Hertz so good: Radio King Kyle Sandlinds, please play something like this…

You’ll notice today (Feb 22) that Google features a constantly moving doodle of colour that might appear like a glitch at first, but rest assured it’s there for good reason. The doodle represents the electromagnetic waves that are the basis for radio.

Indeed, today is the 155th anniversary of the birthday of German physicist Heinrich Rudolf Hertz, the man who invented the apparatus that could produce and detect radio waves, leading to the evolution of the everyday medium we often take for granted.

Sadly, Hertz died at the early age of 36, having been diagnosed with Wegener’s granulomatosis, an incurable vascular disease that affects several organs at once. His legacy lingers, though, every time we look at a radio dial, with the ‘Hz’ that appears in MHz after digits like 92.9, 94.5 and 96 all standing for ‘Hertz’.

Hooray to a genius who helped provide us with hours of on-air entertainment.

Now, Kyle Sandilands, please introduce the good ol’ bands to a new generation. The EDM and wining troubadours are getting a bit much over the wireless now…