res@ihuxn.UUCP (Rich Strebendt) (03/23/84)
It seems to me that radio station WWJ in Detroit Michigan also claims to be the first commercial broadcast station. It is still on the air with the same call letters. As I foggily recall, their claim is based on the fact that they were running their programming with paid commercial sponsorship, while others were essentially being run for fun by hobbiests. Any Detroiters (or others) out on the net who can provide knowledgeable comments on this wealth of "first" radio stations? Rich Strebendt ...!ihnp4!ihuxn!res
mac@allegra.UUCP (Jim McParland) (03/26/84)
xxx Although there is a controversy about the first COMMERCIAL radio station, the first regularly scheduled radio broadcasts were from W2UC, a radio station run by Union College in Schenectady, New York. (I used to work at the station). The station has an extensive collection of memorabilia from those early days - One of the stunts pulled by the college students at that time involved the first "portable" radio! Some students loaded a baby buggy with a lot of car batteries and a receiver, and walked it around town. No doubt it caused quite a stir when people heard it. Jim McParland AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, NJ allegra!mac
smw@tilt.UUCP (Stewart Wiener) (03/27/84)
And please note that the first college FM station, and the first STEREO college
station, was WPRB in Princeton, 103.3 FM. One of the benefits of being first
was not being stuck in the "college band" down around 88 or 89 on the dial.
Our position is a valuable one... VERY valuable to the New York station at
103.5 (WAPP-FM) who are paying us a lot of money to expand their listening area
a little further into New Jersey (while pushing ours into Philadelphia; we're
satisfied).
--
Stewart Wiener :-) "Read and weep as did
Princeton Univ. EECS :-) Alexander when he beheld
{allegra,ihnp4!mhuxi}!princeton!tilt!smw :-) the glories of Egypt."