WJY (Hoboken, New Jersey)

WJY was a temporary longwave radio station, located in Hoboken, New Jersey and operated by the Radio Corporation of America (RCA), which was used on July 2, 1921 for a ringside broadcast of the Dempsey-Carpentier heavyweight boxing match.

The fight details were also telegraphed to station KDKA in East Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and broadcast from there by a local announcer. These broadcasts were a cooperative effort, designed to raise money for the American Committee for Devastated France and the Navy Club. This also marked RCA's entrance into the radio broadcasting field, which the company would dominate in the U.S. for the next half century.

Although the general facts about WJY's Dempsey-Carpentier broadcast are well documented, significant discrepancies exist for certain details in the recollections of individual participants.

In 1920, radio broadcasting in the United States, which before World War I had been limited to a few scattered experimental efforts, was just starting to develop, although there were still very few homes with radio receivers, and most listening was done by amateur radio enthusiasts. Looking for interesting programming, station operators began adding sports events, including boxing matches. In January 1920, Lieutenant Herbert E. Metcalf, in conjunction with the Sacramento Radio Club, used U.S. Army Signal Corps equipment to announce from ringside a series of boxing matches taking place at Mather Field. The following September, the Detroit News employed its "Detroit News Radiophone" station, 8MK, to broadcast summaries telegraphed from nearby Benton Harbor, Michigan, as Jack Dempsey made short work of Billy Minske, knocking out his opponent in the third round. And on April 11, 1921, Westinghouse's broadcasting station KDKA in East Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, carried ringside reports by Florent Gibson of a Johnny Ray vs. Johnny Dundee 10 round no-decision match.

Meanwhile, fight promoters were looking for ways to improve the image of their sport and increase its popularity. In January 1921, a bout between Benny Leonard and Richie Mitchell at the Madison Square Garden arena in New York City was conducted as a benefit for the American Committee for Devastated France, working with philanthropist Anne Morgan, who was chair of that charity's executive committee. Julius Hopp, manager of Madison Square Garden concerts, who helped coordinate the charity match, was on the lookout for additional opportunities. In March 1921 he was reportedly introduced to radio broadcasting, after being "impressed with the skill of New York amateur radio men as disclosed at the Second District Convention", which was held at the Hotel Pennsylvania in New York City. One feature of this convention was that "music sent from the Bedloe Island Signal Corps Station [WVP] via radiofone was heard almost continuously".

...
Wikipedia