January 2, 1921: The first religous service broadcast on radio

January 2, 1921: Dr. E.J. Van Etten of Calvary Church to preach for the first time via radio KDKA in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. That was the first religious broadcast that aired.

Two months after KDKA's first broadcast, KDKA aired the first religious service in the history of radio. It was a remote broadcast far from a radio studio held by Westinghouse form Pittsburgh's Calvary Episcopal Church. The junior pastor, Rev. Lewis B. Whittemore, preached. After that broadcast, KDKA soon presented a regular Sunday evening service from Calvary Episcopal Church. The senior pastor, Rev. Edwin Van Ettin, become the regular speaker. The program continued until 1962.

For more radio preachers, see also:

• Aimee Semple McPherson
• Father Coughlin
• Catholic Hour
• Eternal Light
• Father Flanagan's Boys Town
• Greatest Story Ever Told
• Old Fashioned Revival Hour
• Radio Revival Heart to Heart Hour
• Religious Collection
• Upper Room