Public Radio Broadcasting Day Date in the current year: January 13, 2024

Before there were television and the Internet, there was radio, and its importance is hard to overestimate. Although radio technology was initially developed as “wireless telegraphy”, radio broadcasting eventually became a mainstream medium in the 1920s.

The invention of radio became possible due to James Clerk Maxwell’s theory of electromagnetism that predicted the existence of radio waves. Maxwell proposed his theory in 1867, and two decades later it was confirmed by German physicist Heinrich Hertz who generated radio waves in his laboratory. The first practical transmitters and receivers were created by Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi in the mid-1890s. Other radio pioneers included Aleksandr Popov (Russia), Lee de Forest (USA), and Jagadish Chandra Bose (Bengal Presidency).

As we’ve already mentioned above, the development of radio initially focused on telegraphy, so the first radio stations transmitted text messages and did not carry audio. To make audio broadcasts possible, electronic detection and amplification devices were required. American inventor Lee de Forest invented the first practical electronic amplifier in 1906 and began experiments with broadcasting music in 1907.

One of his most ambitious experiments was conducted in conjunction with the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City. On January 13, 1910, a live performance featuring some of the most renowned opera singers of that time, including Emmy Destinn, Enrico Caruso and Riccardo Martin, was broadcast from the Metropolitan Opera House. Since radio broadcasting was still at its experimental stage, the broadcast was only heard in De Forest’s laboratory, in several large hotels on Times Square, and on ships in New York Harbor.

Regular entertainment broadcasts began in the early 1920s. The first radio stations were AM (amplitude modulation). AM radio remained the primary method of broadcasting for the next three decades, a period referred to as the Golden Age of Radio. FM (frequency modulation) radio was invented in 1933 and surpassed AM radio in popularity in the second half of the 20th century.

Radio paved the way for other media: first television and then the Internet, so it is not surprising that there is a holiday dedicated to public radio broadcasting. The origin of Public Radio Broadcasting Day is unclear, but there is no denying the fact that radio broadcasting deserves to be celebrated. You can join the celebration by learning more about the people who made radio broadcasting possible, listening to your favorite radio station, and spreading the word on social media with the hashtag #PublicRadioBroadcastingDay.

Public Radio Broadcasting Day should not be confused with World Radio Day. The latter is a United Nations observance held annually on February 13; it commemorates the creation of the United Nations Radio in 1946.