Charles Herrold, Inventor of Radio Broadcasting

Still broadcasting today, the world’s first radio station was invented by Charles Herrold in 1909 in San Jose, California. His accomplishment was first documented in a notarized statement written by him and published in the Electro-Importing Company’s 1910 catalog: ＂We have given wireless phone concerts to amateur wireless men throughout the Santa Clara Valley.＂ Being the first to ＂broadcast＂ radio entertainment and information to a mass audience puts him at the forefront of modern day mass communication.

This biography of Charles Herrold focuses on how he used primitive technology to get on the air. Today it is a 50,000-watt station (KCBS, in San Francisco). The authors describe Herrold’s story as one of early triumph and final failure, the story of an ＂everyman,＂ an individual who was an innovator but never received recognition for his work and, as a result, died penniless. His most important work was done between 1912 and 1917, and following World War I, he received a license and operated station KQW for several years before running out of money. Herrold then worked as a radio time salesman, an audiovisual technician for a high school, and a janitor at a local naval facility, still telling anyone who would listen to him that he was the father of radio. The authors also consider some other early inventors, and the directions that their work took.

The late Gordon Greb was an emeritus professor of San Jose State University. He was a distinguished broadcast educator, historian and investigative journalist. He lived in Chico, California. Mike Adams has been a radio personality and a filmmaker. He is a professor emeritus of radio, television and film at San Jose State University, where he has been department chair and associate dean of the College of Humanities and the Arts. He is the author of six books and the creator of two award-winning documentaries for PBS. He lives in Scotts Valley, California.