TODAY WE SALUTE THE VOICES THAT MADE RADIO HISTORY 🎙️❤️

Today, August 20, is National Radio Day, and 730 BOOM Radio is sending a BIG salute to the DJs, announcers, personalities, programmers, engineers, producers, news reporters and everybody who ever sat behind a microphone and made somebody on the other side of that speaker feel something.

Because before podcasts, streaming, TikTok, YouTube and social media...

THERE WAS RADIO.

And radio didn't need you to look at a screen.

You could be driving to work, cooking dinner, sitting on the porch, working the overnight shift or riding through the city, and one voice coming through those speakers could make you laugh, introduce you to your new favorite song, tell you what was happening in your community or simply keep you company.

That's the magic we're celebrating today.

🎙️ SO WHY IS NATIONAL RADIO DAY AUGUST 20?

There's actually some serious radio history connected to this date.

On August 20, 1920, Detroit station 8MK, which eventually became WWJ, made its first broadcast from the second floor of The Detroit News building.

That first broadcast reportedly reached only a few dozen homes.

Think about THAT.

A little more than a century ago, hearing somebody's voice and music magically coming through a box in your house was revolutionary. Today, a radio station can broadcast from Chicago and be heard by somebody anywhere in the world. 

The exact origin of National Radio Day itself isn't completely documented, but the celebration dates back at least to the early 1990s. August 20 is believed to have been chosen in recognition of that historic 1920 Detroit broadcast.

📻 AND LOOK WHAT RADIO BECAME...

Radio gave generations their morning wake-up call.

It broke news before television could get cameras there.

It introduced artists who became legends.

It broadcast elections, ball games, church services, concerts and community emergencies.

It gave us countdowns, dedications, request lines, traffic reports, weather alerts and those DJs who somehow felt like family even though most listeners had never met them.

And Black radio?

THAT'S A WHOLE OTHER CHAPTER OF AMERICAN HISTORY.

Black radio became a microphone for communities that mainstream media too often ignored.

It helped break Black artists.

It promoted Black businesses.

It talked about what was happening in our neighborhoods.

It gave Black personalities a platform to sound like US, speak to US and advocate for US.

The microphone wasn't simply entertainment.

IT WAS POWER.

❤️ 730 BOOM SALUTES THE PEOPLE BEHIND THE MIC

Today we salute the radio legends whose voices became part of people's lives.

We salute the DJs who carried crates of records into the station.

The personalities who learned how to hit the post perfectly.

The overnight jocks talking to somebody who couldn't sleep.

The engineers keeping the station alive when everything decided to break at 2:17 in the morning. 😂

The programmers obsessing over what song should play next.

The newsrooms.

The producers.

The board operators.

The salespeople keeping the lights on.

The street teams.

The independent stations.

The internet stations.

And especially...

THE LISTENERS.

Because there is no radio without somebody on the other end listening.

🔴 AND NOW 730 BOOM GETS TO CARRY THE TORCH

Radio has changed.

The giant antenna isn't the only way to reach people anymore.

Today, radio travels through phones, computers, apps, smart speakers, cars and internet streams.

But the mission hasn't really changed:

PLAY SOMETHING WORTH HEARING.

SAY SOMETHING WORTH LISTENING TO.

SERVE YOUR COMMUNITY.

AND NEVER FORGET THE PEOPLE ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE SPEAKER.

That's the tradition 730 BOOM Radio is proud to be part of.

We're digital.

We're independent.

We're building something new.

But we're standing on more than 100 years of broadcasting history.

From a tiny Detroit broadcast that reached a handful of radios in 1920...

to a world where an independent station can hit PLAY and potentially reach listeners around the globe.

RADIO DIDN'T DIE.

IT EVOLVED. 🎙️

And today, we're celebrating every generation that helped it get here.

🎙️ FROM 730 BOOM RADIO...

HAPPY NATIONAL RADIO DAY!

To everybody who ever cracked a microphone...

To everybody who ever requested a song...

To everybody who ever yelled at the radio because the DJ said something crazy...

To everybody who ever discovered a song through radio and immediately thought:

“WHO IS THAT?!”

And to everybody still listening today...

WE SALUTE YOU. 🫡📻❤️

730 BOOM RADIO

Chicago Is Home. The World Is Welcome.

IT HITS DIFFERENT. EVERY TIME. BOOM! 💥