At the end of the 19th century the bourgeois home had shut out the world.The family hid itself in behind front doors and heavy curtains. Daily life, which had previously to a great extent been led in public, was now led in the private sphere. In the first half of th e 20th century, new technology opened doors towards the world outside the home.

Telephone

The telephone was patented in the USA in 1876. The same year, the first telephone in Norway was installed in Ålesund. Norway’s first telephone exchange was established in Kristiania (Oslo) in 1880 by the International Bell Telephone Company, who acquired permission from the municipality to stretch telephone wires over the city’s streets and squares. In September 1880 the company had 88 subscribers. In 1901 the telephone exchange was taken over by the State. From 1900 to 1940 the number of subscribers in Norway increased from 13,700 to ca. 150,000. In 1999 there were ca. 2,3 million regular telephone subscriptions.

Radio

Two separate inventions from the years around 1900 laid the foundation for the radio – technology for transmitting wireless signals and for transmitting acoustic sound electronically. The world’s first radio station was opened in Pittsburgh in the USA in 1920. The first regular transmissions started in Norway in 1925. Up until 1933 they were run by private companies. In 1933 NRK was established and was given the exclusive right on all broadcasting, a monopoly that lasted until 1981. The period from 1945 until television came in 1960 has been called “the golden age of radio” in Norway.

Television

In the 1920s many attempts were made at developing technology for the wireless transmission of moving images. In the USA, television broadcasts started already in 1928, and in England in 1929. During World War II the work was stopped in England and reduced in the USA, but was taken up again in full force after 1945. Television was introduced in Norway in 1960. At that time, 7000 house - holds had a TV licence. In the course of five years the number grew to 400,000 and to 1,744,000 in 1999. The first nation-wide colour TV broadcast in the USA was in 1954, in England not until 1967 and in Norway in 1972.


Communication

 

Portable radio, Tandberg radiofabrikk, 1970.

Before the invention of the telephone, all personal communication was either face to face or as written communication sent by post or by messenger. This was changed by the tele - phone. Instant communi - cation over great distances enabled increased control over time and space.

NRK created a common frame of reference for people all over the country, reducing cultural and language differences. It may be claimed that it was NRK that unified Norway!

Television led to changes in daily life. The television set became a focal point in the home. How it was placed changed the furnishing of the living room and the use of the room. New kinds of social intercourse arose, regulated by the programme.