First Radio Station: 8MK Launches the Broadcast Era
Radio station 8MK in Detroit (later known as WWJ) broadcast election returns on August 20, 1920, making it one of the first commercial radio stations in the United States. The station was operated by the Detroit News and initially served as a promotional tool for the newspaper. KDKA in Pittsburgh, which broadcast the presidential election returns on November 2, 1920, is more commonly cited as the first commercial station, though the distinction depends on how you define "commercial." Regardless of priority, both stations demonstrated that radio could deliver news and entertainment directly into homes in real time, bypassing the newspaper's next-morning delivery cycle and fundamentally changing how Americans consumed information.
August 20, 1920
106 years ago
Key Figures & Places
What Else Happened on August 20
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