WGI (AM)
Encyclopedia
WGI was a pioneering United States radio station
based in Medford Hillside, Massachusetts
, originally using the experimental callsign 1XE.
and like many others of the time was determined to repeat them for himself. He built his first radio receiver when only 10 years old, and by the age of 12, was operating an amateur radio transmitter from his home in Everett, MA. By the time he attended Tufts College near Boston, Power had built and transmitted with several types of radio set, and he used the knowledge he had gained to finance his college tuition by teaching the technology of radio at a nearby high school. Power graduated from Tufts with a degree in Engineering in 1914.
Still fascinated with radio, Power and several of his fellow Tufts graduates formed a company dedicated to improving existing receiver design and advancing radio technology. With the help of two of his former professors, Power was able to obtain some land and a small building on the Tufts campus at Medford Hillside and The American Radio and Research Corporation
(AMRAD) was founded in 1915.
An experimental station began broadcasting using callsign 1XE in 1917, but like all experimental stations, transmission was soon interrupted by World War I. Transmitting restarted after the war, and the station began regular voice and music broadcasts in 1919, making it one of the first radio stations to broadcast regular programming in the USA. In 1922, the station received its first commercial licence, along with the WGI callsign.
Radio station
Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...
based in Medford Hillside, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
, originally using the experimental callsign 1XE.
Early history
Harold J. Power (born 1893) was fascinated as a young boy by the experiments of radio pioneer Guglielmo MarconiGuglielmo Marconi
Guglielmo Marconi was an Italian inventor, known as the father of long distance radio transmission and for his development of Marconi's law and a radio telegraph system. Marconi is often credited as the inventor of radio, and indeed he shared the 1909 Nobel Prize in Physics with Karl Ferdinand...
and like many others of the time was determined to repeat them for himself. He built his first radio receiver when only 10 years old, and by the age of 12, was operating an amateur radio transmitter from his home in Everett, MA. By the time he attended Tufts College near Boston, Power had built and transmitted with several types of radio set, and he used the knowledge he had gained to finance his college tuition by teaching the technology of radio at a nearby high school. Power graduated from Tufts with a degree in Engineering in 1914.
Still fascinated with radio, Power and several of his fellow Tufts graduates formed a company dedicated to improving existing receiver design and advancing radio technology. With the help of two of his former professors, Power was able to obtain some land and a small building on the Tufts campus at Medford Hillside and The American Radio and Research Corporation
(AMRAD) was founded in 1915.
Finance and growth
The meeting of Power with millionaire banker J. P. MorganJ. P. Morgan
John Pierpont Morgan was an American financier, banker and art collector who dominated corporate finance and industrial consolidation during his time. In 1892 Morgan arranged the merger of Edison General Electric and Thomson-Houston Electric Company to form General Electric...
An experimental station began broadcasting using callsign 1XE in 1917, but like all experimental stations, transmission was soon interrupted by World War I. Transmitting restarted after the war, and the station began regular voice and music broadcasts in 1919, making it one of the first radio stations to broadcast regular programming in the USA. In 1922, the station received its first commercial licence, along with the WGI callsign.
Controversy
There are several other radio stations, which along with WGI can claim in some way to be the "first" broadcast radio station, resulting in some confusion and no little controversy (see also Historical controversy). These stations include:- XWA (now CINW) in Montreal, Quebec (01 December 1919)
- WWV originally in Washington D.C. (May 1920)
- 8MK (now WWJWWJ (AM)WWJ is Detroit, Michigan's only 24-hour all-news radio station. Broadcasting at 950 kHz, the station is owned and operated by CBS Corporation subsidiary CBS Radio. The station first went on the air on August 20, 1920 with the call sign 8MK...
) in Detroit, MI (20 August 1920) - KDKAKDKA (AM)KDKA is a radio station licensed to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. Created by the Westinghouse Electric Corporation on November 2, 1920, it is one of the world's first modern radio stations , a distinction that has also been challenged by other stations, although it has claimed to be the first in...
in Pittsburg, PA (02 November 1920) - WBZWBZ (AM)WBZ is the call sign for an AM radio station in Boston, Massachusetts owned by CBS Radio, itself owned by the CBS Corporation. Originally based in and broadcast from Springfield, Massachusetts, WBZ was the first commercial radio station in the United States...
originally in Springfield, MA (September 1921)
External links
- Erik Barnouw, A History of Broadcasting in the United States p35-36
- Vern A. Dubendorf Wireless Data Technologies p6
- United States Early Radio History (website)
- Boston Globe 27 March 1916, p8 Music Sent By The Wireless
- Boston Sunday Post 07 November 1920, Woman's Section: Talking by Wireless as You Travel by Train or Motor
- Radio Digest 1930, p44 Dawn of Radio