At 6:00pm, on Tuesday, November 2, 1920, a few men in a shack changed the course of history. A shack located on the roof of the Westinghouse building they worked for, in Pittsburgh.

They started a radio station, eventually designated KDKA, and it was an AM station. They didn’t know who was listening, but that night they read the election returns for the current presidential election – Harding vs Cox. As a favor to a local radio store, they commented about radios being for sale for only $10. Not some kit to be put together by hams but a finished product ready to be sold to common, everyday people. The store sold out. Yet since the audience was unknown, the management who paid the bills threatened to “pull the plug” on the station, so an experiment was done. Folks listening to a broadcast were asked to call in and let them know they’d been heard. A jammed switchboard later, it was found thousands were listening to the broadcasts, far more people than the number of radios possibly ever sold. Folks were gathering in homes, garages, diners, even churches to hear what was coming out of this newfangled device. Citizens wrote in asking for more broadcasts and specific content (it was still some time before anyone thought of practical things, like, oh the weather!) I’m told that only 21 years later they broadcast a message from a president, that went something like “Sunday, December 7^th 1941, a date which will live in infamy…” and a nation got ready for some dark days ahead.

Did you know that all stations EAST of the Mississippi have call signs that start with W, like WMMS, WFNQ, or WDVE? And all stations WEST of the river start with K, like KBPI. Yet Pittsburgh is clearly to the east – and older than the law. I grew up listening to KDKA because they broadcast the Pirate games.

I remember driving along the west side of the mountains approaching Pittsburgh and the station having static and fuzz. That’s because the mountains block the signal. Then when we entered the loooooong tunnel on the way and it went out entirely. But after we popped out overlooking the city proper, it was clear as a bell and as good as any FM broadcast. Nothing between us and the station.

I like to imagine life is like that. We live our lives with flashes of heaven, when good things are given to us. Close friends, loving family, rainbows, sunsets, snowfalls with big thick flakes good for catching on your tongue. Sure bad stuff happens too, that’s the static. The days get darker sometimes, more than others, and I recall the message to the seven churches that there were going to be hard times ahead, but don’t give up. Eventually we enter the grave, but we reemerge in the presence of God, and all things are made clear. Perhaps we think no one else is hearing this message, that we are the only ones, but I suggest we’re going to be surprised how many others not only heard the message but responded to it. In the meantime, why not let God know you are listening? Have you prayed today? My personal belief – one of these days God will know no one is tuned in, and he’s going to pull the plug like he did for Israel. Until then, let’s keep on gathering in homes, garages, diners, and churches to hear the message!

Randy