This week, we hear the second surviving episode of Ed Wynn's Texaco Fire Chief, as heard on August 9, 1932. But first... the strange tale of "Amalgamated," the radio network that very nearly "was." And, of course, the next installments of Family Doctor and Si & Elmer.

This week, the serials of '32 are back, with another episode of the Redbook Dramas, Family Doctor, Si and Elmer, and the World Adventurers' Club (program ad pictured at right). But first, one last look at early radio history, with a little more consideration of the first broadcasters--what were the "other" firsts in early radio?

It's been one of the most hotly contested titles in broadcasting: "The First Radio Station." At least four stations in North America have tried to claim it. The most famous of these, and perhaps the most widely accepted, is KDKA Pittsburgh, whose broadcast of election returns on November 2, 1920, has long been thought of as the inauguration of broadcasting. But history is more complex than that. There is WWJ in Detroit, whose amateur predecessor (The Detroit News' 8MK) had a daily schedule three months before KDKA. There is CFCF in Montreal, which received a government broadcasting license in May 1920. And then there is KCBS San Francisco, which traces its lineage to KQW and the early broadcasts of Charles Herrold, as early as 1909.

This week, in the third and final special on the origins of radio and broadcasting, we hear from two of these stations--KDKA and KQW--each asserting that it was the first. We hear KDKA's argument through an episode of "Adventures in Research," originally broadcast on December 30, 1944; and from KQW through a special local program presented on November 10, 1945, marking, ironically, the 25th anniversary of KDKA's purported "first."

It's a case of dueling radio stations, a tustle on the vintage airwaves, this week on Radio Journeys.

This week, Radio Journeys continues its special look at the origins of radio and broadcasting. In a unique, extended episode, we hear one of the most historic of all radio recordings: The earliest known recording of a complete radio program, a broadcast from 1924. This broadcast was also pioneering in many ways, most importantly as the first trans-continental network broadcast, with a chain of stations from Boston to San Francisco linked by AT&T telephone cable. It is significant as a document of general American history, as well. To find out why, have a listen. Radio of the most historic caliber, for New Year's, on Radio Journeys.