radio firsts

[Donna Halper <dlh@donnahalper.com>]

Garrett was asking about WHA-- it claims to be first (I claim to be the
Queen of France) because it did voice broadcasts and stayed on the air even
during WW1, thereby, they say, making their station the oldest continuously
operating station in the USA.  Well, maybe.  But 1XE/WGI also did voice and
was on the air for part of the war because Harold Power and Amrad were
manufacturing receivers for the military and the station was allowed to stay
on the air to test some of the newly designed equipment (this is per the
letters of Eunice Randall, G-d rest her soul, and she ought to know, because
she was there for much of it...).  Anyway, whether or not WHA is the longest
continuously running station will be the subject of debate amongst
historians and people with web pages for years to come, I suspect... And it
IS amusing to read various web pages of radio stations which claim their
station was the first this or the first that... Here's a first for Garrett:
FIRST PORTABLE STATION IN NEW ENGLAND-- WTAT, December 1923.  Before there
was WEEI, Edison created a mobile station to appear at shows and demonstrate
Edison products.  But it also broadcast from a variety of cities that did
not have radio...              

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