University of Pittsburgh History: March 1924

(An ongoing series highlighting University of Pittsburgh history)

March 1924—The University of Pittsburgh opens its own educational radio station. During one of a series of five-minute talks broadcast by the station, Pitt Chancellor John Gabbert Bowman will speak of his dream of constructing what he calls a “Tower of Learning” on Pitt’s campus. That talk, also broadcast by Pittsburgh’s KDKA Radio on its powerful signal, will inspire a retired school teacher listening in Rutland, Vt., Elizabeth Watson, to mail a letter and a $1 bill to Bowman to support the building of the University’s Cathedral of Learning.