<VV>OT AM radio

[Rt66Vairs at aol.com]

In a message dated 8/3/05 2:02:08 PM Pacific Daylight Time, 
ScottyGrover at aol.com writes:
Some might dispute you re: KDKA being the first commercial station in the  
USA; mostly Detroiters who recognize WWJ as the first.  
Perhaps this will clarify this.

Dr. Lee DeForest claimed to have begun a regular series of voice 
transmissions from an experimental station in New York in 1907, and was inarguably active 
in promoting special broadcasts of voice and music thruout the decade. He 
tended to use a series of special "remote" stations, however, and wasn't based in 
a single location. His earliest broadcasts preceded the issuance of the first 
radio licenses by the Department of Commerce. 
Charles Herrold of San Jose began his voice transmissions in the spring of 
1909, using the self-assigned call sign of "FN." By 1912-13, he was 
self-identifying as "SJN," and was offering a regular -- but limited -- schedule of voice 
and recorded music. 
Herrold's amateur station was licensed by the Department of Commerce in 1916 
as 6XF, with an additional mobile transmitter licensed as 6XE. He was forced 
to close down his operations -- along with all other radio amateurs -- in 1917, 
as a result of wartime restrictions on the use of radio -- and he resumed 
operations in 1919, still as 6XF/6XE. In 1921, he was granted a commercial 
broadcast license as KQW. The station remains in operation to this day, having 
become KCBS in 1949. 
Other stations active during this era included DeForest's 2XG in New York, 
which regularly broadcast phonograph records donated by Columbia Phonograph in 
exchange for promotional consideration. 2XG also presented running coverage of 
the results of the 1916 presidential election -- and got the outcome wrong! 
There was also 1XE in Medford, Massachusetts, operated by Harold Power of the 
Amrad Corporation; 2XI in Schenectady NY, which was a predecessor to WGY; 2ZK 
in New Rochelle, NY and 9ZP in Pierre, SD -- all of which were broadcasting 
voice and music on a semi-regular basis in the years just before the war. 
And, as mentioned, there were many other stations broadcasting "programs" in 
morse code. The New York Herald was broadcasting regular programs of news 
bulletins in code as far back as 1915, and recordings of some of these 
transmissions exist, thanks to amateur Charles Apgar and his cylinder recorder. 
Frank Conrad of Westinghouse in East Pittsburgh received his first license in 
1916, as 8XK -- and was on the air with experimental voice and music 
broadcasts right thru the war -- as a major defense contractor Westinghouse was the 
only entity whose licenses weren't suspended for the duration by the 
authorities. 
After the war, there was a new wave of interest in broadcasting, with many of 
the pre-war stations starting up again, and new outlets going on the air 
steadily in 1919-1920. One was 8MK, operated by an employee of the Detroit News, 
which began an aggressive programming schedule in the summer of 1920. This 
station later became WWJ. 6ADZ in Los Angeles also commenced broadcasting around 
this time, and later evolved into KNX. 
Meanwhile, the Conrad broadcasts over 8XK in Pittsburgh had generated enough 
interest for Westinghouse to make a permanent commitment to them. In October 
1920, the company applied to the Commerce Department for a commercial 
broadcasting license (all broadcasters up to this point were operating as amateur class 
stations) The license was granted on October 27th, assigning the call sign 
KDKA, and operations with the new call commenced on November 2nd, with election 
night coverage. 
So, in one sense KDKA's "First Station" claim is accurate -- it was the first 
commercial broadcasting license to be issued. 
But KDKA wasn't the first broadcaster -- not by a long shot. Nor were the 
1920 election returns the first scheduled broadcast -- several stations had 
announced schedules for programming prior to KDKA, notably XWA in Montreal (later 
CKAC), which broadcast on a scheduled basis six months before KDKA. 
In other words, history's a lot more complicated than most people realize... 

Tim Abney
IECC