On August 20, 1920, the first radio broadcast of a sports event in the United States took place. The event was a boxing match between Johnny Ray and Johnny Dundee, held at the Motor Square Garden in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The broadcast was made by KDKA, a radio station owned by Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company. The station's announcer, Harold Arlin, provided a blow-by-blow account of the fight, which lasted eight rounds and ended in a draw.
This groundbreaking broadcast marked the beginning of a new era in sports journalism and paved the way for the widespread popularity of sports radio broadcasts. It allowed fans who couldn't attend the event in person to follow the action in real-time, creating a sense of excitement and immediacy that had never been experienced before.
The success of this broadcast led to the rapid growth of sports radio, with stations across the country beginning to cover a wide range of sporting events, from baseball and football to boxing and horse racing. This, in turn, helped to increase the popularity of sports in general, as more and more people were exposed to the thrill and drama of live sporting events.
Today, sports radio remains an integral part of the sports media landscape, with millions of fans tuning in every day to hear their favorite announcers provide expert analysis, commentary, and play-by-play coverage of the biggest games and matches around the world. The legacy of that first broadcast on August 20, 1920, continues to shape the way we experience sports to this day.
