The year is 1921. Until now, you have been able to use the radio for hearing election results and peace treaties. All of the sudden you hear of public radio possibly broadcasting sports. You don’t believe it could actually happen until you tune into a pioneering radio station, hear the announcer’s excitement and feel the energy in the venue of a boxing match through the airwaves.
“On the Boardwalk in Asbury Park, NJ, a ‘rolling chair’ offers passers-by a listen to the fight by wireless radio telephone.” Courtesy of PopHistoryDig.com
1921 was the first time a large population of listeners were able to gather around their radios and get a play-by-play of every swing, duck, and knockout taking place during the boxing match between Jack Dempsey and Georges Carpentier.
The station to claim the first public radio sports broadcast was KDKA from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They even broadcasted the first baseball game. In that same year of 1921, the first football game to air on radio was between the University of Pittsburgh and West Virginia University.
Check out this old recording of a sports radio broadcast featuring announcer Ty Tyson.
Radio’s broadcasting of sports allowed for listeners to not only join in on the excitement, but paint a picture, revive memories and incite passionate arguments. This technological evolution has gone from radios the size of televisions, to transportable radios, to car and internet radio and, in the spirit of convergence, radio apps. Convergence is a term to describe the combination or availability of multiple mediums, outlets or operations (news, books, call, Facebook, calculator) on one device.
There are now hundreds of sports radio stations with an entity or company being allowed to own no more than eight radio stations. Government radio stations like NPR even broadcast some sports programming. Not only has the accessibility and topics discussed on the radio expanded/changed, it has gone through demassification (we’ll get into that later) . My father is the perfect example of someone benefiting from the evolution of radio and sports broadcasting. Not only does he watch games on television and discuss them with friends, he listens to sports radio ALL. DAY. Do you benefit too?
Sources:
Beer, Babes, and Balls: Masculinity and Sports Talk Radio by David Nylund
Play-by-Play: Radio, Television, and Big-Time College Sport by Ronald Smith
NPR Radio Government Website (Sports Section)
Sports Marketing 2016-2017. Vol. 17th edition by Richard K. Miller & Associates
Media and Sports 