102 Years Ago Sioux Falls Went ‘On the Air’ With it’s First Radio Station

A century ago, the United States was in a time of great technological change. World War One was over and our modern world was in its infancy.

The 1920s, the Jazz Age, was when cars and trucks began replacing horses in earnest. No longer a curiosity, they were becoming a necessity. The same can be said about the telephone. Both inventions had been around since the 19th century, but in the 1920s they went mainstream.

This was also the time when our modern American home started to take shape. Electric appliances like vacuum cleaners and refrigerators were becoming available, and affordable. The 1920s was also when radios started showing up in our homes.

Wireless broadcasting had been around in various forms for a few decades already. Even the Titanic communicated with people on land through wireless broadcasting. For all the good it did them.

After WWI the tech had advanced enough and the equipment became cheap enough for people to start establishing commercial broadcasting in towns worldwide.

John A. Gardner started the first licensed radio station in South Dakota in 1912, broadcasting from Eureka. In 1921 Yankton College launched a radio station.

Then in 1922 South Dakota radio broadcasting really took off. A station was started by the University of South Dakota, broadcasting from Vermillion, South Dakota. On the other end of the state, The School of Mines in Rapid City launched WCAT.

WNAX out of Yankton, SD was also launched in 1922. So was the first radio station in Sioux Falls.

Sioux Falls First Radio Station

It was June 21, 1922, when the Sioux Falls Daily Argus Leader newspaper jumped on a trend and launched Sioux Falls's first radio station, WFAT.

On the second floor of a building on South Main Avenue in downtown Sioux Falls, broadcasting was born in Sioux Falls. They weren't on the air 24/7, just a few hours a week.

The station had news broadcasts, sports scores, religious programming, and local musical talent.

Unfortunately, this great experiment in electronic mass media for Sioux Falls didn't quite catch on. The technology was new, there weren't enough radios in people's homes yet, and local businesses were not quite sure about the advertising potential.

WFAT operated until 1926 when it was donated to Columbus College, a religious institution in town. The school operated in the state until 1926.

If you didn't know Columbus College was started by Bishop O'Gorman of the Catholic Diocese of Sioux Falls, the namesake of O'Gorman High School.

In 1926 Sioux Falls's next foray into radio stuck. Bram McKenzie, who sold radios, teamed with other investors to start a station named KSOO in the Manchester Biscuit Company. Which was located around where Ravin Industries is now in downtown Sioux Falls.

KSOO is still on the air in 2024, broadcasting ESPN programming and the local sports show Overtime With Bert Remien.

Sources: South Dakota Broadcasters Association, Historical Marker Database, South Dakota Broadcasters Hall of Fame, South Dakota Historical Society