WASHINGTON, Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Following is the daily "Profile America" feature from the U.S. Census Bureau:
EARLY PRESIDENTIAL RADIO
Profile America — Wednesday, February 22nd. The history of radio and the presidency seems to center entirely on Franklin Roosevelt's famous "fireside chats" beginning in 1933 in the depths of the Depression. But the first president to address the nation from the White House over the infant broadcast medium was, ironically, "Silent Cal." President Calvin Coolidge spoke to a coast-to-coast audience on this date in 1924 on the occasion of George Washington's birthday. His words were carried over a mere 42 stations. That year, there were 530 radio stations in the country, broadcasting to just 1.25 million households. Today, there are nearly 5,900 radio stations employing about 83,000 people. Nearly 100 percent of America's 118 million occupied households have radios. Profile America is in its 20th year as a public service of the U.S. Census Bureau.
Sources: Kane's Famous First Facts, 6212
First broadcast/accessed 12/1/2016: http://www.americaslibrary.gov/jb/jazz/jb_jazz_radio_1.html
Historical Statistics of the United States: Colonial Times to 1970, p. 796
Radio stations and employment/County Business Patterns/ NAICS 515112: http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/BP/2014/00A1//naics~515112
Radio penetration/accessed 12/1/2016: https://people.hofstra.edu/geotrans/eng/ch1en/conc1en/telecomdiffusionUS.html
Households/American Community Survey: https://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/15_1YR/DP04
Profile America is produced by the Center for New Media and Promotion of the U.S. Census Bureau. Statistics and accounts drawn from cited non-Census sources are employed for illustrative or narrative purposes, and are not attested to by the U.S. Census Bureau. These daily features are available as produced segments, ready to air, on the Internet at http://www.census.gov (look for "Audio" in the "Library" pull-down menu).
To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/us-census-bureau-daily-feature-for-february-22-early-presidential-radio-300410004.html
SOURCE U.S. Census Bureau
