1924 in radio

1924 in radio details the internationally significant events in radio broadcasting for the year 1924.

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Events

• 1 January – Meteorological Office issues its first broadcast Shipping Forecast, at this time called Weather Shipping.[1]
• 5 January – The British Broadcasting Company makes its first broadcast of a religious service from a church (St Martin-in-the-Fields, London, with Rev. Dick Sheppard).
• 15 January – The world's first radio play, Danger by Richard Hughes, is broadcast by the British Broadcasting Company from its studios in London.[2]
• 5 February – Hourly Greenwich Time Signal from the Royal Greenwich Observatory in the United Kingdom is broadcast for the first time.[3]
• 8 February – John Joseph Carty, vice-president at American Telephone & Telegraph Company, speaks on the first nationwide radio hookup in the United States, between New York's WEAF, Washington, D.C.'s WCAP and Providence's WJAR. He is heard by an estimated fifty million people.
• 12 February – President of the United States Calvin Coolidge makes the first presidential political speech on radio. Broadcast from New York City, it is carried by five stations. It is listened to by an estimated five million people.
• 2 March – MIRAG, the Mitteldeutsche Rundfunk Aktien-Gesellschaft (Central German Broadcasting Co. Ltd), begins radio transmissions from Leipzig in Germany.
• 28 March – First British Broadcasting Company broadcast from Plymouth (station 5PY).
• 30 March – The Deutsche Stunde in Bayern GmbH (German Hour in Bavaria Ltd), begins radio transmissions from Munich in Germany.
• 1 April – SWR, the Südwestdeutsche Rundfunkdienst A.G (South-west German Broadcasting Service Ltd), begins radio transmissions from Frankfurt am Main in Germany.
• 23 April – First broadcast by King George V of the United Kingdom, opening the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley Stadium.[4]
• 2 May – NORAG, the Nordische Rundfunk Aktien-Gesellschaft (Northern Broadcasting Co. Ltd), begins radio transmissions from Hamburg in Germany.
• 12 May – SÜRAG, the Süddeutsche Rundfunk Aktien-Gesellschaft (South German Broadcasting Co. Ltd), begins radio transmissions from Stuttgart in Germany.
• 19 May – The British Broadcasting Company first broadcasts cellist Beatrice Harrison duetting live with a wild nightingale in a Surrey garden.[5]
• 26 May – SFAG, the Schlesische Funkstunde Aktien-Gesellschaft (Silesian Radio Hour Ltd), begins radio transmissions from Breslau in Germany (modern-day Wrocław in Poland).
• 4 June – The British Broadcasting Company first broadcasts Henry Hall (bandleader), from the Gleneagles Hotel in Scotland.
• 10 June – ORAG, the Ostmarken-Rundfunk Aktien-Gesellschaft (Eastern Marches Broadcasting Co. Ltd), begins radio transmissions from Königsberg in Germany (modern-day Kaliningrad in Russia).
• 2 August – The Deutsche Stunde in Bayern opens its second station, in Nuremberg.
• 15 August – The British Broadcasting Company's Hull relay station, 6KH, goes on air.
• 27 August – URI, the Unione Radiofonica Italiana, Italy's first licensed broadcasting company, is formed in Turin with backing from the Marconi Company.
• 14 September – 2BE Belfast, operated by the British Broadcasting Company, opens as the first official radio station in Northern Ireland.
• 15 September – Inauguration of Radio Agen in south-west France; the station is privately owned but supported by the département of Lot-et-Garonne.
• 6 October – Unione Radiofonica Italiana (URI) makes its first broadcast from station 1-RO in Rome.
• 10 October – WEFAG, the Westdeutsche Funkstunde Aktien-Gesellschaft (West German Radio Hour Ltd), begins radio transmissions from Münster in Germany.
• 14 November – Station EAJ-1 Radio Barcelona, the first radio station to receive an official licence from the Spanish government, begins regular broadcasting.
• 15 November – NCRV (the Nederlandse Christelijke Radio Vereniging) is established in the Netherlands.
• 30 November – NORAG opens its second station, in Bremen.
• 1 October – RAVAG, the Radio-Verkehrs-Aktien-Gesellschaft (Radio Communication Co. Ltd) – a collaboration between government and private industry – is given responsibility for all radio broadcasting in Austria.
• 12 December – The British Broadcasting Company's Swansea relay station in Wales, 5SX, goes on air.

Debuts

• 12 February – The Eveready Hour debuts on WEAF. It is considered the first commercially sponsored variety program in the history of broadcasting.
• 4 March – KFOR in Lincoln, Nebraska, begins transmitting. The station is still on the air today.
• 17 March – The A&P Gypsies musical program begins regularly scheduled broadcasts on WEAF. The group had appeared unsponsored in 1923.[6]
• 8 July – WNYC, New York City's municipally owned and operated station, officially goes on the air.[7]
• 16 September – WEBK in Grand Rapids, Michigan, begins transmitting. Because its original owners were backed by the Furniture Manufacturers Association of Grand Rapids, the station later receives the appropriate WOOD call letters.
• 30 September – WAHG (now WCBS) in New York City begins transmitting.
• 13 October – 774 ABC Melbourne begins transmitting.
• 24 October – WGBS (now WINS) in New York City is signed on by the Gimbel Brothers department store.
• 20 December – First broadcast of the Norwegian children's radio programme Lørdagsbarnetimen ("Saturday children's hour") – still on the air today on NRK radio, making it the world's longest-running radio show.

Births

• 11 February – Douglas Smith, English radio announcer (d. 1972)
• 23 April – Norman Painting, English actor (d. 2009)
• 1 May – Dennis Main Wilson, English broadcast comedy producer (d. 1997)
• 12 May – Tony Hancock, English comedian (d. 1968)
• 21 August – Jack Buck, American sportscaster (d. 2002)
• 15 November – Mike Raven, born (Austin) Churton Fairman, English DJ, actor and sculptor (d. 1997)

References

1. "Fact sheet No. 8 – The Shipping Forecast" (PDF). National Meteorological Library and Archive. 2007. p. 3. Retrieved 10 November 2010.
2. The Stage - Mining the seams of radio history
3. Penguin Pocket On This Day. Penguin Reference Library. 2006. ISBN 0-14-102715-0.
4. Knight, Donald R.; Sabey, Alan D. (1984). The Lion Roars at Wembley. New Barnet: D. R. Knight. ISBN 0-9509251-0-1.
5. Seatter, Robert (25 March 2016). "The cello and the nightingale". BBC. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
6. Dunning, John. (1998). On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-507678-3.
7. "City's Radio Plant Opened by Mayor," The New York Times, July 9, 1924, page 1.