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The year 1920 saw a number of significant events in radio broadcasting.

Events

• A number of volunteer radio stations, often run by amateurs, are already broadcasting in the United States.
• In January the first informal and spasmodic broadcasts in Great Britain are made by the Marconi Company from Chelmsford. These broadcasts include both speech and music.^[1]
• Radio 2XG (see 1919) is forced to close down after Lee De Forest moves the station from the Bronx (where it was licensed) to Manhattan (where it was not).^[1]
• 23 February to 6 March – The Marconi Company broadcasts from Chelmsford a series of 30-minute shows repeated twice daily. These include live music performances.^[1]
• 15 June Dame Nellie Melba is the first professional artiste to broadcast in Britain.^[1]
• 20 August – Station 8MK in Detroit is the first in the world to broadcast news bulletins. The news in compiled from reports supplied by the Detroit News.^[1]
• 27 August – Sociedad Radio Argentina airs a live performance of Richard Wagner's opera Parsifal from the Teatro Coliseo in Buenos Aires. Only about twenty homes in the city have a receiver with which to tune in to the broadcast.
• November: The broadcasts from Chelmsford cease after it is claimed they interfere with aircraft and ship communications.^[1] (See also 1922)

Debuts

• November 2: KDKA (in Pittsburgh, PA) begins broadcasting as the first commercial radio station in the United States.

Closings

Births

Deaths

Notes

See also

• List of oldest radio stations