75th Anniversary -- Milestones
1907 United Press began service July 15 to 369 newspapers. 1909 Cable service to Japanese Telegraph News Agency started. 1912 Invited to swap news with Reuters, UP turned down bid and set up its own international coverage. 1914 Aggressive war coverage drew worldwide attention; 100 new papers signed up for service in war's first year. 1919 La Prensa of Buenos Aires started UP service, leading to dominance in Latin America; United News formed to serve morning dailies, later merged to 24-hour service. 1921 Direct service began to European newspapers and, a year later, to Asian mainland. 1932 More than 1,000 newspapers taking service; UP became known for byline stories, "people" coverage, big name interviews. 1935 First major news service to offer news to broadcasters. 1941 UP client count climbed despite loss of subscribers in war-torn countries; five correspondents killed, a dozen wounded in war. 1945 First all-sports wire; International Features Division formed to distribute syndicate material. 1950 Worldwide beat on outbreak of Korean War. 1951 First TTS service enabled papers to automatically set and justify type from wire transmissions. 1952 UP purchased Acme Newspictures, establishing own photo service. First international TV newsfilm service launched. 1953 Unifax, first fully automatic facsimile receiver producing sharp, affordable pictures, offered to TV, soon to newspapers. 1957 On UP's 50th anniversary, Time Magazine described service as the "world's most enterprising wire-news merchant." 1958 UP merged with International News Service May 24, becoming UPI; UPI Audio Network, first wire service radio network launched. 1963 Transmission of computerized stock market tables. 1965 Real-time computerized TTS news service (Unitype) for faster delivery. Two years later, UPI began multiplexed wire service. 1970 UPI technicians developed 16-S newspicture transmitted. 1971 During 1960s and '70s UPI increased depth of reporting, going behind turbulent headlines; Five Unipressers killed, two missing and presumed dead, in Vietnam. 1972 Video terminals introduced for electronic news handling. 1973 UPI Cable Newswire launched. 1974 DataNews, 1,200-word-per-minute news service, inaugurated; IS&R expanded domestically with more than 400 VDT's installed. 1975 Unifax II unveiled with vastly increased newspicture quality. 1977 Satellite news delivery tests began. IS&R extended to Canada, to Europe a year later. 1979 UPI opened $10.5 million computer center in Dallas. 1980 Nearly a dozen new bureaus opened in U.S.; UPI coverage of Iranian crisis cited by Overseas Press Club, Pulitzer Prize. 1981 UPI began satellite transmission to U.S. clients; Moved to new $2.5 million world headquarters in New York; Digital Darkroom installed in New York. 1982 New 16-S color newspicture transmitter introduced. Serving more than 7,500 subscribers, UPI marks 75th anniversary.