The communications revolution set in place by the advent of radio transformed the world. Many in Oklahoma were at the forefront of these changes, even as the state itself was coming into its own at the beginning of the 20th century.
WKY radio, which crackled to life in Oklahoma City as experimental station 5XT in April of 1921, was one of those forerunners. The Department of Commerce granted their license, and in March 1922, the station would receive the call letters it still claims today.
“The granting of the license gave the station the distinction of being the eleventh broadcast station in the United States and the first to be licensed for regular programming west of the Mississippi,” writes Donald K. Tolman in his article for The Chronicles of Oklahoma, Through the Ether: The Birth of Radio in Central Oklahoma.
Earl C. Hull and his business partner, H.S. Richards, started WKY in the garage of Hull’s home with just 20 watts of power. Hull gained experience with radio technology during his military service in World War I. He came home to Oklahoma, started the Oklahoma Radio Shop with Richards, and hooked up a voice transmitter in his garage to broadcast weather, live music performances from local talent, sports scores, news and recorded music from a Victrola.
Radio-like transmissions began connecting people over long distances as far back as 1891. All public radio use was stopped during WWI so that the transmissions could be utilized for military purposes. But after the war, people like Hull and Richards were ready to use radio for entertainment and to share information with far-away audiences.
The WKY radio station later moved from Hull’s garage into its first business location in the Huckins Hotel in downtown OKC. Edward K. Gaylord purchased it in 1928, and the station hit the big time with increased wattage and other enhancements as the years went on.
“The viability of the new medium was evident, as the station made a profit during the early years of the Great Depression,” writes Bill Moore in the article on WKY in The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture. “As a result, Gaylord added more up-to-date technology again in 1936, making the broadcasting facility one of the nation’s most sophisticated.”
WKY moved to its current location on Northwest 64th Street in Oklahoma City in the early 2000s and today broadcasts daily as The Sports Animal. Safe to say the history of this long-lived radio station is as varied and interesting as the history of radio itself.
A Famous Connection
According to an article by Bill Moore for the Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture, a household name in the news spent time on WKY early in his career.
Walter Cronkite, despite his inexperience, was hired to give play-by-play commentary on University of Oklahoma football games in October 1937.
“When he called that first ‘live’ game between OU and the University of Tulsa, the results were less than desirable, but he improved,” writes Moore. “He finished the season, soon moved to Kansas City, covered World War II as a war correspondent, and later anchored the CBS evening news on television.”
