Modern Radio Comes to America

When did modern radio come to America?

Back in 1906, the American inventor Lee de Forest created an amplifier that made broadcasting possible.

But I will nominate November 1920 when KDKA radio in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania sent out the first-ever regular radio broadcast in the United States. The Harding-Cox presidential election results were sent out “over the ether" - a radio jargon of the time.

Of course, only 5,000 Americans owned radios.

Like many technologies, it didn't seem clear how any money could be made from radio.  But once advertising entered the picture, it was a race to grab a piece of the bandwidth.

Like TV, some people thought radio should be for the public good, used for education and enrichment, and funded by the government. But it took until 1967, when Lyndon B. Johnson signed a law that created National Public Radio.

It only took 2 years for commercial radio to launch. In 1922, the New York station WEAF (later known as WNBC) began selling on-air advertising.

Radio changed our culture. Instantaneous news connected regions and eventually the country. Politicians realized it was a way to connect with people, particularly those that couldn't or didn't read newspapers.

World War II was the first major "radio war" (As Vietnam was the "TV war.")

The advertising model for free listening would be used in TV and then on the Internet.