Pioneer Short-Wave Station - Pennsylvania Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

MARKER TEXT: On this site in 1923, Westinghouse opened a special radio facility to experiment with long-distance transmissions. Led by Frank Conrad, engineers here demonstrated the vital role of high-frequency short waves in sending broadcasts around the world.

This is a traditional blue and gold roadside marker in front of the Westinghouse Lodge on Barclay Avenue in Forest Hills, Pennsylvania. The marker is located one block off of Greensburg Pike behind the Franklin Center. This location was used by Westinghouse’s Frank Conrad to experiment with short-wave radio applications. Short-wave radio transmission was considered useless in the early days of radio because of high ground loss. But Conrad believed that short wave could be of value in long distance radio communication by reflecting the short-wave signals off the ionosphere. His experiments at this site proved his theories.

We were disappointed that we could not find the Frank Conrad State Historical Marker that is supposed to be at the site of Frank Conrad’s garage in Wilkinsburg (at Penn Avenue and Peebles Street). Conrad had been broadcasting from his garage since 1916. His broadcasts led to the creation of KDKA by Westinghouse, the worlds first commercial radio station. Conrad’s garage had been recently deconstructed with the plan to restore elsewhere, but lack of funding has delayed the project.


LINKS:

kdkaradio.com: “KDKA History: (visit link)

Wikipedia: “Frank Conrad”: (visit link)

Wikipedia: “ KDKA (AM)”: (visit link)

Antique Radio Classified: “Historic Site to be Resurrected? Storage Looms for the Site of Radio's First Commercial Broadcasts from 'Amateur' Station 8XK”:
(visit link)

npr.org: Conrad’s Garage: (visit link)

members.aol.com: “Broadcast History, Various Articles”: (visit link)

Nearby Waymarks:

“Westinghouse Atom Smasher (Circa 1937)”: (visit link)

“Woodland Hills High School Observatory”:
(visit link)

Marker Name: Pioneer Short-Wave Station County: Allegheny Date Dedicated: 11/02/1997 Marker Type: City Location: Barclay Ave., off Greensburg Pike, Forest Hills Category: Business and Industry Website: [Web Link]

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