Conrad, Frank

Frank Conrad, (born May 4, 1874, Pittsburgh—died Dec. 11, 1941, Miami), American electrical engineer whose interest in radiotelephony led to the establishment of the first commercial radio station.

Conrad had little formal schooling when he joined Westinghouse Electrical and Manufacturing Company, Pittsburgh, as a 16-year-old apprentice in 1890. Nevertheless, he rose to the position of assistant chief engineer by 1921. He established an amateur radio station in his home in Wilkinsburg, Pa., as a hobby in 1919, broadcasting music and entertainment to local listeners. After a local department store advertised wireless sets to receive Conrad’s transmissions, Westinghouse officials and Conrad realized the commercial potential of radio. They applied for a license for station KDKA, which, on Nov. 2, 1920, inaugurated commercial broadcasting by transmitting the results of the Harding–Cox presidential election.

Conrad’s research at Westinghouse included shortwave radio experiments, which led to the eventual radio relay of network broadcasts, and work on radio transmitting equipment. He held more than 200 patents for such inventions as the round watt-hour electric meter, which measures the consumption of electric energy and has become a common home installation; electric clocks; automobile starting, lighting, and ignition devices; and the pantograph trolley for electric trains.