WFAN (AM)

Early AT&T radio development[edit]

AT&T had an early interest in radiotelephone development, although initially only as a method for establishing telephone links to locations where it was not possible to string wire lines. Lee de Forest's development of vacuum-tube amplification would prove invaluable for progress in a number of areas. In July 1913 the company spent $50,000 to purchase from the inventor the patent rights for telephone wire amplification, and in 1915 used this innovation to make the first transcontinental telephone calls. In October 1914, the company further purchased the commercial patent rights for radio signalling for $90,000, and in October 1915 conducted test radio transmissions from the Navy's station in Arlington, Virginia, NAA, that were heard as far away as Paris, France^[4] and Hawaii.^[5]


AT&T's main competitor in the radio field would be the Radio Corporation of America (RCA), which was formed in 1919 as a subsidiary of General Electric (GE). Because no single company held sufficient patents rights to operate radio systems without infringing on other company's patents, a series of cross-licensing agreements were concluded between a series of companies holding key patents, and on July 1, 1920, AT&T signed a comprehensive agreement with GE. These agreements in effect assigned dominance in specified areas of the radio industry to individual participating companies, which eventually would meet with anti-trust challenges. In addition, conflicting interpretations of some of the pact's clauses by the signatories would lead to numerous disputes, especially between AT&T and the other participants, known collectively as the "radio group".


On December 1, 1921, the U.S. Department of Commerce, which regulated radio at this time, adopted a regulation formally establishing a broadcasting station category, which set aside the wavelength of 360 meters (833 kHz) for entertainment broadcasts, and 485 meters (619 kHz) for market and weather reports.^[6] AT&T soon recognized that it had the technical expertise and patent rights needed to play an important, and possibly dominant, role in the broadcasting industry. A December 1921 memo prepared by two AT&T engineers proposed that the company construct a nationwide radio network, using the company's long lines to connect together individual stations. They also noted that "this service would enable the national and local advertisers, industrial institutions of all kinds, and even individuals if they desire, to send forth information and advertising matter audibly to thousands".^[7] AT&T moved quickly to start implementing this plan, and on February 11, 1922, formally announced its intention to develop a "national chain of radio transmitting stations".^[8]


A key component was the construction by AT&T of a well equipped New York City station. In early 1922 an experimental station, 2XY, was built atop the AT&T "Long Lines" building at 24 Walker Street.^[9] On April 29, 1922, the Walker Street station was issued a broadcasting station license, for operation on 360 meters, with the call sign of WBAY.^[10] On May 19 a second New York City broadcasting station, also on 360 meters, was licensed to the Western Electric Company, an AT&T subsidiary located at 463 West Street, with the call letters WDAM. Ten days later, this call sign was changed to WEAF.^[11][12] All of these call signs were randomly assigned from a sequential roster of available call letters, although at the time it was noted that WEAF matched the entrance artwork at AT&T headquarters at 195 Broadway, which depicted the four classical elements of water, earth, air and fire.^[13]


The original plan was that AT&T would not originate any programming of its own, and instead would rent WBAY out for commercial use, $40 for 15 minutes daytime, $50 during evenings, which, using an existing telephone term, was called "toll" broadcasting.^[14] However, initially there was very little interest in this idea, and in order to begin service the company had to start broadcasting its own programs. The debut broadcast over WBAY, of recorded music, took place on July 25, 1922,^[15] its signal was found to be weaker than expected, so on August 16, 1922, broadcasting operations were transferred to the WEAF transmitter located at West Street.^[16] It was later reported that the first WEAF broadcast included the singer Marguerite Dunlap.^[17]


On August 28, 1922, WEAF broadcast its first sponsored program, a roughly 10-minute-long talk anticipating today's radio and television infomercials. This promoted an apartment development in Jackson Heights near a new elevated subway line (the IRT's Flushing-Corona line, now the number 7 line).^[18] Although often credited as the first radio commercial, there are reports that a few other stations had already quietly carried paid programs.^[19][20][21]


In September 1922 the Department of Commerce set aside a second entertainment wavelength, 400 meters (750 kHz) for "Class B" stations that had quality equipment and programming.^[22] Both WBAY and WEAF were assigned to this wavelength.^[23]


The original issues with the weak WBAY transmissions from 24 Walker Street were eventually solved, and AT&T returned to that site as its primary transmitter location. Because the WEAF call sign was now well-known, the two stations swapped call signs on May 12, 1923, with WBAY becoming WEAF, and WEAF becoming WBAY.^[24] Because of this, FCC records list WFAN's "First License" as April 29, 1922, which is when the first license was issued for WBAY at Walker Street.^[25] (The new WBAY later became WECO, and was deleted on November 6, 1924).


Effective May 15, 1923, additional "Class B" assignments were made available, with New York City-Newark allocated three frequencies, including 610 kHz,^[26] and WBAY and WEAF were reassigned to this new frequency.^[27]