U.S. Census Bureau Daily Feature for August 20

WASHINGTON, Aug. 20, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Following is the daily "Profile America" feature from the U.S. Census Bureau:

FIRST LICENSED RADIO STATION

Profile America — Wednesday, August 20th. The nation's first licensed radio station began broadcasting in Detroit on this date in 1920 — station 8MK, now operating as WWJ. The station was owned by the Detroit News, and for some convoluted reasons, the station operated with an amateur license, which in 1922 was changed to commercial. The first station to receive a commercial license was KDKA in Pittsburgh, which began broadcasting in October of 1920. From these rudimentary early broadcasts, the new medium grew rapidly. In 1922, there were 30 radio stations, but by the following year, there were 556. Now, there are more than 15,400 radio stations across the U.S. You can find more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau, online at www.census.gov.

Sources: Kane's Famous First Facts, 6294
www.michiguide.com/history/am.html
http://www.oldradio.com/archives/stations/wwj1.htm
Historical Statistics of the United States: Colonial Times to 1970, p. 796
https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-326518A1.docx

Profile America is produced by the Center for New Media and Promotions of the U.S. Census Bureau. These daily features are available as produced segments, ready to air, on the Internet at http://www.census.gov (look for "Multimedia Gallery" by the "Newsroom" button). 

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SOURCE U.S. Census Bureau

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