortgrass prairies on the high plains abutting the Rocky Mountains. Arid deserts, including the Mojave, extend through the lowlands and valleys of the southwest, from westernmost Texas to California and northward throughout much of Nevada. Some parts of California have a Mediterranean climate. Rainforests line the windward mountains of the Pacific Northwest from Oregon to Alaska.

History

American history started with the migration of people from Asia across the Bering land bridge approximately 12,000 years ago following large animals that they hunted into the Americas. These Native Americans left evidence of their presence in petroglyphs, burial mounds, and other artifacts. It is estimated that 2-9 million people lived in the territory now occupied by the U.S. before European contact, and the subsequent introduction of foreign diseases such as small pox that greatly diminished the native populations. Some advanced societies were the Anasazi of the southwest, who inhabited Chaco Canyon, and the Woodland Indians, who built Cahokia, located near present-day St Louis, a city with a population of 40,000 at its peak in AD 1200. Vikings first visited North America around 1000, but did not settle permanently. Following the discovery voyages of Christopher Columbus around 1492, other Europeans began to explore and settle there. During the 1500s and 1600s, the Spanish settled parts of the present-day Southwest and Florida, founding St. Augustine, Florida in 1565 and Santa Fe (in what is now New Mexico) in 1607. The first successful English settlement was at Jamestown, Virginia, also in 1607. Within the next two decades, several Dutch settlements, including New Amsterdam (the predecessor to New York City), were established in what are now the states of New York and New Jersey. In 1637, Sweden established a colony at Fort Christina (in what is now Delaware), but lost the settlement to the Dutch in 1655. This was followed by extensive British settlement of the east coast. The British colonists remained relatively undisturbed by their home country until after the French and Indian War, when France ceded Canada and the Great Lakes region to Britain. Britain then imposed taxes on the 13 colonies, widely regarded by the colonists as unfair because they were denied representation in the British Parliament. Tensions between Britain and the colonists increased, and the thirteen colonies eventually rebelled against British rule. British Parliament, George Washington (1789-1797).]] In 1776, the 13 colonies split from Great Britain and formed the United States, the world's first constitutional and democratic federal republic, after their Declaration of Independence of that year, and the Revolutionary War (1775 to 1783). The original political structure was a confederation in 1777, ratified in 1781 as the Articles of Confederation. After long debate, this was supplanted by the Constitution in 1789, forming a more centralized federal government. Prior to all these was the Albany Congress in 1754, in which a union was first seriously proposed. From early colonial times, there was a shortage of labor, which encouraged unfree labor, particularly indentured servitude and slavery. In the mid-19th century, a major division occurred in the United States over the issue of states' rights and the expansion of slavery. The northern states had become opposed to slavery, while the southern states saw it as necessary for the continued success of southern agriculture and wanted it expanded to the territories. Several federal laws were passed in an attempt to settle the dispute, including the Missouri Compromise and the Compromise of 1850. The dispute reached a crisis in 1861, when seven southern states seceded1 from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America, leading to the Civil War. Soon after the war began, four more southern states seceded. During the war, Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, mandating the freedom of all slaves in states in rebellion, though full emancipation did not take place until after the end of the war in 1865, the dissolution of the Confederacy, and the Thirteenth Amendment took effect. The Civil War effectively ended the question of a state's right to secede, and is widely accepted as a major turning point after which the federal government became more powerful than state governments. Thirteenth Amendment). The title of the painting, from a 1726 poem by Bishop Berkeley, was a phrase often quoted in the era of Manifest Destiny, expressing a widely held belief that civilization had steadily moved westward throughout history. [http://americanart.si.edu/t2go/1lw/1931.6.1.html (more)] ]] During the 19th century, many new states were added to the original 13 as the nation expanded across the continent. Manifest Destiny was a philosophy that encouraged westward expansion in the United States. As the population of the Eastern states grew and as a steady increase of immigrants entered the country, settlers moved steadily westward across North America. In the process, the U.S. displaced most American Indian nations. This displacement of American Indians continues to be a matter of contention in the U.S. with many tribes attempting to assert their original claims to various lands. In some areas American Indian populations were reduced by foreign diseases contracted through contact with European settlers, and US settlers acquired those emptied lands. In other instances American Indians were removed from their traditional lands by force. Though some would say the U.S. was not a colonial power until the Spanish-American War when it acquired Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines, the dominion exercised over land in North America the United States claimed is essentially colonial. The Philippines became independent in 1946. During this period, the nation also became an industrial power. This continued into the 20th century, which has been termed "the American Century" because of the nation's overriding influence on the world. The US became a center for innovation and technological development; major technologies that America either developed or was greatly involved in improving include the telephone, television, computer, the Internet, nuclear weapons, nuclear power, aviation, and aeronautics. In addition to the Civil War, another major traumatic experience for the nation was the Great Depression (1929 to 1939). The nation has also taken part in several major foreign wars, including World War I and World War II (in both of which the US later joined the Allies). During the Cold War, the US was a major player in the Korean War and Vietnam War, and, along with the Soviet Union, was considered one of the world's two "superpowers". With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the US emerged as the world's leading economic and military power. Beginning in the 1990s, the United States became very involved in police actions and peacekeeping, including actions in Kosovo, Haiti, Somalia and Liberia, and the first Persian Gulf War driving Iraq out of Kuwait. After attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, the United States and other allied nations found themselves involved in what has come to be called the "War on Terrorism," which has primarily encompassed military actions in both Afghanistan and Iraq.

Government

Iraq of the United States.]]

Republic and suffrage

The United States is an example of a constitutional republic, with a government composed of and operating through a set of limited powers imposed by its design and enumerated in the United States Constitution. Specifically, the nation operates as a presidential democracy. There are three levels of government: federal, state, and local. Officials of each of these levels are either elected by eligible voters via secret ballot or appointed by other elected officials. Americans enjoy almost universal suffrage from the age of 18 regardless of race, sex, or wealth. There are some limits, however: felons are disenfranchised and in some states former felons are likewise. Furthermore, the national representation of territories and the federal district of Washington, DC in Congress is limited: residents of the District of Columbia are subject to federal laws and federal taxes but their only Congressional representative is a non-voting delegate.

Federal government

The federal government is the national government, comprising the Legislative Branch (led by Congress), the Executive Branch (led by the President), and the Judicial Branch (led by the Supreme Court). These three branches were designed to apply checks and balances on each other. The Constitution limits the powers of the federal government to defense, foreign affairs, the issuing and management of currency, the management of trade and relations between the states, and the protection of human rights. In addition to these explicitly stated powers, the federal government—with the assistance of the Supreme Court—has gradually extended these powers into such areas as welfare and education, on the basis of the "necessary and proper" clause of the Constitution.

The Congress

necessary and proper The Congress of the United States is the legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, comprising the House of Representatives and the Senate. The House of Representatives consists of 435 members, each of whom represents a congressional district and serves for a two-year term. House seats are apportioned among the states by population; in contrast, each state has two Senators, regardless of population. There are a total of 100 senators, who serve six-year terms. The powers of Congress are limited to those enumerated in the Constitution; all other powers are reserved to the states and the people. The Constitution also includes the necessary-and-proper clause, which grants Congress the power to "make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers."

The President

necessary-and-proper clause At the top level of the executive branch is the President of the United States. The President and Vice-President are elected as 'running mates' for four-year terms by the Electoral College, for which each state, as well as the District of Columbia, is allocated a number of seats based on its representation (or ostensible representation, in the case of D. C.) in both houses of Congress (see U.S. Electoral College). The relationship between the President and the Congress reflects that between the English monarchy and parliament at the time of the framing of the United States Constitution. Congress can legislate to constrain the President's executive power, even with respect to his or her command of the armed forces; however, this power is used only very rarely—a notable example was the constraint placed on President Richard Nixon's strategy of bombing Cambodia during the Vietnam War. The President cannot directly propose legislation, and must rely on supporters in Congress to promote his or her legislative agenda. The President's signature is required to turn congressional bills into law; in this respect, the President has the power—only occasionally used—to veto congressional legislation. Congress can override a presidential veto with a two-thirds majority vote in both houses. The ultimate power of Congress over the President is that of impeachment or removal of the elected President through a House vote, a Senate trial, and a Senate vote. The threat of using this power has had major political ramifications in the cases of Presidents Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Bill Clinton. The President makes around 2,000 executive appointments, including members of the Cabinet and ambassadors, which must be approved by the Senate; the President can also issue executive orders and pardons, and has other Constitutional duties, among them the requirement to give a State of the Union address to Congress once a year. Although the President's constitutional role may appear to be constrained, in practice, the office carries enormous prestige that typically eclipses the power of Congress: the Presidency has justifiably been referred to as 'the most powerful office in the world'. The Vice President is first in the line of succession, and is the President of the Senate ex officio, with the ability to cast a tie-breaking vote. The members of the President's Cabinet are responsible for administering the various departments of state, including the Department of Defense, the Justice Department, and the State Department. These departments and department heads have considerable regulatory and political power, and it is they who are responsible for executing federal laws and regulations. George W. Bush is the 43rd President, currently serving his second term.

The Courts

George W. Bush The highest court is the Supreme Court, which consists of nine justices. The court deals with federal and constitutional matters, and can declare legislation made at any level of the government as unconstitutional, nullifying the law and creating precedent for future law and decisions. Below the Supreme Court are the courts of appeals, and below them in turn are the district courts, which are the general trial courts for federal law. Separate from, but not entirely independent of, this federal court system are the individual court systems of each state, each dealing with its own laws and having its own judicial rules and procedures. A case may be appealed from a state court to a federal court only if there is a federal question; the supreme court of each state is the final authority on the interpretation of that state's laws and constitution.

State and local governments

supreme court of each state. Note that Alaska and Hawaii are shown at different scales, and that the Aleutian Islands and the uninhabited Northwestern Hawaiian Islands are omitted from this map.]] The state governments have the greatest influence over people's daily lives. Each state has its own written constitution and has different laws. There are sometimes great differences in law and procedure between the different states, concerning issues such as property, crime, health, and education. The highest elected official of each state is the Governor. Each state also has an elected legislature (bicameral in every state except Nebraska), whose members represent the different parts of the state. Of note is the New Hampshire legislature, which is the third-largest legislative body in the English-speaking world, and has one representative for every 3,000 people. Each state maintains its own judiciary, with the lowest level typically being county courts, and culminating in each state supreme court, though sometimes named differently. In some states, supreme and lower court justices are elected by the people; in others, they are appointed, as they are in the federal system. The institutions that are responsible for local government are typically town, city, or county boards, making laws that affect their particular area. These laws concern issues such as traffic, the sale of alcohol, and keeping animals. The highest elected official of a town or city is usually the mayor. In New England, towns operate directly democratically, and in some states, such as Rhode Island and Connecticut, counties have little or no power, existing only as geographic distinctions. In other areas, county governments have more power, such as to collect taxes and maintain law enforcement agencies.

Political divisions

With the Declaration of Independence, the thirteen colonies proclaimed themselves to be nation states modeled after the European states of the time. Although considered as sovereigns initially, under the Articles of Confederation of 1781 they entered into a "Perpetual Union" and created a fully sovereign federal state, delegating certain powers to the national Congress, including the right to engage in diplomatic relations and to levy war, while each retaining their individual sovereignty, freedom and independence. But the national government proved too ineffective, so the administrative structure of the government was vastly reorganized with the United States Constitution of 1789. Under this new union, the continued status of the individual states as sovereign nation states fell into dispute in 1861, as several states attempted to secede from the union; in response, then-President Abraham Lincoln claimed that such secession was illegal, and the result was the American Civil War. Since the Union victory in 1865, the independent status of the individual states has not been broached again by any state, and the status of each state within the union has been deemed by mainstream officials and academics to be settled as being subordinate to the union as a whole. In subsequent years, the number of states grew steadily due to western expansion, the purchase of lands by the national government from other nation states, and the subdivision of existing states, resulting in the current total of 50. The states are generally divided into smaller administrative regions, including counties, cities and townships. The United States–Canadian border is the longest undefended political boundary in the world. The U.S. is divided into three distinct sections:
- the "continental United States," also known as "the Lower 48" and more accurately termed the conterminous, coterminous or contiguous United States
- Alaska, which is physically connected only to Canada
- the archipelago of Hawaii, in the central Pacific Ocean. The United States also holds several other territories, districts, and possessions, notably the federal district of the District of Columbia, which is the nation's capital, and several overseas insular areas, the most significant of which are American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin Islands. The Palmyra Atoll is the United States' only incorporated territory; it is unorganized and uninhabited. The United States Navy has held a base at a portion of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, since 1898. The United States government possesses a lease to this land, which only mutual agreement or United States abandonment of the area can terminate. The present Cuban government of Fidel Castro disputes this arrangement, claiming Cuba was not truly sovereign at the time of the signing. The United States argues this point moot because Cuba apparently ratified the lease post-revolution, and with full sovereignty, when it cashed one rent check in accordance with the disputed treaty.

Foreign relations and military

sovereign] The immense military and economic dominance of the United States has made foreign relations an especially important topic in its politics, with considerable concern about the image of the United States throughout the world. Reactions towards the United States by other nationalities are often strong, ranging from uninhibited admiration and mimicking of all things American to anti-Americanism. US foreign policy has swung about several times over the course of its history between the poles of strict isolationism and imperialism and everywhere in between. Three of the nation's four military branches are administered by the Department of Defense: the Army, the