Chronomedia: 1921

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1921	Chronomedia index Numbers after entries link to the list of references.	links and notes
	Cultural highlights \| Predictions made this year
January 2	KDKA radio station in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania broadcasts the first religious broadcast on US radio. The preacher is Dr E J Van Etten.
January 15	KDKA transmits a speech by future US president Herbert Hoover—his first radio broadcast.
February 18	KDKA broadcasts live speeches from a Pittsburg Press Club dinner at the William Penn Hotel.
March 4	The inaugural address by Warren G Harding is read from an advance copy of the speech on radio station KDKA while the incoming US president is speaking in Washington DC.
April 11	KDKA broadcasts live commentary on a lightweight boxing match between Johnny Dundee and Johnny Ray.
April 26	Radio station WEW in St Louis, Missouri, broadcasts what is claimed to be the weather bulletin and forecast.
May 19	Radio station 9ZAF in Denver, Colorado, transmits an amateur production of the opera Martha in full from the Denver Auditorium.
May	Causes and Prevention of Blindness: Interim report is published by the Ministry of Health to make recommendations about eye problems associated with the type of lights used in British film studios. The Kinematograph Manufacturers Association agrees to an immediate change in practice.
June 30	Formation of the Radio Corporation of America (RCA).
June	The Gramophone Company's HMV record store is opened by Sir Edward Elgar at 363 Oxford Street, London.
June	Westinghouse introduces The Aeriola Jr crystal set radio receiver on the consumer market. The cube-like box (measuring 7ins x 6ins x 6ins) comes with headphones and sells for $25. Its receiving range is up to 15 miles.
July 16	Lee De Forest files a patent application for a sound-on-film system. The sound signal is fed to an oxide-coated valve (vacuum tube). the brightness of which varies with the signal. The light generated passes through a slit and is recorded as a narrow strip next to the sprocket holes on the film. [0025]
July 2	Commentary on the world heavyweight championship boxing match between Jack Dempsey and Georges Carpentier is broadcast live from Jersey City.
August 4	KDKA broadcasts live commentary on Davis Cup tennis matches between Britain and Australia, being played in Pittsburg.
August 5	KDKA broadcasts live commentary on a baseball game (Pittsburg Pirates 8 Philadelphia 3) with commentary by Harold Arlin.
August 30	US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) accuses Famous Players Lasky Corporation of block booking—requiring exhibitors to take packages of films, unseen, in order to acquire the major titles—and commences an anti-trust action.	> 1927 US anti-trust enforcement delays
September 4	Radio station WIL in St Louis, Missouri transmits a police message.
September 5	First radio transmission licence (8AA) in France is granted to M Riss of Boulogne-sur-Mer.
September 20	KDKA introduces a daily radio news bulletin in collaboration with The Pittsburg Post newspaper.
October 5	First radio broadcast of commentary on a baseball game is made from the Polo Grounds, New York, by Graham McNamee (WJZ, Newark, NJ) and by Grantland Rice (KDKA, Pittsburg).
November 14	Radio station KYW in Chicago broadcasts a professional production of the opera Samson et Delilia live from the Chicago Auditorium.
December	Westinghouse's second and third consumer radio receivers incorporate valves (vacuum tubes). The Aeriola Sr has one valve, uses dry batteries for power and sells for $60. The Aeriola Grand is the first table console model, in a wooden cabinet (15 ins x 12 ins x 16 ins) and has an internal loudspeaker. Its price is $175.
•	In the US a producer-distributor conglomerate, Associated First National, is formed by the merger of distributor First National and Associated Producers, comprising a group of independent producer-directors: Allan Dwan, Thomas Ince, Marshall Neilan, J Parker Reade Jr, Mack Sennett, Maurice Tourneur, George Loane Tucker and King Vidor. [0058]
•	American distributors United Artists and First National open branches in France.
•	German film production company Decla-Bioscop is taken over by Ufa.
•	UK: 4,000 wireless receiving licences have been issued to date.
•	Finland has 20 cinemas in Helsinki and 138 in the whole country.
•	Foundation of the Institute for Cinema Studies in Japan.
•	Australian federal government creates the Commonwealth Cinema and Photographic Branch to expand the work of the Commonwealth Cinematographer.
•	State-of-the-art film studios are opened by Ufa at Neubabelsberg, near Potsdam, Germany. The state provides secret investment. German film production reaches a peak of 646 feature films.
•	Construction of Beaconsfield Studios is started by London producer George Clark.
•	George W Bingham is granted patents for his Widescope film system, using 70mm camera stock, slit during processing and shown on two interlocked 35mm projectors. His cinema using the system closes after a week because of mechanical troubles.
•	Plastigram anaglyphic 3-D film process is demonstrated. An experimental series of stereographic effects, dated c1927, has been restored by Giovanni Schiano Lomoriello through the Haghefilm Conservation/George Eastman House Fellowship Program.
•	In France, the Héraute Colour film process is used for L’Amour Eternel.
•	First feature-length film made in China, Yen Rei-sun, is produced by China Film Research Society.
•	Dhirendranath Ganguly (1893-1978) makes his directorial début with Bilet Pherat (England Returned), the first Indian film with a contemporary social setting.
•	UK's General Post Office standardises the design of its telephone kiosks, based on a version used in Birmingham.

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