Back in 1919 an amateur licensed radio station called 8ZAE operated experimentally on one of the upper floors of the Doubleday-Hill Electric Company store in downtown Pittsburgh. The store sold radio components, and when it's salespeople wanted to give a prospective customer a demonstration to spark the sale, they just ran upstairs and turned on the station. 

Well, two years later in January, 1921, Pittsburgh listeners heard the call letters KQV on their crystal sets for the first time. These call letters, officially designated by the Federal government a year later, inaugurated one of the world's first commercial broadcast services.

Well, not quite, because KQV founder G. Brown Hill did not think radio should be a commercial enterprise and refused to accept commercials until 1925. How times have changed! 

Over the years since then, KQV has been many things to many Pittsburghers. Early on, in the 30's and 40's, KQV had live musical shows and was a full-time affiliate; first with NBC's blue network, later with Mutual, carrying daytime soap operas, nightly drama and comedy shows, and network newscasts in addition to it's local news. 

In the 50's, 60's, and the early 70's, KQV was the cock of the walk in rock. It was Pittsburgh's DJ fast-track. Showcased on the ground floor of the Chamber of Commerce Building at the corner of "Walk" and "Don't Walk". 

Then, the music stopped on October 15, 1975. Just like that, KQV became all news as a charter affiliate of NBC radio's newly launched News and Information service. 

HOW OLD IS KQV?
Truthfully, we're not sure. Some radio historians claim that KQV's transmitter was put together and functioning as early as 1912. Others say 1916. However, we do know that "Doubleday Hill" was selling crystal sets designed to receive the KQV signal in late 1918.

HOW DID KQV COME INTO BEING?
Sometime around 1916, Francis Potts an employee of "Doubleday Hill" and Richard Johnstone, a draftsman, began tinkering with an old spark coil from a junked automobile, which they combined with a spark cap, nails, dry cell and sending key to produce an early AM transmitter. 

Potts and Johnstone soon set-up shop in a small utility room on the top of the "Doubleday Hill" building in the heart of downtown Pittsburgh.

"Doubleday Hill" soon got into the business of manufacturing and selling crystal radio receivers.

When a salesman needed to demonstrate the wonders of radio, he'd have a coworker run upstairs and fire up the transmitter. Early broadcasts usually consisted of the reading of works of literature or scripture.

At that time, people weren't sure what to do with this new technology, or where it would fit into their lives. In fact, It was considered primarily to be a tool for naval vessels, allowing them to communicate over the vast distances of ocean. In fact, KQV's first official operating license was granted in 1919 by the "Federal Maritime Commission." Presumably, to conduct experiments on the feasibility of communicating with riverboats. (The Federal Communications Commission was not created until the early 1920's.)

By late 1919, "experimental signal 8 Z-A-E" as KQV was then known, was broadcasting to the city of Pittsburgh on a daily basis. 

WHY THE "K"? WHERE'S THE "W"?
KQV came into existence before the Federal Communications Commission mandated that all radio stations East of the Mississippi have call letters that were proceeded by a "W".

WHAT DO THE LETTERS K-Q-V REPRESENT?
Local radio historians claim that these letters were chosen to represent the phrase "King of Quaker Valley".

WHAT WAS "THE CORNER OF WALK AND DON'T WALK"?
In the 1950's KQV was moved to the first floor of the Chamber of Commerce building. In an effort to increase the public's awareness of the station, the air studios were built in the large picture windows at the corner of  Smithfield and Seventh.

An entire generation of Pittsburghers remember the thrill of seeing their favorite disc jockeys rocking and rolling in the KQV window studios.