Duquesne and National Museum of Broadcasting commemorate 1st KDKA broadcast
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A two-day celebration commemorating the 100th anniversary of KDKA’s first radio broadcast is being held tonight and Tuesday nights.
It was on Nov. 2, 1920, that KDKA made the world’s first commercial radio broadcast when it reported the returns of the Harding/Cox presidential election. Duquesne University and the National Museum of Broadcasting, in cooperation with Westinghouse SURE (Service Uniting Retired Employees) and RIDC Keystone Commons is holding two evenings of special events.
On Monday at 7 p.m. Duquesne President Ken Gormley tells the story of the beginnings of commercial radio in a film highlighting Pittsburgh inventor Frank Conrad’s pioneering role in taking wireless radio to new heights, first inside a garage in Wilkinsburg and then from a shack on the property of Westinghouse Electric in Turtle Creek.
The film chronicles the vision of Westinghouse, KDKA and Conrad that inspired the global communication broadcasts that exist today.
“The hundredth anniversary of the first commercial radio broadcast that took place here in Pittsburgh in 1920 is a major event — not just for our region, but in American history,” said Gormley. “The pioneering work of Frank Conrad, Westinghouse and KDKA produced one of the greatest innovations ever to take place in the United States. It literally transformed communications, entertainment and broadcasting around the globe.”
After the film, Gormley and former KDKA newscaster and U.S. Congressman Ron Klink will host a live celebration inside a replica of the original KDKA broadcast shack located at RIDC Keystone Commons in East Pittsburgh, featuring a reenactment of the KDKA Harding/Cox election broadcast from 1920.
“RIDC’s mission involves bringing back to life some of Pittsburgh’s historic properties – so it’s fitting that we would honor the important role this particular site has in the history of broadcasting by giving a home to the National Broadcast Museum’s radio shack re-creation,” said Donald Smith, President of Regional Industrial Development Corporation (RIDC).
On Tuesday night from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m., KDKA Morning Host Larry Richert and former KDKA Morning Host and longtime Pittsburgh radio personality Jack Bogut will be special guests at an event live streamed from the site of the KDKA shack in Turtle Creek.
“As part of Westinghouse retirees focused on serving others, we couldn’t be more pleased and proud to be a part of this historic 100 year celebration of the beginnings of radio,” said Ron Weisser, President Westinghouse SURE. “Westinghouse SURE is dedicated to honoring and preserving the legacy of George Westinghouse – a brilliant engineer and inventor whose many companies employed thousands of Pittsburghers.”