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Empire of the Air

The Titanic Disaster

The sinking of the Titanic influenced federal law and wireless communications.

Aired 01/29/1992

FromKen Burns

Empire of the Air

The Titanic Disaster

Clip: Episode 1 | 3m 16sVideo has Closed Captions

The sinking of the Titanic influenced federal law and wireless communications.

On Sunday, April 14, 1912, the Titanic’s distress signals were heard by a nearby ship, allowing passengers in lifeboats to be rescued. Federal law soon required that all large ocean-going vessels to be equipped with wireless for safety reasons. David Sarnoff noted that the Titanic disaster “brought radio to the front.”

Aired 01/29/1992

FromKen Burns

Funding Provided by: General Motors Corporation, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting;PBS; the National Endowment for the Humanities

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Funding Provided by: General Motors Corporation, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting;PBS; the National Endowment for the Humanities

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