How Will Rogers Kicked Off NBC
On November 15, 1926, Will Rogers performed onstage in Independence, Kansas, as part of a national lecture tour. Waiting backstage was a microphone connected to the WDAF radio station in Kansas City, ready to broadcast a message across the nation. That broadcast would ultimately change the face of entertainment forever. It was the first-ever broadcast of the National Broadcasting Company (NBC), which linked 19 radio stations and reached an estimated 8 million listeners nationwide.
This wasn’t Will Rogers’ first radio broadcast, but it was his largest audience to date. He talked about his tour of Europe, during which he wrote telegrams to the New York Times addressed to President Calvin Coolidge—the beginning of his career as a daily columnist. Will also gave a shout-out to Claremore, Oklahoma, his hometown, saying he could have broadcast from there, but the town didn’t need the advertisement. He talked about the new World War I memorial in Kansas City, then poked fun at Queen Marie of Romania. He joked about Russia, England, and, of course, the US Congress. All of this in his folksy, down-home style.
Will wasn’t the only talent on the program. Segments came from stations across the country. The broadcast originated in the Grand Ballroom of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York. Opera singer Mary Garden performed from a station in Chicago. The entire program lasted four and a half hours. It marked the beginning of radio as a nationwide communication powerhouse in the United States.
In later years, Will performed on a weekly program, The Gulf Headliners, which aired every Sunday night. These programs were broadcast nationally and included a monologue by Will, during which he used an alarm clock to signal when his time was up.
This year, NBC celebrates its 100th anniversary. The network that began as a radio station has evolved into NBCUniversal, a major player in entertainment. And it all began with Will Rogers.
By Rachel O’Donnell
