The Evolution
Of Electronic
Mass Media
The future home of the museum
in East Pittsburgh is near the site of KDKA’s first broadcast in 1920.
In 1920, a team at Westinghouse Electric in Pittsburgh led by Frank Conrad and Harry P. Davis puts KDKA radio on the air, sparking the Big Bang of electronic mass media.
From that singular event came the expanding universe of modern media — FM, broadcast TV, cable, satellite, the web, social media and streaming. Our museum will tell the story of how it all began and the technological and business genius that drives its continuing evolution.
A Word from Our President, Bill Hillgrove
As a Pittsburgher and broadcaster, I am proud to lead the effort to establish the National Museum of Broadcasting in this city. The birth of electronic mass media could have happened anywhere. But, in fact, it happened right here. It was here that technology and capital fused at KDKA radio a century ago and set the foundation for all other electronic media to come.
Our museum will be more than a bunch of dusty old radios and TVs, although we have plenty of them. It will be an experience. It will tell the story of electronic media in immersive and interactive ways. We expect the museum to become a must-see for locals and for visitors.
We are grateful to State Senator Jay Costa and the Regional Industrial Development Corp., who have arranged for us to acquire a building for the museum (see above) in East Pittsburgh just a few hundreds yards from the site of KDKA’s historic first broadcast.
But the building is just a start. To fulfill our vision, we will need time and the support of many others who believe in our educational mission and who want to celebrate Pittsburgh as a high-tech hub — past, present and future. Please contact us if you would like to help and consider a tax-deductible contribution.
Here’s to Frank Conrad!
Nearly 200 Pittsburgh broadcasting legends, community leaders, elected officials, and just plain TV and radio fans, converged on the historic Wilkinsburg Train Station May 4 to celebrate the 150th birthday of Pittsburgh native, broadcasting pioneer, engineer and inventor, Frank Conrad.
It was all part of a fundraiser to help the National Museum of Broadcasting raise its profile and funding to help build a museum to Pittsburgh’s legacy of broadcasting and media.
The NMB bestowed the inaugural Frank Conrad Award for Broadcast and Electronic Media Innovation to WQED-FM’s Artistic Director and morning mhow host Jim Cunningham, and a panel of Pittsburgh broadcasters talked about the past and future of the media. For more, click here.
A panel of broadcasters comprising (l-r) Bill Flanagan, Sally Wiggin, Jim Cunningham, and Jack Bogut discussed how radio and other media continue to evolve.
The great-grandsons of Conrad, Jamie (l) and Frank Conrad II (c), came from out of town to present the NMB’s inaugural innovation award to WQED-FM’s Jim Cunningham.
NMB Board Member Susie Barbour and President Bill Hillgrove hosted the party.
The crowd sang “Happy Birthday” and enjoyed cake and other refreshments.
Some of the museum’s many artifacts from radio’s earliest days were displayed.
Funds were raised though a silent auction and a 50/50 raffle.
“Societies have always been shaped more by the nature of the media…than by the content of the communication.”
— Marshall McLuhan