1920's anyone?

[4dude]

A wonderfull 1920's radio stream!!

http://www.whro.org/home/html/liveradio/1920s.html

 

[Ultimajock]

...it may be wonderful, but it's an occasional 1920s record mixed in with 1930s and 1940s records and radio shows. Very few actual broadcasts survive from the 1920s; at http://www.old-time.com/mcleod/ the radio historian Elizabeth McLeod lists these as the only known airchecks from the decade:

*parts of Former President Woodrow Wilson's Armistice Day speech (from WEAF New York)
*several excerpts from 1923-24 New York Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra broadcasts (WEAF)
*the 4/23/24 speech by King George V (BBC)
*the June 1924 speech by Franklin D. Roosevelt at the Democratic National Convention, New York (WEAF)
*the 9/12/24 National Defense Test Day Broadcast (WEAF)
*a speech by Walter Damrosch and performances by the Associated Glee Clubs Of America on 3/31/25 at the Metropolitan Opera House (probably WEAF)
*sections of the 1/15/25 "Victor Hour" (WEAF)
*the 3/4/25 Inaugural Speech by President Calvin Coolidge (WCAP Washington origination, WEAF linecheck)
*the 3/14/25 International Rebroadcast from London (BBC shortwave signal, WJZ New York aircheck)
*various 7/31/25 WEAF aircheck excerpts, including a section of a Billy Jones & Ernie Hare performance.
*the hymns from the 8/9/25 American Presbyterian Church of Montreal church service (prob. CKAC Montreal)
*the 10/19/25 campaign speech by Canadian Premier William L. MacKenzie-King (prob. CKAC)
*excerpts of the 1/1/26 New Years' International Broadcast (WJZ)
*Lindbergh's Return Celebration, from 6/20/27 (NBC, probably WRC Washington)
*excerpts of the 7/1/27 Canadian Confederation Diamond Jubilee Broadcast (CNR Network)
*the 9/22/27 Jack Dempsey-Gene Tunney boxing match (NBC, prob. KYW Chicago)
*several dozen 1928-29 episodes of Amos 'n' Andy (not WMAQ airchecks per se)
*a 1928 broadcast of Roxy's Gang (WJZ)
*the 10/20/28 Thomas Edison Special Congressional Medal Presentation (WJZ)
*the 1/12/29 Cascade Tunnel Dedicatory Program (WJZ)
*the 2/11/29 Thomas Edison Birthday Tribute (WJZ)
*the remarks by Eleanor Roosevelt at the annual Seven Colleges Dinner on 11/13/29 (WOR Newark)

...as you can see, it would be a very small collection to base an entire station upon...

 

[mimo]

"*the hymns from the 8/9/25 American Presbyterian Church of Montreal church service (prob. CKAC Montreal)
*the 10/19/25 campaign speech by Canadian Premier William L. MacKenzie-King (prob. CKAC)"

Not necessarily, if they are in French then it's CKAC, if not, it's most likely CFCF, which was on air back in 1919 as XWA...the station is now CINW 940. These are most likely English broadcasts so they'd likely be CFCF.

 

[Ultimajock]

"*the hymns from the 8/9/25 American Presbyterian Church of Montreal church service (prob. CKAC Montreal)
*the 10/19/25 campaign speech by Canadian Premier William L. MacKenzie-King (prob. CKAC)"

Not necessarily, if they are in French then it's CKAC, if not, it's most likely CFCF, which was on air back in 1919 as XWA...the station is now CINW 940. These are most likely English broadcasts so they'd likely be CFCF.

...those were McLeod's suspicions, not mine. I'll accept your correction. Having said that, CKAC's Wikipedia listing says it shared time on the same frequency as CFCF in 1925, so there is the possibility that the events took place during the time that CKAC was licensed to use the frequency, and if they indeed were English-language events CKAC carried them in exchange for some other courtesy from CFCF...

 

[mimo]

That could very well be possible that some time shifting occured for these broadcasts to have happened under the CKAC name. Sadly neither station has much of an audience any more. I wonder how many people in Montreal (and likely here in Ottawa) listed to both stations when they shared the frequency, since Montreal is very bilingual, and the vast majority of Francophones here are very comfortable in English.

 

[J_Cordova]

I've got an early 20's KDKA broadcast that's not on the list.

Short snippet, and it asks people to write if they hear the signal. They give their full address I believe as "KDKA, Westinghouse, Pittsburgh, PA". I got a kick out of that.

I just found the recording and they are reporting that Harding and Coolidge are leading in the 1920 presidential election, with 16 million for the republicans and 9 million for the democrats (Cox and Roosevelt I think they say). Then they request that people write "if this broadcast is reaching you".

This has got to be one of the very first recorded broadcasts (just my guess). Email me if you'd like me to send you a copy of this short recording - [email protected]. -Jay Cordova

 

[Ultimajock]

I've got an early 20's KDKA broadcast that's not on the list.

Short snippet, and it asks people to write if they hear the signal. They give their full address I believe as "KDKA, Westinghouse, Pittsburgh, PA". I got a kick out of that.

I just found the recording and they are reporting that Harding and Coolidge are leading in the 1920 presidential election, with 16 million for the republicans and 9 million for the democrats (Cox and Roosevelt I think they say). Then they request that people write "if this broadcast is reaching you".

This has got to be one of the very first recorded broadcasts (just my guess). Email me if you'd like me to send you a copy of this short recording - [email protected]. -Jay Cordova

...Jay, that's not an actual aircheck. again, from the Elizabeth McLeod page linked to upthread:

"Also not authentic are the various recreations of KDKAs 1920 Election Night coverage. Several recreations were made over the years by KDKA or by Westinghouse to celebrate various anniversaries, as well as one supervised by Edward R. Murrow and Fred Friendly for Volume 3 of the "I Can Hear It Now" record series released by Columbia Records in 1950. The latter recording may actually be voiced by the man who announced the KDKA broadcast, but it nonetheless cannot be considered an authentic representation of what was actually heard that evening. The third volume of "I Can Hear It Now" has long been a source of confusion for unknowing collectors as well as documentary producers, who have often sampled its contents for the soundtracks of various film and television projects -- unaware of the fact that all of the 1920s "broadcasts" excerpted on the album are dramatic recreations and not authentic recordings."

 

[mimo]

I've got an early 20's KDKA broadcast that's not on the list.

Short snippet, and it asks people to write if they hear the signal. They give their full address I believe as "KDKA, Westinghouse, Pittsburgh, PA". I got a kick out of that.

I just found the recording and they are reporting that Harding and Coolidge are leading in the 1920 presidential election, with 16 million for the republicans and 9 million for the democrats (Cox and Roosevelt I think they say). Then they request that people write "if this broadcast is reaching you".

This has got to be one of the very first recorded broadcasts (just my guess). Email me if you'd like me to send you a copy of this short recording - [email protected]. -Jay Cordova

...Jay, that's not an actual aircheck. again, from the Elizabeth McLeod page linked to upthread:

"Also not authentic are the various recreations of KDKAs 1920 Election Night coverage. Several recreations were made over the years by KDKA or by Westinghouse to celebrate various anniversaries, as well as one supervised by Edward R. Murrow and Fred Friendly for Volume 3 of the "I Can Hear It Now" record series released by Columbia Records in 1950. The latter recording may actually be voiced by the man who announced the KDKA broadcast, but it nonetheless cannot be considered an authentic representation of what was actually heard that evening. The third volume of "I Can Hear It Now" has long been a source of confusion for unknowing collectors as well as documentary producers, who have often sampled its contents for the soundtracks of various film and television projects -- unaware of the fact that all of the 1920s "broadcasts" excerpted on the album are dramatic recreations and not authentic recordings."

You are 100% right there, Ultimajock. If my memory serves me right, I was listening the night KDKA turned 75, and they interviewed the man who called the election results, he was in his very late 80's, at the time, and they played their recording with him listening. KDKA stated it WASN'T the original, that it had been lost a few years after it was done, and they had him recreate it so they could have a copy of it, for the sake of keeping the historic broadcast. They tried to recreate it as exact as possible. The original annoucer did verify that it was a recreation that he had made. He still was amazed 75 years later what he had accomplished back in 1920 and was very happy to be the start of it all in the U.S. He said that in 1985 he was impressed with where radio went afterwards, but outside of WCBS he no longer listened to radio at all.

 

[fybush]

There is at least one other known authentic 1920s aircheck that's not on the McLeod list - WTIC recorded its commemorative broadcast in 1929 when it signed on its 50 kW RCA transmitter. That recording is pretty widely available; WTIC has used excerpts on its various anniversary shows over the years.

 

[bpatrick]

I'm wondering if the KDKA announcer you're
referring to re the Harding-Cox election returns
in 1920 was Leo Rosenberg. He and Dr. Frank
Conrad, who had done some experimental broadcasts
playing music from his home in Wilkinsburg, PA, were
on the air that election night, and Rosenberg was
still doing election nights in the '40s; he broadcast
the FDR-Wendell Willkie returns in 1940.

According to Ben Gross's book "I Looked And I Listened,"
WJZ was another station that would ask listeners to
write in and let them know they were hearing the
broadcasts.