Frank Conrad was never one to think small.

An assistant chief engineer at Westinghouse Electric’s East Pittsburgh Works, Conrad had taken the unprecedented step of putting a microphone next to a phonograph so listeners of his home-built station, 8KX, could hear music.

Then he brought an even bigger idea to the airwaves.

At 6 p.m. Nov. 2, 1920, 8KX became KDKA Radio and broadcast the returns of the presidential race between Warren G. Harding and James M. Cox from a shack atop a Westinghouse building in Turtle Creek. It made KDKA, now celebrating 100 years on the air, the nation’s first commercial radio broadcasting station.

Radio and radio news was born.

“This was the smoky city then, street lights coming on at noon and businessmen bringing a change of shirts to work because of the black grime that inevitably coated their collars,” said Andy Masich, president and CEO of the Senator John Heinz History Center.

“That’s the Pittsburgh that Frank Conrad set up his station in, first in his garage and then the roof of the Westinghouse plant. So it’s in that environment that this guy says, ‘Hey, you can hear people talking through the air, not over a wire, through the air. And you can get the news in real time, live,’ ” Masich said.

In the century that followed, KDKA would thrill listeners with many more firsts. But the station would also endear itself and build an emotional bond with its audience by bringing personalities to the air that Pittsburghers welcomed into their homes and felt were a part of their families.

“The history of firsts on KDKA is incredible,” said current KDKA Radio morning host Larry Richert. “First music by a live performance orchestra, first sporting events: baseball, football, World Series. I think that’s amazing.”

Courtesy of Entercom Pittsburgh KDKA in Pittsburgh is credited with being the first commercial radio broadcast station in 1920.  

But if it were only the firsts for which KDKA was known, the station would not have maintained the prominent place in Pittsburgh popular culture and lore that it now holds. Much of it has to do with the content and talent provided by its on-air personalities.

From 1954 to 1965 Rege Cordic hosted a morning show called “Cordic and Company” on KDKA that became must listening in the Steel City. The show featured a repertory company of supporting comic actors and memorable running gags, including fake commercials. One of the most memorable was a fake ad for “Olde Frothingslosh, the pale stale ale with the foam on the bottom.”

Cordic’s show became so popular that it was reported to have an 85% ratings share, meaning that 85% of all radios in Pittsburgh were tuned to “Cordic and Company.” The show helped propel Cordic to a Hollywood acting career and inspired future comedic actors such as Pittsburgh native Joe Flaherty, who became a cast member of “Second City Television” and starred in several movies.

Listening way out West

KDKA’s 50,000-watt signal helped make the station a national brand, heard in some 38 states. One of those states was Montana where, during the 1940s, a young Jack Bogut was tuned in with the rest of his elementary school class.

“I was in the third or fourth grade and our teacher got a crystal out of a box of Cracker Jacks with instructions to solder some copper wire to this crystal and then wrap it around a Quaker Oatmeal box,” Bogut said. “If you wrapped enough turns around and held it up properly with an earphone, you could get a radio signal from somewhere. So we listened to some static, and then a voice said, ‘This is KDKA Radio, Pittsburgh.’

“What are the odds that all these years later, I wind up working for that very radio station?”

Kristina Serafini | Tribune-Review Former KDKA Radio host Jack Bogut, as seen in October 2020.  

Bogut became a fixture on KDKA, hosting the morning show for 15 years, from 1968 to 1983. He was part of the morning wake-up ritual for seemingly an entire city.

Bogut endeared himself to listeners with bits like his comical ode to the “Slithery Dee,” a slimy creature that captured kids skipping school, and his Farkleberry cookies and other treats inspired by a Farkleberry Bush Festival in North Dakota. The Farkleberry items became synonymous with the Children’s Hospital Fundraiser that is a KDKA tradition.

“KDKA always had a strong emotional connection to the audience,” Bogut said. “Back then there were no cellphones. There was no internet. There weren’t many alternatives to listening to the radio. So people listened, not only to get the information they needed to run their lives but also entertainment that they need to keep them occupied and amused.

“That emotional connection cut across all lines. Back then, KDKA was broadcasting. By that I mean whoever you are — young, old, male, female, Black, white, Protestant, Catholic — it didn’t make any difference. We’re just sending a radio signal out there to anybody that happens to be listening.”

Iconic shows and iconic hosts

For years radio programmers have had a belief that as the morning goes, so goes the rest of the broadcast day. Over the decades, however, KDKA has owed its success to more than the popularity of its morning hosts.

From 1951 to 1971, husband and wife Ed and Wendy King co-hosted KDKA’s “Party Line” program from 10 p.m. to midnight. The show was driven by callers — who could not be heard. Ed and Wendy would paraphrase their questions and others would call in with answers (also paraphrased and delivered by the hosts).

One of the segments was called the “Party Pretzel Quiz.” The hosts would ask a question of the callers and during the course of the evening give clues until someone got the correct answer. With KDKA’s nationwide reach, “Party Line” had a huge following. The show ended in November 1971 when Ed King died at age 50.

What followed were a trio of talented hosts who carried on nonstop talk — with on-air callers — from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. Monday through Friday. While KDKA may not have invented the talk format, it certainly seemed to have perfected it.

Courtesy of Entercom Pittsburgh An undated staff photo of John Cigna and his crew.  

The often antagonistic but brilliant Mike Levine kicked things off from 6-9 p.m. John Cigna, who went on to become the morning host, delved into topical issues and conducted in-depth interviews from 9 p.m. to midnight. And Perry Marshall somehow managed to go from midnight to 6 a.m., often with long stretches without guests, by being as good a listener as he was a talker.

“I got to meet all of those men and women, including Wendy King,” Richert said. “To meet the people who were doing that when I was a kid, never in my wildest dreams thinking that someday I would be the morning man at KDKA. I feel like I’m standing on the shoulders of the greats.

“We used to listen, for instance, to Jack Bogut in the kitchen, and my parents would have it on and we would get ready for school. To think I’m only one person separated from Jack, with John Cigna being on for 18 years, it’s almost like an out-of-body experience.”

The next 100 years

The history of KDKA continues to inspire the people who work there today, according to Michael Spacciapolli, senior vice president and market manager of Entercom Pittsburgh, which owns KDKA Radio.

“The call letters are magical,” Spacciapolli said. “What was built here by the people before us is just incredible.”

So what about the next 100 years?

Starting Nov. 2, as part of the commemoration of the station’s centennial anniversary, KDKA-AM will simulcast on FM for the first time and be heard on 100.1 FM.

Spacciapolli knows it will take more than that to keep even an iconic station like KDKA relevant.

“We’re continuing to find new ways and new platforms and new reach and new distribution for the radio station so we can continue to expand and deliver to the audience that we have and new audiences that can really benefit from what KDKA is,” Spacciapolli said.

“What will KDKA be in 10 years, 20 years? KDKA will be in a lot of different places. It will be on your phone nonstop. It will be from a mobile perspective something that is part of people’s lives. KDKA delivers local, community content that impacts people’s lives in Pittsburgh. And that’s why KDKA has been here for a hundred years and will continue to be here.”

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