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.
• May 15: 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.
• 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.
• July 1: 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 13: 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.
• 18 December: Regular radio broadcasting begins in Estonia.
• 24 December: The first singing jingle commercial is heard on WCCO, Minneapolis, Minnesota.^[2]

Debuts

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

References