1921 in radio details the internationally significant events in radio broadcasting for the year 1921.
Events
3 January – Station 9XM (now
weather forecast. The station had been broadcasting weather bulletins in Morse code since 1916.[1]
4 March – Text of the speech, given at the U.S. Presidential inauguration in Washington, D.C. by Warren G. Harding, is read over KDKA in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.[2]
19 September – First commercially licensed radio broadcasting station in the United States, WBZ, is launched by the Westinghouse Electric Corporation in Springfield, Massachusetts. It is the first broadcasting station to receive a license that explicitly specified operation on the 360 meter (833 kHz) wavelength formally assigned to the broadcasting service by regulations which became effective 1 December 1921.
20 September – KDKA and the Pittsburgh Post create the first "news room" and "news department".[4]
25 September – The wireless telegraph station in Sofia makes the first public radio broadcast in Bulgaria: the retransmission of a concert from the German station at Nauen.
1 December – Effective date, in the U.S., for the first formal establishment of a broadcasting station service. (Limited Commercial license, for operation on 360 (833 kHz) and/or 485 (419) meters.)[8]
24 December – First public radio broadcast from the Eiffel Tower in Paris.[9]
Births
25 February – Patricia Ryan, English-born American child actress, continues performing on radio until her death (d. 1949)[10]
5 March – Charlez ar Gall, Breton-language broadcaster (d. 2010)
21 March – Antony Hopkins, British composer, pianist, conductor and music broadcaster (d. 2014)
1 April – Steve Race, English pianist-composer and radio presenter (d. 2009)
23 May – Humphrey Lyttelton, English jazz trumpeter and radio presenter (d. 2008)
19 July – Harold Camping, American religious broadcaster (d. 2013)
21 September – Jimmy Young, English singer and broadcaster (d. 2016)
19 October – Bern Bennett, American radio and television announcer (d. 2014)
24 December – Jimmy Clitheroe, English comic entertainer (d. 1973)
^It Started Hear (1970) page 16. "A copy of the Harding text was obtained in advance and read on the air while the new President was speaking in Washington."