Remembering the Radio Revolution

This year marks the centennial of KDKA, the Pittsburgh station that initiated regular programming and sparked a transformation in how we listen to music

By John Edward Hasse. He is curator emeritus of American music at the Smithsonian.

It is interesting how quickly radio became popular and widely adopted. Excerpts:

"But it was radio broadcasting, launched in the U.S. 100 years ago, that made listening easier, more accessible and more inclusive. You could tune into vast quantities of music without ever leaving your easy chair. Radio decreased the differences between what different communities—urban and rural, Black and white—could hear. For decades, stations were white-owned and mostly barred Black performers, but the radio airwaves themselves were open to all listeners.

Initially, wise heads had thought that radio should be used for point-to-point national and naval telegraphy and that entertainment would be frivolous. Then in 1920, organized broadcasting of speech and music began in several U.S. cities. In Pittsburgh, Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Co.—a maker of radio receivers—established pioneering station KDKA. It became the first station to transmit a scheduled, previously announced program, of presidential election results, alternating with recorded music, on Nov. 2 ( Warren Harding won). And to follow it with regular programming for the general public.

One tremendous draw: You didn’t have to buy “software”—sheet music, piano rolls, or records—to play on your hardware. And in the U.S. (unlike in Britain) once you bought your radio, you didn’t need to buy a license. Radio became the “poor man’s phonograph”—because after you purchased just one piece of equipment, you could listen for free.

Programming in the early years was chaotic, as stations desperately sought talent for the few hours they were on the air. Broadcasts offered drama and a heavy dose of live music, performed in the stations’ studios or piped in from ballrooms, theaters or concert halls by local amateur musicians as well as touring professionals. Some Black jazz bands got picked up remotely— Duke Ellington and Cab Calloway from Harlem’s Cotton Club, for example. It would take another 20 years or so before recordings overtook live music as the preferred format."

"In 1926, RCA, headed by the Russian-born David Sarnoff, established the first coast-to-coast American network, NBC. A year later, what became the CBS radio network was established. Through radio, local artists went regional, and regional styles went national."

"Radio took over as the most efficient way to widely promote a published song, musical act or recording. And radio created a medium for effortless listening of every sort, including music. Radio allowed you to listen to an orchestra or band playing multiple selections of any length without your having to go anywhere or do anything."

"Radio democratized the consumption of American music, making pop crooning, swing bands, country music and opera available to all. Radio sparked the development of an American mass musical culture."