WJY was a temporary longwave radio station, operated by the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) and located in Hoboken, New Jersey, which, on July 2, 1921, was used for a ringside broadcast of the Dempsey-Carpentier heavyweight boxing match.
The fight details were also telegraphed to station KDKA in East Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and broadcast from there by a local announcer. These broadcasts were a cooperative effort, designed to raise money for the American Committee for Devastated France and the Navy Club. This also marked RCA's entrance into the radio broadcasting field, which the company would dominate in the U.S. for the next half century.
History
Although the general facts about WJY's Dempsey-Carpentier broadcast are well documented, significant discrepancies exist for certain details in the recollections of individual participants.The Listener's Voice: Early Radio and the American Public by Elena Razlogova, 2011, page 30.
Background
In 1920, radio broadcasting in the United States, which before World War I had been limited to a few scattered experimental efforts, was just starting to develop, although there were still very few homes with radio receivers, and most listening was done by amateur radio enthusiasts. Looking for interesting programming, station operators began adding sports events, including boxing matches. In January 1920, Lieutenant Herbert E. Metcalf, in conjunction with the Sacramento Radio Club, used U.S. Army Signal Corps equipment to announce from ringside a series of boxing matches taking place at Mather Field."Wireless Phone Gives Union Fight Returns", Sacramento Union, January 17, 1920, page 8. The following September, the Detroit News employed its "Detroit News Radiophone" station, 8MK, to broadcast summaries telegraphed from nearby Benton Harbor, Michigan, as Jack Dempsey made short work of Billy Minske, knocking out his opponent in the third round."Radio Spreads Fight News Broadcast in 30 Seconds", Detroit News, September 7, 1920, page 1. On April 11, 1921, Westinghouse's broadcasting station KDKA in East Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, carried ringside reports by Florent Gibson of a Johnny Ray vs. Johnny Dundee 10 round no-decision match.It Started Hear, KDKA promotional pamphlet, 1970, page 9. (worldradiohistory.com)
Meanwhile, fight promoters were looking for ways to improve the image of their sport and increase its popularity. In January 1921, a bout between Benny Leonard and Richie Mitchell at the Madison Square Garden arena in New York City was conducted as a benefit for the American Committee for Devastated France, working with philanthropist Anne Morgan, who was chair of that charity's executive committee."Leonard Retains Hold on Crown", (Portland) Morning Oregonian, January 15, 1921, page 1. (uoregon.edu) Julius Hopp, manager of Madison Square Garden concerts, who helped coordinate the charity match, was on the lookout for additional opportunities. In March 1921 he was reportedly introduced to radio broadcasting, after being "impressed with the skill of New York amateur radio men as disclosed at the Second District Convention","Voice-Broadcasting the Stirring Progress of the 'Battle of the Century' ", The Wireless Age, August 1921, pages 11-21. which was held at the Hotel Pennsylvania in New York City. One feature of this convention was that "music sent from the Bedloe Island Signal Corps Station"WVP", The Airwaves of New York: Illustrated Histories of 156 AM Stations in the Metropolitan Area, 1921-1996 by Bill Jaker, Frank Sulek and Peter Kanze, 1998, page 186. via radiofone was heard almost continuously"."First Annual Amateur Radio Show and Convention", Radio News, April 1921, page 687.
Hopp came up with the idea of combining radio broadcasting with charity work, and began to develop a plan to broadcast the upcoming "Battle of the Century" heavyweight championship fight between Jack Dempsey and Georges Carpentier. He approached Madison Square Garden owner and fight promoter G. L. "Tex" Rickard and Rickard's associate Frank E. Coultry, and received permission to work out the details.
Preparation
Hopp's overall plan was to raise funds for the American Committee for Devastated France, by recruiting listening locations at selected theaters and halls, which would charge an admission fee that would be donated to the charity. However, he needed extensive technical assistance in order to set up the transmission and reception sites. Canvasing for individuals with radio expertise, he contacted the head of the American Radio Relay League, Hiram Percy Maxim, who dismissed the idea as impractical. Hopp then approached the National Amateur Wireless Association (NAWA), an organization headquartered at 326 Broadway in New York City, that was originally formed under the auspices of the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company of America, and which became affiliated with the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) when that company was created in 1919 to take over the American Marconi assets. The acting president of NAWA, J. Andrew White (Guglielmo Marconi was the nominal president) was immediately interested, and set out to use his extensive industry and amateur radio contacts to organize the transmission and recruit volunteers to staff receiving sites."Report: Radiophone Broadcast of Dempsey-Carpentier Fight on July 2, 1921" by J. Andrew White, July 14, 1921, Box 1, David Sarnoff Papers, David Sarnoff Library.
Next approached was RCA's then-general manager David Sarnoff, who White knew had been keenly interested in the possibilities of radio broadcasting. Sarnoff financed the project by surreptitiously withdrawing $1,500 from an account holding funds accumulated from equipment rental. Arthur Batcheller, the government's Chief Radio Inspector for the second Radio Inspection district, arranged for a temporary radio station authorization, to be operated by RCA, and issued the random call letters of WJY. In order to provide the best possible coverage, the plan was to transmit on a longwave wavelength, 1600 meters (187 kHz), that was normally used by the U.S. government. Commander D. C. Patterson, District Communication Officer, approved this use of 1600 meters and helped insure that government stations would not interfere at the time of the scheduled broadcast.
One of the prime participants would be J. O. Smith,Modern Radio Operation by J. O. Smith, 1922, pages 1-3. who had recently become director of the correspondence division of RCA's Radio Institute of America, and was well known in the amateur radio field through his Special Amateur station 2ZL, located in Valley Stream, New York. Smith determined that a high-powered transmitter was being built in Schenectady, New York, for the U.S. Navy by RCA's parent company, General Electric. He arranged for White to meet with the former assistant Secretary of the Navy (and future president) Franklin D. Roosevelt, to get permission to use this transmitter for the proposed broadcast. Roosevelt was the president of The Navy Club, and one of the conditions for approval was that his organization share, along with the American Committee for Devastated France, in the charitable receipts."The First Big Radio Broadcast" by J. Andrew White, Reader's Digest, January 1956, pages 34-38. White arranged for a tug to deliver the transmitter from Schenectady.
On June 10, a circular soliciting volunteers from the ranks of amateur radio enthusiasts was mailed to 7,500 NAWA members. A formal application blank included with the circular was used by Smith to vet the responses and determine which individuals were qualified to assist. In addition to being acting president of NAWA, J. Andrew White was the editor of RCA's Wireless Age magazine, and the preparations, which included installing aerials and receivers capable of loudspeaker operation, were publicized in its pages. Julius Hopp, representing the American Committee for Devastated France and the Navy Club, reported that eleven halls, theaters and auditoriums had been secured within greater New York, in addition to forty-seven cities spanning from Massachusetts to Maryland, and westward to Pennsylvania, for a total of 58 admission sites.
The fight took place in Jersey City, New Jersey, where Rickard arranged for the construction of an outdoor arena accommodating 90,000 persons at Boyle's Thirty Acres. The initial proposal was to set up a radio transmitter and construct an antenna at ringside, but this proved to be impractical due to cost and logistical considerations. An alternate plan was developed after it was determined that there was an unused radio tower from the arena, located at the Lackawanna train station in adjacent Hoboken, which was left over from earlier train communication tests.
George W. Hayes was responsible for the general supervision of the installation at Hoboken, while W. J. Purcell, a General Electric employee detailed for the task, had primary responsibility for installing and testing the transmitter. The end of a hallway, in a railroad yard building primarily used by Pullman porters, was set aside as a transmitter location, and a large flat-top "T-type" antenna high and spanning was strung between the existing tower and the railroad station's clock tower.
It had been announced that the transmitter used for broadcasting would be rated at 3½ kilowatts, producing an antenna current of 20 to 25 amperes,"July 2nd Fight Described by Radiophone", The Wireless Age, July 1921, page 10. however, the actual transmitter ratings would be somewhat less. The set consisted of six 250-watt Radiotron tubes. All six tubes, totaling 1½ kilowatts, were used for radiotelegraph (CW) work. For audio transmissions, three of the tubes were used to modulate the signal, which produced currents between 14 and 16 amperes. Test transmissions began on Friday evening, June 24, with successively greater powers used until preparations were completed on July 1. Hundreds of reception reports received from amateur radio operators monitoring WJY's performance provided reassurance that the signals were readily audible, and reaching the intended coverage area radius of .
July 2, 1921 broadcast
The original broadcast plan was to have J. Andrew White's ringside commentary carried directly over the air, via a telephone line that had been installed running from ringside to the Hoboken transmitter room. However, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) objected to having a telephone connection made to the radio transmitter. The solution was to have a "Mr. Sheehey of the Broad street office" type White's telephoned descriptions as they were received at the transmitter site, with the transcripts then given to J. O. Smith for reading over the air. To increase verisimilitude, a spare gong was placed near the transmitter, which was sounded in order to mimic the one at the ring that signalled the opening and closing of each round."Meet J. Andrew White, the Most Famous Announcer in Radio" by Myra May, Radio Broadcast, October 1924, pages 447-453.
The day of the broadcast was hot and humid, with morning showers. White, his assistant Harry Welker, and David Sarnoff were positioned at ringside next to the press box. White, who had been an amateur boxer, provided most if not all of the descriptions, although some accounts state that Sarnoff also participated in the announcing. The radio reports were timed so that each round was described during a three-minute period, with a one-minute interval between rounds. It was estimated that the bulletins were broadcast within a minute after they had been received at the Hoboken site. WJY was on the air for a total of about four hours. The programming opened with a series of preliminary bouts, which were conducted at half-hour intervals, and concluded with the Dempsey-Carpentier fight, which ended when the champion, Dempsey, knocked out Carpentier in the fourth round.