[ARC5] radio and the Spanish Flu epidermic

[Richard Knoppow]

    This later became KQW. Was eventually bought by CBS and is 
now KCBS. The problem with these very early experimental 
broadcasting stations is that there was no continuum due to the 
seizure of all "wireless" operations by the U.S.Government after 
the U.S. joined in WW-1. Wireless was returned to private owners 
c.1919 and licenses issued for commercial broadcasting shortly 
after but none of the early stations had a continuous existence. 
Somewhere on the FCC web site is a list of the earliest stations 
licensed by the Department of Commerce There were about a dozen 
issued in about December of 1920. Number one was KDKA but 
Westinghouse had about five of the first dozen including WJZ in 
New York (now WABC), WBZ in Boston, KYA in Chicago (later moved 
to Philadelphia) and a couple of local stations here in Los 
Angeles. One was a station that later became KNX and another was 
KHJ. Broadcasting exploded in 1922 with a great many stations 
being licensed, many of which did not survive long and many which 
were never developed as working stations. It is a fascinating 
history.

On 3/14/2020 4:39 PM, Scott Robinson wrote:
> It's well documented that a San Jose station was doing 
> scheduled music and speech broadcasts in 1912. See
>
> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Herrold>
>
> Peace,
>
> Scott Robinson
>
> On 3/14/20 8:32 AM, Bry Carling wrote:
>> They say that there were hill billy statiopns with preachers 
>> in the mountains of East Tennessee and Western North Carolina 
>> well before KDKA sent their first official broadcast.
>>
>> This is all hear-say!
>>
>> Bry AF4K
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
>>
>> *From:* arc5-bounces at mailman.qth.net 
>> <arc5-bounces at mailman.qth.net> on behalf of Rich Post 
>> <kb8tad at gmail.com>
>> *Sent:* Monday, March 9, 2020 13:33
>> *To:* Gordon White <gewhite at crosslink.net>
>> *Cc:* ARC-5 List <arc5 at mailman.qth.net>
>> *Subject:* Re: [ARC5] radio and the Spanish Flu epidermic
>> Radio receiving was illegal in the US in 1918.  All antennas 
>> were required to be taken down when the US entered the war.  
>> All receivers dismantled.  Receiving remained illegal until 
>> April 1919, well after Armistice and transmitting was illegal 
>> until mid-October 1919 when the Navy finally relented to 
>> pressure and gave up  its total monopoly on transmitting.  
>> However, the Navy needing future operators had begun sending 
>> code practice to amateurs the prior month and had begun 
>> transmitting news "broadcasts" (in code) to ships and others 
>> at that point. But NOTHING in 1918.  Mid October was the first 
>> monthly amateur record playing on radio that would eventually 
>> become KDKA.
>>
>> Wonderful story Dave.
>>
>> Rich KB8TAD
>>
>> On Mon, Mar 9, 2020 at 7:40 AM Gordon White 
>> <gewhite at crosslink.net <mailto:gewhite at crosslink.net>> wrote:
>>
>>             Just read in a newspaper that "historian Nancy 
>> Tomes has shown
>>     that in 1918, since radio broadcasts and newsreels were 
>> focused on war
>>     news..." they did not give news of the 1918 Spanish Flu 
>> epidemic.
>>
>>           As KDKA in Pittsburgh was the first broadcast 
>> station and it
>>     began
>>     with results of the Cox-Harding election in November 1920, 
>> unlikely
>>     that
>>     there was ANY radio broadcast news of the flu in 1918.
>>
>>        - Gordon Eliot White
>>
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-- 
Richard Knoppow
1oldlens1 at ix.netcom.com
WB6KBL