At the turn of the 20th century, ships left port with no way to communicate with land, but pioneers in radio technology created a wireless lifeline for those at sea. In Chatham, the earliest antennas and the receiving station, along with the transmitting station in Marion, MA, were built in 1914 by the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company of America to provide commercial radio service between the U.S. and Norway. A key feature was a 30 acre antenna field where wires were suspended high above the ground and oriented to receive radio waves from around the world, with vertical supports holding the antennas. After World War I, the station's successor, the Radio Corporation of America (RCA), put the station into service, and it soon became the world's greatest coastal station.