West Virginia University played the University of Pittsburgh in the first live play by play football game ever to be broadcast on the radio. What year did this take place?

October 8, 1921, marked the first ever live radio broadcast of a football game. The contest pitted West Virginia University against the University of Pittsburgh at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. It was aired on KDKA, the nation’s first radio station. In this 17th meeting of the Backyard Brawl, WVU lost, 21 to 13.

Despite WVU’s loss in 1921, the game helped launch a new era in sports. The first live radio broadcast of a baseball game, also on KDKA, had occurred only two months earlier, and the first airing of a World Series game took place only three days before.

More Info: wvpublic.org

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6 Comments

Stephen W. Gerrard

I went to WVU and one of the first things we learned (so to speak) was "Beat Pitt"! And, I didn't know this bit of trivia. How embarrassing!! 😄

Marianne Frederick Halterman

Tim Matas, And there was WNEW (New York City!), WABC, WKIX, WPAT (Paterson NJ), etc. All good ones...by the way are you a Gene Shepherd fan?

Tim Matas

The answer says KDKA was the first commercial radio station in the United States. It was one of the first, the second probably but KABI 550 AM in Topeka, Kan., was the first radio station. It broadcast normal radio programs from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. and then Kansas State University would run speeches, lectures and other university things from 6 p.m. 6 a.m. Note that stations east of the Mississippi are sta that start with a W and stations to the west of the Mississippi are to start with K. For example WGN in Chicago owns a station in Denver which is KWGN, that is just an example. That rule was put into effect in 1928 so there are expections. KFIZ in Fond du Lac, Wis., is an example. Also note that the letters of a station usually mean something. WGN is World's Greatest Newspaper, WLS is World's Largest Store, WIND stood for windy city, WCFL stood for council or something of Federated Labor. My home town is Belot, Wis. Our main station is WBEL. We also had WGEZ sort of for the Gazette, another newspaper. KSAL is for Salina, Kan. and on and on. President Ronald Reagan would get the AP paper feed from a football game and read it in the studio as if he were really at the game. Sort of reinact the plays after he saw the script. One time the AP reported a name of the wrong runner and Ronald began the reinactment and then a correction came across the AP so he had JONES lateral the ball to SMITH just before he scored. THIS IS SOME REALLY INTERESTING STUFF. There is a radio history museum in Chicago, go to see it some time. Tim Matas