Women's Equality Day

On August 26, 1920, after three generations of an unrelenting, brilliant, courageous, political campaign, women in the United States won the right to vote. 

In 1971, to honor and commemorate this historic event, Congresswoman Bella Abzug introduced a Congressional Resolution (she had to introduce it again in 1973 when Congress passed it) to ensure that this date would be commemorated with the designation of Women's Equality Day, which is now celebrated on August 26th each year.

Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi leads a Women's Equality Day
 celebration in 2016

NATIONAL RADIO DAY  

Each year on August 20th, National Radio Day recognizes the great invention of the radio. Celebrate the news, information, music, and stories carried across the airwaves.

Several inventors had a part in the invention of the radio in the late 1800s. Amazingly, not just one person can be credited with its beginning. Each component developed through invention and discovery. As these technologies converged, the radio came to life.

THE CONTRIBUTORS

In the paragraphs that follow, a noted international effort contributed to the conception of the radio. In Germany, the research of Heinrich Hertz proved electricity could be transmitted wirelessly. Elsewhere, the multiple patents of the prolific inventor Nikola Tesla provided the radio with the Tesla coil. Born in Croatia, Tesla also contributed many patents involving alternating current advancing the science and production of numerous inventions. When it comes to the first commercially available wireless, Italian, Guglielmo Marconi receives the honor.   

 In radio, you have two tools. Sound and silence. ~ Ira Glass

While entertainment and music fill the airwaves today, they were not the radio’s first functions. First, the wireless radio served the military. It also provided a regular public service role. Much like the dits and dots of a telegram, the wireless transmitted information. On board the Titanic at the time of its sinking, a Marconi wireless broadcast the ship’s distress signal. However, in 1906, the first radio broadcast of voice and music purely for entertainment purposes aired. Reginald Fessenden transmitted the program from Brant Rock, Massachusetts for the general public to hear. The Canadian born scientist would go on to many more successes in his lifetime.      

BROADCASTS

As wireless came alive, the first broadcast stations began airing programs in the 1920s. News and world events were the first items over the airwaves.

• Radio ownership grew. In 1931, two out of five homes owned a radio. By 1938, four out of five owned a radio.  
  
• According to FCC statistics, at the end of 2012, there were more than 15,000 licensed broadcast radio stations in the U.S.
• On October 1, 1999, the first satellite radio broadcast occurred. Worldspace aired the broadcast in Africa. 

The founder of National Day Calendar hosts a radio talk show.  The “Guru of Geek” Marlo Anderson hosts the Tech Ranch, featuring discussions on technology for everyday life.  Click here to listen.

HOW TO OBSERVE #NationalRadioDay

To celebrate National Radio Day, listen to your favorite radio station. Give special recognition to the station, radio personalities and the programs that make your days better.  Use #NationalRadioDay to post on social media. 

Educators, join the National Day Calendar Classroom to get your students involved in National Radio Day with crosswords puzzles, a podcast and more! Every week the classroom offers a variety of lessons and projects to keep children engaged and learning. 

Celebrating Women

In celebration of the Suffrage Centennial—when women won the vote in August 1920—and as a way to support the modern women’s movement, WPVM recently premiered a special interview program, “Women Fighting the Good Fight.” 

The Women's 
Suffrage Movement

The first show featured Justin Souther, the senior book buyer and store manager at Malaprops (Asheville’s renowned bookseller) and Cornelia Powell, fashion historian, guest speaker and writer. 

Justin brought a number of books from the store to “show and tell” focusing on the suffrage movement in the U.S. as well as in Great Britain, sharing stories of courageous women who gave their lives to this 72-year-long struggle for the vote. Cornelia (who is presenting a series of lectures over the next year around the Southeast—one titled, “Dress to Protest: What Women Wore to the Revolution”) interjected anecdotes from suffrage history. 

Remember the Ladies

Cornelia will join Davyne Dial—WPVM’s general manager and tech diva extraordinaire—at future randomly scheduled programs throughout the next year. (Plus, Justin will return as more books on women’s suffrage and woman-centric topics hit the book shelves at Malaprops.) Stay tuned. ~

The Woman's Hour

ps: Check out WPVM’s website page with listings of Suffrage Centennial celebrations—including exhibitions and lecture series—around the country over the next year-plus! Do you have plans for a celebration or commemoration that is not listed on the WPVM site? Then please email us and let us know so we can add it to our group!

(Other books Justin shared about: Votes for Women and Death in Ten Minutes.)