WHA (970 AM) is a radio station operating out of Madison, Wisconsin. It is currently the flagship of Wisconsin Public Radio's talk-based Ideas Network. The name is also used for WHA-TV channel 21 (20 digital), flagship of the Wisconsin Public Television network.
A plaque at the University of Wisconsin–Madison calls it the "oldest station in the nation."
Experiments with spark gap transmitters stretch back to 1900. Professor Edward Bennett starte...
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WHA (970 AM) is a radio station operating out of Madison, Wisconsin. It is currently the flagship of Wisconsin Public Radio's talk-based Ideas Network. The name is also used for WHA-TV channel 21 (20 digital), flagship of the Wisconsin Public Television network.
A plaque at the University of Wisconsin–Madison calls it the "oldest station in the nation."
Experiments with spark gap transmitters stretch back to 1900. Professor Edward Bennett started using the call sign 9XM in 1914. A year later, the call sign was transferred to the University of Wisconsin and used for many experiments in the physics department. Professor Earle M. Terry managed many of these tests, and he eventually decided that the station should start making regular weather broadcasts. From December 4, 1916 onward, the station transmitted regular reports in Morse code.
While most early radio stations in the United States were shut down when the country entered World War I, 9XM's early transmissions were considered...
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