Very first cell phone call: meet the man who made it ... and the engineer who helped make it happen

NEXT with John Koetsier · Oct 29, 2023 · 30m

It all started with a stolen car. In 1983 Chicago resident David Meilahn's car was stolen. He bought a new one, a Mercedes Benz 280SL 2-seater. But then he needed to replace his old radio-phone ... and the sales rep told him there was something new: a cellular phone. He was one of the first few to be selected, then won a race to place the very first commercial cell phone call, which ended up being from Soldier Field in Chicago, IL, to Alexander Graham Bell's grand-daughter in Germany. This is his story, along with the story of Stuart Tararone, the AT&T engineer who helped build that system…