1921 in radio

1921 in radio details the internationally significant events in radio broadcasting for the year 1921.

Events

• 2 January: The first religious broadcast is made by Dr. E. J. Van Etten of Calvary Episcopal Church on the Pittsburgh station KDKA.
• 3 January: The first vocal weather forecast is made by station 9XM (now WHA), at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. They had been broadcasting Morse code weather bulletins since 1917.^[1]
• 18 February: Warren G. Harding becomes the first U.S. president-elect to be heard on radio when he makes an appearance on KDKA.
• 4 March: The first Presidential inauguration is broadcast from Washington, D.C., by KDKA.
• 10 March: The first broadcast of live opera/theater in history is on the air from KDKA at Pittsburgh's Davis Theater.
• 11 April: The world's first ever sports broadcast is made on KDKA by Florent Gibson of the Pittsburgh Star newspaper. The commentary is of a fight between Johnny Ray and Johnny Dundee at Motor Square Garden in Pittsburgh.^[2]
• 2 July: The first broadcast of a World Heavyweight bout is on the air from Jersey City, New Jersey, via KDKA.
• 5 August: The first broadcast of a baseball game is on the air from KDKA as the Pittsburgh Pirates defeat the Philadelphia Phillies 8–5 at Forbes Field.
• 20 September: The first "news room" and "news department" in broadcast history is created by KDKA and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
• 8 October: The first broadcast of American football is on the air via KDKA as the University of Pittsburgh defeats West Virginia University at Pittsburgh's Forbes Field.
• 27 November: U.S. bandleader Vincent Lopez & group begins a weekly 90-minute music show on Westinghouse-owned station WJZ in Newark, New Jersey (later WABC New York).

Debuts

• February: WQAM is launched in Miami, Florida by the W.W. Luce of the Electrical Equipment Company.
• 26 July: Experimental station 8ACS (later WHK) is launched in Cleveland, Ohio, by Warren C. Cox/Cox Mfg. Co.
• 19 September: The first commercially licensed radio broadcasting station in the United States, WBZ, is launched by the Westinghouse Electric Corporation in Springfield, Massachusetts.
• 1 October: WJZ is launched by Westinghouse in Newark, New Jersey.
• 11 November: KYW is launched by Westinghouse in Chicago.

Births

• 25 February: Patricia Ryan, English-born American child actress, continued performing on radio until her death (d. 1949)^[3]
• 19 July: Harold Camping, American religious broadcaster (d. 2013)
• 21 September: Jimmy Young, English singer and broadcaster (d. 2016)
• 19 October: Bern Bennett, American radio and television announcer (d. 2014)

References

• List of firsts by KDKA-AM

See also

• List of oldest radio stations