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In the News

October 30, 2020

Live Online Events: 1st Commercial Radio Broadcast Reenacted at RIDC Keystone Commons

Live from RIDC Keystone Commons:

Nov. 2 – A reenactment of the first commercial radio broadcast, covering the 1920 Harding-Cox election and marking 100 years of radio, will be broadcast and streamed live online by the National Museum of Broadcasting and Duquesne University.

Nov. 3 – Actual 2020 election updates will be broadcast and streamed live online from a replica of the 1920 KDKA radio shack. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette will provide election updates to the “shack” as it’s predecessor Pittsburgh Post did 100 years ago.

RIDC Keystone Commons, formerly a Westinghouse complex, is the original site of KDKA’s 1920 radio shack that made the inaugural commercial radio broadcast to Americans across the nation on Election Night and marked the birth of the broadcast industry. But the significance of this centennial anniversary goes beyond that. The 1920 presidential election came at a time when, like today, the nation was recovering from a pandemic and experiencing social activism. The Harding-Cox election was the first in which women could vote.

We are so pleased to host this monumental event. RIDC Keystone Commons, formerly a Westinghouse complex, is the original site of KDKA’s 1920 radio shack that made this inaugural commercial radio broadcast. Westinghouse’s legacy of innovation and manufacturing still continues today.

For more information about these events, where to watch, who was all involved, please visit the partners and events page: https://lnkd.in/dpDWnpT.

Media Coverage:

Re-enactment Commemorates 100th Anniversary Of First Commercial Radio Broadcast

Duquesne and National Museum of Broadcasting commemorate 1st KDKA broadcast