1925 in radio

The year 1925 saw a number of significant events in radio broadcasting history.

Events

• 1 January – In Sweden, AB Radiotjänst (forerunner of Sveriges Radio) broadcasts its first programme.
• 1 February – The Polish Radiotechnical Society (Polskie Towarzystwo Radiotechniczne, PTR) makes its first official broadcast from Warsaw.
• 8 March – Westinghouse Electric, owner of KDKA among other stations, announces from its Pittsburgh headquarters a proposal to form "radio networks" via shortwave technology.
• 1 April – In Denmark, Radioordningen (Statsradiofonien from 1926, Danmarks Radio from 1959) is established.
• 23 April – KRO (the Katholieke Radio Omroep) is established in the Netherlands.
• 17 June – In Spain, Unión Radio opens station EAJ-7 Radio Madrid.
• 25 September – The Berliner Funkturm (Berlin Radio Tower) begins transmissions.
• 1 November – VARA (the Vereeniging van Arbeiders Radio Amateurs) is established in the Netherlands.

Debuts

• 14 January – First broadcast on Swedish national radio (AB Radiotjänst) of one of the world's longest-running radio programmes, Barnens brevlåda ("Children's letterbox"), which was to run for 1,785 editions – all presented by "Uncle Sven" (the radio sports commentator Sven Jerring) – until 1972.
• 21 March – Lowell Thomas is first heard on the radio on Pittsburgh station KDKA.
• 8 April – Station WADC commences regular programming in Akron, Ohio. It had debuted earlier (in February 1925) as a temporary station during a car show held at the Central Garage, the call letters standing for the station's sponsor, the Automotive Dealers Company. Known since June 2, 2005 as WARF, it is today Akron's oldest surviving radio station.
• 4 October - The Atwater Kent Hour debuts on WEAF and 10 other connected stations. ^[1]
• 5 October – WSM signs on in Nashville, Tennessee.
• 15 November – First transmission from Radio RV-10 in the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (today's Belarus).
• 28 November – The weekly country music-variety program Grand Ole Opry is first broadcast on WSM radio in Nashville, Tennessee,^[1] as the "WSM Barn Dance".
• 24 December - KMOX begins broadcasting in St. Louis, Missouri.

Closings

• April – WGI-Medford Hillside, Massachusetts declares bankruptcy and shuts down for good; this leaves WBZ-Springfield as the oldest surviving station in New England.

Undated

• WAAB 1150 AM ceases broadcasting. 1150 AM would return the next year as WJBO.

Births

• 15 May – Regis Cordic, American radio personality and actor. (d. 1999)
• 7 July – Wally Phillips, American radio personality (d. 2008)
• 28 September – Jerry Clower American country music comedian (d. 1998)
• 31 October – Shirley Dinsdale American ventriloquist (d. 1999)

References