September 26, 2026
KDKA: How One Pittsburgh Broadcast Helped Turn Radio Into Everyday Life
In November 1920, a small Westinghouse station in Pittsburgh sent election returns through the air. The experiment helped reveal that…
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Radio & Television
September 26, 2026
The 1960 Presidential Debates: How Television Changed the Political Image
Before 1960, Americans mostly encountered presidential candidates through speeches, newspapers, and radio. The first televised debates introduced a new measure…
September 26, 2026
Sesame Street: How a Neighborhood on Television Made Learning Feel Like Belonging
When Sesame Street premiered in 1969, its creators joined child development research, public television and playful puppetry to build a…
September 26, 2026
Closed Captioning: How Television Learned to Speak to More People
What began as an experiment for deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers became one of television’s most important public-access technologies—and a model…
September 26, 2026
The Emergency Alert System: How Radio and Television Became America’s Public Warning Network
From Cold War sirens to today’s television crawls and radio interruptions, the Emergency Alert System has turned local broadcasters into…
September 10, 2026
The French Chef: How Julia Child Made Public Television Feel Like Home
Before cooking shows became a television category, Julia Child turned a Boston studio into a welcoming American kitchen—and changed what…
September 10, 2026
The Fireside Chat: How Radio Made the Presidency Feel Close to Home
In the 1930s, Franklin D. Roosevelt used a young mass medium to explain crises, restore confidence, and create a new…
September 10, 2026
Sesame Street: How a Neighborhood Made Television Feel Like a Classroom
When Sesame Street premiered in 1969, it treated television as more than entertainment. With research, music, puppets and an unforgettable…