# A classroom of sound

Canonical: https://worldradionow.top/museum/learn/
Language: en

Learn & explore 

# A classroom of sound

Use this printable sheet with the exhibition. Read the linked source records, compare what objects reveal and discuss the questions together.

Print learning sheet 

01 

## How did listening change when a radio could fit in a pocket?

02 

## What is the difference between an eyewitness memory and a museum record?

03 

## Choose a radio programme today. What would you preserve for a future listener?

An independent public-learning project: free to visit, with no registration or paywall.

## Keep exploring

[ 1920–1925 

### Listening through a crystal

This Science Museum Group record describes a crystal receiver made in Manchester around 1920–1925. A small object opens a question: how much skill did early listening require?

Read the story → 

](/museum/exhibits/crystal-listening/)

[ 1954 

### A radio you could carry

The Smithsonian records the Regency TR-1 as a 1954 transistor radio. Portability invites us to consider how a shared household activity could become a more personal listening experience.

Read the story → 

](/museum/exhibits/pocket-radio/)

[ 2026 

### The world is still on air

Today, World Radio Now links listeners to public station streams. Compare the experience with earlier receivers: the path to a programme changes, while voices, music and local identity remain worth exploring.

Read the story → 

](/museum/exhibits/listening-today/)

## Sources & further reading

- [Signals without a wire](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1909/marconi/biographical/)
- [Listening through a crystal](https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co8414466/cats-whisker-crystal-radio)
- [2LO: a voice from London](https://blog.sciencemuseum.org.uk/this-is-2lo-london-broadcasting-station-calling/)
- [The contested airwaves](https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80014599)
- [A radio you could carry](https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/object/nmah_713528)
- [The world is still on air](https://worldradionow.top/about/)
- [Who invented the telegraph?](https://blog.sciencemuseum.org.uk/revealing-the-real-cooke-and-wheatstone-telegraph-dial/)
- [Who discovered radio waves?](https://www.deutsches-museum.de/museumsinsel/ausstellung/physik)
- [Morse: a language of timing](https://www.itu.int/rec/R-REC-M.1677-1-200910-I/)
- [Titanic and listening for distress](https://www.itu.int/en/history/pages/itushistory-page-2.aspx)
- [FM: changing how a signal carries sound](https://reach.ieee.org/multimedia/edwin-h-armstrong-radio-pioneer-fm-radio-and-the-later-years/)
- [Sputnik: a signal heard around the world](https://www.nasa.gov/history/65-years-ago-sputnik-ushers-in-the-space-age/)
- [Who invented the radio receiver?](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1909/summary/)