Before radio, if you wanted to know the news, you had to wait for the newspaper. That could take hours or even days. Then on November 2, 1920, a radio station called KDKA went on the air in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. That night, KDKA broadcast the results of the presidential election between Warren Harding and James Cox. People sitting in their living rooms heard the news as it happened. They did not have to wait until morning to read about it. KDKA was not the first radio transmission ever made, but it is considered the first commercial radio broadcast. A commercial broadcast is one that is meant for the general public and runs on a regular schedule. Before KDKA, radio had mostly been used by the military and by amateur hobbyists. After KDKA's success, radio stations popped up across the country. By the 1930s, families would gather around the radio every evening. They listened to news, comedy shows, music, and even fictional stories performed by actors. Radio became the main way Americans received information until television took over in the 1950s.