"The 1911 code transmitter, 9YA, at State U. of Iowa, Iowa City, had blossomed by 1919 into a voice-and-music station operating on a regular schedule."—Broadcasting, 1962, volume 62, p. 120
Is WSUI the oldest educational broadcast station west of the Mississippi?
QST, January, 1917, page 46 (PDF)—Also reported by The Wireless Age, April 1917, volume 4, p. 516
"RADIO LESSONS BY WIRELESS"—A broadcast schedule for "a short radio lesson" and "University news" is publicized by 9YA, the experimental call sign for what was later to become WSUI. "9YA was licensed to the State University of Iowa — the 'Y' in the callsign signified that it was operating under a Technical and Training School license." earlyradiohistory.us/1917_9YA.htm
Carl Menzer, who began work at the station (then 9YA) in 1917 as a student, later to be station director from after graduation in 1922 until 1968, brought vacuum tube technology to the station in 1919, building a wireless telephone transmitter. — Hugh Richard Slotten (2009). Radio's Hidden Voice: The Origins of Public Broadcasting in the United States. University of Illinois Press. p. 17
"Broadcasting from the campus of the State University of Iowa began in 1911 when a 2000-watt transmitter for code communication was set in operation on a regular schedule. This equipment was operated under the call letters 9YA."
—Education's Own Stations by S. E. Frost - ©1937 - University of Chicago Press - p. 131
History of WSUI, 1919-1999
Sara Epstein, FYI, 04/09/1999
1919—Station 9YA, which will be named WSUI in 1925, begins regular broadcasts of news and recorded music—the first educational radio station west of the Mississippi.—
www.uiowa.edu/facts/history/highlights/1901-1930.htm
Editor's note: Scheduled voice and music broadcasts to the general public by other stations had existed since 1916, so it is possible these 1917 9YA broadcasts were in voice, not Morse Code.
Although a license may have been granted in 1919, the use of the call letters 9YA predates that year.
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