Frank Conrad (May 4, 1874 – December 10, 1941) was an American electrical engineer, best known for radio development, including his work as a pioneer broadcaster. He worked for the Westinghouse Electrical and Manufacturing Company in East Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for half a century. His experimental radio station provided the inspiration, and he acted in an advisory role, for the establishment of Westinghouse's first broadcasting service, over radio station KDKA.
Early life
Conrad was born May 4, 1874, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the son of Herbert M. Conrad, a railroad mechanic, and Sadie Conrad. His formal education ended with 7th grade, however in 1928 his work would be recognized with an honorary Doctor of Science degree from the University of Pittsburgh. He began employment at the Westinghouse Electrical and Manufacturing Company at age 16, and at 23 began working in Westinghouse's Testing Department, where he and another engineer, H. P. Davis, developed the first circular-type watt-hour meter (known as the 'Round Type'). In 1937, it was estimated that 30 million induction-type watt-hour meters were in use. In 1904, the company appointed him General Engineer, and he was promoted to Assistant Chief Engineer in 1921. Conrad was awarded more than 200 patents internationally throughout his life. He was awarded 177 U.S. patents, and at least 42 in the United Kingdom and at least 9 in Germany
Early radio work
Conrad first became interested in radio in 1913, the result of a bet with a co-worker over whose watch was more accurate. Conrad won the bet, in part because he secretly replaced his cheap watch's internal components with the mechanism from a more expensive watch. While conducting the time comparisons, Conrad began to doubt the accuracy of time signals provided by a Western Union telegraph service, so he built a simple radio receiver to pick up the official Naval Observatory time signals, broadcast nightly by station NAA in Arlington, Virginia. With this receiver he also overheard transmissions being made by a neighbor, John Coleman, so Conrad built a transmitter in order to communicate with Coleman and other local amateur radio operators. After moving from Swissvale to Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania, he installed a radio station on the top floor of a two-story garage adjacent to his home. In the summer of 1916 this station was issued an Experimental license, with the call sign 8XK. At this time the station employed a spark-transmitter, thus could only be used for Morse code transmissions.
In April 1917, due to the entrance of the United States into World War One, all civilian radio stations were ordered silenced, including 8XK. During the war Westinghouse was awarded government contracts related to developing radio technology, and Conrad worked on improvements to radio equipment (SCR-69 transmitter and SCR-70 receiver) for the Army Signal Corps. In addition to Morse code, this development work included radiotelephone transmissions, using the recently developed capabilities of vacuum-tube transmitters. In conjunction with his wartime work Conrad was authorized to operate a radio transmitter from his home, using the call sign 3WE, for communication with a second station located at the Westinghouse plant in East Pittsburgh. He also produced a wind-driven electrical generator, attached to a plane's wing, for powering a radio transmitter.
Effective October 1, 1919, the ban on civilian radio stations was lifted. Although his station would not be formally relicensed until January 21, 1921, Conrad resumed experimenting, again using the 8XK callsign, and now also testing vacuum-tube radiotelephone equipment.
He was responsible for one of the country's first post-war radio broadcasts, when, on the evening of October 17, 1919, he entertained local amateurs with selections from phonograph records. This was the start of a series of test broadcasts, and the novelty of the entertainment proved popular with his audience. Responding to their interest, Conrad adopted a semi-regular schedule, primarily consisting of two hours on Saturday and also Wednesday nights. (The broadcasts weren't universally appreciated, as his wife later reported that he also "used to get phone calls at all hours of the day and night telling him to get off the air".)