The Radio Historian's Colorized Photos

These images of radio's past were colorized from original black-and-white prints by the Radio Historian, and were published in his annual radio history calendar between 2015 and 2020.

More Information about the Radio Historian's annual radio history calendars.

The original black and white images are either in the public domain or are property of their respective copyright holders. The colorized versions of these images are copyrighted by John F. Schneider & Associates, LLC, dba The Radio Historian, and are made available under an Attribution Noncommercial license. To inquire about the commercial use or high resolution copies of these images, contact john@theradiohistorian.org

KDKA transmitter a station on the roof of a Westinghouse factory building in East Pittsburgh

Westinghouse station KDKA broadcasts the Cox-Harding election returns from East Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, November 2, 1920.

WBZ in Springfield, Mass., was the second Westinghouse station to go on the air, September 9, 1921. This was WBZ's first studio in the Westinghouse factory.

Detroit News staff members operate the 50-watt transmitter of 8MK from the Detroit News Building in 1920. The station became WWJ in 1922.

Detroit, 1922 - WWJ, the Detroit News station, began broadcasting with 50 watts in August, 1920. In 1922, its power was increased to 500 watts with this Western Electric 1-A transmitter.

Berkeley, California, circa 1930 - This de Forest model 101-G 100 watt transmitter, serial number 101, was installed by the First Congregational Church station KRE in Berkeley.

San Francisco, 1926 - Station KPO, operated by the Hale Brothers Department Store, increased power to 1,000 watts with this Western Electric 6B transmitter.

This is the audio control panel of KPO in San Francisco, about 1926.

San Francisco, circa 1943 - KSFO's Western Electric 355-E1 five kilowatt transmitter.

Chicago, 1947 - WJJD in Chicago boosted its power to 50 kW with this RCA BTA-50F transmitter.

Seattle, 1942 - KIRO's Western Electric 407A 50 kW transmitter. Military guards protected critical transmitter installations during World War II.

CBS dedicated this new RCA ET4310 shortwave transmitter in Wayne, NJ, in 1937. The ten kilowatt transmitter, operating as W2XE, relayed CBS network programs to South America.

Elmhurst, IL, 1928 - The Chicago Daily News station, WMAQ, installed this Western Electric 5B transmitter at its new broadcasting plant West of Chicago.

Torrance, California, 1938 - CBS inaugurated this new 50 kW RCA 50E transmitter for its Hollywood station KNX.

Major Edwin Howard Armstrong built this 425-foot tower at Alpine, New Jersey in 1938 to test his invention of wideband FM broadcasting.

Wendell Kinney operates the control console at KXLE in Ellensburg, Washington, about 1948.

David Hendricks owner of Christian station WBYO, 107.5 MHz, in Boyertown, Pennsylvania, about 1980.

KING, Seattle, 1963 - Frosty Fowler broadcast his daily morning show from the Space Needle, 525 feet above street level.

Jack Wagner at the control console of KHUB in Watsonville, California, circa 1938.

The production room at WXYZ in Detroit, 1959, the year the station moved into new studios with WXYZ-TV at Broadcast House in Southfield, Michigan.

A typical small-town radio station - WKIP in Poughkeepsie, New York, late 40's or early 50's.

The control room of KMO in Tacoma, Washington, 1946.

A studio control room at KSFO in the Palace Hotel, San Francisco, 1939. KSFO was the key western CBS station at the time.

Studio control rooms and the master control console at KSFO's studio on Nob Hill in San Francisco, 1943.

Engineer James Boyd operates the master control panel of the Voice of America in Washington, D.C., 1967. The 22-foot-long console was built for the VOA by Gates Radio Co. in 1955.

Announcer Joe Flood, trying to thread tape on a Magnecord PT-6 recorder at KTLN, Denver, 1958.

Ron Landry was a popular Los Angeles DJ at KGBS and on KFI. He teamed up with fellow DJ Bob Hudson to form the comedy team Hudson & Landry, recording a number of hit comedy albums.

Gene McKay, popular afternoon personality on WSUN in Tampa, early- to mid-1960s.

KTBI broadcast from this studio building at 2715 Center Street in Tacoma, Washington, 1947.

KSYC in Yreka, California, circa 1947. We see an RCA BTA-250L transmitter, a 76-C console, 70-D turntables and an 88A microphone.

CBS newsman Bob Trout was called the "Iron Man of Radio". Here he is in 1952 in the editing room at CBS Radio in New York.

Fisher Broadcasting Co. built this three-story broadcast palace for KOMO at the corner of 4th Ave. and Denny Way in Seattle, 1948.

NBC "Radio City" at Taylor and O'Farrell Streets in San Francisco, 1942.

KGO "Radio City" in San Francisco, 1942. This is a view looking into studio "A" from the control room.

NBC "Radio City" in Hollywood, circa 1938. NBC's most important network shows of the 1940's originated here.

CBS Columbia Square in Hollywood, about 1938. Dozens of national CBS network programs originated here during radio's "Golden Age".

WOC, on the roof of the Palmer School of Chiropractic in Davenport, Iowa, about 1926.

General Electric's KOA debuted from this two-story brick building located at 14th & Krameria in Denver in December, 1924.

KFSG, Aimee Semple McPherson's 500-watt station at the Angelus Temple in Los Angeles, 1937.

The studio and transmitter of XER, the original "border blaster" station - Del Rio, Texas / Ciudad Acuña, Mexico, about 1932.

The Willard Storage Battery Company opened WTAM in Cleveland in 1923. Its first studios and transmitter were in this building at East 131st and Taft Streets.

WLW in Cincinnati broadcast with a power of 500 kW with experimental authority from 1934 to 1939. Here is the WLW transmitter building and tower as it appeared in 1934.

WWJ built this imposing brick transmitter house at 8 Mile Road in the Detroit suburbs in 1938. It broadcast from here with 5 kW until 2000.

This was the WPAP, operated by the Palisades Amusement Park in NJ, 1926. The studio building, overlooking the Hudson River, was designed to look like a 1920's radio.

WTMJ moved into its elaborate "Radio City" building at 720 E. Capitol in Milwaukee in 1942. It's now the home of WTMJ-TV.

NBC engineers check the equipment that will be used to broadcast the activities of both the Democratic and Republican national conventions from Chicago Stadium, 1932.

In 1937, Supreme Court Judge Hugo Black broadcast nation-wide on all three radio networks, answering rumors that he had been a Ku Klux Klan member. CBS and NBC engineers prepare to broadcast.

This was WWJ Detroit's impressive mobile studio in 1938. The reporter is wearing a backpack shortwave transmitter to transmit back to the vehicle, which relayed it to the main studio.

Jack Wagner and others prepare for a remote broadcast in front of the KHUB studio building in Watsonville, California, 1937.

WMC in Memphis sent its mobile van out to Memphis Municipal Airport to interview a Chicago & Southern hostess about the airline's new DC-3 aircraft, 1940.

In 1931, the Army Air Corps staged a mock air bombardment of New York City as an exercise and publicity stunt. NBC sent its reporters into the sky aboard this Ford Tri-Motor for a live broadcast.

On Nov. 24, 1939, Santa Claus flew direct from the North Pole to Tacoma, Washington, where he addressed Tacoma's children over KVI.

Bandleader Jan Savit and his band broadcast live music over KYW from a TWA plane flying 5,000 feet over Philadelphia on April 29, 1937.

Graham McNamee broadcasts live over NBC network, describing the fire that destroyed the SS Normandie in New York Harbor, February 9, 1942.

NBC announcer Edward Thorgeson broadcasts news of the Lindbergh baby kidnapping from a general store three miles from the Lindbergh home - March 3, 1932.

NBC international announcer Avilar broadcasts the immense American Legion parade on August 20, 1947.

NBC's master control room in the Merchandise Mart building in Chicago, probably in the late thirties or early forties.

NBC Merchandise Mart studio "A" in Chicago, about 1930 - a rehearsal of Harry Kogen and his Yeast Foamers Orchestra.

A broadcast of "The Empire Builder" originates from studio "E" at NBC's broadcast center at Merchandise Mart in Chicago, circa 1931.

Actor and producer Orson Welles broadcasts the "War of the Worlds" from the CBS studios at 485 Madison Avenue in New York on October 30, 1938.

George Burns and Gracie Allen perform their top-rated program for the NBC network in 1940, under the sponsorship of Hormel Spam.

CBS announcers Arch McDonald and Warren Sweeney broadcast a Washington Senators game from Griffith Stadium over WSJV in Washington - April 19, 1938.

Graham McNamee and George Hicks announce a football match between Stanford and the University of California at Memorial Stadium in Berkeley - November 24, 1934.

University of Minnesota station WLB sent Martin Shuler to interview cheerleading captain Newton Loken on the field before a 1941 game with the University of Illinois.

Donald Stauffer, CBS "March of Time" producer, in the control room at 485 Madison Avenue in New York, circa 1932.

William S. Paley inserts a patch cord that extends the Columbia Broadcasting System's coverage to the West Coast on 43 stations, making CBS the nation's second coast-to-coast network, 1929.

A year before NBC was formed, WEAF broadcast of Calvin Coolidge's inaugural address over a temporary hookup of 22 stations, distributed through this control panel on March 4, 1925.

WLS announcer Herb Morrison and engineer Charles Nehlson listen to their famous recording of the Hindenberg disaster - May 7, 1937

The WGY "Noise Makers" create live sound effects for the dramatic programs at General Electric's WGY, Schenectady, NY, 1925.

John B. Gambling conducts his morning "Musical Clock" program at WOR in New York City, about 1926. Three generations of Gamblings broadcast on WOR from 1926 to 2013.

This temporary control board was installed under the Capitol steps in Washington for NBC's live broadcast of Herbert Hoover's inauguration on March 4, 1929.

The "Marine Battle Broadcasting System" recruited former civilian broadcasters to record battlefield news reports and soldier interviews - this crew works from Bougainville in 1944.

New York City, 1927 - This RT-150A, fifty kilowatt transmitter was built for RCA by General Electric and installed for NBC's WEAF at Bellmore, Long Island.

Bellmore, L.I., 1932 - WEAF, NBC's flagship station in New York, replaced its original 1927 50 kW transmitter with this RCA 50B, developed jointly by Westinghouse and General Electric.

WEAF moved to this two-tower transmitter plant at Port Washington, Long Island, in 1944.

At the end of 1925 WJZ started using this new Westinghouse 50 kW transmitter in Bound Brook, NJ. It was only the second 50 kW station in the country, after WGY.

The main studio of WIBM on the 9th floor of the Blake Building in Jackson, Michigan, about 1930.

The main studio of station WJZ in RCA's "Radio Central" in the Aeolian Building, New York City, 1923.

The "Neptune Studio" at WPG on the Boardwalk in Atlantic City, NJ, 1929.

Detroit, 1963 - Edwin Boyes mans the WWJ transmitter plant. The WWJ-FM transmitter is at left, and the 5 kW AM transmitter is out of view at the right.

The master control console at the NBC Radio Network in Rockefeller Center, 1932.

Charles D. "Doc" Herrold was probably the world's first broadcaster. Here he is with his station in San Jose, California in 1913.

Fanny Brice, in character as "Baby Snooks", reaches for the CBS master control console in Hollywood; Hanley Stafford threatens punishment.

This was the master control room at WOC at the Palmer School of Chiropractic in Davenport, Iowa, 1925.

A medical discussion by three doctors is broadcast over WAMC at the Albany Medical College, NY, 1969.

General Electric's shortwave station W6XBE, operates from the Golden Gate International Exhibition in San Francisco, 1939.

A live studio broadcast of the "March of Time" originates from the CBS studios in New York City. 1932.

A remote broadcast from a bathing beauty contest at WBZ in Boston, about 1933.

Popular Country & Western disc jockey Joe Ladd broadcasts from KWBA in Baytown, Texas, 1966.

Chief Engineer Clarence Clark shows off the new transmitter of KJR in Seattle, 1927.

The rehearsal of a radio program at NBC's radio studios at 711 Fifth Avenue in New York City, about 1930.

Western singer and movie star Gene Autry performs at KMO in Tacoma, Washington, on July 15, 1949. Jack Henley's River Riding Wranglers accompany him.

These were the shortwave transmitters of General Electric's stations WGEO and WGEA in Schenectady, NY, in January, 1941.

This was the transmitter room at KRLD in Dallas, sometime in the early to mid 1940's. The transmitter is a Western Electric 50 kW, model 407A. Two snapshots supplied by Andrew Dart were merged to create this image.