Alfred Henry Grebe, Sr. ( ; 1895–October 24, 1935) was a pioneer in the

radio broadcasting Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio signal, audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a lan ...

field.

Early life

Grebe was born in 1895 in the Richmond Hill neighborhood of

Queens Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, to Henry Greb, a

horticulturist Horticulture (from ) is the art and science of growing fruits, vegetables, flowers, trees, shrubs and ornamental plants. Horticulture is commonly associated with the more professional and technical aspects of plant cultivation on a smaller and mo ...

, and Anna Marie Krick Grebe. At age 12, two years after his father's death in 1905, Grebe began to make his own radios. He converted a

greenhouse A greenhouse is a structure that is designed to regulate the temperature and humidity of the environment inside. There are different types of greenhouses, but they all have large areas covered with transparent materials that let sunlight pass an ...

into a

radio shack RadioShack (formerly written as Radio Shack) is an American electronics retailer that was established in 1921 as an amateur radio mail-order business. Its parent company was purchased by Tandy Corporation in 1962, which shifted its focus from ma ...

, where he and other boys also interested in radio met.

Education and career

Following his graduation from P.S. 88 in Jamaica, Grebe attended the Jamaica Training School and took courses at the Marconi Radio Institute in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

. At age 15, he obtained a license as a commercial operator and was hired by the

United Wireless Telegraph Company The United Wireless Telegraph Company was the largest radio communications firm in the United States, from its late-1906 formation until its bankruptcy and takeover by Guglielmo Marconi, Marconi interests in mid-1912. At the time of its demise, the ...

as a ship's radio operator. After United Wireless went bankrupt in 1912, Grebe began working for

Telefunken Telefunken was a German radio and television producer, founded in Berlin in 1903 as a joint venture between Siemens & Halske and the ''AEG (German company), Allgemeine Elektrizitäts-Gesellschaft'' (AEG) ("General electricity company"). Prior to ...

and spent three years onboard the British tramp tanker ''Saranac'', traveling as far as

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. He returned to Sayville,

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

, where he worked as an operator at the first commercial station on the island. During the radio craze of the time, Grebe's friends asked him to make receivers for them. After producing several sets, he decided to enter commercial production himself. In 1914 he issued his first catalog, and set up a factory in Richmond Hill on the same property where his home was located, which soon became able to produce all the components needed to assemble a radio, and which contained research laboratories as well. By 1922 he tore down his home to build a larger factory on the site. Amateur radio installed in car 1919

To stimulate public interest, he set up several radio stations. One, WAHG, was identified with his own initials; another, WBOQ, had call letters standing for Borough of Queens. WAHG is now

WHSQ WHSQ (880 kHz, "ESPN New York 880") is an AM radio station in New York City, owned by Audacy, Inc. The station is operated by Good Karma Brands (GKB) under a local marketing agreement (LMA). It broadcasts a sports radio format as the co-flag ...

, still a major radio station in New York City. He set up a broadcasting company called the "Atlantic Broadcasting Corporation," changing WAHG to WABC on November 1, 1926, which operated his stations until he sold them to CBS in January 1929. A different WABC was later formed as the flagship station for the eponymous "

American Broadcasting Company The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) is an American Commercial broadcasting, commercial broadcast Television broadcaster, television and radio Radio network, network that serves as the flagship property of the Disney Entertainment division ...

." Grebe's publicity manager, Bill Schudt, Jr., stayed with CBS after the sale of WABC. When television station W2XAB began experiments in 1931, Schudt became CBS' first television director. He retired from the network in 1966 as director of affiliate relations. Alfred Grebe's manufacturing company, A. H. Grebe and Co. Inc., was renamed Grebe Radio and Television Corporation and moved from Richmond Hill to

in 1933.

Personal life

Grebe married Stephanie Scheuerlein in 1921. They had three children: Stephanie, Camille, and Alfred Jr.,

Death

In 1935 Grebe underwent a stomach operation at Post-Graduate Hospital in Manhattan. He became ill after the operation and died after 10 days.

Legacy

In 2017, Grebe was honored as "The Father of NewsRadio880" during a series commemorating the 50th anniversary of WCBS going all news.

References

External links

Two obituaries for Alfred Grebe
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grebe 1895 births 1935 deaths Radio pioneers People from Richmond Hill, Queens