Muzak was founded in the early 1920's by Maj. Gen. George Owen Squier, a retired Army Signal Corps officer. Something of a protogeek, General Squier experimented with ways to deliver music directly into homes using electrical lines. His company, originally known as Wired Radio, began transmitting over telephone lines, later expanding its broadcasts into hotels and restaurants.

Key ideas shaped Maj. Gen. George Owen Squier's military career. He was convinced that science and what we now call high technology were absolutely essential to military power.

It was in 1904 that General Squier first discovered the efficiency of using a direct metallic contact to trees, principally eucalyptus, while later oak, pine and poplar were used to increase the audibility of radio signals. Thereupon he conducted some experiments with a view to utilizing growing trees as antennae for radiotelegraphy.