List of initial AM-band station grants in the United States reviews the first standard radio broadcasting stations that were authorized in the United States.
This review begins with the introduction of the broadcasting service in the United States, through the end of June 1922. (Temporary station grants are not included. Also omitted are stations in other service categories, such as WQB in Hartford, Connecticut and WWV in Washington, D. C., which were never listed as broadcasting stations.)
Initially there were no formal standards for radio stations making broadcasts for the general public, and a variety of stations, most operating under Experimental or Amateur station licenses, conducted broadcasts on a regular schedule. On December 1, 1921, the U.S. Department of Commerce, which regulated radio at this time, adopted the first regulation formally establishing a broadcasting station category, which set aside the wavelength of 360 meters (833 kHz) for entertainment broadcasts, and 485 meters (619 kHz) for market and weather reports. However, at the time of the formal establishment of the broadcast service, there were already nine stations with Limited Commercial licenses providing regular broadcasts, which are listed below by the pre-December 1, 1921 date of their initial licenses.
List information
Exact dates in most cases are from station licenses and Department of Commerce card files. Dates only listing a month are from the monthly issues of the Radio Service Bulletin.
- Station's Initial Broadcast Service Authorization: The list is arranged chronologically.
- Type: most stations began broadcasting after being issued a standard Limited Commercial license (LIC). However, in a few cases the initial grant was by telegram (TG), telephone (TP), or via an unspecified "Authorization" (AUT) or Special Temporary Authority (STA). "REL" indicates a relicensing of a previously existing station.
- Freq: E stands for 360 meters (833 kHz), the "entertainment" wavelength, while M indicates 485 meters (619 kHz), the "markets and weather" wavelength.
- Application Received (Call Letters Assigned): In contrast to the later policy of stations being assigned call letters only after their application has been approved, during the period reviewed the reverse was true, with applications assigned call letters immediately upon arrival in Washington, D.C.
- Type: Most applications came via a Form 761, "Applicant's Description of Apparatus" (761), although there were a few cases listing telegram (TG), telephone (TP) or letter (LET). TRN denotes cases where an already existing station was transferred to the broadcasting service.
- Loc: refers to the location from which the station's Form 761 was received. In most cases this was via a Regional Radio Inspector located at the following sites: Baltimore, Maryland (BAL), Boston, Massachusetts (BOS), Chicago, Illinois (CHI), Detroit, Michigan (DET), New Orleans, Louisiana (NO), Norfolk, Virginia (NOR), New York City (NYC), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (PHI), Seattle, Washington (SEA), and San Francisco, California (SF). Other routes included via owner (OWN) or from W. E. Downey (WED).
- First Broadcast License: Although for most stations, their initial license was also their first broadcasting service license, stations initially authorized by other means, including by telegram or telephone, had their first license issued sometime later. Also, licenses, prior to WBZ's September 15, 1921 grant, did not list 360 meters as a transmitting wavelength. This is why WBZ is sometimes reported to be the oldest radio station.
- Dur: Duration of license grant. At first 1 year (1YR) was most common, which eventually changed to 3 months (3M).
- Num: Serial number assigned to the station's Limited Commercial licenses.
Station list
See also
References
See also