Tuned Radio
January 28, 2026 • EPISODE 295
How do radios tune in to specific stations? In this episode of Science LIVE, Dr. Roger Billings explores the tuned radio—how circuits are adjusted to select particular frequencies so we can hear one station clearly among many. Learn why tuning is essential for radio reception and how the first wireless radio signal crossed the Atlantic Ocean, launching a new era of global communication.

About DrB
Dr. Roger Billings is a visionary innovator whose work has touched the lives of millions of students and transformed the landscape of education. Widely known as “DrB” to the countless kids who benefit from his groundbreaking Acellus learning system, Dr. Billings has dedicated his life to advancing education through technology.
As part of DrB’s lifelong commitment to supporting education, Science LIVE was launched as a way to “give back” by mentoring students in conjunction with the Roger Billings Scholarship Program.
Read more about DrB »
About the Roger Billings Scholarship Program »



This was epic!
I always learn really cool things at SL!
Thank you for the interesting video Acellus! 😀
I really enjoyed the idea about making your own radio R51.
How do old radios work
Hello from Georgia, I loved this live
This was one f my most favorite lectures!
How is it possible to fit a chip in a thread
How expensive were radios
The way Caleb said “And three weeks later it was broken.” send me
I really liked learning about radios!
This was a very cool video to watch.
yes the radio would be cool as a finishing project and is the conspiracy theory course out yet
To me, it is still amazing, and unbelievable, how we can send information wirelessly from one device to another.
i can talk into my shirt useing the computer string, that would be really cool.
I love science live! It is so fun on todays science live!
This is so cool and amazing! It is very interesting as always.
Acellus is the best program to learn from!
How advance can radios become in the future that we currently do not know yet at the moment?
radios are so interesting, and how long they’ve been around is amazing! pretty cool that we still use them
Love learning new things every week!
Science live is so interesting I love it!.
Love watching these lives !
the radio was interesting
So great to hear the success of Acellus at the school in California. I’m glad the kids there are excited for online classes just like me.
thank you acellus radios are so cool!
The proteges are so funny
I would like to have the radio in the Gold store
Great science live as always! so educational!
Seeing how the computer could show the futrue of tech was really amazing!
This live was awesome! These lives are one of the best part of my week.
I enjoyed learning about how radios are tuned.
My favorite was learning about radio frequencies and WiFi very cool
i really love this science live
This episode helped me understand how a tuned radio works by selecting a specific radio frequency and amplifying it before turning it into sound. It was pretty cool learning about early radios and how they tuned into stations.
Hello from Arkansas!
We should put the radio in the store
The threads within a computer chip and the way they work is astounding. Thank you science live.
I think the blue monster galaxy part was cool,
hi from Kentucky
thinks for the video it was really fun to watch
Hello from Texas. The history of science is so fascinating.
THAT’s where the name WiFi came from!!!! Learning this is crazy to me, to think they just came up with it!
It is hard to believe computers can be improved even more.
Excited to learn about what’s in this weeks science live,and I wish people didn’t believe most of the stuff on the internet
R51 was so silly today! i loved it so much
Tech is an amazing industry.
So interesting to learn about radios!
I love learning with Acellus and I think I am going to start Spanish in 6th grade.
How much storage is in these computer tubes?
learning something new from this every week.
I love this because the a part of the video when they are talking about how this amazing scientist made a mistake but kept it safe and never gave up
To be lost at sea is a huge fear. Its great they came up with away to communicate. The concepts of wifi and radio are so hard for me to wrap my head around.
I love morse code and I especially loved that wellerman joke they did lol
What other type of radio is there?
i love home school
i like how to tune radio was a good thing to do also kinda instresting
Will these high-tech threads be easily accessible to the general public, considering they can be used in clothing, or will they be a luxury used in things such as gear, electronics, and medicine?
learning about the wifi was really cool
It was funny that WiFi isn’t actually named after anything.
so cool learning about the radio
could a radios sound waves be turned into light waves?
I thought that the radio was really interesting. I also thought that it was cool that laptops use to have removable batteries.
Radio technology certainly has evolved over the years!
I enjoyed learning about Guglielmo Marconi and how he created wireless telegraph.
Radio technology has certainly evolved over the years!
Acellus is awsome
I love acellus so much
I liked looking at all the different pictures of morse code, and I want you to put R51’s radio in the acellus store.
I loved the superhero comic part!
Watching from New York!
These are always awesome!!
I love science live
This was so fun to watch thank you so much for making these vidos.
Hello from Georgia
Technology has always made so many questions for me. It kind of feels unreal at times, and you wonder how it’s even possible sometimes. Thanks for the science live!
Wifi has always been a confusing concept for me. This is so cool!!
The radio and how it works is very appealing to me.
I really enjoyed this video!
The radio is honestly pretty cool and the way how it works in interesting.
Thanks for another science live!
This lesson was very fun to learn!! I enjoyed it very much.
I believe maybe having an option for a finished radio or one with instructions to put together available in the gold store would be very neat.
Science is very cool!
this is super cool!
The computer chip in the thread is amazing. I like the idea of the glove “computer” that you could wear. Really interesting.
Wow being able to have a whole computer in a string must be a major breakthrough.
I didn’t know you could build your own radio. It sounds like it’s easy to get the materials you need.
Excellent episode, thank you!
So tiny! It’s amazing they can make technology so small!
I never understood how radio waves were discovered!
i thought the wifi thing was pretty interesting
How was the first radio invented
I liked the pirates
How does a radios knob change frequencies?
it always amazes me on how these keep on getting better!!! 🙂
I always thought Wi-Fi stood for something, I never knew it was just made up.
I really like the old school radio, my mom and I listen to radio all the time !
I learned a lot about radios.
Comment I have seen vacuum tubes in an old radio.
why was the first tv created?
I loved this science live can’t wait for the next
We all love r-51.
I loved this live stream for the week
I like how last weeks lesson gave me background for this weeks lesson
i love how these lives are so interesting!
Alwaya find these interesting. The inerworkings of a radio have always been interesting to me and im glad they did an lesson on them.
It was very interesting to listen to the explanation given by Caleb and David, recounting how radios were tuned to send radio waves over long distances and how the first wire was installed across the Atlantic Ocean, only to be broken three weeks later.
What is the benefit of A computer chip being very long and string like in comparison to typical computer chips?
What if we never had WiFi
I never knew about this kind of stuff!
it’s nice how informational and interesting these lives are!!
how many people used computers back then.
Thank you for teaching us about Tuned radio.
The demonstration of the handmade radio project was funny.
Love the singing!!!
radio was used alot back than 👀
i like learning how future technology could look like and how it can advance!
I love learning new things
i really liked this science live.
I always love watching these lives so interesting!
How do they manage to take a picture of the world’s first camera lol.
this is so cool ! wifi and radio have always confused me !
what if we had a charger that could warn you by talking to you it was dying?
this is so cool! the wire thing is pretty cool. and the don’t believe everything you see on the internet joke was so funny.
How did John Sullivan figure out that he could use the black hole equation for Wi-Fi?
i remeber when i had snap circuts and i made a radio with it
Thank you for explain and answering some of my questions on this subject.
I knew you could tune a radio back then, but I did not know that the number coils changes the frequency.
I was super excited to learn how to tune a radio
What year did the laptop go wireless?
I really enjoyed this Science Live. They introduce me into new topics that I had not learned before. Thank you!
Love these videos they are pretty cool!
I’m so glad that Acellus lets me learn a lot of new things!
That’s so cool—how a computer can be made into a piece of clothing.
I would love the radio kits they seem soo fun maby you can buy different stations with the coins to!
Hello from Tennessee!!!
I like how descriptive the lives are and I really enjoyed this lesson!!
Inspired by sushi rolls, lol. Amazing they can make transistors so small
i love the lives they have inspired me to pursue engineering
My favorite part was Dr. Jones. I thought it was interesting how they were using fabrics and a new technology and I thought it was interesting how they are making smart clothing, it will be interesting to see what they can do with that
very interesting about the thread and possibly making clothes with it.
I enjoy th guy at the beginning, his jokes are funny and make you think. The computer chip as thin as a wire was really cool to hear about. Learning about Morse code was interesting as well
This was a really good, educational video and easy to understand!
Now i know how Wifi came into existence, thats pretty cool.
this taught me so much and answered all my questions,I’m excited for next week!
Great lesson on Wi-Fi! Shows how far it has come and really thankful for it!
Who was the first person to invent news?
What was the first weather measurement invented?
Awesome telescope, dark stars sound really cool!
This is so cool! WiFi and radios have always confused me on how they work and how they were named, so this really answered most of my questions.
I really enjoyed the series on the radio. To me it is hard to believe the Bill Lear worked with Thomas Edison and Dr. Billings worked with Bill Lear. It is amazing what great minds can do when working together. Sometimes we thing we have to keep our great ideas together, but it seems that sharing ideas is the way to go.
Once again David and Caleb did a good job finishing up our study of radios and radio waves. It is hard to believe that at one time there was a wire on the bottom of the ocean to transmit from Europe to the United States. Inventions have some a long way since then, I cannot being to imagine what inventions lie ahead. Cars that fly? Computers imbedded in your arm. Who knows, maybe I will be involved in some new discovery that might change the world.
Hiii from texas
I always wanted to know how these worked!
I love Science lives!
Hi everyone at science live!
WIFI is so important. I learned that Morse Codes are sent over wires using a code of dots and dashes.
my favorite one so far. thank you!
I always thought Wi-Fi was a acronym for something. Still thankful for Wi-Fi though. That’s how I watch this.
This week my brother watched with me!
Science live is awesome
Thanks for another great episode! I look forward all week!
hello from TN
I would like to build something like that with my dad and brother, we all like to build new things and get them to work. I will Google how to make one and share it when you all.
smart fishing line that tels you where the fish are sounds like cheating
I found the ‘make your own radio’ interesting and hope we are able to make one.
I learned that Morse Codes can be sent electronically over a wire.
The Technology Spotlight hit close to home for me as I have an uncle who is special needs. In watching the presentation I wondered how the threads that could be used for smart clothing — where you could have a computer in your sweater or gloves….what if you could have a computer in your brain that would help you with fine motor skills, speech or even, as a stretch, help someone that has vision or hearing issues be able to function much better in the world. I know science has come a long way in the last 30 years. I wonder what will be possible by the time I am ready to enter college? What ideas I myself may be able to come up with using some ingenuity and intelligence!! Only time will tell. Thank you, Acellus!
I never thought I could learn some much about WiFi and Radios it’s so interesting to learn about every day you can learn something new.
I found the make your own R51 radio interesting.
Also, my take away about the student who was trying to make a coil and got frustrated. I believe that sometimes our ego can take over our thoughts and make us react in a manner that can block our ideas or what we are trying to convey and making us look like we are not able or capable of greatness.
It’s amazing what you can create.
Wow it’s so cool how computers are getting smaller and smaller
Radio frequencies are neat
I enjoyed this with my family
I think Acellus should put an r51 radio in the gold store it was so cool