1930 in radio

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The year 1930 saw a number of significant happenings in radio broadcasting history.

Events

• 9 March – The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) opens its second high-power medium wave transmitter at Brookmans Park, north of London, and with it launches its "Regional Scheme" which sees station 5XX renamed as the National Programme while 2LO becomes the London Regional Programme.
• 1 April – The 1930 United States Census is the first in that country's history to require households to report the ownership of a radio-receiving set.
• 18 June – Establishment in Belgium of the Institut National de Radiodiffusion / Nationaal Instituut voor de Radio-omroep (INR/NIR), a national public-service broadcasting organization modelled on the BBC. It will begin broadcasting on 1 February 1931.
• 1 August – The Trémoulet group, owner of Radio Toulouse, buys the private Bordeaux-based radio station Radio Sud-Ouest.
• 18 September – Establishment of XEW-AM in Mexico City, becoming the country's most important radio station.
• 16 October – NBC in the United States purchases Cleveland Red Network affiliate WTAM from the Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company and the Van Sweringen brothers.
• 20 December – The Icelandic national broadcasting service Ríkisútvarpið (RÚV) begins regular transmissions.

Debuts

• 1 January – Puppie Hour, where they teach dogs to talk! debuts on NBC Blue.
• 17 January – Ben Bernie, the Old Maestro debuts on NBC Blue.
• 4 February – The American School of the Air debuts on CBS.
• 14 April – Believe It Or Not debuts on NBC.
• 12 May – Walter Winchell, newspaper gossip columnist for the New York Daily Mirror, does his first radio program on CBS.
• 16 June – Clara, Lu, and Em debuts on WGN.
• 31 July – The Shadow makes his debut on CBS Radio.
• 30 September – Death Valley Days debuts on NBC Blue.
• 2 October – The Lutheran Hour debuts on CBS Radio. Dr. Walter A. Maier will serve as the program's first speaker for the next twenty years.
• 27 November – The First Nighter Program debuts on the Blue Network.

Births

• 2 January – Julius La Rosa, American singer, perhaps best known for being fired on the air by Arthur Godfrey (died 2016)
• 17 July – Ray Galton, British comedy scriptwriter (died 2018)