Ampex Corporation

Ampex, the USA name associated with tape and tape recorders, was founded by Russian inventor Alexander Matthew Poniatoff in San Carlos, California, in 1944. Simply an electronics manufacturer of radar equipment, the company bore the founder's acronym "AMP" suffixed with "EX" as there was an existing AMP company. At the end of the War, Jack Mullin, a U.S. Army Signal Corps Major had experimented with BASF tape and Ampex Magnetophons, which he modified and demonstrated to the Institute of Radio Engineers in San Francisco in May 1946 as a higher fidelity recording medium. He had moderate success until, in June 1947 he demonstrated to the Hollywood movie studios - where his idea was seized upon by Bing Crosby. Crosby had always preferred the recording medium for broadcasting, rather than the inherent problems of his live-broadcast routines. Thus Crosby commissioned Mullin to prepare a test recording of his radio show, which was a success and Crosby appointed Mullin as his chief engineer. By ordering $50,000 worth of Mullin's product, the Ampex tape machine was born and Crosby Enterprises became the West Coast distributor up to 1957. The rest is history.