Radio History

On this day in 1920, exactly 90 years ago, election results were broadcast on the radio for the very first time. It happened on KDKA-Pittsburgh. (Read all about it here.)

Their big news that day: the election of Republican Warren G. Harding over Democrat James Cox.

This story inspired me look up James Cox, a name that has been lost to history for the most part. He was the Governor of Ohio at the time, and a former newspaper reporter (remember those?). Cox's running mate was a little known politician from New York named Franklin D. Roosevelt. In the book "They Also Ran" (about failed presidential campaigns), the author argued there was never a stronger case in the history of American presidential elections for the proposition that the better man lost.

Of course that book was written in 1943, not 2001.