MI ICON Lavalier microphone


ALTHOUGH ORIGINALLY intended for use in television, radio and classroom settings, this creation was the first wireless microphone product ever patented – and therefore the first in the sequential chain that led to the sorts of mics used on stage today – although the title of being the inventor of the first ever wireless mic still remains a contentious issue. American electronics engineer


Raymond Litke originally had the patent filed on January 8th 1960 and the FCC was so impressed with the practicality and ingenuity of the product, they allocated him 12 frequencies to experiment with at the approval hearing. The term lavalier microphone was thought up by Litke upon masterminding the device, but the name Vega-Mike became a common alternative when the Vega Electronics


Corporation became the firm responsible for putting it into mass production. In July 1960, US


TV presenter John Daly became the first to properly inform the world of the lavalier’s benefits, resulting in some belated publicity for the invention, which was invented a whole three years beforehand. It was in the political arena that the


lavalier first started to appear in the public eye. The American broadcast media began using them to facilitate the coverage of the Democratic and Republican Conventions and John Kennedy and Richard Nixon – the two presidential candidates at the time – were the first celebrities to be seen supporting these nifty new gadgets.


Its six-inch length, one-inch diameter and range of almost half a mile made it surprisingly compact and efficient for a system made 50 years ago. Litke’s contribution to modern music, as well as countless other industries, surely makes the man himself as much an MI Icon as the product itself.


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SEND YOUR PICTURES TO CODA@INTENTMEDIA.CO.UK miPRO JANUARY 2011 89


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