1927 in radio
Encyclopedia
The year 1927 saw a number of significant happenings in radio broadcasting history.
Events
- 1 January: The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) takes over the activities and operations of the fomer British Broadcasting CompanyBritish Broadcasting CompanyThe British Broadcasting Company Ltd was a British commercial company formed on 18 October 1922 by British and American electrical companies doing business in the United Kingdom and licensed by the British General Post Office...
(1922–26). - 1 January: NBCNBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
makes the first ever coast-to-coast network radio broadcast of a Rose Bowl GameRose Bowl GameThe Rose Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game, usually played on January 1 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. When New Year's Day falls on a Sunday, the game is played on Monday, January 2...
. - 2 January: The Reverend Claude Lhande makes the first religious broadcast on French radio, beginning a series of talks on Radio ParisRadio ParisRadio Paris was a French radio broadcasting company best known for its Axis propaganda broadcasts in Vichy France during World War II.Radio Paris evolved from the first private radio station in France, called Radiola, founded by pioneering French engineer Émile Girardeau in 1922...
entitled L'Évangile par dessus les Toits. - 21 January: A performance in ChicagoChicagoChicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, IllinoisIllinoisIllinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, of FaustFaust (opera)Faust is a drame lyrique in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré from Carré's play Faust et Marguerite, in turn loosely based on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust, Part 1...
is the first opera to be broadcast over a national radio network. - 23 February: The Federal Radio CommissionFederal Radio CommissionThe Federal Radio Commission was a government body that regulated radio use in the United States from its creation in 1926 until its replacement by the Federal Communications Commission in 1934...
(later to be replaced by the Federal Communications CommissionFederal Communications CommissionThe Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
) is created by Calvin CoolidgeCalvin CoolidgeJohn Calvin Coolidge, Jr. was the 30th President of the United States . A Republican lawyer from Vermont, Coolidge worked his way up the ladder of Massachusetts state politics, eventually becoming governor of that state...
. - 4 March: First broadcast from the Wileńskie Biuro Radiotechniczne radio station in VilniusVilniusVilnius is the capital of Lithuania, and its largest city, with a population of 560,190 as of 2010. It is the seat of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality. It is also the capital of Vilnius County...
(then in Poland, now in LithuaniaLithuaniaLithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
). - 11 March: Station PCJJPCJJPCJJ was a pioneering shortwave radio station operated by Philips Laboratories of Holland, a division of Philips Electronics....
, based at the PhilipsPhilipsKoninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. , more commonly known as Philips, is a multinational Dutch electronics company....
Laboratories in Eindhoven, makes the first short-wave broadcasts from the Netherlands to the Dutch East IndiesDutch East IndiesThe Dutch East Indies was a Dutch colony that became modern Indonesia following World War II. It was formed from the nationalised colonies of the Dutch East India Company, which came under the administration of the Netherlands government in 1800....
. PCJJ is thought to be the first distinct short-wave service having its own programming rather than simulcasting a domestic broadcaster. - 31 March: The Philips company scores a publicity coup when Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands addresses the colonial population via its PCJJ transmitter.
- 6 May: Türk Telsiz-Telefon Anonim Şirketi ("Turkish Wireless Telephony Ltd") begins radio broadcasting in IstanbulIstanbulIstanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
. - 1 June: Radio Rennes PTT begins regular transmissions in BrittanyBrittanyBrittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
. - 1 July: 23 Canadian radio stations combine forces to make the country's first nationwide broadcast, covering celebrations of the Diamond JubileeDiamond JubileeA Diamond Jubilee is a celebration held to mark a 60th anniversary in the case of a person or a 75th anniversary in the case of an event.- Thailand :...
of ConfederationCanadian ConfederationCanadian Confederation was the process by which the federal Dominion of Canada was formed on July 1, 1867. On that day, three British colonies were formed into four Canadian provinces...
. - 2 August: Under pressure by the Federal Government on the Ku Klux KlanKu Klux KlanKu Klux Klan, often abbreviated KKK and informally known as the Klan, is the name of three distinct past and present far-right organizations in the United States, which have advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration, historically...
, which owned and operated WTRC in Brooklyn, New York via their "Twentieth [District] Republican Club," WTRC was relocated to Mount Vernon, VirginiaMount Vernon, VirginiaMount Vernon is a census-designated place in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. Nearby CDPs are Fort Belvoir , Groveton, Virginia and Hybla Valley, Virginia , and Fort Hunt, Virginia...
, the call letters were changed to WTFF, and ownership was passed over to The Fellowship Forum, a newspaper published by the Klan. WTRC and WTFF were the origins of current Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
station WFED. - 21 August: The BBCBBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
starts high-power medium-wave transmissions to the English MidlandsEnglish MidlandsThe Midlands, or the English Midlands, is the traditional name for the area comprising central England that broadly corresponds to the early medieval Kingdom of Mercia. It borders Southern England, Northern England, East Anglia and Wales. Its largest city is Birmingham, and it was an important...
from station 5GB Daventry on 610 kHz.
Debuts
- 1 January: The NBC Blue Network commences operations, on what was the former experimental RCA mini-network of stations. WJZ in New York (today WABC (AM)WABC (AM)WABC , known as "NewsTalkRadio 77 WABC" is a radio station in New York City. Owned by the broadcasting division of Cumulus Media, the station broadcasts on a clear channel and is the flagship station of Cumulus Media Networks...
) serves as the Blue Network's flagship. - 1 January: The United Independent Broadcasters network is established by New York talent agent Arthur JudsonArthur JudsonArthur Leon Judson was an artists' manager who also managed the New York Philharmonic and Philadelphia Orchestra...
in Chicago, Illinois. The Columbia Phonograph Company (Columbia RecordsColumbia RecordsColumbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
' parent company) surfaces as an investor in April, and the network is named after the company. - 18 September: The Columbia Phonographic Broadcasting System is officially launched on 16 stations nationwide. Cigar manufacturer William S. PaleyWilliam S. PaleyWilliam S. Paley was the chief executive who built Columbia Broadcasting System from a small radio network into one of the foremost radio and television network operations in the United States.-Early life:...
purchases the company a week later and shortens the name to Columbia Broadcasting System
Births
- 24 June – Chuck NilesChuck NilesChuck Niles was a well-known jazz disc jockey who became the only jazz DJ to be on the Hollywood Walk of Fame....
, (d. 2004), only jazzJazzJazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
disc jockeyDisc jockeyA disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
to be on the Hollywood Walk of FameHollywood Walk of FameThe Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California...