Charles Herrold was born in Fulton, IL but grew up in San Jose. He is known for broadcasting the first regularly scheduled radio programming from his station in San Jose, known originally as FN and later KQW.
Herrold was an astronomy and physics student at Stanford University before leaving to pursue his wireless inventions and found the Herrold College of Engineering and Wireless in downtown San Jose. It was from there that he launched his pioneering broadcasts.
Herrold’s early radio efforts led to his acquisition of what was known as a “Limited Commercial” license in 1921. It bore the randomly-assigned call letters KQW. Herrold operated the station, struggling financially, until selling it to San Jose’s First Baptist Church in 1925. One condition of sale: the station’s sign-on message would say, “This is KQW, pioneer broadcasting station of the world, founded by Dr. Charles D. Herrold in San Jose in 1909”.
Herrold next worked at KTAB, mainly handling sales. After that, he had a job as a repair technician for the Oakland school system and worked as a janitor. Though U.S. radio revenue was approaching $400 million annually by the time of his death, “Doc” Herrold never got rich from the industry he spawned.
Charles Herrold died in 1948 at age 72.
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