The Development Of Radio In The 1920s

In this video, I'll focus on the development of radio in the 1920s, from the amateur phase that continued into the early years, to the radio craze beginning in around 1922, to the creation of radio networks by the end of the decade. For a deeper look into the types of programs broadcast over the radio in the 1920s, stay tuned for Part 2!

[ernestitoe]

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.

[Muonium]

'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.

[isleifoterogarcia]

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.

[frederickwise]

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)

[jimhilliker]

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.

[scottlarson]

@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.

[annpino]

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!

[karennorris]

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! ;-)

[garywebb]

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.

[quickfoxxes]

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 YouTube 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

[josephconsoli]

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.

[butthetruth]

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.

[kurtb]

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.

[warplanner]

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.

[robertcroft]

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.

[ArtArtsSakeVideo]

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!

[willardtaylor]

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.

[TubeRadiosRule]

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).

[butthetruth]

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.

[parisire]

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