The granddaddy of all radio stations will mark a milestone birthday next month. KDKA-AM (1020) will celebrate its 80th anniversary with several special broadcasts and events.
KDKA, which was the nation's first commercially licensed radio station, aired its first broadcast on Nov. 2, 1920, with coverage of the Harding-Cox presidential election returns.
On Nov. 2, John Cigna and the KDKA Morning News will broadcast live outside Gateway Center. The morning show will include coverage of the opening of a KDKA time capsule that was buried in Gateway Center in 1970. A new time capsule -- to be unearthed in 2050 -- will take its place.
Later that day, KDKA talk hosts Mike Pintek, Fred Honsberger, Thor Tolo and Mike Romigh will broadcast from the lobby of Two Gateway Center. Their shows will feature interviews with former KDKA personalities, including Art Pallan, Wendy King, Roy Fox, Trish Beatty and Perry Marshall. Throughout the day, listeners will hear vintage jingles and news reports from the past.
The National Museum of Broadcasting, the group that is working to establish a broadcasting museum here, will re-create the original "broadcast shack" where the historic 1920 broadcast took place.
And finally at 6 p.m., the station will air "Hear's Where It All Began," a one-hour retrospective without commercials.
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