page_title: Frank Conrad
section_title: Broadcasting station KDKA
hierarchical_section_title: Frank Conrad / Broadcasting station KDKA
caption_attribution_description: English: Westinghouse Vocarola loudspeaker, an early radio loudspeaker sold between January 1922 and September 1923. Like most early speakers it was a horn loudspeaker, which used a coiled brass horn to amplify the sound produced by a small metal diaphragm vibrated by an electromagnet in the small cylindrical box (right, near bottom). It could either stand on a table or be attached to a wall. The cord plugged into the earphone jack of a radio. Two models were made: the Type I shown here, and the Type LV. It initially sold for $30, reduced to $18 the next year. The speaker was designed by Frank Conrad from an automobile horn. When radio broadcasting suddenly began in 1920, creating a demand for family listening, there were not many speakers on the market; most radios used earphones. Conrad tried attaching a reproducer from a Baldwin telephone earpiece to the coiled brass sound duct from an automobile horn. It worked well enough that he kept this design. The original mica diaphragm of the earpiece was replaced with a metal diaphragm to handle the higher power. (Information from Eric Wenaas (2007) Radiola: The Golden Age of RCA 1919-1929, Sonoran Publishing, p.142-143 )
context_page_description: Frank Conrad was an electrical engineer, best known for radio development, including his work as a pioneer broadcaster. He worked for the Westinghouse Electrical and Manufacturing Company in East Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for half a century. His experimental radio station provided the inspiration, and he acted in an advisory role, for the establishment of Westinghouse's first broadcasting service, over radio station KDKA.
context_section_description: In late 1920, 8XK's entertainment broadcasts would spark Westinghouse's entry into the broadcasting field. The Joseph Horne department store ran daily full-page advertisements in the Pittsburgh papers, and its September 23 placement noted that the store had started selling simple "wireless receiving stations". Then, in the September 29 installment, the ad mentioned that the Horne staff had recently heard an "air concert" from Conrad's station. Upon seeing this latest ad, Westinghouse vice president H. P. Davis immediately began to spearhead the construction of a Westinghouse broadcasting station. His idea was that the company could start selling its own radio receivers to the general public, with the free daily entertainment offered by a broadcasting station stimulating sales.
  The American Radio Relay League had already set up a program for various amateur stations to distribute voting results on election day, November 2, and in the Pittsburgh area 8XK had been scheduled to be the local participant. However, Westinghouse decided to inaugurate its new broadcasting service on the same night, so Conrad switched to supporting that effort instead. Westinghouse's election night broadcast was successfully conducted over station 8ZZ (soon to become KDKA) in East Pittsburgh, with Conrad maintaining a watch at his Wilkinsburg garage, ready to have 8XK take over if 8ZZ had experienced problems.
  Westinghouse went on to have a leading role in the development of radio broadcasting in the United States. Conrad revised his earlier receiver designs to create consumer products for the company's new customers, and when Westinghouse began selling model RA Tuners and DA Detectors in early 1921, they were advertised as employing "the latest ideas of two noted engineers, Edwin H. Armstrong and Frank Conrad".
caption: Vocarola loudspeaker, designed by Frank Conrad from an automobile horn
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