Mike Terry wrote:
And another item on
memories. Back several weeks ago, we presented the story here in
Wavescan of what could be the oldest radio station in the world,
station KUOA in Siloam Springs, Arkansas. The program producer at this
station, Matt Reddin, discovered the script of this program on a
website, radiodx, in New Zealand and he made contact with us,
requesting a live 20 minute interview over the phone. As a result of
these events, radio station KUOA is seeking registration as a Heritage
Site, as the oldest radio station in the world (Adrian Michael
Peterson, AWR Wavescan Feb 29 via John Norfolk, DXLD)

Hmmm... I've heard of a lot of stations (KDKA, WHA, KCBS, WWJ, CFCF,
various European stations) claiming to be first, but this is the first
time I've heard KUOA stake that claim.

It depends on what you consider to be a "radio station".

From context, one can generally assume people mean "first broadcasting
station" - that the early spark-gap experiments of Heinrich Hertz don't
count.

A number of stations experimented with broadcasting in the years before
1920. Some of the earliest operated before radio licenses were
required. (predecessors of KCBS) Others operated under amateur or
experimental licenses. (WHA and WWJ IIRC)

Evidence strongly suggests KDKA was the first station to take out a
license for the express purpose of broadcasting. Even then, KDKA's
license wasn't a broadcasting license - it was a "limited commercial"
license. It seems that "broadcasting" licenses weren't issued until
some time in 1922.
--
Doug Smith W9WI
Pleasant View (Nashville), TN EM66
http://www.w9wi.com