Science: wwj

r/jg me of the radio industry in the United States has been the most remarkable achievement . . . starting from a single broadcasting station in 1920—the pioneer station KDKA in Pittsburgh. . . .

—David Sarnoff, The Radio Industry.

The first regular broadcasting station to be established in the United States was . . . the station well known as KDKA. . . .

—A. R. Burrows, The Story of Broadcasting.

One of the earliest and most successful . . .stations was KDKA at East Pittsburgh, Pa., owned by the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company. . . .

—Encyclopedia Britannica.

Nine radio devotees out of ten have doubtless heard or read somewhere that KDKA was the first regular broadcasting station in the U. S. Great, therefore, was their surprise one night last week when WWJ, operated by the Detroit News, splashed over the air a 16th anniversary program in which it claimed seniority over hoary KDKA.

Up to a WWJ microphone stepped famed Inventor Lee de Forest. Said he: “On the night of Aug. 20, 1920, the first commercial radio broadcast station in all the world was opened. And every night and every day since that momentous beginning WWJ has maintained this service.

. . . Not until eleven weeks after its founding did WWJ share the channels of the air with a rival broadcasting station.

The honor of being second . . . fell to KDKA of Pittsburgh . . . and, though it has erroneously claimed and been credited with priority among broadcasters, it is still entitled to a place of distinction. . . .” On Aug. 31, 1920, the Detroit station announced returns of the primary elections in Michigan. On Nov. 2, 1920, the Pittsburgh station broadcast returns of the Presidential election. Westinghouse then continued with semiweekly broadcasts, until Dec. i, 1920 when daily programs commenced. Neither of the rivals can claim priority except as a commercial station. Lee de Forest broadcast the voice of Enrico Caruso from the top of the Metropolitan Opera in 1908. Other pre-War radiocasters were Dr. Frank Conrad of Westinghouse and Robert Gowen of De Forest Radio Telephone & Telegraph Co.

KDKA was by no means willing last week to let priority go to WWJ without a struggle. Stubbornly declared a Westinghouse spokesman: “Westinghouse, in starting radio station KDKA, developed the term ‘broadcasting.'” Unable to get around the solid fact of the Detroit station’s priority on the calendar, KDKA argued that it was operating under its present call letters 16 months before WWJ was assigned its present letters on March 3, 1922. Against this was WWJ’s claim that it had received its third license (in October, 1921) before KDKA applied for its first. KDKA was, in fact, the eighth U. S. station to be Federally licensed.