Edward S. Rogers Sr.

[5] The family descends from Timothy Rogers (1756–1834), a Quaker leader who established Newmarket and Pickering in what is now the province of Ontario.

By 1913, he was noted in local newspapers for his skill at operating a radio station, which at the time was an impressive technical accomplishment.

Rogers worked as a radio officer on Great Lakes passenger ships during the summers of 1916-1919 inclusive.

[6] Two years later, Rogers operated the only Canadian (and only spark-gap) station to successfully compete in the first amateur trans-Atlantic radio competition.

In the early 1920s, radio transmitters and receivers ran on large and expensive batteries to provide the high voltages needed for the vacuum tubes used.

In April 1924, Rogers travelled to the United States and saw experimental AC receiving tubes at the laboratories of Westinghouse in Pittsburgh.