A Wurlitzer Princess Juke Box - Are Jukeboxes making a comeback? 1101 Harvey Avenue, Kelowna

The jukebox originated in 1877 when Thomas Edison invented a sound recording machine and sold the rights to manufacture his discovery in 1889, the first coin-operated phonograph was installed into Palais Royale Saloon in San Francisco, California. This required a nickel for two minutes worth of music. By 1890, the first commercial records were made, and by the late 1890's, patrons could hear up to fifteen hundred selections through an ear tube at a phonograph parlor.
What many consider the true forerunner of the modern jukebox was The Gable Automatic Entertainer, a coin-operated music machine invented in 1906. The Entertainer offered several selections, had a record changing mechanism viewable through three glass sides, and a 40 inch horn that amplified its sound so that the listening tubes were no longer needed. This machine and its imitations dominated the coin-operated phonographic industry throughout the late 1920s.

In 1927, the first electrically amplified multi-selection phonograph was released. This technical improvement meant the jukebox could compete with orchestras and could entertain large groups in big spaces, all for the price of a nickel. Within a decade there were at least a half-million jukeboxes across America reaching a peak in the late 1940s and 50s, when The Wurlitzer Company introduced the hundred-song jukebox.

Jukeboxes surged in popularity after World War II, when vinyl records and hi-fi sound became widely available. Table top jukeboxes became standard issue at most of American's diners. With the decline of the diners, however and the rise of fast food chains, many of the classic diner juke boxes, with their wooden cabinet, illuminated plastic designs, and bright modern deco lines, have faded from sight. A new generation of high-tech jukeboxes, in digital form on a hard disk drive, is being launched as the twenty-first century jukebox.