Fact #67767
When:
Short story:
Stevie Wonder begins a week of concerts at Wembley Arena, London, England, UK, Europe.
Full article:
Chrys Lindop (founder, Garwood Communications) : There are many claims as to who first pioneered RF-based earworn monitoring, but for me it started when I toured with Stevie Wonder in 1987. Stevie had a full-blown, mobile, broadcast standard FM radio station - Wonderland Radio - set up for touring that was so powerful it could sometimes compete with any commercial radio stations in the area.
Wonder used a standard FM Walkman receiver and ear buds and tuned this domestic system in to Wonderland Radio whose sole broadcast content was his own performance - minus the band whose job was simply to follow his lead.
This was in effect ‘Pirate Radio” and an imprisonable offence in the UK where, as other countries where RF access is strictly controlled. The owner of the trucking company coming to a show at Wembley turned on his radio around Hampstead and got Stevie’s monitor mix. Wembley to Hampstead is around six miles. I have no idea how we got away with it.
Stevie’s original idea was to listen on standard Walkman buds so he could walk around a bit during the show. This idea was improved when this guy from Virginia came along, took an impression of Stevie’s ears, designed a mold, put Sony drivers inside this mold and called them micro-monitors.
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Wonder used a standard FM Walkman receiver and ear buds and tuned this domestic system in to Wonderland Radio whose sole broadcast content was his own performance - minus the band whose job was simply to follow his lead.
This was in effect ‘Pirate Radio” and an imprisonable offence in the UK where, as other countries where RF access is strictly controlled. The owner of the trucking company coming to a show at Wembley turned on his radio around Hampstead and got Stevie’s monitor mix. Wembley to Hampstead is around six miles. I have no idea how we got away with it.
Stevie’s original idea was to listen on standard Walkman buds so he could walk around a bit during the show. This idea was improved when this guy from Virginia came along, took an impression of Stevie’s ears, designed a mold, put Sony drivers inside this mold and called them micro-monitors.