KDKA Goes Live: America's First Commercial Radio Station
KDKA in Pittsburgh broadcast the returns of the 1920 presidential election on November 2, 1920, reporting Warren G. Harding's landslide victory over James Cox. Westinghouse engineer Frank Conrad had been transmitting music and conversation from his garage for months, drawing enough listener interest for the company to realize radio could sell receivers. Westinghouse set up a 100-watt transmitter on the roof of its East Pittsburgh factory and applied for a commercial license. The election night broadcast reached a few hundred listeners with homemade crystal sets. Within two years, hundreds of radio stations were broadcasting across America. Within five years, national networks linked them together. Radio didn't begin with entertainment; it began with democracy, announcing who would lead the country.
November 2, 1920
106 years ago
Key Figures & Places
United States
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radio station
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Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
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KDKA (AM)
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U.S. presidential election, 1920
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U.S. presidential election
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KDKA (AM)
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Pittsburgh
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Radio broadcasting
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1920 United States presidential election
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Broadcasting
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Philadelphia
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Pennsylvania
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