1926 in radio

The year 1926 saw a number of significant happenings in radio broadcasting history.

Events

• 1 January – 2RN, the first radio broadcasting station in the Irish Free State, goes on air.^[1]
• 18 April – The Polskie Radio company begins regular broadcasts from Warsaw, Poland.
• 6 May – First radio broadcast of a complete opera – Attilio Parelli's I dispettosi amanti – by the Milan station of the Unione Radiofonica Italiana (URI).
• 15 May – American Telephone & Telegraph establishes the Broadcasting Company of America; containing WCAP in Washington, D.C., WEAF in New York, and the mini-network between both stations.
• 15 May – Radio Zagreb, the first radio station in southeastern Europe, begins broadcasting.
• 29 May – The Finnish national broadcasting company Yleisradio is founded.
• 29 May – VPRO (the Vrijzinnig Protestantse Radio Omroep) is established in the Netherlands.
• 12 June – Radio Kaunas begins regular broadcasting in Lithuania.
• 1 July – American Telephone & Telegraph exits the station ownership realm, selling off WEAF, WCAP, and their mini-network, to RCA. The latter station is merged into time-share WRC (AM) and takes the latter stations' callsign.
• ? September – In Britain, the BBC begins a weekly broadcast of choral evensong from churches; by the time of its 90th anniversary it will be the longest-running regular outside broadcast.
• 13 September – Formation of the National Broadcasting Company by RCA is announced in newspaper advertisements around the country.
• 10 November – Unión Radio takes over station EAJ-1 Radio Barcelona, laying the foundation for the creation of Spain's first national radio network.
• 14 November – The first Geneva Frequency Plan comes into force, halving the number of medium wave frequencies available to countries in Europe.^[2]
• 18 December – Regular radio broadcasting begins in Estonia.
• 24 December – The first singing jingle commercial is heard on WCCO, Minneapolis, Minnesota.^[3]

Debuts

• 12 January – Sam 'n' Henry debuts on WGN in Chicago, Illinois.^[3] Two years later, the creators of the show, Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll, leave and start the similar show Amos 'n' Andy.
• 26 February – 1150 AM returns to the air, this time as WJBO in New Orleans.
• 26 November – The National Broadcasting Company commences operations on what would become the NBC Red Network, composed of AT&T's WEAF-WCAP mini-network.
• 13 December – WWVA at Wheeling, West Virginia signs on at 2A.M. from owner John Stroebel's residence.

References