November 1, 2 In Radio History

In 1920...KDKA in Pittsburgh went on the air as the first commercial radio station, a distinction that has also been challenged by other stations, although it has claimed to be the "world's first commercially licensed radio station": WWJ in Detroit, Michigan (also a CBS Radio station), lists its "First Air Date" as August 20, 1920. KDKA is currently owned and operated by CBS Radio.

Listen to announcer Leo Rosenberg, radio's first announcer:

Frank Conrad's experimental 75-watt trnasmitter

Frank Conrad

KDKA's roots began with the efforts of Westinghouse employee Frank Conrad who operated KDKA's predecessor 75 watt 8XK from the Pittsburgh suburb of Wilkinsburg from 1916. Conrad, who had supervised the manufacturing of military receivers during WWI, broadcast phonograph music and communicated with other amateur radio operators via 8YK. On September 29, 1920, the Joseph Horne department store in Pittsburgh began advertising amateur wireless sets for $10, which could be used to listen to Conrad’s broadcasts.

Westinghouse vice president and Conrad’s supervisor, Harry P. Davis, saw the advertisement and recognized the economic potential of radio.  Instead of it being limited as a hobby to scientific experimenters, radio could be marketed to a mainstream audience. Consequently, Davis asked Conrad to build a 100-watt transmitter, which would air programming intended to create widespread demand for Westinghouse receivers.

KDKA Coverage of Harding-Cox Election 11/2/1920

The KDKA callsign was assigned sequentially from a list maintained for the use of US-registry maritime stations, and on November 2, 1920, KDKA broadcast the US presidential election returns from a shack on the roof of the K Building of the Westinghouse Electric Company "East Pittsburgh Works" in Turtle Creek, Pennsylvania.  Four men basically manned that first broadcast: Engineer William Thomas; telephone line operator John Frazier; R.S. McClelland, a standby and Leo Rosenberg, radio’s first announcer.

The election results were relayed to about 1,000 listeners, who learned through this incredible new medium, that Warren Harding beat James Cox in the race for the Oval Office.

There is some indication that the new license had not been received by that date, and the station may have gone on the air with the experimental call sign of 8ZZ that night. The original broadcast was said to be heard as far away as Canada. KDKA continued to broadcast from the Westinghouse building for many months.

Soon after its successful election coverage, KDKA upgraded to a 100-watt transmitter. Early programming often featured live musical performances from a Westinghouse band. KDKA provided its first remote broadcast by airing a choir, live, from the Pittsburg Calvary Baptist Church in January 1921.  On January 15, 1921, at 8 p.m., KDKA broadcast a speech on European relief by Herbert Hoover from the Duquesne Club in Pittsburgh that was transmitted ten miles down a telephone line to Westinghouse's East Pittsburgh Works. On July 2, 1921, the station featured the first national broadcast with live commentary of the Jack Dempsey - Georges Carpentier fight via teletype from New Jersey.  Also in 1921 the station had the first broadcasts of major league professional baseball games and the first broadcast college football game.

KDKA hosted political comedian Will Rogers in his very first radio appearance in 1922. KDKA played popular music and advertisers began sponsoring special radio programs like The Philco Hour, The Maxwell House Hour and The Wrigley Party.



In 1923, KDKA began simulcasting its AM medium-wave broadcasts on shortwave.

Along with RCA and General Electric, Westinghouse was a co-founder of NBC in 1926, and thus KDKA was affiliated with the new network. When NBC decided to split its network up into two networks (NBC Red Network and NBC Blue Network), KDKA affiliated with the NBC Blue Network.


In 1936...A new Canadian Broadcasting Act created the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC replaced the Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission and is the country's oldest existing broadcasting network. The nature of the CBC often places it in the same category as other high-end national broadcasters, such as the Britain's BBC, although unlike the BBC, the CBC uses commercial advertising to supplement its federal funding on its television broadcasts. The radio service employed commercials from its inception until 1974. Since then, like the BBC, CBC Radio has been commercial-free.


In 2004... Providence, Rhode Island broadcasting legend Walter Leslie "Salty" Brine, Jr., the morning host on WPRO 630 AM for 51 years, died at the age of 86.

Salty Brine

"Salty" Brine was born on August 8, 1918 in Boston, Massachusetts, the last of four children. His parents were from Nova Scotia; his father was a carpenter. For over 50 years the morning host on popular AM-radio station WPRO, and for 13 years (1955-1968) the host of Salty's Shack, a live children's television broadcast, Mr. Brine has become somewhat of a cultural icon to thousands of Rhode Island residents.

Mr. Brine lived in Massachusetts until he obtained his position as a staff announcer at WPRO in September of 1942.

His first jobs in radio were all in Massachusetts, at WNAC, WESX in Salem, and WCOP in Boston.

In 1943, Mr. Brine began his 50-year run as WPRO's morning announcer on a news show called the TNT Revue, short for "Time, News and Temperature". His radio name derived from the nickname his friends gave him, "Walt the Salt", and a question a listener had about the spelling of his surname. Mr. Brine was as popular with advertisers as he was with regular listeners, as sales tended to increase in response to his presentation of product advertisements.

Breaking into television in 1955, WPRO broadcast a nautically-themed children's program called Salty Brine's Shack, produced live, which Mr. Brine hosted with a collie named Jeff. Both Salty and Jeff evolved into local celebrities. The show ran until 1968.

Brine became a member of the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame in 1979.