100 years ago this month, WKAR aired its first officially licensed broadcast. The station is kicking off its celebration of a century of service this month.
WKAR's Sophia Saliby spoke with Historical Society of Michigan Director of History Programming Bob Myers to set the scene of what mid-Michigan was like in 1922.
Interview Highlights
On one major difference in mid-Michigan between then and now
Probably the most familiar thing to most of us that wasn't here at that time was the highway system. We're now so much a part of the interstate highway system, the I-94 and I-75 and so forth, getting around. And at that time, when you got out of towns, a lot of the roads still weren't even paved. And so, that was a major change. We had just started, not too many years before, the Michigan Department of Transportation had kept roads open in the winter.
On how people were getting their news at the time
Radio is really in its infancy. We had just started radio broadcasts like with WKAR. We have a few stations around the state. Station 8MK had started airing in Detroit in 1920, but there were relatively few radio stations. So, primarily, most people are getting their news from newspapers.
On what's changing in Michigan at the time
We have automobile plants, not just in Detroit and the Detroit area, but in mid-Michigan, in northern Michigan even, all over the state. They get weeded out fairly quickly, like television manufacturers in the 1950s and so forth. They get weeded down, but it's growing enormously at that time. We're really kind of in the middle of the Great Migration, where African Americans are coming up from the deep south into northern cities, in Detroit and Lansing and so forth.
Interview Transcript
Sophia Saliby: 100 years ago this month, WKAR aired its first officially licensed broadcast.
We are kicking off our celebration of a century of service this weekend, but before that, we want to take you back in time to set the scene of what mid-Michigan was like in 1922.
Joining me now is Bob Myers, the director of history programming with the Historical Society of Michigan. Thanks for being here.
Myers: Oh, glad to be here. Sophia
Saliby: Can you tell me about what was different about mid-Michigan 100 years ago?
What landmarks weren't here yet, and what was there that's still relevant today?
Myers: A lot of things, probably the most familiar thing to most of us that wasn't here at that time was the highway system. We're now so much a part of the interstate highway system, the I-94 and I-75 and so forth, getting around.
And at that time, when you got out of towns, a lot of the roads still weren't even paved. And so, that was a major change. We had just started, not too many years before, the Michigan Department of Transportation had kept roads open in the winter.
So, a lot of our building landmarks were not here yet to sports stadiums. Some were around, but not to the extent that we have today, not the size that we have today.
We're just starting to get the really tall buildings in cities. So, it was a very different world visually and with transportation than what we have today.
Saliby: How were most people getting their news and information at the time? Was it with newspapers or by radio?
Myers: News, at that time, was primarily newspapers. Radio is really in its infancy. We had just started radio broadcasts like with WKAR.
We have a few stations around the state. Station 8MK had started airing in Detroit in 1920, but there were relatively few radio stations. So, primarily, most people are getting their news from newspapers.
Saliby: Do we have any sense of kind of how people of this early 20th century, how they thought about the future at the time?
How they thought about what Michigan could be in the same way that, you know, today, we're talking about how green energy is going to be the future of all of our auto industries here, was there conversations back then about what mid-Michigan could be?
Myers: Michigan was really going through some major changes at that time, primarily because of the automobile industry.
Now, we think of that as Detroit, but the automobile industry is just expanding enormously all over Michigan. We have automobile plants, not just in Detroit and the Detroit area, but in mid-Michigan, in northern Michigan even, all over the state. They get weeded out fairly quickly, like television manufacturers in the 1950s and so forth. They get weeded down, but it's growing enormously at that time.
We're really kind of in the middle of the Great Migration, where African Americans are coming up from the deep south into northern cities, in Detroit and Lansing and so forth. And so that's really changing the demographics of America. Before 1910, 90% of African Americans live in the South, and then in 1910 to 1940, 6 million African Americans move into the North.
And so, the demographics there are changing. So, people in Michigan are seeing great changes, and kind of looking at where are we going to be going over the next few years.
Saliby: To end our conversation, do you have any other interesting or fun facts about mid-Michigan during this time period that most people might not know?
Myers: Well, people are going to the movies. That's kind of a fun fact.
If you were in 1922, you're going to the movie theaters to see Robin Hood with Douglas Fairbanks, Nanook of the North which was a documentary, really the first major documentary, a medieval movie I think When Knighthood Was in Flower. So, movies are going from these little five, six minute shorts to full-length feature movies. That's a big entertainment change for Americans.
Saliby: Bob Myers is with the Historical Society of Michigan. Thank you for joining me.
Myers: Oh, thank you. Appreciate it, Sophia.
This conversation has been edited for clarity and conciseness.
