Effort Growing To Build Broadcasting Museum In Pittsburgh

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) --November 2, 1920. Presidential election results. The first commercial radio broadcast was inspired by Westinghouse engineer Frank Conrad.

In March of 2001, radio historian Rick Harris hosted one last tour of the Wilkinsburg garage where Dr. Conrad first experimented with radio.

A few weeks later, the historic garage would be dismantled, in hopes that one day it would be restored in a National Museum of Broadcasting.

Years later, Harris continues the fight for a museum in the city where broadcasting began.

"The establishing of broadcasting and all the radio and television development that happened in Pittsburgh happened nowhere else," he says. "It's where the Museum of Broadcasting should be."

Dr. Conrad's garage would the a centerpiece.

Sportscaster Bill Hillgrove, president of the "Conrad Project," is also devoted to the effort.

"We haven't found a place yet, but we're getting closer," he says. "And of course, we need some financial support, and we have to start with some corporate support within our own industry. We hope we see that day before the 100th anniversary, which is five years away."

For more information, visit www.savethegarage.org.

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