History, Profile America

America’s First Radio Station

August 20, 2017 6:03 AM·
First commercial radio broadcast: Results of the 1920 Presidential Election -- Gov. Warren G. Harding's landslide victory.

First commercial radio broadcast: Results of the 1920 Presidential Election — Gov. Warren G. Harding’s landslide victory.

Sunday, August 20 — The nation’s first radio station licensed by the federal government began broadcasting in Detroit on this date in 1920 — station 8MK, now operating as WWJ. The station was owned by the Detroit News, and operated with an amateur license, which in 1922 was changed to commercial.

The first station to receive a commercial license was KDKA in Pittsburgh, which began broadcasting in October of 1920. From these rudimentary early broadcasts, the new medium grew rapidly. In 1922, there were 30 radio stations, but by the following year, there were 556. Now, there are over 15,500 AM and FM radio stations, along with some 1,900 low-power FM facilities.

Profile America is in its 21st year as a public service of the U.S. Census Bureau.

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Author: Michael Benjamin is a public affairs consultant and an editorial board member at The New York Post. He is a former contributing columnist to the NY Post, City and State NY and other publications. He is a former Member of the New York State Assembly (2003-2010) and once led the Bronx Board of Elections. Since leaving office, he has appeared as a commentator on TWC NY1, Bronxnet OPEN, Good Day NY, and Al Jazeera America. His columns and blog focus on corruption, government, education, politics, redistricting, nuclear energy and race. He holds a B.A. in political science from Syracuse University.