WGY (810 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Schenectady, New York, and serving the Capital District of New York. It simulcasts a talk format with WGY-FM (103.1 FM). Owned by iHeartMedia, its studios are located on Troy-Schenectady Road in Latham. WGY is one of the first stations in the United States, and the oldest to operate continuously in New York State, having launched on February 20, 1922.
WGY is powered at 50,000 watts clear-channel, the maximum for commercial AM stations in the U.S. Its transmitter is off Mariaville Road, near the New York State Thruway in the Town of Rotterdam. In addition to a standard analog transmission, WGY is also available online via iHeartRadio.
History Experimental years WGY's original licensee was General Electric (GE), a company headquartered in Schenectady that had extensive experience in radio research and development. In 1903, Reginald Fessenden contracted with GE to help him design and produce a series of high-frequency alternator-transmitters. This project was ultimately assigned to Ernst F. W. Alexanderson, who in August 1906 delivered a unit which was successfully used by Fessenden to make radiotelephone demonstrations."Experiments and Results in Wireless Telephony" by John Grant, The American Telephone Journal, January 26, 1907, pages 49-51.
In early 1915, GE was granted a Class 3-Experimental license with the call sign 2XI."New Stations: Special Land Stations", Radio Service Bulletin, May 1915, page 4. The "2" in 2XI's call sign indicated that the station was located in the second Radio Inspection district, while the "X" signified that it was an Experimental license. (serial #112) The Department of Commerce regulated radio at this time under the authority of the Radio Act of 1912, which had been approved on August 13, 1912. That license was canceled in 1917 due to the United States' entry into World War I. 2XI was relicensed in 1920."New Stations: Special Land Stations", Radio Service Bulletin, December 1, 1920, page 4.
Ernst Alexanderson continued alternator design research and developed more powerful transmitters that by 1919 were considered the best available option for long distance radiotelegraph communication. In 1919, GE's leadership in alternator manufacture led the U.S. government to promote the idea of the company taking over the assets of the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company of America. This purchase was used to form a GE subsidiary, the Radio Corporation of America (RCA), which became the leading radio company in the United States. In 1921, GE signed a cross-licensing agreement with the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company that made RCA the sales agent for radio equipment produced by the two companies. (In 1932 RCA became an independent company as part of an antitrust settlement).
Alternator radio transmitters became obsolete by the mid-1920s due to advances in vacuum-tube technology, and another GE employee, Irving Langmuir, played an important role in this development. GE was a major manufacturer of radio vacuum tubes during World War I, and produced over 200,000 for the military during the conflict.Saga of the Vacuum Tube by Gerald F. J. Tyne, 1977, page 146. Tubes of increasing power ratings were designed, and by the summer of 1922, Langmuir had introduced a 20-kilowatt version."Irving Langmuir—Creator of the Super-Tube" Popular Science, October 1922, page 63.
Radio communication was initially generally limited to Morse code transmissions. By the early 1920s, improvements in vacuum-tube capabilities made audio transmissions practical. Effective December 1, 1921, the United States Department of Commerce, which beginning in 1912 had been responsible for regulating radio stations,"Regulations Governing Radio Communication" (Edition September 28, 1912) set aside two wavelengths for use by broadcasting stations: 360 meters (833 kHz) for "entertainment", and 485 meters (619 kHz) for "market and weather reports"."Amendments to Regulations", Radio Service Bulletin, January 3, 1922, page 10.
On February 4, 1922, GE received its first broadcasting license, for a new station located in Schenectady which was authorized to transmit on the 360-meter entertainment wavelength and was issued the randomly assigned call letters WGY."New Stations", Radio Service Bulletin, March 1, 1922, page 2. Limited Commercial license, serial No. 285, call letters WGY, issued February 4, 1922, for a three-month period to the General Electric Company in Schenectady, New York. (A few months later permission was granted to also broadcast on 485 meters.)"Alterations and Corrections: Broadcasting Stations", Radio Service Bulletin, July 1, 1922, page 10. The original transmitter produced an antenna power of 1,500 watts, which was three times the wattage of the standard "high-powered" station at the time. Unusual for the period, the station's studio and transmitter site were at separate locations. Broadcasts originated from a studio on the fourth floor of Building 36 at the General Electric Plant in Schenectady, which was connected to a T-top wire antenna located atop Building 40, another GE building about 1/3 of a mile (1/2 km) distant."WGY", The Wireless Age, July 1922, page 42.
Early broadcasts The station was placed under the oversight of Martin P. Rice, who was the manager of the company's publication bureau. WGY's debut broadcast started at 7:47 p.m. on February 20, 1922, when Kolin Hager, or as he was known on the air, "KH", signed on with the station's call letters, explaining the W is for wireless, G for General Electric, and Y, the last letter in Schenectady.Empire Radio Partners, WGY 65th year of service commemorative book, 1987 The first broadcast, "furnished by some of this city's best talent" lasted about one hour."Wireless Local Music to City in Long Island", Schenectady Gazette, February 21, 1922, page 11. It consisted of live music and announcements of song titles and other information.WGY Operating Log (February 20, 1922) The station's second program took place two days later, and featured a speech about George Washington, delivered by W. W. Tranch, Schenectady's American Legion post commander, followed by a concert."Legion Man Speaks From WGY Station", Schenectady Gazette, February 23, 1922, page 12.
WGY was a pioneer in the use of remote broadcasts originating from locations outside of the main studio, carrying out the first one just days after it signed on. On February 23, 1922, the station ran a telephone line connection to the Union College gymnasium, where New York governor Nathan L. Miller and others gave speeches commemorating the 17th anniversary of the Rotary Club. This was followed by a short concert."Gov. Miller's Speech Sent Out From WGY", Schenectady Gazette, February 24, 1922, page 11. Other early programming included coverage of the Yale-Harvard football game live from New Haven, Connecticut; the WGY String Orchestra live from the State Theater in Schenectady, and talks and presentations by various GE innovators, explorers, state and local officials.
A few months after WGY began broadcasting, Edward H. Smith, director of a community theater group called the Masque in nearby Troy, suggested to Kolin Hager that WGY carry weekly 40-minute long adaptations of plays. A troupe was formed known as the WGY Players performing as radio's first dramatic series.McLeod, Elizabeth, "The WGY Players and the Birth of Radio Drama", 1998 (otr.org); Sterling, Christopher H., & John M. Kittross, Stay Tuned, A History of American Broadcasting (Lawrence Eribaum, 3rd Edition, 2001), p. 88. On August 3, 1922, they presented Eugene Walter's 1908 play The Wolf, the first of 43 dramatizations performed during the 1922–1923 season. Smith became a pioneer of radio drama sound effects during this first play when he slapped a couple of two-by-four boards together to simulate the slamming of a door."The Mystery of Sound Effects in the Radio Studio" by Lucille Fletcher, The Etude, November 1940, page 731. Initially the actors wore costumes and makeup on the theory that this would enhance performances, but the practice was soon discarded as unneeded. The WGY Orchestra was used to provide music between acts. Response was immediate, with the station reporting that the broadcast resulted in its receiving more than two thousand letters.Rudel, Anthony J., Hello, Everybody, the Dawn of American Radio (Harcourt Books, 2008), p. 206; Fletcher, Lucille, "Onward & Upward With the Arts," The New Yorker, Vol. XVI, No. 9, April 13, 1940, p. 47; "Squeaks, Slams, Echoes, and Shots," in Kern, John D., & Irwin Griggs, This America (Kessinger Publishing, LLC, 2005), p. 200; Shurick, Edward P. J., "Chronology of Milestones: Dramatics", The First Quarter-Century of American Broadcasting (Midland Publishing Company, 1946), p. 81. See also, Meenam, W. T., "Back-Stage with 'Radio Mike,' How Broadcasters Send Realistic Drama Over the Air", Popular Science Monthly, Vol. 105, No. 3, September 1924, p. 68; Huntley, Charles H., "When 'All the Air's a Stage – And the Radio Audience Joins the WGY Players in Creating the Illusion of the Spoken, but Invisible Drama – Success of Schenectady Station in Presenting Plays – How It's Done", The Wireless Age, Volume 10, No. 1, October 1922, pp. 27-28. On November 9, the Players presented on The Sign of the Four starring Edward H. Smith as Sherlock Holmes,Hartford Courant, "Radio Radiations: WGY, Schenectady," November 9, 1922, p. 14; Poughkeepsie Eagle-News, "In the Air Today," November 9, 1928, Case Six; McLeod, Elizabeth, "The WGY Players and the Birth of Radio Drama", 1998 (otr.org); King, R. R., "The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes and the 1920s Radio Drama", Radio Recall, June 2008 (mwotrc.com) and the world's only consulting detective joined the growing number of "disembodied voices floating through electromagnetic heaven."
In 1923, Guglielmo Marconi, credited as the inventor of radio, paid a visit to Schenectady to see WGY's transmitter and studios."WGY Celebrates 65th Anniversary", Radio & Records January 30, 1987, page 1
TV experiments Beginning in 1926, Ernst Alexanderson worked on an experimental mechanical television system. This led, on September 11, 1928, to the WGY Players broadcasting the first televised play, an old spy melodrama titled The Queen's Messenger and starring Izetta Jewel and Maurice Randall. Alexanderson's development of a portable and simplified television transmitter made the broadcast possible. The only viewers were newspaper and magazine writers watching the program on a 3x3-inch (7.6 cm) screen located three miles (five kilometers) away in the WGY studio. The broadcasts took place at 1:30 and 11:30 pm.; McLeod, Elizabeth, "Old Time Radio Moments of the Century", 1999 (old-time.com); Hertzberg, Robert, "Television Makes the Radio Drama Possible", Radio News, December 1928, pages 524-527, 587-588 (earlytelevision.org); Lanza, Joseph, & Dennis Penna, Russ, Russ Columbo and the Crooner Mystique (Feral House, 2002), p.155; Hawes, William, American Television Drama, The Experimental Years (University of Alabama Press, 1986), p. 155.