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Saturday 10 October 2015

Jukebox

The word jukebox derives from the olde English word for dancing.


Thomas Edison invented the phonograph in 1878. Eleven years later the first jukebox was made when Louis Glass and William S. Arnold added a coin operated slot to an Edison Class M Electric Phonograph. The music was heard via one of four listening tubes.

The world's first jukebox was installed at the Palais Royal Hotel in San Francisco on November 23, 1899. At a nickel per play, the machine earned nearly $1000 during the first six months of operation.

Early manufacturers of Jukeboxes never referred to them as "jukeboxes", they called them Automatic Coin-Operated Phonographs. The term "juke" is Southern US slang for dancing.

Juke-boxes became common in public places in late 1930s as better technology amplified sound. They helped the record industry snap slump caused by the Great Depression and the availability of free music on radio.


By 1939, two hundred and twenty-five thousand jukeboxes were in operation in the USA and were said to be responsible for the sale of thirteen million records a year.

Source Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia © 1998 The Learning Company, Inc

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