The Last US States Without Radio

To be clear, there was no way in 1913 that the Department of Commerce could produce a canonically complete list of every U.S. entity with a radio transmitter, licensed or not. So I argue that even in 1913 there were probably a large number unlicensed radio stations excluded from this accounting. The Department of Commerce Report for July 1913 listed a mere 168 land radio stations, and just 22 special land stations. I list the latter ones below for reference:

CALLS	FREQ	CITY	STATE	Owner
9YI	-	Ames	IA	Iowa State College of Agriculture
1XA	600	Amesbury	MA	Wireless Specialty Apparatus Co.
8XA	-	Ann Arbor	MI	University of Michigan
3ZH	300	Atlanta	GA	Georgia School of Technology
9XB	Variable	Beloit	WI	Beloit College
6XR	-	Berkley	CA	Frank Rieber
1XB	Variable	Boston	MA	Wireless Specialty Apparatus Co.
1XH	-	Boston	MA	Holtzer - Cabot Electric Co.
1YH	Variable	Cambridge	MA	Harvard University
1XP	300, 550, 600	Cambridge	MA	George W. Pierce
1XC	-	Chelsea	MA	William J. Murdock Co.
8YD	300, 400, 600	Detroit	MI	William J. Meisenheimer
9YN	Variable	Grand Forks	ND	University of North Dakota
3XR	-	Hyattsville	MD	J. Harris Rogers
6YL	-	Los Angeles	CA	High School
2YN	-	New York	NY	College of the City of New York
2ZH	-	Nutley	NJ	Arthur A Herbert
3XC	480	Philadelphia	PA	Frank B. Chambers
3XJ	500	Philadelphia	PA	St. Joseph's College
3ZS	450	St. Davids	PA	Chas. H. Stewart
9YC	-	St. Louis	MO	Christian Brothers College
3ZH	-	Washington	DC	H.B. DeGroot

You will note a concentration around the major metropolitan centers of the day: New York, Boston, Philadelphia, etc. But relatively speaking 9YN and 9XB were in the middle of nowhere. The population of Grand Forks for example was only about 13,000, Beloit was hardly larger.  That's about a mere 2% of the population of Boston at that same time. Educational institutions were the foundation of experimental radio technology in that era. So their stations existing outside what might be otherwise supported by the urban density of radio consumers.

But this distribution begets the question: What were the last places in America to have radio? Well if we go by something very very granular like zip code or township there are places today still unserved by local radio. (I can personally attest to the large areas of the Southwest today without any radio at all; local or otherwise.) But if we go by state, we get some more interesting data, as each state contains multiple MSAs; even in Nebraska —where cows outnumber people more than 5:1. 

While in 1913 there were only 48 states in the union, our Department of Commerce (DOC) source data includes territories. Cuba, Samoa, Guam, Peking (China) and Puerto Rico all also appear on the DOC lists. So if 13 states special land stations already constituted > 27% of US states, where are the other 168 land radio stations?  At that time less than half of US states had radio stations. Two years later that list of land stations had grown to 192, and the list of Special land stations had grown to 118, spanning 29 states.

Below is a chart of the 1913 and 1915  Land Radio Stations (abbreviated LRS for space) and their totals by state. You can readily see that while the total count grows the total number of states had not changed significantly. We see that the US radio footprint was geographically consolidated.

State	Abbreviation	1913 LRS	1915 LRS
Alabama	AL	2	1
Alaska	AK	29	35
Arizona	AZ	2	2
Arkansas	AR	-	-
California	CA	11	21
Colorado	CO	-	2
Connecticut	CT	1	2
District of Columbia	DC	3	4
Delaware	DE	-	-
Florida	FL	6	10
Georgia	GA	1	2
Hawaii	HI (TH)	9	12
Idaho	ID	-	-
Illinois	IL	1	1
Indiana	IN	-	-
Iowa	IA	-	-
Kansas	KS	3	3
Kentucky	KY	-	-
Louisiana	LA	3	4
Maine	ME	2	1
Maryland	MD	2	3
Massachusetts	MA	8	9
Michigan	MI	8	10
Minnesota	MN	3	1
Mississippi	MS	-	-
Missouri	MO	-	-
Montana	MT	-	-
Nebraska	NB	1	-
Nevada	NV	-	-
New Hampshire	NH	1	1
New Jersey	NJ	3	6
New Mexico	NM	-	-
New York	NY	13	16
North Carolina	NC	4	5
North Dakota	ND	-	-
Ohio	OH	3	5
Oklahoma	OK	-	-
Oregon	OR	3	6
Pennsylvania	PA	2	3
Rhode Island	RI	2	4
South Carolina	SC	1	2
South Dakota	SD	-	-
Tennessee	TN	-	-
Texas	TX	5	5
Utah	UT	-	-
Vermont	VT	-	-
Virginia	VA	4	5
Washington	WA	6	9
West Virginia	WV	-	-
Wisconsin	WI	2	2
Wyoming	WY	-	-

The difference between land stations and special land stations is mostly nuance. In 1913 the Department of Commerce described these special classes collectively as "experiment stations for the development of radio communications technical and training school stations..." But they established a call sign format for these sub-types "The first letter will be X, for experiment stations; Y, technical and training schools; Z, special amateur stations." All of these, at least generally speaking, are still radio stations. Many in each category later became recognizable, entertainment-focused radio stations. But many others ceased to exist entirely.

The year 1922 was the tipping point. There is a 1922 reference in a Radio World article identifying Mississippi as the last US state with no radio stations. In September of 1922, Radio News reported that the states of Kentucky and Mississippi got their first stations with WHAS, and WHAU respectively leaving only two states —Delaware and Wyoming, without radio stations. That Summer they excitedly reported that Wyoming was the last, after the sign on of WHAV in Delaware. Wyoming joined the club on October 3rd with the sign on of KFBU. More here.

But by November of that year WHAU in Corinth, MS shut down. Owned by the Corinth Radio Supply company, this had been the first, and only licensed radio station in Mississippi. So Mississippi slipped behind Wyoming and became the last US state with no radio stations, albeit only briefly. In 1923; the Department of Commerce licensed four more radio stations in Mississippi: KFNG, Coldwater; WCBH, Oxford; WDBT; Hattiesburg; and WCBG, Pascagoula, closing the issue. More here.

A Decrease in Broadcasting?

I was wondering the other day if the number of broadcasters has ever decreased. In modern times, it seemed possible as listeners move away from the AM band. But it hasn't happened yet. Even in Canada where the AM band is almost shuttered, those same broadcasters largely moved to new frequencies on the FM band. To find even a rumor of such a reduction, you have to go back to the very inception of commercial radio broadcasting. In my research I found a single Radio World article from November 18th, 1922 which indicates an actual reduction in the number of broadcasters. Spoiler: the title was just click-bait.

Now in 1922 that claim was more plausible, even while it came packaged with an exaggerated concern that radio might die out altogether. Today we see equally dramatic predictions of death for all kinds of media: AM, FM, satellite radio, TV, cable, and newspapers. Much like the perennial dire predictions on the death of rock n' roll, it was all premature. The end of  radio was not a real threat in 1922 any more than it would be in 2020. Here was the situation:

In October 1922 a total of 56 radio (land) stations were licensed to broadcast and 22 were deleted. That's a net increase of only 24 radio stations. But by the first week of November there were a total of 533 broadcasting stations operating. 19 of them were operating on 400 meters and 519 of them on 360 meters. It sounds a bit crowded. But somehow by the end of that week another 11 more station were licensed. These are listed below. The Frequency is in meters, and the power in watts.

City/State	Frequency	Power	Callsign	Owner
Pendleton, OR	360	100	KFFE	Eastern Oregon Radio Co.
Macon, GA	360	750	WMAZ	Mercer University
Council Bluffs, IA	360	10	WPAF	Peterson's Radio Co.
Lincoln, NE	360	250	WSAS	State of Nebraska
Austin, TX	360	100	WNAS	Texas Radio Corporation
David City, NE	360	20	WRAR	Jacob C. Thomas
Walla Walla, WA	360	50	KFCF	Frank A. Moore
Honolulu, HI	360	40	KYQ	Electric Shop
State College, PA	360	1	WPAB	Pennsylvania State Coll.
Waco, TX	360	50	WWAC	Sanger Bros
Springfield, MA	360	600	WBZ	Westinghouse Electric

That said, there are some incongruities in the list Radio World published (above). Most of the entries seem to belong to the "Additions" list from the November Bulletin. But KYQ wasn't granted in the November Bulletin, it was listed in December. Also WBZ signed on in September of 1921. It has no business being on the list at all. But that does not address the 27 stations excluded from their list. More here. Below are the actual additions from issues 65 - 68 of the Department of Commerce Radio Bulletins of 1922. The month of November had more new radio stations, not fewer.

September 1st, 1922 - No. 65 (46 new stations)

October 1st, 1922 - No. 66 (49 new stations)

November 1st, 1922 - No. 67 (38 new stations)

December 1st, 1922 - No. 68 (38 new stations)

So where did this panic-mongering originate? The below 21 stations Radio World listed as deleted in that fateful month in October of 1922. In the Commerce Department Bulletin they used the phrase "Strike Out All Particulars."

City/State	Frequency	Callsign	Owner
Savannah, GA	360	WGAV	B.H. Radio Co
Bluefield, WV	360	WHAJ	Daily Telegraph
Corinth, MS	360	WHAU	Corinth Radio Supply
Worcester, MA	360	WDAT	Delta Electric Co.
Toledo, OH	360	WHU	The William Duck Co.
Erie, PA	360	WJT	Electric Equipment Co.
Yakima, WA	360	KQT	Electric Power & appliance
Zanesville, OH	360	WPL	Fergus Electric Co.
Carrollton, MO	360	WLAB	George F. Grossman
Lindsborg, KS	360	WDAD	Central Kansas Radio Supply
Portland, OR	360	KYG	Wiliam P. Hawley Jr.
Holyoke, MA	360	WHAX	Holyoke Street Railway
Buffalo, NY	360	WWT	Mccarthy Bros & Ford
Springfield, MA	360	WIAP	Radio Development Corp
New Orleans, LA	360	WBAM	I.B. Rennysen
Rochester, NY	360	WHQ	Times Union Inc
Butte, MT	360	KFBF	F. H. Smith
Jacksonville, FL	360	WCAN	Southeastern Radio Telephone
Spokan, WA	360	KOE	Spokane Chronicle
Norwood, OH	360	WIAL	Standard Radio Service Co.
Portsmouth, OH	360	WDAB	H.C. Summer & Son
Richmond, VA	360	WBAZ	Times Dispatch Publishing

But this list too is somewhat dubious. The Department of Commerce Radio Bulletin combines deletions in the same section as corrections. Again the Radio World list and the Bulletin are similar, but not identical. From the published list Radio World excludes WMT. Possibly just human error.  But maybe here is where the panic began.

In October (Bulletin No. 66)  the Commerce Department deleted KUXP, KDMK, KDIZ,WSK, KDGT, and WBAT; a mere six stations. In September (Bulletin No. 65) they deleted only two: KNR, and KZI. The previous August (Bulletin No. 64) they deleted just 3 stations: WQX, KDRO, and WQC. So perhaps in November, when the Alterations list suddenly grew by an exponential order a little panic set in.