The first newspaper to cover radio regularly is the
Boston Traveler, whose ham radio page begins in February
of 1921 and gradually expands to commercial radio coverage.
1ZE, New Bedford, signs on (May 21); the man who built it,
Irving Vermilya, will build WDAU in mid-1922; WDAU, now WNBH, would
later claim to be the 11th station in the U.S.
WBZ signs on in Springfield at 360 m (Sept. 15)
WBZ broadcasts its first program, from the Eastern States
Exposition (Sept. 19)
On the campus of Tufts, station 1XE begins daily broadcasts
(May); it will later become WGI. (There is evidence to suggest 1XE
had been on the air on a fairly regular basis since mid-1920.)
1922
1XE, owned by AMRAD, officially becomes WGI, on 360 m or 833
kHz (Feb. 9)
Two more stations are licensed to Boston at 360 m: WAAJ
(Apr. 10) and WFAU (June 16). Neither keeps a regular schedule, and
neither survives past April of 1923.
Irving Vermilya is is hired to build and run New Bedford's
first commercial station, WDAU (May); his amateur station, 1ZE,
continues separately.
Seeing a growing trend, more newspapers (which had seen
radio as competition) begin daily radio columns. Among them are the
Boston Globe (April), the Boston Post (May),
the Boston American (March) and the Lynn Daily
Evening Item (February).
WNAC (owned by the Shepard Department Stores) signs on at
250 m/1199 kHz (July 31)
1923
WNAC and WEAF (New York) link up on January 4 for the first
chain broadcast (it lasts for only five minutes, but shows that it
can be done)
WMAF (owned by millionaire Colonel E.H. Green) signs on at
363 m/ 830 kHz, from So.Dartmouth; by June, WMAF is part of a chain,
re-broadcasting the programs of WEAF four hours a day. WMAF's
broadcasts cause endless interference for other stations.
WTAT, a mobile station owned by Edison Electric, signs on at
244 m/1229 kHz. Its purpose is to appear at radio shows and
demonstrate Edison products. (Dec. 15)
1924
WDAU gets out of the radio business; Irving Vermilya moves
the station to his home in Mattapoissett and operates it as WBBG
(Jan.)
WBZA signs on in Boston from studios at the Hotel Brunswick,
at 337 m/890 kHz. It affiliates with the Boston
Herald-Traveler newspaper. (Feb. 25)
WEEI (owned by Edison Electric) signs on September 29, at
303 m/989 kHz.
WEEI adds the first permanent radio network in New England,
eventually the NBC Red network, with a connection to WEAF (Oct.)
In a common theme of the early 20's, stations move around--
WEEI is fairly close to where it started (it is now at 990 kHz/ 306m),
but WNAC is now at 1080 kHz/ 278m. (By 1926, stations moving around
without authorization, "wave jumping", will be a major problem.)
Mobile stations are visiting communities that don't yet have
a local station: WCBR, for example, does some programming from Lynn's
Strand Theatre in late May, and from the German Theatre in Roslindale
in June. The other mobile station is WTAT, which is licensed to
Stoneham, but broadcasts from Cambridge, Walpole, Weymouth, Brookline,
Quincy and Stoneham during 1923 and 1924.
WDBR, a religious station, broadcasts from the Tremont
Baptist Church, at 1270 kHz/256 m. It only airs religious services,
and broadcasts on weekends mainly. (June 9)
WDBH goes on the air in Worcester, owned by C.T. Sherer
Department Store (May 1)
1925
WKBE (owned by K&B Broadcasting-- Alfred Kleindienst and
William Bandlow) is licensed to Webster at 1310 kHz, 100 W
(Feb. 24)
WGI is still on the air, amid rumors of financial problems,
but it is now at 261 m and planning to open up a studio in Boston.
Proposed new call letters are WARC. (Feb. 18)
WDBR is also operating at 261 m. Crowding on the dial is
becoming more of a problem, with some stations having to voluntarily
go silent so others can have a turn; these so-called "silent nights"
become increasingly unpopular as more stations go on the air.
(March)
WDBH becomes WCTS (March 19). In April, it gets a power
increase to 500 w.
Financial problems at parent company AMRAD force WARC
(formerly WGI) to go off the air. (May 1)
WNAB, sister station of WNAC, goes on the air at 1200
kHz/250 m (May 13)
WCTS is sold to the Worcester Telegram newspaper and becomes
WTAG (October 8)
WBZ gets a wire connection to WJZ (November)
WBBG, Mattapoissett moves to the New Bedford Hotel and takes
the call letters WNBH (Nov. 2)
1926
WBZA (242 m) is synchronized with WBZ (333m) at 333.1m/ 990
kHz (May 20)
WBET (owned by the Boston Evening Transcript) is licensed
(Dec. 18)
WSSH appears, picking up where WDBR left off, as the
religious voice of the Tremont Baptist Church; it too inherits 261
m. and shares time with several other stations (Jan. 18)
WRES (owned by the Wollaston Radio Electric Shop) becomes
Quincy's first station, at 295m/1020 kHz. (November 9)
WAGS, a low-power station (only 5 watts) in Somerville goes
on the air at 1200 kHz; the call letters stand for Willow Avenue
Garage Station. (October)
WSGC (Seapuit Golf Club) goes on the air, giving Cape Cod
local programming (July 27). The station was supposed to use the call
letters WJBX.
The Radio Inspector catches WSGC/WJBX using the wrong calls
(Aug.) and forces them to use the right ones.
WJBX finally ceases operations. (Sept. 5)
WEPS in Gloucester goes on the air; soon moves to
296.9m/1010 kHz at 100 W (Nov. 26)
1927
WBSO (owned by Babson Statistical Organization) in Wellesley
goes on the air at 242m, but it soon moves to 384.4m/ 780 kHz
(Jan.)
WBET does its first official program, at 1130 kHz, 500 W.
The technical problems are so bad that an apology appears on page 1 of
the next day's Transcript. (Feb. 27)
WBET signs on officially at 760 kHz, 500 W, from the old WGI
studios (April 20)
WBET moves to 1240 kHz (June 1)
WBET moves back to 1130 kHz (June 15)
WBET settles in at 1040 kHz/ 288.3 m, share-time with WSSH
(Aug. 15)
WMES (Mass. Education Society) signs on at 211.1 m/1420 kHz
(June 1)
WLOE, which was first called WRSC, (owned by William
S. Pote, his brother Alfred, and several other local businessmen)
signs on in Chelsea at 211.1m/ 1420 kHz; it will share time with WMES
(Dec. 16)
WSSH is now at 249.9 m/ 1200 kHz (June)
WEEI spends some time at 447.5m/ 670 kHz, as the need for
more frequencies grows
WBZ is listed at 15,000 watts of power; most stations of
that time only have about 100 W.
WNAB (Shepard Stores) changes its call letters to WASN-- Air
Shopping News (Jan. 31)
WBIS-- "Boston's Information Service"-- (yet another station
owned by the Shepard Department Stores) is on the air at 302.8m/ 990
KC; its hours are very limited, and it also broadcasts shopping news,
replacing WASN (June)
The Radio Act of 1927 (Feb-March) creates the Federal Radio
Commission, and begins the task of regulating the huge number of
stations: Boston stations will soon be affected.
WLEX, the former WAGS, goes on the air from part-owner Carl
Wheeler's home. (The other owner, J. Smith Dodge, was one of WGI's
original airstaff.) It is at 1390 Khz, 50 watts. It shares time with
WMAF. (Sept./ Oct.)
1928
WEEI is now at 508 m/590 kHz (Feb.)
WNAC is now combined with WBIS, at 461 m /650 kHz
(April)
WKBE moves to 1200 kHz, share-time with WEPS (June)
Mobile station licenses are deleted by the FRC's General
Order 30 (Jul. 1)
General Order 32 requires numerous small stations to
surrender their licenses: one of the first casualties is Quincy's
WRES, but there will be others (Aug. 1).
WMES and WLOE are on the list too, but a hearing in
Washington gives them a reprieve.
WEPS moves to 1200 kHz, share-time with WKBE (Nov. 2)
WBET moves to 1360 kHz, share-time with WMAF and WSSH
(Nov. 11)
WLEX moves to 1420 kHz, 100 watts, share-time with WSSH
(Nov. 11)
1929
WNAC moves its transmitter to Squantum (Quincy), increases
power to 1000 W. (Feb)
WBET, facing numerous expenses and on-going technical
problems, is sold and moved to Lexington, where it becomes WLEX
(Feb. 15)
The station that was originally called WLEX becomes WLEY, as
Carl Wheeler's company (The Lexington Air Stations) now operates two
radio stations and an experimental TV station called W1XAY. His
partner, J. Smith Dodge, also works part-time at WNAC as an engineer.
(April 1)
WMES, despite a newspaper and letter-writing campaign, is
deleted by the FRC in June. (The FRC had turned down its request for
its own frequency and a power increase.) However, WMES still
broadcasts sporadically till January 5, 1930.
WKBE moves from Webster to Auburn (June)
WHDH opens in Gloucester (owned by Ralph Matheson ) at 361.2
m/830 kHz (June 18)
WEEI moves its transmitter to Weymouth, and its power is
increased to 1000 W. (July)
WKBE becomes WORC (August 12)
1930
WLOE purchases the now defunct WMES's equipment and begins to use
its studio (January 5)
WSSH gets power increase to 500 w (Jan. 17); still
broadcasts mainly church services
WLEX gets a CP to move to 1410 kHz, still share-time
(Mar. 20)
WEPS Gloucester is sold by Ralph Matheson to the owners of
WORC
WEPS is consolidated with WORC under callsign WORC-WEPS (May
5)
John Shepard III expands his WEAN/WNAC link into the Yankee
Network, adding WNBH as his first affiliate station. There will soon
be affiliates all over New England (May 25)
WHDH, which has gradually been doing more programs from
Boston, moves the station there, to new studios at the New England
Conservatory (Nov. 6)
1931
WLEX joins Shepard's Yankee Network on Jan. 20; call letters
are changed to WAAB, and it operates out of the same Boston studios as
WNAC; by April 20, Shepard formally owns the station.
WBZ and WBZA swap (WBZA is now the Springfield station, WBZ
the Boston one), then WBZ builds new 50 kW transmitter in Millis
(March 13)
WSSH ceases to operate (May 24); church services move to
WAAB
WBZ moves to new studios, at the Hotel Bradford in Boston
(June 5)
