Shortwave KDKA and its Many Callsigns and Transmitters

On this occasion here in Wavescan, we pick up this the next episode in the very interesting ongoing story of the famous mediumwave and shortwave station KDKA in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania; and in particular, we briefly examine each of the callsigns, mostly shortwave, that were associated with this historic radio complex.

            But first, we review a very remarkable sports event that has never yet been superseded.  It was back on Sunday December 8, 1940 that the Chicago Bears played the Washington Redskins at Griffith Stadium in Washington DC for the final championship game of the year for NFL, the National Football League.  It was a sellout event with a record attendance of 36,034 and not a spare seat anywhere.  A special train carried 1499 excited fans from Chicago to Washington DC for this historic sports occasion.

            The Press Box facilities at Griffith Stadium were overtaxed with 150 media personnel; newspaper, radio, and even the very new TV.  The Mutual Network had bought broadcasting rights for this climactic football clash, and their programming was fed nationwide to 120 stations.  It was the first occasion for nationwide coverage in the history of sports and radio in the United States.  Other radio networks also gave wide coverage to this sports matchup emanating from the national capital.            

            It was an exciting game; it lasted a little over 3 hours, and there were many injuries, some major.  Among the reported injuries: One player broke three ribs, there was a bruised kidney, a broken fist, and a hurt knee.  So many footballs were kicked into the stands and scored by attendees that sports officials asked for some to be returned.  All available new balls were taken into play, old practice balls were used up, and the final scoring point was taken with a scroungy old resurrected ball. 

            This historic game that was played a little more than ¾ century ago, ended with an impossible score; the Chicago Bears beat the Washington Redskins with the unbelievable tally 70 - 0.  This has to be a record high, or maybe a record low, never equalled in any other NFL game, and probably never matched in any other form of popular sport either.

            Radio station KDKA in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania was aware in advance of the popular enthusiasm attached to this highly publicized sporting event in the national capital.  Thus, on Sunday December 8, 1940, station management gave the order to place all available KDKA transmitters on the air simultaneously, and thus ensure maximum coverage; local, national and international.  The young Broadcast Engineer J. William Miller, just 20 years old at the time, stated that the 50 kW mediumwave KDKA and 5 or 6 shortwave transmitters were all airborne for this striking radio occasion. 

            So what were all of these transmitters and callsigns that KDKA had at its disposal back then?  The FCC had mandated that each transmitter should be identified with a separate callsign, and in addition to that, some transmitters were given more than one callsign, depending on what form of broadcast activity was involved.  And to complicate the issue still further, some forms of licensed activity could be performed by more than one transmitter, yet still under the one callsign.

            At the time when radio broadcasting station KDKA was born in 1920, there had already been a slew of licensed wireless stations on the air in Pittsburgh, and perhaps even more that were unlicensed.  Beginning in 1915, government documents show at least 10 wireless stations in Pittsburgh before KDKA, including of course the famous amateur radio operator 8XK with Frank Conrad.  During World War 1, Westinghouse was permitted to operate two special wireless stations; 2WE at the factory, and 2WM at Conrad’s home, his own 8XK. 

            Early in the year 1920, Fred Conroy from the Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh gave a wireless demonstration at the Westinghouse factory with his station 8XC.  At the time when KDKA was inaugurated later that same year on November 2, a temporary call was affixed, 8ZZ.

            The callsign 8XP was allocated to a small portable transmitter back in 1921, and this was used for the relay of offsite programming back to the main KDKA facility.  In 1923, 8XP, listed at 200 watts, was installed in the Presbyterian Church with the antenna wire running up the steeple.  This callsign 8XP was subsequently applied to other KDKA transmitters, sometimes fixed and sometimes portable.

            In August 1922, a new 1 kW shortwave transmitter 8XS was co-sited with KDKA on the rooftop of Building K at the Westinghouse factory at East Pittsburgh, and this was used to relay KDKA programming to the two mediumwave stations, KDPM in Cleveland Ohio and KFKX in Hastings Nebraska.  Three years later, Frank Conrad transferred his amateur callsign 8XK to Westinghouse, and the call 8XS was relinquished and returned to the FRC, Federal Radio Commission, the forerunner to the FCC.

            In 1924, callsign 8XAU was licensed as a special land station for use at the factory, though during the following year this callsign was deleted and instead, the call 8XK was implemented.  Another special land station during the 1920s was 8XAV, though this unit, rated at 20 kW, was in use for television experiments in the 2 MHz range.

            Some historic documents give the callsign 8XI to Westinghouse during World War 1 and they state that this station was a forerunner for the Westinghouse shortwave station 8XK.  However, this information is incorrect.  Back during the Great War, the call 8XI was held by the University of Pittsburgh, not Westinghouse. 

            However, Westinghouse was allocated the by then relinquished 8XI callsign on July 31, 1928, long after 8XK was already on the air.  This second application of the callsign 8XI was for 20 kW on a variable range of shortwave channels.  Three years later, on February 28, 1931, the Westinghouse usage of this callsign 8XI was deleted.      

            During the year 1923, the FRC announced that all mediumwave stations in the United States should adopt callsigns composed of three letters, not four, and therefore KDKA was to become WKA.  However, this unpopular move was never implemented.

            In 1937, the callsign 8XKA was given to another Westinghouse transmitter for experiments in what was called the ultra shortwave bands, the forerunner to modern FM.  A main channel for this unit was 55.5 MHz, which was heard back in those days in both Australia and New Zealand.  Twenty years later again, Westinghouse inaugurated a new FM station KG2XIU in what has since become the standard international FM Band 2. 

            Well, that’s all we have time for today in this episode of the story of KDKA, which over the years  has utilized 16 shortwave callsigns.  More on a coming occasion.

(AWR-Wavescan/NWS 399)

The KDKA Shortwave Story: Before the Beginning

(psu edu)

Back in the early days before European colonization in North America, the Pittsburgh area in Pennsylvania was the haunt of the Shawnee Indians.  The Shawnee Nation were described as a semi-migratory cluster of tribes who moved around the eastern and central areas of what is now the United States.  Their language, Shawnee, belongs to the  Algonquian family of languages, and it is an endangered language with these days only 200 fluent speakers, mostly elderly adults.

            The first European to visit the Pittsburgh area was Robert de la Salle, a French trader and explorer, who led an expedition down the Ohio River from Quebec in Canada in the year 1669.  Robert de la Salle claimed all of the areas he traversed as part of the French colonial empire in North America, a claim that France considered valid up until 1758, nearly 90 years.  A counter claim was lodged by the British in 1681, a claim that they considered valid up until 1781, exactly 100 years. 

In 1758, the year the French claim expired, the settlement of Pittsburgh was named by the Scottish army general, John Forbes, in honor of the eloquent British statesman William Pitt.  Back in those days the pronunciation was Pittsburrow, similar to the Scottish city Edinburgh (Edinburrow). 

            Five years later, during the siege of Fort Pitt by Shawnees loyal to Chief Pontiac, there was an early attempt at biological warfare by the British garrison who tried to spread smallpox among the native Americans with the use of infected blankets.  This attempt was largely inconsequential however, because the disease had already been rampant among the Shawnee tribe during the previous year; it is estimated that as many as half a million may have eventually died from this epidemic.

            The Blockhouse at Fort Pitt in Pittsburgh was constructed in 1764, and this is the oldest building still standing in Pittsburgh.  In 1769, Pittsburgh was claimed by two states, both Virginia and Pennsylvania; though 11 years later, the new Mason-Dixon Line on the map of the United States settled the issue and Pittsburgh was legally absorbed into Pennsylvania.  The locale was incorporated as a town in 1771, and as a city in 1816.

            The city was almost completely destroyed by fire in 1845, and it was rebuilt during the next two years, complete with an enormous total of new factories numbering 1,000.  A score of years later one writer described the city as “hell with the lid off”.  In 1890, the spelling of the city name, Pittsburgh, was modified, dropping off the final letter h.  However, the h was officially returned to the city 21 years later.

            These days Pittsburgh Pennsylvania is a large modern city with a population of ⅓^rd million covering an area of 60 square miles.  It is a very hilly city, with 446 bridges, and some 712 sets of outdoor pedestrian stairs including hundreds of “paper streets” as they are described; that is streets that are composed entirely of stairs and steep sidewalks rather than regular suburban streets.

            It was on January 8, 1886 that George Westinghouse established a factory in East Pittsburgh for the manufacture of turbine generators, large electrical coils, and electric railway locomotives.  This was the largest Westinghouse factory and at its height, it employed 20,000 people.  The factory subsequently manufactured home appliances and radio receivers also.

            Interestingly, 23 years after the factory was established, the management ousted its founder George Westinghouse.  This important industrial factory was closed during its 100^th anniversary year 1986.

            Electrical Engineer Frank Conrad, who was closely involved with the development of radio broadcasting over mediumwave and shortwave stations KDKA, was born in Pittsburgh on May 4, 1874.  At the age of 16 he began employment in the Westinghouse factory, where he soon demonstrated a remarkable capability and expertise in many areas of electrical and electronic development.  He invented for example, the circular watt meter which is still in use to this day.

            In 1912, at the age of 28, Conrad constructed a wireless receiver in his home at Swissvale on the edge of Pittsburgh so that he could receive regular time signals from the Navy wireless station NAA at Arlington in Virginia.  He also heard Morse Code signals on his new wireless receiver from a neighbor John Coleman, so he built his own amateur transmitter so that he could communicate with other experimental wireless operators.

            Subsequently, he moved to another locale near Pittsburgh, a two story house in Wilkinsburg, and he installed all of his wireless apparatus in the room above the detached garage.  He was granted a license for his amateur station as 8XK in August 1916, two years into the First World War in Europe.  After the United States entered the war, all experimental wireless stations were silenced in April 1917.  However, Frank Conrad was permitted to continue his experimental work with radio in conjunction with the Westinghouse factory and they were granted two special licenses for this purpose: station 2WE at the Westinghouse factory, and 2WM at his Wilkinsburg home. 

            Two and a half years later in the aftermath of the European war, the ban on amateur radio activity was lifted and Conrad resumed transmissions over his amateur radio station under the original callsign 8XK.  Thus, in the evening of Friday October 17, 1919, Conrad entertained local listeners for the first time after the war with a music concert made up from his own record library together with announcements about each rendition.

            Thus began a continual series of semi-regular radio program broadcasts, compiled from music records borrowed from the Brunswick Shop in Pittsburgh; and the shop reported an increase in sales due to this form of informal advertising.  Then too, there were occasional live broadcasts presented by family members, relatives and friends who had a talent for vocal and instrumental music.  

            During this era of informal program broadcasts, Conrad re-applied for his former amateur license with the same pre-war callsign 8XK.  In due course, he received the official license, dated January 21, 1920.  His renewed license was listed as License No. 236½.

            The local newspapers often gave coverage to the various program broadcasts from Conrad’s amateur station 8XK, describing what was broadcast, and giving also the expressions of appreciation from the listening public.  Then, in the edition of the local paper for September 29, the Horne Departmental Store included an item in their display advertisement stating that their own staff had listened to a Conrad broadcast on their own radio receiver.

            The Westinghouse Vice-President, Mr. H. P. Davis, read this advertisement and he saw a commercial advantage in the usage of radio, and so he set procedures in motion to establish their own radio broadcasting station at the factory.  This new radio broadcasting station was quickly constructed and temporarily installed under a tent on the roof of the Westinghouse factory.  

            In the meantime, there was a presidential election in the offing, and ARRL the American Radio Relay League had invited amateur station 8XK to participate in the dissemination of news and information.  Westinghouse and Conrad combined their involvement for radio coverage of the election results with the use of their new factory station which was licensed under the callsign 8ZZ.  Test broadcasts were made in advance, and the new station was ready for the official event on November 2, 1920.

            The main election broadcast on November 2, 1920 were made from the new station 8ZZ at the factory, though Conrad was at home with his own station 8XK, ready to put it on the air with the official programming relay via a telephone line in the event of a problem at the factory station. 

            Interestingly, another amateur radio station in Pittsburgh, 8ZD operated by a Mr. Williams, carried the official ARRL broadcast of the election results, due to the fact that Conrad and Westinghouse were tied up with the operation of their own new radio station.

            And that’s how it all began.  A couple of days later, the official license to use their land station KDKA as a broadcasting station arrived; and thus a new era in the history of radio broadcasting began.  More next time.

(AWR-Wavescan/339) 

KDKA Memorial: Historic 95th Anniversary Ceremony in Pennsylvania

A few days ago, Ray Robinson of shortwave KVOH in Los Angeles alerted us to the information regarding a special historic ceremony in suburban Pittsburgh Pennsylvania.  Because of the interest and significance of this event, we postpone our intended opening feature in this edition of Wavescan and we present the story of this KDKA Memorial: Historic 95^th Anniversary Ceremony in Pennsylvania. We are indebted to a feature article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette written by Dave Zuchowski for his information regarding this event, and additional information is taken from other historical sources.

            It was on Friday evening October 17, 1919 that the Westinghouse engineer Dr. Frank Conrad made a significant broadcast over his amateur radio station 8XK.  The station was installed in the second floor of his red brick garage in Wilkinsburg, a city adjacent to the better known city Pittsburgh.                  This was Conrad’s first broadcast after the United States re-opened the usage of the airwaves to amateur radio operators subsequent to the end of World War 1 and it was one of the very early program broadcasts in the history of radio broadcasting.  This initial two hour broadcast over his homemade radio equipment included several different styles of recorded music together with announcements and spoken information.  This historic broadcast proved so popular that he began a series of similar broadcasts each Wednesday and Saturday evening from the same station 8XK.

            In September of the following year, the local newspaper ran an advertisement on behalf of the Home Department Store offering the sale of radio receivers which could tune in Conrad’s radio program broadcasts.  The Westinghouse company decided that they would construct their own radio broadcasting station and install it in a small wooden and canvas shack on the roof of their K factory building in suburban East Pittsburgh.

            Engineer Conrad assembled the necessary equipment for their new radio station and they requested a commercial license from the federal government licensing authorities.  This new station made its first broadcast on Tuesday evening November 2, 1920 with progressive information about the Harding-Cox presidential election.  For this inaugural broadcast, Westinghouse was on the air under a temporary callsign 8ZZ, and a couple of days later the commercial license arrived by post, granting a consecutively issued callsign KDKA.

            To honor Dr. Conrad’s contributions to the broadcast industry, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission approved a historic marker to be erected on a street adjacent to the Conrad garage and this was dedicated on December 1, 1990.  That marker was later removed and placed in storage when the property and garage were sold during the year 2000 to make way for a fast-food restaurant.  With financial backing, the garage was dismantled and all of the items were placed in storage along with documentation on how to reassemble the garage once more.

            At 2:00 pm last Friday October 17, just two days ago, a special commemorative ceremony was held at a planned new location at South Trenton and Penn Avenues in Wilkinsburg and the original marker was rededicated at its new location.  This event took place exactly 95 years later to the very day after Conrad’s first historic broadcast and it was staged at two consecutive locations, the Community Life Building at 301 Meade Street and then at the new location for the memorial marker.  Present were two of Frank Conrad’s great grandsons, Jamie Conrad and actor David Conrad.

            Plans are in hand to reassemble the garage and currently they are looking at several sites in the Pittsburgh area.  It is intended to have the garage rebuilt in time for the 100^th anniversary of Conrad’s first broadcast, October 17, 2019.  The completed project will cost an estimated $1.6 million and already $225,000 has been raised for this historic event.

            The international radio world is indebted to the historic endeavors carried out by Dr. Frank Conrad, together with Westinghouse and radio station KDKA.  It is true that there were many earlier ventures into radio broadcasting in the United States and in several other countries, and even their historic election broadcast was not the first in the history of radio broadcasting.  However, the KDKA venture was indeed a major turning point in the development of radio program broadcasting, not only in mediumwave broadcasting but subsequently also in shortwave broadcasting.

                                                                                                                        Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

                                                                                                                        By Dave Zuchowski

                                                                                                                        September 25, 2014

(AWR Wavescan/NWS 295)