Initially using the temporarily assigned "special amateur" call sign of 8ZZ, it traces its beginning to its broadcast of the Harding-Cox presidential election results on the evening of November 2, 1920.

"[5] KDKA's establishment was an outgrowth of the post-World War I efforts of the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company of East Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to expand its commercial operations in the radio industry.

However, during the conflict Westinghouse received permission to operate research radio transmitters located at its East Pittsburgh plant and at the home of one of its lead engineers, Frank Conrad, in nearby Wilkinsburg.

[9] Although it would gain its fame as a broadcasting station, KDKA actually originated as part of a project to establish private radiotelegraph links between Westinghouse's East Pittsburgh factory and its other facilities, to avoid the business expense of paying for telegraph and telephone lines.

"[10] An application, signed by H. P. Davis, was submitted to the Eighth District Radio Inspector, S. W. Edwards in Detroit, who forwarded it to Washington, and on October 27, 1920, Westinghouse was issued a Limited Commercial station license, serial No.

[b] Shortly after beginning the process of setting up KDKA to be used for point-to-point communication, a series of events occurred which resulted in it also becoming a broadcasting station, which would overshadow its original role.

[19] Six days later, the store's September 29 installment included a small notice titled "Air Concert 'Picked Up' By Radio Here", which noted that its demonstration set had been used to receive one of the Conrad broadcasts.

Davis held a staff meeting with his "radio cabinet" and asked them to have a station operational in time to broadcast the presidential and local election returns on November 2, 1920.

Westinghouse's preparations included the construction of a shack and antenna system on the roof of the nine-story K Building at the East Pittsburgh Works in Turtle Creek, Pennsylvania.

"[32] This Westinghouse broadcast was not unique – that evening at least three other stations made audio transmissions of election returns, including the Detroit News' "Detroit News Radiophone" service,[33] a temporary arrangement made by the Saint Louis Post-Dispatch in conjunction with William E. Woods of the Benwoods Company, "manufacturers and distributors of wireless outfits",[34] and the Buffalo Evening News, over an amateur station operated by Charles C. Klinck, Jr.[35] Later station publicity proclaimed that Westinghouse's election night broadcast "was a national sensation, acclaimed by newspapers all over the country",[4] however a comprehensive review of contemporary newspapers determined that reports, although positive, actually appeared only in a few local papers, thus it "was not an immediate 'sensation' and that the fame of this event developed over time with later celebratory accounts".

[42] KDKA was one of a small number of stations that already met this standard at the time of its adoption, as its second year-long license, issued November 7, 1921, included the notation "360 meters for general broadcasting" in addition to continuing the point-to-point service authorization.

An early attempt to broadcast a concert by Westinghouse employees from a local auditorium found that the sensitive microphones picked up echoes from the walls, causing severe distortion.

This led to modern studio design, including walls covered with noise-absorbing material, initially "monks cloth" (which turned out to be a fancy name for burlap).

Additional expenses included the requirement to pay royalties to musical composers, plus the fact that, unlike the amateur Westinghouse Company staff performers, professional acts started to expect to be paid in something more tangible than publicity.

On the revenue side, Westinghouse found that it didn't have the near-monopoly for selling vacuum-tube receivers that it expected it had gotten through the purchase of the commercial rights to the Armstrong regenerative patent.

In 1922 J. C. McQuiston, from the Westinghouse Department of Publicity, declared that "if advertising were permitted, it goes without saying that all the good work that has been done in giving valuable information and pleasant entertainment for the people would be destroyed".

[51] In 1922, H. P. Davis suggested that the best solution was "five or six large, well-located and powerful stations" which "could be licensed, protected and organized... and that it would become a matter of such public value, that endowments or Federal subsidies would be possible which would assist those responsible for the service to carry it on and to continue the development and research required to get the most value out of it".

A final frequency change took place in March 1941, under the provisions of the North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement, as KDKA's clear channel assignment was shifted from 980 to 1020 kHz.

Cordic and his group played a small amount of music, but primarily provided entertainment through skits, including recurring characters such as "Louie The Garbageman" and space alien "Omicron".

KDKA cautiously embraced rock and roll music, with artists such as Bill Haley, the Everly Brothers, Fats Domino, and Elvis Presley, in addition to popular vocalists including Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee, and Canonsburg, Pennsylvania native Perry Como.

In 1973, KDKA revamped its "Party Line" timeslot, with the bombastic John Cigna moving over from WJAS to anchor the nighttime talk program and urge listeners to "buy American!"

In 1979, newsman Fred Honsberger began working at KDKA, and went on to host a successful evening talk show plus a top-rated afternoon drive program.

While CBS shareholders retained a 72% ownership stake in the combined company, Entercom was the surviving entity, separating KDKA radio (both 1020 and FM 93.7) from KDKA-TV and WPCW.

This was emphasized when the September 3, 1945, issue of Time magazine included a report that the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) had recently sided with WWJ's "claim to being the world's first commercial radio station", by concluding that KDKA "was ten and a half weeks younger".

[85] In addition, beginning in late 1916, Lee de Forest's "Highbridge station" (2XG) in New York City also began transmitting regularly scheduled programs,[86] including a comprehensive November 7, 1916, election night broadcast.

In 1946, a KDKA promotional pamphlet, issued under the name of the station's general manager, Joseph E. Baudino, stated that Westinghouse's November 2, 1920, election day effort marked "the world's first regularly scheduled broadcast".

[96] However, Baudino and Kittross found no evidence of organized broadcasting prior to the inauguration of spoken-word weather forecasts on January 3, 1921, and in 2007 a comprehensive station history compiled by Randall Davidson came to the same conclusion.

[104] Ultimately shortwave relays for network programming was determined to be inferior to dedicated telephone line connections, and the transmissions to KFKX ended, with the Hastings operation closing on June 1, 1927.

The program was broadcast over shortwave to the Far North during the winter months, when mail service was impossible, and consisted of personal messages to RCMP officers, missionaries, trappers, and others from family and friends, music, and news.

[113] In April 2020, KDKA Radio host Wendy Bell received criticism for her comment questioning whether COVID-19 lockdowns were necessary to save "less than 1% of our population", saying the measures were "going to bankrupt America and the future".