Dallas's Radio Station Wrr

Illustrated primarily with images from the Dallas Municipal Archives, Dallas's Radio Station WRR highlights the origins and development of this municipally owned and nationally recognized radio station. Author Kristi Nedderman is the assistant city archivist for the City of Dallas.  Dallas radio station WRR, the United States' first fire and police dispatch network, originated in 1920 thanks to the innovative thinking of police and fire signal superintendent Henry Garrett, who realized the potential of communicating via the then brand-new medium of wireless radio transmission. When dispatchers began broadcasting music between fire alarms, citizens listened on their homemade sets, and radio station WRR was born. In August 1921, operating with 50 watts, WRR became the first commercially licensed radio station west of the Mississippi River and the second in the United States. During the last 100 years, the WRR call letters have been at the heart of both an AM and an FM station, and North Texas listeners eagerly tuned in to both frequencies.
The Dallas Municipal Archives, a division of the City Secretary's Office, not only preserves and documents the actions of the City of Dallas but also provides public access to the historic and permanently valuable records of city government.