The Development Of Radio In The 1920s 

My father, age 6 at the time, arrived in the United States in June 1927. His family was far too poor to be able to afford a radio, but radios were everywhere, and he listened even though he didn't speak a word of English yet. The first thing that stuck in his mind was the name Lindbergh. He heard the name everywhere. It was explained to him who Lindbergh was, but it took time to learn what airplanes were (he had never seen one, living as he had in a tiny rural village in Poland) and why Lindbergh's flight was such a big accomplishment. Then he figured out that listening to the radio was improving his English, so he lost no opportunity to do so. He eventually earned a Ph.D. in English.

'Ground zero' for the radio boom in the United States was "Radio Row" on Cortlandt street in New York City where many shops set up to support the radio trade. They would blast music out their storefronts all day long to attract customers. You can see and hear what it sounded like there in 1929 if you search for "Scènes de rues et bruits de la ville, New York City 1920s" on here. It's amazing. The whole place would be razed in the 60s to make room for the construction of the WTC twin towers and the site today would be exactly on top of the South Tower waterfall pool of the 9-11 memorial site.

@4:30 A surprising number of radio listeners in America didn't have electricity yet. They used a battery charging service. A man would stop by your house every week to give you a fully charged battery in exchange for the one in your radio. This man would haul all the heavy lead-acid batteries he picked up to a place where a generator would charge dozens of batteries at a time. Radio was actually more important to these people than electricity. Radio networks are one of the biggest technical achievements that I feel people don't realize. For the first time everyone in the country could hear the same news and programs at the same time and this became profoundly important in the next decade. They required an unimaginable amount of investment in long distance phone lines (themselves a novelty at the time) to create them.

For me, nothing beat the radio, in convenience and simplicity. In easy reach and affordability. Even with cell phones, computers and the internet. Radio for me reign supreme. Is a whole different medium and for a different kind of people.

Thank you for this! My maternal grandmother had her own radio program in Lexington, Massachusetts in the 1920s. I think it was a sort of advice show. People would write in and she would answer their questions on the air. She never said so directly, but she strongly implied that when there weren't enough suitable questions, she made them up!

1935 model here! By 1939 I was fascinated by the box in the living room that made sounds of music on Fri and Sat nites (grew up to WWL, WSM, WLS and WLW) I remember the scary sounds of what mom called mysteries and wouldnt let me listen when they came on. By 1943 I was peering inside at the shiny glass things, hot and glowing red with metal things on top, made static when you touched them... Thank goodness the wires on top went to grids not plates or I would been shocked. Built a crystal set wit a Quaker oata box in 47. By 48 I was tired of crystal sets and was building 1 tube radios with a "Boys Book of Radio" I found in the library. I was on my way. , Built more advanced Allied Radio, Knight kits by 51 and thanks to the US Navy training and experience made a lifelong career in electronics. I LOVED THIS VIDEO. The 20's, 30's and 40's were the GOLDEN AGE of Radio! And I was born at the right time. BTW I miss sitting in downtown DC, 1957, listening to the BBC on a homebuilt 2 tube shortwave converter I built for my 47 Ford car radio Do you planning to do any for the 30's and 40's ???? (hope, hope)

KQL Los Angeles made only 1 broadcast. The owner died on December 31,1921, just after getting its license. Yes, the stations were mostly 100 watts or lower. KFI and KHJ had 500 watts by January 1923,. high power for the time. Out of the 25 or so radio stations in the Los Angeles area, only four stayed on the air past 1923. Real money wasn't made from radio until 1925 in Southern California. It was like the early computer years, changes in radios every year. Big popularity for radio come after 1927 into 1928, when plug in electric radios became the standard and the old, ugly battery operated radios became obsolete. The new AC radios were easy to use, one tuning dial,, built in speaker, etc... Good job on your presentation. Jim Hilliker, Los Angeles radio historian, Monterey, CA.

This was a fascinating and very well-researched show. Radio really did change the world. When I first went to college I was very broke, like many college students, but I needed something to help me wake up at 5:30 in the morning. So I bought a $3.00 transistor radio and believe it or not, the only station I could get at that time were the farm market reports. So even though I was a fine arts major, I was always current on the prices of pork bellies! ;-)

Montreal station XWA, which stood for “experimental wireless apparatus”, is also believed to have been granted the first commercial broadcast licence on Dec. 1, 1919.

Nice photo of the old Maison Blanche store on Canal St. in New Orleans.

As one who spent hours listening to the radio in the 1940s with their variety of programming, I satisfied myself with the utility of the process back then. Your video has filled in many gaps in the logistics of those programming activities. It is too bad that present radio programming is nearly almost automated. The variety is long gone, and thank goodness for such RU-vid channels as yours, which provide the missing variety, and to even recapture some of those warm memories by listening to the same programs again, and even be introduced to "new" entertainments, especially those music programs of the 20s through the 40s. Thank you for what you do. Bless you and those you love. DJ in Knoxville TN

This is an incredibly well researched, informative and entertaining video. Well done.

I'm a long time radio collector and historian and loved your documentary. Very well done and accurate. Well spoken too. I can recall a teacher in about 4th grade saying radio and TV work by the camera turning the sound and video into little piece and throwing them into the air. Your set's antenna gets them and assembles them back together! I was fascinated for a lifetime.

Thank you for this very informative video about radio in the 1920’s. It just so happened that today I demonstrated the 1925 Atwater Kent Model 20 Compact which I have, which I was able to get working a number of years ago. It was originally powered by a series of batteries, as all the early 1920’s battery sets were. I also collected National Geographics, which have some interesting things to say in regard to this topic. In the March 1916 issue , in an article about the telephone, there is a description of “wireless telephones “, which we would know today as radio. In an article about astronomy, in the January 1925 issue, there was mention of experimenting with “radio movies “, which we know today as television. Scientists at the time were believing that it might be possible for people to watch the 1929 Presidential inauguration in their own homes. As it turned out, it was the 1939 Worlds Fair when television was first demonstrated.

Thank you for tip-toeing into the world of amateur radio and pointing out the role that hams payed in developing commercial radio. It wasn't always all the commercial enterprises that made this industry flourish.

Though our southern neighbours were quite pleased with that broadcast and claimed it a world first, unfortunately for them a small Montreal station named XWA had beat them to the punch. Better known in recent times as CFCF, it had its first commercial broadcast nearly a year earlier.

As a long time radio enthusiast AND collector this is one of the best history of radio videos I've seen. I'm hooked, Subscribed just to see Part 2.

Well done! An old radio enthusiast - I got it from my father - it's a pleasure to see this corner of history remembered.

My grandfather here in Manchester England built several receivers, the first being a Christal set which worked without power. Then he bought a Cosser set which came in kit form, you put it together yourself. Sometime about 1958 he and a friend slung a copper cable antenna between their two houses, and on winter nights we could get WKBW loud and clear.

Can’t believe you ignored the contributions of Lee DeForest, whose invention of the triode/aidion tube made wide ranging radio possible.

Great introduction to radio's development in the 1920s. My dad was a 'ham' radio operator and often spoke of cutting his radio teeth (so to speak) on building a kit at home in the very early 1930s, modeled on his uncle's set built in the 1920s. Thanks!

I remember listening to Gunsmoke, As the World turns, and the Lone Ranger on 1950s radio. I had to stop listening to radio and watching TV about 10 years ago because of the over flooding of Commercials. A sitcom of the 1960s was about 25 minutes of programming and 5 of commercials. Now it's 19 minutes of programming and 11 minutes of commercials.

Love your opening clip sequence & for me the best subject matter on your channel to date. I don't have any fascinating back in the days stories. How interesting CBS came under NBC, of course RCA the major player! Got my 3rd class FCC as my high school had a station & radio class. Chicagoland radio in the 60s with the top 10 countdown, Aw we lived for that! Motown just across the lake, the farm reports were a big deal and now I better get why. Looking forward to your continuation of this topic & THANKS😎‼️

You have wonderful narration skills and content, always keeping my interest! ✌️❤️

Excellent! I do a little radio myself. Weather reports for a local low-power FM station. My favorite documentary on the subject is Ken Burns' "Empire of the Air." I can't wait to see the next installment of this.

A lot of great content on this channel. Being a blues enthusiast; I have to recommend videos on how the blues permeated popular culture. Race records etc… people like Ma Rainey, W.C. Handy, Mayo Williams have terrific stories that would be great additions here

Good work! I asked my father(b.1921) what he thought was the invention that changed the world the most. He said he talked to his father, who said he thought the radio. people already had high-speed transportation with the railroad, but the radio? How could a person in Glyndon Minnesota hear a concert happening in New York City?! It made the world a very different place. The 1920s you are so fascinated by are more than nostalgia, its the accumulation of the previous 100 years and harbinger and model for everything to come, you are the right person for the job.

Wonderful presentation; have always wondered how radio got started, my parents never talked about it; now I know Thanks very much. Great visuals.

This was FANTASTIC. I've been waiting for something like this my entire life. VERY well explained and illustrated. Obviously a labor of love, and I'm here for it. Over the last ten years, I've gotten heavily into silent film and over the last couple of years I've started paying more attention to "old time radio". This is EXACTLY what I wanted to know. You did it! You said you wanted to provide something that was not on You Tube - no mean feat - and by golly, you did it. EXCELLENT, EXCELLENT work. And the good news? You've got lots more videos for me to peruse!!! Definitely subscribing. PS: I'm a Mary Pickford fanatic and I was SO happy to see you include that picture of her. The Beatles of the silent era! She HAD to make an appearance in this video! 😊

KHJ and KFI turned 100 years old in April 2022 and KNX Los Angeles turned 100 in September 2020. I had a small part in the KNX broadcasts for the 100th anniversary.

Fascinating. Thanks for posting.

Many farms likely got radios before they got wired electricity they would use six-volt storage batteries charged by windmill chargers. I'll never forget when, in the early 1960s, my Grandparents learned the music was on records not live.

Really beautifully done....I'll be looking forward to the sequel, with perhaps information about "Ham Radio" as well. Walt in Miami

This is really interesting to hear the early history of radio things i never heard about before

Very interesting information. Thank you so much for your research and sharing with us.

In Los Angeles and many other cities, the public listened to the sermons and gospel music from Sister Aimee Semple McPherson on the 4th radio station built (1924) in Los Angeles, KFSG (Four Square Gospel). Her station was so powerful, it blocked out other radio stations in the California area. Sister Aimee had her own radio station with towers on the top of the largest church building in Los Angeles. The church building is still there (Angelus Temple) but the station closed down in 2004. A long run indeed!

When I was a young child I became very ill with Pnuemonia. The serialized stories on the radio were what kept me company while bed-ridden. In still greatful for them more than 65 years later

In the UK we have DAB as it has far more space for multiple stations, and is perfectly clear. Digital Audio Broadcasting hasn't yet replaced am/fm/sw/lw radio, but it's only a matter of time. I'm old enough to remember Radio Luxembourg on the MW band at 208 metres, and the hundreds of short wave stations coming in from across the globe. Whilst digitising and computerising makes everything clearer and more efficient, it will never replace the excitement and romance of picking up a far off station from an exotic country talking live to anyone in the world who wanted to listen or happened to be tuning around at the right time. I used to love tuning into Radio Moscow's service to Europe with all its Soviet propaganda and positive reports of excellent Ukrainian grain harvests or how many tractors had rolled off the Minsk production line in some central Russian state. Luxembourg in the 1970s used to drift in and out, and was never as clear as local MW stations, but at night across Europe young people listened to it on their trannies under their pillow to avoid their parents knowing they weren't asleep, and were excited by the romance of a giant station (1.25 million watts) coming from this tiny principality in the middle of the continent. It broadcasted from early evening until 2 or 3am, and many's the time youngsters all over the UK arrived at school bleary-eyed after listening until closedown a few hours earlier. Those closedowns, read out by Bob Stewart, were the stuff of legends, his voice was so comforting. There are still a few samples of 'Luxy' recordings made from live transmissions back in the station's heyday. Just search them out on RU-vid.

This reminds me of the early days of personal computers. A lot of people thought they were great, but only the tech-savvy would use them. That’s what I thought at the time. Oops!

Loved it! Thank you for documenting and sharing the early days of radio. I’m looking forward too the next video.

Beginning in the 1920s, Cincinnati businessman Powel Crosley, Jr., ventured into radio broadcasting, establishing WLW, a Cincinnati radio station. He increased the station's broadcasting power to 500,000 watts, making it the most powerful station in the world. Crosley was also an early experimenter with making radio transmissions. Most accounts say he began in July 1921, using a 20-watt set located in an upstairs billiard table room, repeatedly playing a phonograph record of "Song of India", while asking local amateur radio enthusiasts to call if they heard his signals. "Song of India", ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-YBpN9-XOIqQ.html

I still listen to WRR in Dallas. These days it's on 101.1 FM. The original WRR-AM frequency (1310) is now a sports station.

I love the 'silent movie' clips ! Made me feel like I was there in the early 20's, like time travel ! From what I have read, they said the 'radio craze' was more earth shattering and a bigger speculation than the internet was when it rolled out in the 1990's. So many companies boomed and busted producing radios and selling stock in their companies. I think it really pulled America into the modern age. Before radio became popular, how did you get your news, a letter from a friend or the newspaper. Maybe a telegram, but they were expensive. Great video - please do one on the 'most expensive - most highend radios' of the day. Or the most influential radios - as far as technology - like shortwave - early fm, high-fi sets, etc. @ 13:40 looks like she is standing next to the non-electric ice box, & @ 13:20 that looks like an alcohol powered - heated coffee pot. The flame from the alcohol burner heated up the little round disc on the base of the coffee pot and eventually heated the water to perk the coffee.

The other great radio station in Dallas/Fort Worth is WBAP-AM. It started in 1923.

Always love your videos

this is wonderful. My dad was a radio engineer for the formation of the UN.

I decided on radio as a career, at age ten. Made it, on my 19th birthday. I retired in 2008(with a six-year hiatus-in the car rental business, 1994-2000). Never, as I drove to the radio station(s; two), did I feel like I was going, to "work." Since not many can say likewise, I feel most fortunate.

Little bit of trivia about 1920s radio. The last three-letter call sign for an AM station was assigned in January 1930, so if you're listening to a station with a three-letter call, it has to be one of the oldest stations in the US. Three letter calls have sometimes been assigned to FM or TV stations since then, but only if it's connected (usually by the same owner) with a three-letter AM station. Also, calls (both three and four-letter) sometimes can tell you who the original owner was. WGN in Chicago was originally owned by the Chicago Tribute, which branded itself the "World's Greatest Newspaper". WLS (also in Chicago) was originally owned by Sears, which called itself the "World's Largest Store". And WSM in Nashville was started by the National Life and Accident Insurance Company, whose motto was "We Shield Millions".

Very good and thorough history of radio in America. WGN is celebrating 100 years this year, 2022.

This takes me back to the 1960's when I built a radio kit, one 4 pin valve, a coil, although I bought the other 2 as well, one resistor, three variable capacitors as I bought the bandspread cap, and a pre-drilled chassis and some connectors, the H.A.C., Hear All Continents receiver. A neighbour gave me some radio magazines as I had shown interest in mw/lw and I saw this kit advertised. One wire round the kitchen for an aerial and one to the water pipe for an earth. He also gave me uncomfortable 2,000 Ω headphones, a few squeals and whistles then a bird whistling. I thought this is odd. After a couple of minutes it stopped and the announcement said, "This is radio South Africa". I was hooked. I understand H.A.C. had been supplying kits from the 1930's. I have a few old working 4 pin valves bought at radio rallies and want to make a similar radio now. Ooh yes, I bought Ever Ready 90 Volt batteries. In 1974 I took the radio exam and got my amateur licence.

Really good job on this one!

Two great developements for radio was the batteries which were taken to a local place usually the town hardware store to be recharged. That made a big difference in rural areas with no electricity. Remember the Rural Electrification Act was passed in 1936. Still it was post WW2 before much was accomplished. Second or maybe he should be first is Powel Crosley jr. His son wanted a radio in 1921 and Crosley who wasn't poor considered the $100 + price for radios to much so he and his son learned how to build one. From there to selling kits and then building inexpensive radios at low cost for the consumer. He became the largest producer of radios by 1925. In 1922 he started the station WLW. He was extremely inovative.

Really enjoyable and informative video. I look forward to watching more of these. This was well conceived and professionally done.

Thank you so much for doing this! You are right - YT needed a good history of radio!

The Columbia Broadcasting System owes its very existence to Columbia Graphophone Pty. Ltd. in Britain. Columbia Graphophone, established in New York USA, had started up late in the 19th Century, making gramophone records in the Emile Berliner type, being flat discs. The company sent some executives to England in order to set up a British division, however, the New York parent company faltered and went bankrupt while the British division thrived and gained independence. Thus, in a "Coals To Newcastle" act, Columbia Graphophone in Britain sent executives across to the USA to re-establish the Columbia brand-name. It was from there that CBS as it's known now was developed, but it would not have happened at all without the intervention of what would become one-half of the world's *GREATEST* Electrical manufacturer and music marketer, *EMI(The Gramophone Co.) Hayes Middlesex England, *owners* of the Columbia name and "Magic Notes" trademark as well as being *owners* of the Dog & Gramophone, *His Master's Voice* trademark.

Excellent video. Enjoyed it immensely!

great work- had me hooked right to the end.

So interesting and fascinating! You did an amazing job on this, and I appreciate you and all your videos so much!! Thank you and may God bless you my friend!!

I donated a 1920s Federal Telephone & Telegraph radio to the National Museum of Industrial History in Bethlehem, PA. I had it working in the 1960s, but it needs vacuum tubes, and they vanished 40 years ago.

Wonderful information of the History of Radio during the 1920's. Looking forward to the next part. I have been a listener of Radio Classics on Sirrus/XM for years now. It is quite interesting to listen and learn of what Radio brought to us. Many TV shows (Sit-Coms, Dramas, Etc) were simply extensions of Radio Programs. For example: The Jack Benny Show kick started Sit-Coms along with a few others. Thank you for your Time & Effort producing these videos.

Such a beautiful well put together video! History!

Great, informative presentation! The way you link radio to our culture is illuminating. Good job!

This is one of my favorite videos. I love hearing how radio got started.

What a great video! Thanks.

The oldest radio programs i've heard that were recorded were some episodes of Amos n Andy from 1928

The other part about rural people being "hip" to radio early on, is also the reason that average "farm" home had at LEAST one family member who could play an instrument (Mandolin, Guitar, Piano) and why the phonograph caught on quickly in rural areas: Distance from entertainment venues. They HAD to have HOME entertainment. "Fun Fact"; In the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, Rural kids were MORE literate than their urban cohort at the same income level. Stands to reason...Those kids HAD to read, and read a lot. No weekly trip to the Nickleodeon for them! But books from the Sears catalog were doable!

I am only a quarter of the way through this presentation but I am very impressed in the quality. Excellent on many levels. Good thought, context, and good (no, change the goods to GREAT) presentation. Very well done.

WRR in DALLAS TX JUST celebrated it 100 aniversary

This was so much more interesting than I thought it would be!

Fascinating episode!

Just another example of how the 20's were full of charm! Many songs of the early to mid-20's are radio centered as the new technology brings so much cheer to life. By the 40's, it was as dreary and commonplace as dirt and might as well have been around for 100 years like it is today with all its charm gone.

I absolutely love your content and this video. This is an area of great interest to me. I would be interested in a future video on safety razors (especially Gillette). Pipe tobacco might be an interesting topic as well given the prominence during this time, but I'm biased.

The applause card seems like the equivalent to the modern day “shout out.” Anyway - I have learned so much! Awesome video!

Excellent content, thank you.

Outstanding! I shared it with my daughter who's in radio.

Interesting stuff, thanks for sharing.

Very interesting. Thank you for sharing.

Fascinating stuff!

Radio has been my language since I was a child. I listened to high power channel AM stations that could be heard across the country. I discovered my dad’s little shortwave receiver at one point and listened to exotic stations like HCJB and Radio Tirana (Albania). Little did I know that years later I would visit HCJB many times and be interviewed on the station. Many of my good friends worked there. I had a ham radio (AA5ID) missionary net for many years and did phone patches regularly for some of the HCJB guys. As for Albania, I was part of a team that built the first Christian radio station (FM) in Tirana and we helped build two more later. I had my own radio programs for 15 years. One was on a local FM station and the other was on High Adventure’s Voice of Hope (KVOH shortwave). In 1995 we were installing the first of several Christian FM stations in the Venezuela rain forest and I got to hear myself (pre-recorded) on my shortwave program beaming from Chatsworth peak in California. Pretty cool! We have since gone on to build AM, FM and shortwave stations all over the world. Radio is a purer medium than TV in my opinion because it removes the visual personality. The Bible does say that “faith comes by hearing”!

Nice job, good subject -- well done

your videos are amazing I'm planning on making a video game on the 1920s in the future

Fascinating. Thankyou!

So when did the broadcasting of sports contests come in? When did stations begin to broadcast hourly news reports?

I collect antique radios, and I especially love the sets from the 1920's! I have a Westinghouse Aeriola Senior one-tube battery powered set that was made in 1921 and cost the equivalent of $800 (2023 dollars) when it was new. I also have two Atwater Kent radios (a Model 35 battery set similar to one owned by artist Norman Rockwell), and a Model 55C that runs on house current. I also have an RCA Radiola 60, an early superheterodyne radio much more sensitive and selective than other sets of the same era (RCA held the patents at the time).

Fantastic vid!

And I'm an amateur radio operator.

Awesome!!! Thank you

Hi, I really like your channel. Are you going to finish the "A Day in the Life..." story?

Well done. Us history buffs love these documentaries!

Excellent presentation.

How did you get interested in this? This is all stuff I studied and learned 40 years ago. But you do a good job of presenting the information and pictures. My expertise is Los Angeles radio history of the 1920 to 1940. Back in 2015, I wrote an essay for KFWBs 90th anniversary, for Jeff Miller's American Radio History website. I found the article you show and talk about, when KFWB helped capture the two killers in the 1920s. My KFWB history emphasized the Warner Brothers ownership from 1925 to 1950. As for KQL Los

Wonderful documentary!

Binge watching. Great content

Your review was extremely good. In historic stations did you miss WBT Charlotte, NC. They were licensed March 18, 1922. Thanks Bob

Very interesting video, it flew by

Wow, great info. 😎 Thanks.

I absolutely love this♡

the lady and the dish sink at ,1343,I have that same model,,still works well,still a nice finish hundred year old relic,

Thanks for this !! Great history

Bravo on a job well done! 👏