Welcome to HarrisburgRadioTV.com! This site is dedicated to the preservation of articles, photos, licenses, logs and artifacts from the history of broadcasting in Central Pennsylvania.
Launch date: May 2006 Last additions: May 2009
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Document scanning and restoration by Tim Portzline.
Important moments in broadcasting
1897 - Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi demonstrates the practical use of wireless telegraphy for the British government, building on the theories of Hertz, Tesla and others
1906 - Lee DeForest creates the Audion amplifier tube, a variation of the Fleming valve, making radio far more practical. Despite claims that he was "the father of radio", DeForest could never fully explain how the Audion worked.
December 24, 1906 - Reginald Fessenden celebrates Christmas Eve with a historic audio transmission from Brant Rock, Mass.
1914-1922 - Edwin Howard Armstrong invents numerous important radio receiver improvements based on DeForest's Audion tube (which results in long patent suits with DeForest and others)
1919 - General Electric forms Radio Corporation of America (RCA) with David Sarnoff at the helm
November 2, 1920 - KDKA in Pittsburgh, PA broadcasts the Harding / Cox election returns, widely seen as the beginning of broadcasting (amid many point-to-point and experimental transmissions of the day)
1926 - RCA forms the National Broadcasting Company (NBC), ushering in the "golden age" of radio with shows like "Amos and Andy", and "Fibber McGee and Molly", and performers such as Bob Hope, Edgar Bergen, Jack Benny, Milton Berle and many others
1927 - Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) is formed
1933 - Edwin Howard Armstrong unveils a new method of radio transmission called "frequency modulation" (FM)
1934 - The US Congress passes the Communi-cations Act of 1934, creating the Federal Com-munications Commission (FCC)
August 25, 1934 - Philo Farnsworth demonstrates the first fully-electronic television system in Philadelphia
1937 - Edwin Howard Armstrong builds the first FM radio station in Alpine, NJ (42.8 mhz)
May 6, 1937 - Reporter Herb Morrison (WLS, Chicago) records his famous description of the Hindenburg disaster in Lakehurst, New Jersey
October 30, 1938 - CBS broadcasts Orson Welles' radio adaptation of H.G. Wells' "War of the Worlds", causing public fear
1939 - RCA chief David Sarnoff demonstrates television at the New York World's Fair
June 15, 1945 - The NBC "Blue Network" offi-cially becomes ABC
1946 - The DuMont television network is formed, lasting only 9 years
December 1947 - John Bardeen, Walter Brattain and William Shockley of Bell Labs invent the first transistor in Murray Hill, NJ
October 4, 1957 - The Soviet Union launches Sputnik, the world's first artificial satellite
July 10, 1962 - AT&T ushers in the age of commercial satellite communications with Telstar
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AM (Harrisburg metro only) |
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Call letters |
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Frequency (khz) |
580 |
1230 |
1400 |
1460 |
720 |
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City of license |
Harrisburg |
Harrisburg |
Harrisburg |
Harrisburg |
Shiremanstown |
|
Prior call letters |
WHBG, WMBS |
WPRC, WCOD |
WHGB, WFEC, WNNK-AM |
WCMB, WIMX, WWKL-AM |
None |
|
Prior frequencies (khz) |
833, 1300, 1280, 1430, 1460 |
1430, 1200 |
None |
960 |
None |
|
First broadcast |
1925 1 |
1927 1 |
1946 4 |
Feb 19, 1948 2 |
June 17, 1987 2 |
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FM (Harrisburg metro only) |
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Call letters |
WTPA | |||||
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Frequency (mhz) |
97.3 |
94.9 |
104.1 |
99.3 |
89.5 |
93.5 |
|
City of license |
Harrisburg |
Harrisburg |
Harrisburg |
Harrisburg |
Harrisburg |
Mechanicsburg |
|
Prior call letters |
WHP-FM, WXBB |
WMSP, WHKS, WWKL, WYMJ |
WTPA-FM |
WCMB-FM, WSFM, WHIT, WIMX, WWKL |
None |
WQVE, WKCD |
|
First broadcast |
June 6, 1946 3 |
Sept 30, 1962 2 |
Aug 15, 1963 3 |
July 8, 1965 3 |
April 1, 1971 6 |
Dec 1978 4 |
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TV (Harrisburg / Lancaster / Lebanon / York) |
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Call letters |
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Channel |
8 |
21 |
27 |
33 |
|
City of license |
Lancaster |
Harrisburg |
Harrisburg |
Harrisburg |
|
Prior call letters |
None |
None |
WTPA-TV |
None |
|
Prior channel |
4 |
55 |
71 |
None |
|
First official broadcast |
June 1, 1949 2 |
April 15, 1953 2 |
July 6, 1953 2 |
November 22, 1964 2 |
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Dark stations |
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Call letters |
WABX |
WCMB-TV | ||
|
Frequency or channel |
300, 400, 600 m, 1090 khz |
266 meters, 1130, 1470 khz |
100.9 mhz |
Channel 27 |
|
City of license |
Harrisburg |
Harrisburg |
Harrisburg |
Harrisburg |
|
First broadcast |
1922 2 |
1923 2 |
1948 (or earlier) 5 |
September 8, 1954 2 |
|
Last broadcast |
1930's |
Possibly 1926 |
TBD |
April 9, 1957 |
|
Not documented |
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Call letters |
WIOO |
WHYL |
WHYL-FM |
WMHX |
WWKL |
WPMT |
WLYH |
WGCB |
|
Frequency |
1000 khz |
960 khz |
102.3 mhz |
106.7 mhz |
92.1 mhz |
Channel 43 |
Channel 15 |
Channel 49 |
|
City of license |
Carlisle |
Carlisle |
Carlisle |
Hershey |
Palmyra |
York |
Lebanon |
Red Lion |
Sources
1 Earliest known listing in U.S. Department of Commerce records
2 Local newspaper
3 Station records
4 Provided by station personnel (requires additional confirmation)
5 Earliest known listing in June 1948 "Radio Craft" magazine
6 Station's web site
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