List of oldest radio stations

It is generally recognised that the first radio transmission was made from a temporary station set up by Guglielmo Marconi in 1895. This followed on from pioneering work in the field by a number of people including Alessandro Volta, André-Marie Ampère, Georg Ohm and James Clerk Maxwell.[1]

The several potential contenders for the title of "oldest radio station" are listed below, organized by sign-on date. These are not restricted to radio broadcasting, i.e., the transmissions were not necessarily intended to reach a wide audience.

Stations

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

AM on Mediumwave and Longwave

Table of Experimental and Early Radio Stations (AM on Mediumwave and Longwave)

Station Call-sign (Original)	Station Call-sign (Current)	City/Location	On Air	Transmission Frequency (AM Radio / FM Radio)	Broadcast Class
Roberto Landell de Moura	n/a	São Paulo (between Paulista Avenue and Alto de Santana)[2]	1893
Guglielmo Marconi	n/a	Broadcast across his garden in Pontecchio, Italy.[1][3]	1895		Experimental
Although Australia's first officially recognised broadcast was made in 1906, some sources claim that there were transmissions in Australia in 1897, either conducted solely by Professor William Henry Bragg of the University of Adelaide[4][5] or by Prof. Bragg in conjunction with G.W. Selby of Melbourne.[1]	n/a		1897		Experimental. Disputed in some sources.
Guglielmo Marconi, first trans-Atlantic transmission.	n/a	from Poldhu, Cornwall to Signal Hill, St. John's, Newfoundland.[1][3]	December 1901		Experimental
(First official Morse Code transmission in Australia)	n/a	from Queenscliff, Victoria to Devonport, Tasmania	1906		Experimental
(Reginald Fessenden experimental alternator station)	VE2CV	Brant Rock, Massachusetts, United States	21 December 1906 (Audio tests from various locations from as early as 1900)	AM 50 kHz (approximately)	? W
Lee de Forest, (laboratory in the Parker Building)	[?]	New York City, New York, United States	1907	AM ? kHz (approximately)	? W
(Beloit College Professor Dr. Charles Aaron Culver)	[WBCR, WBNB, WEBW]	Beloit, Wisconsin, United States	1908.[6]	AM ? kHz (approximately)	? W
FN/SJN/6XF/6XE/KQW/"San Jose"	KCBS (AM)	San Jose, California/San Francisco, California	1909, 1921 (officially granted experimental license as KQW, become commercial in 1921, and KCBS in 1949)	AM 740 kHz (Originally used 15 watts modulated with Carbon microphone)	Class-B
XWA	CINW	Montreal, Quebec, Canada	August 1914 – 1 December 1919 – May 1922 – 29 January 2010	AM 940 kHz (Not original frequency). Considered by many Canadians to be "First scheduled broadcast station;" prior call sign CFCF stood for Canada's First, Canada's Finest.	Class-A (Clear channel); XWA Experimental and W/T School station license starting end of 1914,[7] regular broadcasting test emissions starting 1 December 1919 with XWA being replaced in May 1922 by private commercial broadcasting license CFCF;[8] AM station CINW ceased operations on 29 January 2010.
2YU	WRUC	Union College, Schenectady, New York	1915[9]	Various Frequencies AM, switched in 1975 to 90.9 FM, & moved in 1983 to 89.7 FM	Original: Technical & Training School License, Current: Class-A
2XI	WGY	Schenectady, New York	1915?	AM 810 kHz	Class-A
9ZP, 9CLS	KGFX	Pierre, South Dakota	The station's roots date back to 1912 when Dana McNeil, was first licensed as 9ZP. In 1916, he was licensed as 9CLS. According to the FCC's card file for the station, the broadcast license for KGFX was first issued on 15 August 1927, with the licensee listed as Dana McNeil, The station was originally at 1180 kHz, moving to 580 kHz in 1928. In 1932, it moved to 630 kHz, where it remained until 1967.As of 2018 KGFX 1060AM continues to broadcast local content at 10 kW power in Pierre, SD. With an FM translator broadcasting at 107.1	Various frequencies,
2XG		New York City	1916	Unknown	Unknown (see also Lee de Forest [above].)
8XK, 8ZZ	KDKA	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	1916	AM 1020 kHz	75 watts (1916), Class-A (1920–present). Began simulcasting on shortwave in 1923 as 8XS.
Irish rebel station	none	General Post Office, Sackville Street (O'Connell Street), Dublin, Ireland	24 April 1916	morse code only (Despite this claimed by some to be "world's first broadcast" as transmission not aimed at specific target)	converted ship transmitter
9XM	WHA	University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, Wisconsin	4 December 1916 (regular Morse code weather broadcasts; first voice broadcast in February 1919; regular programming January 1921)	AM 970 kHz	Class-B
First direct communication Australia to the United Kingdom	n/a	Amalgamated Wireless (Australasia); Ernest Fisk; Sydney	1918	AM 21 kHz	[10]
7AC/7XC	KJR	Seattle, WA, USA	1919	AM 833kHz/619kHz, then various frequencies; currently AM 950kHz & FM 102.9MHz	[11]
Rádio Clube de Pernambuco	same name as well	Recife, Pernambuco,	1919	AM 720 kHz	Made the first radiophonic broadcast in Brazil, but the first radio officially acknowledged was Rádio Sociedade do Rio de Janeiro (actually, Rádio MEC). Also, it is one of the oldest stations in the world.
First Australian experiment in the broadcast of music	n/a	Amalgamated Wireless (Australasia); Ernest Fisk; Sydney	8 August 1919	AM	[10]
(Experimental Czech tests)		Petřínská rozhledna (Petřín Lookout Tower), Prague, Czechoslovakia	28 October 1919 (Experimental), 20 May 1920	AM ??? kHz	?? kW
2MT (Marconi experimental station with a regular news service)		Writtle, Chelmsford, Essex, England	23 February 1920	AM 107 kHz	15 kW
LOR Radio Argentina	LOR	Buenos Aires, Argentina	27 August 1920 Continued daily commercial broadcast up to 1997	AM 857 kHz[12]	5 Watts initially, 500 Watts by 1921
6ADZ	KHJ	Los Angeles, California	Summer 1920, granted license 1922	AM 930 kHz	Class-B
KDKA	same as original.	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	27 October 1920 (May have aired as 8ZZ that night)	AM 1020 kHz	Class-A (Clear channel)
8MK	WWJ	Detroit, Michigan	20 August 1920	AM 950 kHz	Class-B
9YK	WEW	St. Louis, Missouri	21 April 1921 (as 9YK); 23 March 1922 (as WEW)	AM 770 kHz	Class-D
WRR	KTCK	Dallas, Texas	4 August 1921 (Unlicensed broadcasts date back to 1920)	AM 1310 kHz
WBZ	Same as original.	Boston, Massachusetts	19 September 1921	AM 1030 kHz	Class-A (Clear channel)
KYW (AM)	same as original	Chicago, Illinois (1921)[13] Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1934)[14] Cleveland, Ohio (1956) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1965)[15]	11 November 1921	AM 560 kHz, 570 kHz, 1020 kHz (Chicago)[16] AM 1020 kHz (Philadelphia) AM 1100 kHz (Cleveland)) AM 1060 kHz (Philadelphia)	Class-A (Clear channel)
2CM		Charles Maclurcan; Sydney	1921	AM 214 kHz	Australia's first experimental station[10]
Radio Journal de la Tour Eiffel (Eiffel Tower Newsreel)	France Inter	Paris, France	1921	"Long wave" 115 kHz (2600 m)	N/A
WCAT	KTEQ	Rapid City, South Dakota	1922	AM 618 kHz (1922–?) AM 1200 kHz (?–1952) FM 88.1 MHz (1971–1982) FM 91.3 MHz (1982–2000, 2014–present)	Class-A
9-BC, 9-XR, 9-BY, WOC	WOC	Davenport, Iowa	1922	1420 kHz (1942–present)	Class-B
WLB	KUOM	Saint Paul, Minnesota	13 January 1922	AM 770 kHz	Class-D
WHN	WEPN	Ridgewood, New York	February 1922,[17] some sources cite 18 March 1922	AM 833 kHz	Class-A
KLZ (AM)	KLZ (AM)	Denver, Colorado	10 March 1922[18][19]	AM 560 kHZ	www.KLZradio.com, Colorado's First Station, Class-B
WIP	WTEL	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	17 March 1922	AM 610 kHz	Class-B
WWL-AM	Call letters are as is	New Orleans, Louisiana	31 March 1922	AM 870 kHz	Class A
WGU	WSCR	Chicago, Illinois	13 April 1922	Originally AM 833 kHz, became WMAQ at 750 kHz on 2 October 1922, moved to 670 kHz on 2 July 1923	Class-A
4XD	WBT	Charlotte, North Carolina	18 December 1920, License granted 10 April 1922	AM 1110 kHz	Class-A
KZN	KSL	Salt Lake City, Utah and vicinity	6 May 1922	AM 1160 kHz(1941–present)	Class A (Clear channel)
2LO	2LO	London, United Kingdom	11 May 1922	1 hour daily tests on 350 metres (857 kHz) AM. Full service opened: 14 November 1922
2ZY	2ZY	Manchester, United Kingdom	17 May 1922	Test TXs: 350 metres (857 kHz) AM. Full service opened 15 November 1922: 375 meters
CKAC	CKAC	Montreal, Quebec/Montreal, Québec, Canada	12 September 1922	AM 730 kHz	Class-A
DN	4XD	Dunedin, New Zealand	4 October 1922	originally AM 1431 kHz, now AM 1305 kHz and FM 99.8 MHz
9BT	CFRC	Kingston, Ontario, Canada	7 October 1922	AM 1490 (now FM 101.9 MHz)	Class-A
5IT	5IT	Birmingham, United Kingdom	15 November 1922	Not known
WNAX (AM)	Same as is	Yankton, South Dakota	25 November 1922	AM 570 kHz
WKAQ (AM)	Same as is	San Juan, Puerto Rico	3 December 1922	AM 580 kHz	Class-B
Radio Ceylon	Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation	Colombo, Sri Lanka	1923 (experimental), 1925 (official launch) – present	"Long wave" 375 kHz	1500 W[20]
WKBV William Knox BrookVille	Same as is	Richmond, Indiana Whitewater Broadcasting	1923	AM 1000 kHz 24/7	Class B
Radio Chilena (Chile Radio Company)	CB66	Santiago, Chile	October 1922 (experimental), 26 March 1923 (official launch) – 2005	AM 660 kHz
Radiojournal	Český rozhlas Radiožurnál	Prague-Kbely, Czechoslovakia	18 May 1923	"Long wave" 292 kHz (1025 m)	[21][22]
CYB "El Buen Tono"	XEB-AM (Instituto Mexicano de la Radio)	Mexico City, Mexico	23 September 1923[23]	AM 1220 kHz	N/A
Finland's first private public broadcasting station. 3NB	3NB, Tampere	Tampere, Tavastia	1 November 1923	AM kHz	[24]
Australia's first official station. 2SB; 2BL as from 1 March 1924	702 ABC Sydney	Sydney	23 November 1923. One of six Sealed Set system stations;	AM 855 kHz	[25][26]
XRO	n/a	Shanghai, China	November 1923	AM 1500 kHz	50 Watts (1923). First radio station in China.[27]
2FC	2RN, Radio National	Sydney	12 December 1923. One of six Sealed Set system stations;	AM 273 kHz	[25][26]
Radio Ibérica	N/A	Madrid, Spain	22 December 1923.;	AM 729 kHz	N/A
19 September 1924	Radio Belgrade	Belgrade, Serbia	19 September 1924.;	AM 684 kHz	N/A
3AR	3RN, Radio National	Melbourne, Victoria (Australia)	26 January 1924. One of six Sealed Set system stations;	AM 625 kHz	[28][26]
WES	WLS	Chicago, Illinois	Owned by Sears Roebuck, WLS would come to stand for the World's Largest Store. Sears ran broadcasts from WMAQ studios as WBBX in March 1924. WES tests were conducted 9 to 11 April 1924. WLS would begin on 12 April and became one of 25 original 50,000 watt "Clear Channel" system stations;	Originally AM 870 kHz, AM 890 kHz	Class-A
6WF	720 ABC Perth	Perth, Western Australia	4 June 1924. One of six Sealed Set system stations;	AM 240 kHz	[29][26]
N/A	Radio Bloemendaal	Bloemendaal, Netherlands	15 June 1924	originally AM 1500 kHz (200m) later AM 1223 kHz (245 m) currently AM 1116 kHz (269 m)	various
URI (Unione Radiofonica Italiana), 1-RO	Rai Radio 1	Rome, Italy	6 October 1924	AM 705 (425m)  kHz
KOA (AM)	Same as is	Denver, Colorado, United States	15 December 1924 One of 25 original 50,000 watt "Clear Channel" system stations	AM850 kHz
Statsradiofonien	DR P1	Copenhagen, Denmark	1 April 1925 (experimental), license granted April 1926, Regular broadcast from April 1926	"Long wave"	N/A
WCSH	WZAN	Portland, Maine	1925	"Long wave"
N/A	Radio Poland	Warsaw, Poland	1 February 1925 (experimental), Regular broadcast from 18 April 1926	"Medium wave"	N/A
N/A	Radio Romania	Bucharest, Romania	Summer 1925 – 1927 (experimental), license granted March 1928, Regular broadcast from 1 November 1928	"Long wave"	N/A
2BE. Australia's first commercial station. Burgin Electric Company.	n/a	Sydney	7 November 1924 to 6 November 1929	AM 870 kHz. (Wavelength later taken by 2GB.)[30]	B Class, Commercial.[26]
WEBK	WOOD	Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States	16 September 1924	AM 1130 kHz, presently on 1300 kHz,	Class-B
3LO	774 ABC Melbourne	Melbourne, Victoria (Australia)	13 October 1924. One of six Sealed Set system stations;	AM 175 kHz	[28][26]
5MA	n/a	Adelaide, South Australia	April 1924 to early 1925. One of six Sealed Set system stations	Does not appear to have actually broadcast	see Arthur William Jarrett
2UE. Australia's third commercial station, and the oldest commercial station still operating.	2UE	Sydney	26 January 1925	AM 1025 kHz	B Class, Commercial.[26] Was originally going to broadcast as 2EU, but the callsign was reversed prior to the licence being issued on 7 November 1924
JOAK	same as is	Tokyo, Japan	22 March 1925	AM 594 kHz
CHRC	CHRC	Quebec City, Quebec/Quebec City, Quebec, Canada	1 April 1926	AM 800 kHz	Class-B
Lietuvos Radijas	LRT Radijas	Kaunas, Lithuania	26 June 1926	AM 1961 kHz
XOH, later COHB	n/a	Harbin, China	1 October 1926	AM 1071 kHz	100 Watts, 1928 1 kW. First radio station founded by Chinese.[31]
CFCO	same as is	Chatham, Ontario/Chatham-Kent, Ontario, Canada	September 1927	AM 630 kHz	Class-B
JODK	HLKA	Seoul, South Korea	1927	AM 711 kHz
GOW, ZBW	RTHK	Hong Kong	30 June 1928 (GOW, now RTHK 3)
1XE	became WGI February 1922 (and WARC March 1925)	Medford, Massachusetts	1916 sporadically, then 1919–1920 till April 1925	? – later on 833 kHz
2XN		City College of New York, New York City	1913; 1920
2ZK		New Rochelle, New York	1916
NSF/HDO, later ANDO and AVRO	NPO	Huizen (transmitter), Hilversum, (studio), Netherlands	21 July 1923, from 1930 part of Dutch Public Radio	AM 279 kHz, 1927 also 1004 kHz, today FM network	500 W, 1927 5 kW
2RN (Irish Free State radio)	RTÉ (Irish national radio & television)[32]	General Post Office, (O'Connell Street), Dublin, Ireland	1 January 1926	AM 380 kHz, and from Cork AM612 kHz,
NDO, 50% time KRO, 50% NCRV	NPO	Huizen (transmitter), Hilversum, (studio), Netherlands	1927, from 1930 part of Dutch Public radio	AM 160 kHz,1935 transmitter moved to Kootwijk, 1938 also Jaarsveld 722 kHz, today FM network and 747/1251 kHz	Huizen 15 kW, Kootwijk day 15 kW, evening 120 kW, Jaarsveld 20 kW
2TM	2TM	Tamworth NSW Australia	27th February 1935	1287 Khz

FM or Shortwave

Table of Experimental or Early Radio Stations (FM and Shortwave)

Station Call-sign (Original)	Station Call-sign (Current)	City/Location	On Air	Transmission Frequency (AM Radio / FM Radio)	Broadcast class
PCGG	N/A	The Hague, Netherlands	6 November 1919 – 11 November 1924	Narrow-band FM, 570 m	N/A
WWV US Government Time Service	WWV	Fort Collins, Colorado	"6 months before KDKA" (May 1920)	2.5 MHz, 5 MHz, 10 MHz, 15 MHz and 20 MHz	HF (Shortwave)
PCJJ	Radio Netherlands Worldwide	Philips Laboratories at Eindhoven, Netherlands, moved to Hilversum in 1933.	The first shortwave station in Europe. 25 June 1926 (test transmissions began), and the first shortwave station in the world with its own dedicated programming rather than being a simulcast of an AM/MW or LW station such as KDKA. Regular broadcast from 30 May 1927 to May 1940 when the station went dark due to the German occupation of Holland; resumed after liberation October 1945 – 1946 when Philips and other shortwave radio stations taken over by Radio Netherlands Worldwide. Sister station PHI broadcast in Dutch to the Dutch East and West Indies from 1928 to 1930 and 1934 to 1949.	30.2 metres shortwave
G2NM[33]		Caterham, Surrey, England	11 September 1927.	23 and 33 metres	1 kW
CKUA	CKUA Radio Network	Edmonton, Alberta (broadcast province-wide)	27 November 1927	500-watt (Original) AM 580 kHz (Edmonton) Various FM frequencies province-wide	B
HVJ	Vatican Radio	Vatican City	12 February 1931		10 kW (originally)
HCJB	HCJB	Quito, Ecuador	25 December 1931	50.26 metres, later 6050 kHz, 9745 kHz, 11775 kHz and 15155 kHz.	200 watts (initially), 1,000 watt (1937), 10,000 watt (1940), 100,000 (1967), 500,000 (1981)
8XS	KDKA	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	1923. Experimental simulcast of KDKA. Used to relay KDKA signal to AM rebroadcasters in other cities.[34]
W8XH		Buffalo, New York	18 March 1934 – July 1939. Replaced in 1944 with an FM station, now known as WTSS.	51.4 & 41.0 MHz	Apex (ultra-shortwave)
W1XOJ		Paxton, Massachusetts/Boston, Massachusetts	1937		Unknown
W1XPW, briefly W65H	WDRC-FM	Hartford, Connecticut	1939	102.9 FM
W2XDA (Schenectady)/W2XOY (New Scotland), later WGFM	WRVE	Schenectady, New York	1939, 20 November 1940 as WGFM	Originally on FM 48.5 MHz, now FM 99.5	Unknown
W47NV	N/A	Nashville, Tennessee	1941 to 1951		Unknown

Networks

Table of Early Radio Networks

Name	Full name	Location	On Air	Notes
British Broadcasting Company		United Kingdom	1922–1926	Private commercial company made up of 26 stations by 1926. Nationalised to become the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC Radio) in 1927.
CNR Radio	Canadian National Railway Radio Department	Canada	1923–1933	First national radio network in North America.[35] Developed by the Canadian National Railway to provide en route entertainment for train passengers but also available to anyone within signal range. Consisted of 27 stations (3 owned and operated and up to 24 "phantom stations" – time leased on affiliated radio stations.
WEAF chain	Broadcasting Company of America	Northeast and Midwest United States	1923–1926	Regional network of AT&T-owned radio stations with New York City radio station WEAF as its hub. Grew to 27 stations (WEAF and 26 affiliates) stretching from Boston to Kansas City by the end of 1925 under the name Broadcasting Company of America, Sold to RCA in 1926 and merged with RCA's WJZ chain to form the National Broadcasting Company (NBC)

See also

• History of radio
• Timeline of radio
• History of broadcasting
• AM broadcasting
  • Extended AM broadcast band
• FM broadcasting
  • FM broadcasting in the USA
• Oldest television station
• Time signal

References

1. Mimi Colligan, Golden Days of Radio, Australia Post, 1991
2. "Memórias de um Jornalista – Atualidades do mundo da Saúde" (in Portuguese). Retrieved 25 January 2019.
3. "The Nobel Prize in Physics 1909".
4. http://www.wia.org.au/members/history/research/documents/WIA%20MAIN%20T-%20LINE-Nov%202013%20EXTENDED.pdf
5. Bernard Harte, When Radio Was The Cat's Whiskers, 2002, privately published Dural, NSW
6. (https://www.beloit.edu/archives/documents/archival_documents/ether/partone/)
7. "Report of the Department of the Naval Service for the Fiscal Year ending March 31, 1915"
8. Armstrong, R. (2015), "Broadcasting Policy in Canada", 2nd Edition, University of Toronto Press, p.23; "LE RADIO – Programme du 25 juin", La Presse newspaper, Saturday 24 June 1922
9. "Union College", Education's Own Stations by S. E. Frost, Jr., PhD, 1937, pages 437–441.
10. Carty, Bruce, On the Air – Australian Radio History, privately published Gosford NSW, page 25
11. https://www.radioworld.com/columns-and-views/roots-of-radio/kjr-seattle-1919-to-2019
12. Revista Telegráfica, May 1923, Page 134
13. Radio broadcast-Volume 1-Radio Has Gripped Chicago-pages 503–511
14. "New KYW Opens December 3rd (page 4)" (PDF). The Microphone. 24 November 1934. Retrieved 14 July 2010.
15. KYW Newsradio Station History Archived 7 January 2007 at the Wayback Machine, which details the evolution of the station from Chicago, to Philadelphia, to Cleveland and back to Philadelphia.
16. "KYW". Zecom Communications. Archived from the original on 25 May 2013. Retrieved 26 January 2011.CS1 maint: unfit url (link)
17. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 26 May 2011. Retrieved 30 July 2008.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
18. https://earlyradiohistory.us/pion622.htm#oldest. Retrieved 21 January 2020. Missing or empty |title= (help)
19. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KLZ_(AM). Retrieved 21 January 2020. Missing or empty |title= (help)
20. "Shortwave Central: The Story of Radio Broadcasting in Ceylon". 10 April 2012.
21. Czech Radio history at the Wayback Machine (archived 20 August 2008)
22. "Czech Radio history". Radio Prague International. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
23. About XEB (in Spanish) Archived 10 August 2013 at the Wayback Machine
24. "Radiopioneerit tamperelaisella ullakolla".
25. Carty, Bruce, On the Air – Australian Radio History, privately published Gosford NSW, page 27
26. R R Walker, The Magic Spark: 50 Years of Radio in Australia, The Hawthorn Press, Melbourne, 1973
27. 第一节 无线广播, shtong.gov.cn
28. Carty, Bruce, On the Air – Australian Radio History, privately published Gosford NSW, page 47
29. Carty, Bruce, On the Air – Australian Radio History, privately published Gosford NSW, page 74
30. Carty, Bruce, On the Air – Australian Radio History, privately published Gosford NSW, page 28
31. 黑龙江省志 广播电视志
32. "History of RTÉ".
33. Clarricoats, John (1967). World at their fingertips, pub. RSGB, pp. 130–132
34. http://explorepahistory.com/hmarker.php?markerId=1-A-3A5
35. CNR Company Fonds, Provincial Archives of Alberta. Retrieved 22 January 2008