1921 in radio details the internationally significant events in radio broadcasting for the year 1921.

Contents Events Debuts Closings Births Deaths References See also

Events

• 2 January: The first religious broadcast is made by Dr. E. J. Van Etten of Calvary Episcopal Church on the Pittsburgh, U.S. station KDKA.
• 3 January: The first vocal weather forecast is made by station 9XM, at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. They had been broadcasting Morse code weather bulletins since 1917.^[1]
• 18 February: Warren G. Harding becomes the first U.S. president-elect to be heard on radio when he makes an appearance on Pittsburgh station KDKA.
• 4 March: The first Presidential inauguration is broadcast from Washington, D.C., by Pittsburgh's KDKA.
• 10 March: The first broadcast of live opera/theater in history is on the air from Pittsburgh's KDKA at that city's Davis Theater.
• 11 April: The world's first ever sports broadcast is made on station KDKA by Florent Gibson of the Pittsburgh Star newspaper. The commentary is of a fight between Johnny Ray and Johnny Dundee at Motor Square Garden in Pittsburgh.^[2]
• 2 July: The first broadcast of a World Heavyweight bout is on the air from Jersey City, New Jersey, via Pittsburgh's KDKA.
• 5 August: The first broadcast of a baseball game is on the air from Pittsburgh's KDKA as the Pittsburgh Pirates defeat the Philadelphia Phillies 8 5 at Forbes Field.
• 20 September: The first "news room" and "news department" in broadcast history is created by Pittsburgh's KDKA and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
• 8 October: The first broadcast of American football is on the air via Pittsburgh's KDKA as the University of Pittsburgh defeats West Virginia University at Pittsburgh's Forbes Field.
• 27 November: U.S. bandleader Vincent Lopez & group begins a weekly 90-minute music show on Westinghouse-owned station WJZ (later WABC (AM)) in Newark, New Jersey.

Debuts

• 26 July: Experimental station 8ACS (later WHK) is launched in Cleveland, Ohio, by Warren C. Cox/Cox Mfg. Co.
• 19 September: The first commercially-licensed radio broadcasting station in the United States, WBZ, is launched by the Westinghouse Electric Corporation in Springfield, Massachusetts.
• 1 October: WJZ is launched by the Westinghouse Electric Corporation.
• 11 November: KYW is launched by the Westinghouse Electric Corporation in Chicago.

Closings

Births

• 19 July: Harold Camping, American religious broadcaster
• 19 October: Bern Bennett, American radio and television announcer

Deaths

References

• List of firsts by KDKA-AM

See also

• List of oldest radio stations

de:Rundfunkjahr 1921 no:Radio ret 1921 sv:Radio ret 1921