History of Broadcasting in Michigan
Visit "On the Air!" for an exciting exhibit showing the
history of Michigan broadcasting. For more information, follow this link to the
Southwestern Michigan
College Museum.
For more pictures of the exhibit or to see how you can bring the
exhibit to your area, visit the
MAB Foundation website and click on the link to the history exhibit.
In 1901, a young Detroit scientist, Thomas Clark, realized his dream
and became the "Father of Wireless Radio." By 1903 he had
established his own company, the Thomas E. Clark Wireless Telegraph
Company and began experimenting with voice transmission.
Thomas Clark later met James Scripps, founder of The Detroit News,
who invested $1,000 in Clark's dream. Though interest in broadcasting
was high, until 1920 strict regulations prohibited any use of radio
exception by the U.S. Military. Scripps decided to establish a
radiophone station as a service adjunct to The Detroit News. Detroit had
the first newspaper in the world to install a radio broadcast station.
In August of 1920 station "8MK" (now WWJ) went on the air
and was quickly followed by WCX (now WJR) in 1922. In five years eleven
more stations began broadcasting from all over the state. In 1925
network broadcasting was introduced to the state, as WWJ became an
outlet for a chain of stations later known as NBC.
Broadcasting outside of Detroit exploded in 1923. John E. Fetzer, a
"ham operator" and radio engineer, started WKZO at Andrews
University. Fetzer and Tom Craven, a consulting engineer in Washington,
collaborated on the "directional antenna." The Federal
Communications Commission granted Fetzer an experimental nightly
operations license in 1938. That allowed over 3,000 stations to obtain
their broadcast licenses.
In 1946 Harry Bannister, manager of WWJ, witnessed a television
demonstration and less than one year later, WWJ-TV (now WDIV-TV) was on
the air. WJBK and WXYZ in Detroit soon followed WWJ's foot steps.
Outside of Detroit, WLAV and WOOD aired in Grand Rapids.
It soon became evident that Michigan's broadcast industry needed
unification and legislative representation. In 1948 the Michigan
Association of Broadcasters was born.
The association began as an all volunteer organization, eventually
adding a part-time manager, Thomas Cleary. As enthusiasm for the
association grew, so did membership and membership demands. In November
of 1985, the MAB hired their first full time executive director, Karole
L. White.
Since 1985 Michigan broadcasters, under strong board leadership and a
staff devoted to the development of programs and member services has
become among the largest and most active state broadcast organizations
in the nation.
As the association has grown so has broadcasting as an industry.
Today Michigan has over 400 commercial radio and television stations
along with public radio, television and cable. All these combined make
Michigan one of the top ten broadcast states.
 In
1998, the Michigan
Historical Museum launched a special one-year exhibit "On
The Air!" The History of Michigan Radio and Television."
This exhibit ran at the state museum in Lansing until August 1, 1999,
and then moved to the Detroit Historical Center for one year.
Visit the Michigan
Historical Museum website to view the exhibit on-line.
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