WDY was an AM radio station located in Roselle Park, New Jersey, that was licensed to the

Radio Corporation of America The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Com ...

(RCA) from September 19, 1921 to February 20, 1923, although its broadcasting career only spanned the period from December 15, 1921 through February 17, 1922. Despite being short-lived, WDY was the first broadcasting station licensed in the state of

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

, and one of the first in the United States. It also marked RCA's entrance into the broadcasting field, which the company would dominate in the U.S. for the next half century.

History

Broadcasting development

During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, civilian radio stations had been banned in the United States. After the end of the war, radio broadcasting, which had previously been done on a limited, mostly experimental basis, began to become better organized, and saw the entrance of major established corporations. In the New York City area, beginning in late 1919 the De Forest Radio Telephone Company transmitted a nightly news and entertainment broadcast over its experimental station, 2XG, located in the Highbridge section of

the Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

, in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. However, in early 1920 the local government Radio Inspector shut down 2XG's operation on technical grounds, and Lee de Forest responded by transferring his broadcasting efforts to station 6XC in San Francisco. In early November 1920, the

Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company The Westinghouse Electric Corporation was an American manufacturing company founded in 1886 by George Westinghouse. It was originally named "Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company" and was renamed "Westinghouse Electric Corporation" in ...

began operation of its first broadcasting station, KDKA, in East Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in order to promote the sale of radio receivers. Following that station's success, Westinghouse made plans to establish additional stations in major population centers.

Establishment of WDY

RCA, spurred by its then-General Manager David Sarnoff, was also keenly interested in the possibilities of radio broadcasting. On July 2, 1921 it operated a temporary station, WJY, located at

Hoboken, New Jersey Hoboken ( ; Unami: ') is a city in Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 60,417. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 58,690 i ...

, to broadcast round-by-round the heavyweight prizefight between Jack Dempsey and Georges Carpentier. The company next worked to establish a more permanent presence, and on September 19, 1921 RCA was issued a license for WDY, with studio and transmitter located at

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energ ...

's (GE) Aldene plant in Roselle Park, New Jersey, and transmitting on a wavelength of 360 meters (833 kHz). (At this time RCA was a GE subsidiary. The station call letters were randomly assigned and did not stand for anything.) Although it was announced that WDY would begin operations "around October 15", the station's first broadcast wasn't aired until December 15, 1921. In the meantime, on September 29, 1921 Westinghouse was issued a license for its own broadcasting station, WJZ (now WABC), located at the company's manufacturing plant in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area. Although WDY's license was issued first, it started broadcasting two months after WJZ commenced operations. Because both stations were assigned the same wavelength of 360 meters, they made an arrangement that WDY would broadcast on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday nights, with WJZ operating on the other four days of the week. WDY's divided its schedule into "vocal and instrumental selections by well known artists" on Mondays, "interpretive performances of the popular operas" on Wednesdays, and informal "party nights" on Fridays. Somewhat casual for the time, the station adopted the slogan "The Cute Castle of Cordiality". The most famous performer to appear over WDY was showman Eddie Cantor, who made his radio debut at the station in early February 1922. Cantor was somewhat suspicious whether his performance, addressed toward a mute microphone, was actually being heard by anybody, so he asked listeners to send in dimes to be donated to charity. The response was enough to convince him about the effectiveness of the new medium. Other prominent performers making their radio premiers included singer

Aileen Stanley Aileen Stanley, born Maude Elsie Aileen Muggeridge (March 21, 1893 – March 24, 1982), was one of the most popular American singers of the early 1920s. Early life Born in Chicago, Illinois, Stanley was the youngest of four children of English ...

and actress

Norma Shearer Edith Norma Shearer (August 11, 1902June 12, 1983) was a Canadian-American actress who was active on film from 1919 through 1942. Shearer often played spunky, sexually liberated ingénues. She appeared in adaptations of Noël Coward, Eugene O'N ...

Station shutdown

Although RCA had made a significant financial investment in establishing WDY, and its debut and ongoing operations were made with great fanfare, changes in the radio industry soon made the station redundant. RCA, formed in 1919, was originally a wholly owned GE subsidiary. However, on July 1, 1921, GE made an agreement with Westinghouse to cross-license radio patents, which gave Westinghouse 40% ownership of RCA, and also made RCA the sales agent for Westinghouse radio receivers. Because these companies were now working together, there was no longer a need for both WDY and WJZ, moreover, WJZ was located closer to New York City and had been providing a greater variety of programs. The decision was made to shut down WDY, with RCA now contributing 50% toward WJZ's expenses. WDY made its final broadcast on February 17, 1922, as RCA announced it was combining its broadcasting activities with Westinghouse. A statement in the March 1922 issue of ''Wireless Age'' said that WDY's suspension was only temporary, with RCA preparing to reactivate the station "in the heart of New York City", moreover, "When WDY relocates to New York, WJZ will be silenced." However, WDY's license was quietly deleted on February 20, 1923, and when RCA's New York City facility began operations on May 15, 1923, the station actually inherited the WJZ call sign. In retrospect, WDY was described as a "transition station, almost the equivalent of a tryout of a Broadway play in the provinces", which provided RCA with valuable experience as it developed its broadcasting services.Archer (1938)
page 245
quoting George H. Clark manuscript.

References

{{New York Radio 1921 establishments in New Jersey 1923 disestablishments in New Jersey Defunct radio stations in the United States Roselle Park, New Jersey Radio stations established in 1921 Radio stations disestablished in 1923 DY DY