Most people today can probably remember when they got their first cellphone, and how excited they were when they made that first call, probably asking the person on the other end, "Guess where I'm calling from?"
The same kind of excitement was probably going around Oneonta in February 1922 as people got their first radio sets in their home or business, or heard their first radio broadcast.
The Oneonta Star reported on Friday, Feb. 10, "While there have for some time been a number of amateur wireless receiving stations in the city with Russell E. Brigham having a more elaborate equipment than others, there has with the development of a number of broadcasting stations sending out regular daily service been aroused a wider interest in the subject and the coming summer will doubtless witness the installation of many receiving outlets both in city and country.
"The Star has purchased one of the latest and most approved Westinghouse sets through R.E. Brigham, which will be in operation within a few weeks it is expected at the Star building and it is not improbable that important news developments and sporting events such as the results of the big league ball games will be first received by wireless telephone during the coming summer.
"W.C. Brannaman at his garage on Wall street already has one of these sets in operation and Edward E. Ford and Lynn Bresee have equipment ordered for early installation in their residences, with doubtless other citizens either having placed orders or considering so doing. The Oneonta club is also considering early installation for the entertainment of members."
An advertisement in The Star on Saturday, Feb. 11, 1922, stated that "Radio-Phone Headquarters" was found at C.C. Miller, Plumbing, Heating and Electrical Contractor, 287 Main St.
The ad said that just as soon as deliveries could be made, they'd have a full line of equipment for sale.
Commercial radio was still very new in America, as Pittsburgh's KDKA, AM 1020, made the first historic broadcast on Nov. 2, 1920. It was referred to in The Star news article, as the station had daily evening programming from 7 to 10 p.m. at the time.
"Its future possibilities are unlimited," The Star reported. "They are well illustrated by the manner in which President Harding's speech at Arlington Cemetery over the body of the Unknown Soldier was broadcasted across the country. Within the next two years all the important speeches will be transmitted over the telephone wires to each of the radiophone stations and then sent out broadcast to the homes of everyone who has a receiving set installed."
It was reported on Friday, March 24, that the patrons of Oneonta's annual Automobile Show, then held at the armory on Academy Street, would be able to hear some of these "nightly concerts."
"Director U.A. Ferguson has made arrangements with R.E. Brigham to install and operate a radio telephone receiving set on each night of the show and, whether (sic) conditions permitting, the programs received nightly from the big broadcasting stations at Pittsburgh, Pa., Newark, N.J., Schenectady and other cities will be made audible to everyone in the big drill hall by means of a large amplifier which has been secured for the purpose.
"To hear such a 'long distance' concert will be a revelation to many who are not fully aware of the amazing development of wireless telephony and should attract many to the show."
The station referred to in Schenectady is today's WGY, AM 810, which signed on for the first time on Wednesday, Feb. 22, 1922.
WOR-AM, New York, signed on the same day.
In the early 21st century, not everyone is a fan of cellphones and the immediate access they can provide, for better or worse.
Interestingly, a cartoon appeared in The Star on Monday, March 27, 1922, showing one of the new radio sets being carried on the back of a youngster, much like a present-day backpack. One might compare it to a modern cellphone.
The boy, frowning and saying, "Aw, Shucks," is being besieged by messages from the device, most likely from his mother, such as, "Don't Loiter. Don't you dare to go swimming. You must go to the store before supper. Keep out'a the mud. I want you to clean up the yard. Don't forget this is bath night."
Another youth in the cartoon, also wearing a frown says, "Gee Whiz -- You can't tell what this radio thing might grow into -- Gee Whiz!"
Nevertheless, radio was here to stay in Oneonta, 90 years ago this month.
On Monday: While radio was big in 1922, outer space was just as big in February 1962.
City Historian Mark Simonson's column appears twice weekly. On Saturdays, his column focuses on the area during the Depression and before. His Monday columns address local history after the Depression. If you have feedback or ideas about the column, write to him at The Daily Star, or email him at simmark@stny.rr.com. His website is www.oneontahistorian.com. His columns can be found at www.thedailystar.com/marksimonson.
Columns
Our area began to discover radio 90 years ago this month
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