Between 1933 and 1941, The Associated Press supplied written news to radio stations owned by newspaper members only when the news was of "transcendent importance."
By 1941, however, radio had become one of the most important means of communication in the United States, and the AP became a broadcast pioneer. That year, nearly 1,000 commercial radio stations operated in the country. United Press, INS and Transradio Press served limited amounts of news to some. Others received no news service. State or regional copy only made the news agencies' radio wires if it was considered sufficiently important to be of general interest. And most broadcasters didn't gather local news for their own use.
The AP changed that by launching a separate broadcast wire called Circuit 7760 — making the company the first news organization to operate a broadcast news circuit 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Oliver Gramling, assistant general manager of Press Association Inc., an AP subsidiary, was a liaison between broadcasters and the AP, often fighting internal battles with staff who saw broadcasting as a rival to daily newspapers. He oversaw development of AP's radio news service, and the way AP distributed the news changed forever.
On April 1, 1941, the wire "officially" signed on Atlanta station WSB, and New York's WQXR, WOR and WNYC. "Specialists" wrote news stories for the wire in a new kind of style meant for the ear.
Just one year after its official launch, AP's broadcast wire was serving more than 200 stations in 120 cities, broadcasters were beginning to gather local news and 110 employees were on the broadcast payroll. In 1947, the AP Board of Directors elected the first group of radio stations — 456 in all — to associate membership.
Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, AP continued to gain broadcast members and in 1974, launched AP Radio Network at their request. It provides hourly newscasts, sportscasts and business programs to member radio stations and eventually became the first radio network in the world to be delivered via satellite. The same year, AP added an audio service that provides voice feeds and actualities to supplement the broadcast wire. Today the service reaches nearly l,000 AP broadcast members.
By 1979, The Associated Press Broadcast Wire was the single longest leased circuit in the world. The same year, the APTV wire, the first newswire designed specifically for television stations, was introduced.
In 1980, AP Radio became the first radio network in the world to be delivered via satellite.
In 1983, the AP moved its broadcast operations from AP's New York headquarters to AP Broadcast News Center in Washington, D.C. On May 4, the AP transmitted the first broadcast from its new location.
By 1988, AP's broadcast services outlets reached more than 5,000.
The 1990s have been a decade of explosive growth in AP's radio and television services. AP introduced low-cost newsroom software, AP NewsDesk, designed for radio stations, the first in a series of affordable software products that made member newsrooms more efficient.
AP gave its members the tools to manage the increasing flood of information available on AP wires and other information sources. In 1994, AP NewsCenter, a newsroom system for television stations, was launched. And in 1997, AP introduced ENPS, the Electronic News Production System, designed for the British Broadcasting Corp.
AP also introduced GraphicsBank, the first online archive of television graphics, that serves more than 300 U.S. television stations.
In 1994, the AP launched APTV, an international video news service based in London. APTV in 1998 became APTN — Associated Press Television News — when AP purchased video agency WTN from its parent companies, ABC News of the United States, ITN of Great Britain and Channel 9 of Australia. APTN provides video of the day's top news stories by satellite to major news organizations worldwide from 83 AP bureaus in 67 countries. APTN puts strong emphasis on enterprise journalism and telling the whole story in narrative form at critical moments in different international time zones.
Also in 1994, AP launched AP All News Radio, a 24-hour-a-day fully packaged radio newscast. ANR makes it possible for stations in all market sizes to carry the popular and profitable all-news format. More than 70 radio stations are now ANR affiliates and easily insert local news and advertising into the ANR format.
In 1996, APTV, in a joint venture with Trans World International (TWI), launched SNTV, a sports news video agency. The partnership has claimed market leadership, drawing on the strengths of the world's largest newsgathering organization and the world's largest independent supplier of sports programming. SNTV currently serves more than 100 broadcasters worldwide.
