During World War I, radio technology was greatly accelerated in part by military sponsorship. By the end of the war, the vacuum tube was commercially available for use in low-cost radios as well as radio transmitters and all sorts of other devices. It was not long before various inventors returned to the idea (which Edison had investigated in 1877) of using an electrical signal from a microphone to drive an electromagnetic disc recording device.

With the addition of the vacuum tube, the microphone’s weak signal could be stepped up enough to drive a an electromagnetic stylus. Further, by this time a microphone and electronic amplifier could transfer a wider range of sound frequencies to the stylus, as compared to the traditional acoustic horn-and-diaphragm. While there were numerous proposals to accomplish this over many years, the technical problems were considerable.

The Western Electric Company (whose research activities were soon to be taken over by the Bell Telephone Laboratories) developed an electronically amplified, electromagnetic disk cutter of high quality in the early 1920s, as well as a conventional-looking but much-improved acoustic phonograph on which to play the resulting records. The new device was marketed to phonograph and record manufacturers (and also became the basis of early “talking” movies and the professional recorders used in radio stations).

In October, 1924, Columbia Phonograph Company experimented with this new “electrical” recording equipment.  The trade-name “Orthophonic” was attached to both the recording process and the record player.

Victor released its last phonograph disks made by the original acoustic process in 1925. The new records sounded different than those recorded by the acoustic process, and many consumers responded well to them. Others hated the way they sounded, and attacks on the new records appeared frequently in the newspaper and magazine record reviews.

Edison meanwhile had announced a long-playing, 12 inch disk capable of holding 20 minutes of music per side recorded through the tradition process. While this format did not become a commercial success, the next year the company marketed its first electrically-recorded “diamond” disks.  As always, Edison stuck to the “hill and dale” groove structure. As  Edison’s record business declined in 1927, the company offered a phonograph capable of reproducing either Edison vertical cut disks or his competitors’ more popular lateral cut disks.