The earliest radio stations were simply radiotelegraphy systems and did not carry audio.

For audio
broadcasts to be possible electronic detection and amplification devices had to be incorporated.
The thermionic valve was invented in 1904 by the English physicist John Ambrose Fleming. He
developed a device he called an "oscillation valve" (because it passes current in only one direction).
The heated filament, or cathode, was capable of thermionic emission of electrons that would flow to
the plate (or anode) when it was at a higher voltage. Electrons, however, could not pass in the
reverse direction because the plate was not heated and thus not capable of thermionic emission of
electrons. Later known as the Fleming valve, it could be used as a rectifier of alternating current and
as a radio wave detector. This greatly improved the crystal set which rectified the radio signal using
an early solid-state diode based on a crystal and a so-called cat's whisker. However, what was still
required was an amplifier.
The triode (mercury-vapor filled with a control grid) was patented on March 4, 1906 by the
Austrian Robert von Lieben[2][3][4] independent from that, on October 25, 1906[5][6]Lee De
Forest patented his three-element Audion. It wasn't put to practical use until 1912, when its
amplifying ability became recognized by researchers.[7]
By about 1920, valve technology had matured to the point where radio broadcasting was fast
becoming viable.[8] However, an early audio transmission that could be termed a broadcast may have
occurred on Christmas Eve in 1906 by Reginald Fessenden, although this is disputed.[9] While many
early experimenters attempted to create systems similar to radiotelephone devices by which only
two parties were meant to communicate, there were others who intended to transmit to larger
audiences. Charles Herroldstarted broadcasting in California in 1909 and was carrying audio by the
next year. (Herrold's station eventually became KCBS).
In The Hague, the Netherlands, PCGG started broadcasting on November 6, 1919, making it,
arguably the first commercial broadcasting station. In 1916, Frank Conrad, an employee for
the Westinghouse Electric Corporation, began broadcasting from his Wilkinsburg,
Pennsylvania garage with the call letters 8XK. Later, the station was moved to the top of the
Westinghouse factory building in East Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Westinghouse relaunched the
station as KDKA on November 2, 1920, as the first commercially licensed radio station in
America.[10] The commercial broadcasting designation came from the type of broadcast
license; advertisements did not air until years later. The first licensed broadcast in the United States
came from KDKA itself: the results of the Harding/Cox Presidential Election. TheMontreal station that
became CFCF began broadcast programming on May 20, 1920, and the Detroit station that
became WWJ began program broadcasts beginning on August 20, 1920, although neither held a
license at the time.
In 1920 wireless broadcasts for entertainment began in the UK from the Marconi Research
Centre 2MT at Writtle near Chelmsford, England. A famous broadcast from Marconi's New Street

Works factory in Chelmsford was made by the famous soprano Dame Nellie Melba on 15 June
1920, where she sang two arias and her famous trill. She was the first artist of international renown
to participate in direct radio broadcasts. The 2MT station began to broadcast regular entertainment
in 1922. The BBC was amalgamated in 1922 and received a Royal Charter in 1926, making it the
first national broadcaster in the world.[11][12]
Radio Argentina began regularly scheduled transmissions from the Teatro Coliseo in Buenos
Aires on August 27, 1920, making its own priority claim. The station got its license on November 19,
1923. The delay was due to the lack of official Argentine licensing procedures before that date.