Marking 100 years of radio at Union

Publication Date

At 8 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 14, 1920, Union’s student-operated radio station conducted a historic broadcast. Using a 150-watt transmitter from a studio in a shack behind the electrical engineering building with the antenna strung between two trees, the half-hour broadcast opened with tenor John Steel’s “Tell Me Little Gypsy.”

The broadcast 100 years ago made Union the first college station, and the first licensed station of any kind, to air regularly scheduled programs.

The Daily Gazette featured the milestone in a recent story (a subscription may be required).