Group Hoping To Have Frank Conrad's Garage Rebuilt As Broadcasting Museum

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Broadcasters and radio buffs gathered in Wilkinsburg Friday afternoon where Rick Harris, of the National Museum of Broadcasting, continued the fight to rebuild Dr. Frank Conrad's garage as a museum.

The Wilkinsburg building where the Westinghouse engineer first conducted broadcasts leading to America's first radio station, KDKA, was dismantled 13 years ago.

"The plan is, five years from today, if not before, we have this garage building reconstructed and restored and open to the public," Harris says.

The marker that once stood at the site was revealed by Conrad's grandsons, Jamie and David, the former star of "Ghost Whisperer" on CBS.

David Conrad says it will be relocated.

Speaking of his great-grandfather, he adds, "In some sense he was the first DJ. Why not make a museum about radio that's about training kids to mix music? Make their own music. Work in broadcasting."

Jack Bogut, whose broadcasting career in Pittsburgh began at KDKA in 1968, sums it up.

"The Internet sprang from what Dr. Frank Conrad did. So not to have a commemoration and a museum here in Pittsburgh would seem to be a travesty, wouldn't it?" he said.

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