100 years ago, we made history.
On August 5, 1921 the game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and Philadelphia Phillies was broadcast over KDKA Radio, thanks to broadcaster Harold Arlin.
Using a converted telephone to speak into, Arlin did play-by-play from a box seat at Forbes Field in Oakland.
An engineer, Arlin was fascinated by radio and took his equipment to the ground level of Forbes Field and just happened to make history.
The Pirates beat the Phillies that day 8-5.
It’s just another first for KDKA Radio, which celebrated its 100th anniversary last November (and is the world’s first commercial radio station).
While KDKA is now a 50,000-watt powerhouse broadcasting on both 1020 AM and 100.1 FM, back then, the Big K was only a 500-watt station.
The current voice of the Pirates, Greg Brown, tells The Fan that a new radio cost $200 or $2,500 in today’s money, so while many people were likely not listening, it was still a watershed moment.
Teams broadcasting their games wouldn’t become commonplace until the 1930 and 1940s with many team owners concerned broadcasting games would result in lower attendance.
Obviously that didn’t happen and today Pirates baseball is still available on KDKA and 93.7 The Fan, but also can be heard on your smart phone by opening up the Audacy app.
100 years of baseball broadcasting is quite a big deal, and we’re proud to be the home of our Pittsburgh Pirates.