Public Radio Broadcasting Day

Public Radio Broadcasting Day is January 13th

The first public radio broadcast was done on January 13th, 1910 by the Lee de Forest Radio Telephone Company. Lee de Forest had previously done a few successful private broadcast, but this was the first to be made available to the public via receivers set up in public places. The broadcast was of a live performance at the Metropolitan Opera House that featured famous opera singers. The idea that music could be transmitted this way and heard outside of concert halls and opera houses was completely new to people at the time. Unfortunately the first broadcast was not completely successful as the microphones were not very strong and could not pick up most of the singing coming from the stage. Most of the listeners didn’t hear much more than static, but the experiment still paved the way for the public radio of the future. The way people experienced music and entertainment completely changed after radio became a household object. Each year on January 13th we remember that first broadcast and appreciate radio for the extraordinary way it has shaped and molded our modern society.