Editing Ampex (section)

== Origin ==
Russian–American inventor [[Alexander M. Poniatoff|Alexander Matthew Poniatoff]] established the company in [[San Carlos, California|San Carlos]], [[California]], in 1944 as the Ampex Electric and Manufacturing Company. The company name came from his initials plus "ex" to avoid using the name [[TE Connectivity|AMP]] already in use (by Aircraft and Marine Products). During [[World War II]], Ampex was a subcontractor to Dalmo-Victor, manufacturing high quality electric motors and generators for radars that used [[alnico]] 5 magnets from [[General Electric]].<ref name="history.sandiego.edu">[http://history.sandiego.edu/GEN/recording/magnetic4.html The History of Magnetic Recording by Steven Schoenherr, University of San Diego, November 5, 2002] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080821140025/http://history.sandiego.edu/gen/recording/magnetic4.html |date=21 August 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Kenney |first=Martin |title=Understanding Silicon Valley: The Anatomy of an Entrepreneurial Region |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CLxzUW4V_2cC&q=dalmo-victor%20mosely&pg=PA44 |year=2000 |publisher=Stanford University Press |isbn=9780804737340}}</ref> Ampex was initially set up in an abandoned loft-space above the Dalmo-Victor plant; eventually they would have offices at 1313 Laurel Street, San Carlos, California (at the intersection of Howard Avenue and Laurel Street).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://recordist.com/ampex/apxpics.html|title=Pictures|access-date=22 November 2016}}</ref>

Near the end of the war, while serving in the U.S. Army Signal Corps, Major [[Jack Mullin]] was assigned to investigate German radio and electronics experiments. He discovered the Magnetophons with [[Tape bias|AC biasing]] on a trip to Radio Frankfurt. The device produced much better fidelity than shellac records. The technological processes in tape recording and equipment developed by German companies before and during the 1939–1945 war were subject to patents which were effectively voided after Germany's 1945 surrender and defeat. Mullin acquired two [[Magnetophon]] recorders and 50 reels of [[BASF]] Type L tape, and brought them to America, where he produced modified versions. He demonstrated them to the [[Institute of Radio Engineers]] in San Francisco on May 16, 1946.<ref name="history.sandiego.edu"/>

[[Bing Crosby]], a big star on radio at the time, was receptive to the idea of pre-recording his radio programs. He disliked the regimentation of live broadcasts, and much preferred the relaxed atmosphere of the recording studio. He had already asked the [[NBC]] network to let him pre-record his 1944–45 series on transcription discs, but the network refused; so Crosby had withdrawn from live radio for a year and returned (this time to the recently created [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]]) for the 1946–47 season, only reluctantly.

In June 1947, Mullin, who was pitching the technology to the major Hollywood movie studios, got the chance to demonstrate his modified tape recorders to Crosby. When Crosby heard a demonstration of Mullin's tape recorders, he immediately saw the potential of the new technology and commissioned Mullin to prepare a test recording of his radio show. Ampex was finishing its prototype of the Model 200 tape recorder, and Mullin used the first two models as soon as they were built. After a successful test broadcast, ABC agreed to allow Crosby to pre-record his shows on tape. Crosby immediately appointed Mullin as his chief engineer and placed an order for $50,000 worth of the new recorders so that Ampex (then a small six-man concern) could develop a commercial production model from the prototypes.<ref name="history.sandiego.edu"/><ref name=RW>{{cite magazine|author=Careless, James|title=The Ever-Evolving Role of Airchecks|magazine=Radio World|date=May 22, 2019 |volume=43|number=13|page=18}}</ref>

Crosby Enterprises was Ampex's West Coast representative until 1957.<ref name="hammar" />