Dr. Frank Conrad

Inducted 2010

Dr. Frank Conrad

Frank Conrad was born on May 4, 1874 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  His formal education ended when he left the 7th grade.  At age 16, with a firm desire to work with tools, Conrad was given the position as a bench-hand in the Westinghouse plant in Pittsburgh.  Thus began his career as engineer and inventor.

At age 23, due to his mechanical ability, Conrad was promoted to the Westinghouse Testing Department.  In this position he developed many important inventions, most notably the circular type watt-hour meter. By 1904 Conrad was promoted to General Engineer of the Westinghouse Company.

Conrad’s interest in radio was first sparked in 1912 with a bet regarding the accuracy of a watch.  In order to prove the accuracy of his watch to the second, Conrad built a wireless device to receive time signals from the Naval Observatory broadcast station NAA in Arlington, Virginia.   Conrad constructed his own transmitter which led to his receiving an amateur station license for 8XK.  By 1916 8XK could be heard around the Pittsburgh area and became very popular.  To meet high demand for his broadcast, Conrad would go on the air on Wednesday and Sunday nights for two hours.  When the United States entered the WWI all amateur radio stations were ordered closed, but Conrad was permitted to test radio apparatus through his station.  He aided the Army Signal Corps by creating transmitters and receivers which were tested in his garage.  He also made a wind-driven generator which was attached to a plane’s wing to power a radio transmitter.  Following the war, Conrad resumed work on his radio station.

Having trouble communicating with other amateurs via Morse Code, Conrad began using a microphone.  It was also faster and easier.  He soon began playing music from phonograph records and, in short time, his station was very popular – so much so that it was soon written up in the newspapers.  An advertisement for wireless sets, in the Pittsburgh Sun, cought the attention of Westinghouse VP, Harry Davis.  Realizing the opportunity, Davis joined forces with Conrad and the International Radio and Telegraph Company to create KDKA Radio Station, the former 8XK.  Their goal was to increase the sale of radio receiving sets for homes.  Prior to then, amateurs built their own sets.

A meeting was held to plan the building of a transmitter at the Westinghouse plant to begin operation in time for the Harding-Cox presidential election on November 2, 1920. A 200 watt transmitter was constructed and Westinghouse became licensee of radio station KDKA.  On November 2, KDKA broadcast the results of the Harding-Cox election to an audience of about 100 listeners in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia.  KDKA continued to expand its broadcasting hours and in 1921 Conrad was promoted to Assistant Chief Engineer at Westinghouse, a position he would hold for the remainder of his life.

KDKA was the first station to be licensed by the U.S. Government to operate as a general broadcasting service.  It was the first to carry a remote broadcast (church service), the first to report baseball scores and the first to broadcast an address by a Congressional legislator, Alice Robertson.

In 1928 Conrad received an honorary degree of Doctor of Science from the University of Pittsburgh.  In 1930, Conrad received the prestigious Edison Medal from The Institute of Electrical Engineers.  The Edison Medal is the oldest award in the field of engineering or electrical arts.

Conrad retired from Westinghouse in 1940 after 51 years with the company.  Over his career, he received over 200 American, English and German patents covering a broad range of mechanical and electrical devices from televisions, refrigerators, radio transmitters, clocks, air conditioners, vacuum tubes and even grenades.  From his experimental radio station, 8XK, Conrad was the impetus for a change in communication that would have everlasting impact.  He will forever be known as “The Father of Radio Broadcasting.”

Dr. Frank Conrad suffered a heart attack in November, 1941 and passed away on December 11 of that year.

(PAB gratefully acknowledges and thanks Mr. Casey Powell for his research and preparation of Frank Conrad biographical information and the New York Times for its publishing.)