First Public Radio Broadcast
KDKA in Pittsburgh made the first commercial radio broadcast, reporting US election results
November 02, 1920
Voices Through the Air
On Christmas Eve, 1906, Canadian inventor Reginald Fessenden made what is widely considered the first audio radio broadcast in history. From a station in Brant Rock, Massachusetts, he transmitted a program that included a violin solo, a Bible reading, and a brief speech to radio operators on ships in the Atlantic Ocean who were used to hearing only Morse code. The operators were stunned to hear a human voice coming through their headphones. While earlier experimenters including Nikola Tesla and Guglielmo Marconi had developed wireless telegraphy — transmitting Morse code by radio waves — Fessenden's broadcast was a major step toward voice radio as we know it.
Radio as Mass Medium
Regular commercial radio broadcasting began in earnest around 1920. KDKA in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is often cited as the first commercial radio station, beginning scheduled programming on November 2, 1920, with a broadcast of presidential election results. Within a few years, radio had become enormously popular. Families sat around radio sets to hear news, music, comedy shows, and dramatic programs. During the Great Depression, President Franklin D. Roosevelt used radio "fireside chats" to speak directly to millions of Americans and help calm public anxiety. Radio was the first medium to create a truly national shared listening experience, connecting people across vast distances in real time.
Radio's Enduring Presence
Despite competition from television, internet streaming, and podcasts, radio never went away. Today, hundreds of millions of people still listen to AM and FM radio every day, particularly in cars. Satellite radio, internet radio, and podcasting are all descendants of that first crackling Christmas Eve broadcast more than a century ago. Radio was also critical in wartime, in emergency communications, and in spreading music across cultural boundaries. The technology that allows voices to travel invisibly through the air and emerge from a speaker miles away once seemed like magic. It still shapes how people receive news and discover music around the world. See how long ago radio began with our date calculator.