October 27, 1920: The First Comercial Radio Station

October 27, 1920: In 1916, from a garage in the suburb of Wilkinsburg in Pittsburg, PA, an engineer from Westinghouse Electric broadcast music in wireless by using an amateur 8XK radio. This is where it all began. The broadcast was reported widely by the media and the news attracted the attention of the head honchos at Westinghouse, who then decided to build a real radio station. The Westinghouse Radio stations needed a license to broadcast. The U.S. Department of Commerce granted the license to broadcast for the KDKA station. As a permit has been issued officially, they not directly operate KDKA while they waited for the license to broadcast to be sent to the radio station. On November 2, 1920, the radio station aired for the first time when they broadcasted the result of Harding/Cox election. The broadcast reached up to 1,000 listeners from various backgrounds.

The name of the Westinghouse Electric engineer was Frank Conrad. He was an assistant chief engineer at Westinghouse. He lacked an academic degree, but he was a radio genius. Westinghouse built KDKA with the purpose of increasing the sale of its radio receiver product, and they succeeded. KDKA was claimed as "the world's first commercially licensed radio station". Following the success of Condrad's broadcast program, Westinghouse increased the power output up to 100 watts on a wavelength of 360 meters. With this power output, the transmitter’s signals could reach homes several hundred miles away.

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1946 Great Crepitation Fart Contest

Not for the faint of heart, here is the remarkable 1946 Crepitation (Fart) Contest (part of the 1946 News Broadcasts Collection ). You'll enjoy the fart-off between champion Englishman Lord Windsmear, and challenger, Australian Paul Boomer who had stowed aboard a cabbage freighter. The hilarious comedy recording was apparently created a spoof by two Canadian radio sportscasters in 1946, but this 15 minute recording definitely has some gems in it. Apparently they made several copies, but it was not for distribution. The recording was copied again and again on disc and reel to reel tape. It was distributed underground and played in dark rooms and back alleys around the world. If you cannot see the audio controls, your browser does not support the audio element This recording is available with many other delightful treats on Random Rarities #7 available on MP3 CD , Audio CD , and instant download .

April 27, 1932: The First Performance of Ed Wynn on Texaco Fire Chief Show

April 27, 1932: Ed Wynn , the Texaco fire chief, graced the airwaves for the first time on Texaco Star Theater. Wynn, who enjoyed popularity as a vaudeville performer, gave as a condition to his switch to radio, that a live audience react to his humor.His condition was granted by the network and so began Wynn's career as the first true superstar of radio. Ed Wynn was hosted a popular radio show on Tuesday nights for most of the 1930s. The radio show was heard in North America and sponsored by Texaco gasoline. On the show Wynn played as the " Texaco Fire Chief ". He was often seen wearing a fireman's helmet. For this show, Wynn would turned down the offer form The Wizard in MGM's adaptation of The Wizard of Oz , to play a role on that show.

January 27, 1948: Wire Recording introduced the 'Wireway'

January 27, 1948: The first magnetic tape recorder was introduced by Wire Recording Corporation of America. ‘Wire Way,’ as it was called, had an integrated oscillator and was sold for $149.50 at the time.

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