In 1899, when the father of radio, Guglielmo Marconi, wanted to show how his invention could be used to gather news, he came to The Associated Press for help. Together, AP and Marconi covered the America's Cup yacht race: Marconi radioed the results of the race from offshore.

In 1920, Westinghouse station KDKA used AP's election returns (with AP's permission) to present the very first radio newscast. The program, broadcast from the top of the Pittsburgh Post's building, reported on the results of the Harding-Cox presidential race.

In the 19 years that followed, AP's role in radio news was limited. The cooperative supplied written news to radio stations owned by newspaper members only when the news was of "transcendent importance."

By 1941, 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 network also provides voice feeds and actualities to supplement the broadcast wire. Today the service reaches more than 250 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 wire 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 wire stories from its new location.

In 1986, AP began producing graphics especially designed for television stations. The satellite feed of images included finished graphics and graphic elements.

By 1988, AP's broadcast services outlets reached more than 5,000. The following year, 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.

The 1990s were a decade of explosive growth in AP's radio and television services. Following up on the highly successful introduction of NewsDesk, AP gave its members more 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 expanded its graphics service, replacing the satellite feed with AP GraphicsBank, the first online archive of television graphics, that now serves more than 400 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 2000, radio station WTOP in Washington and AP jointly pioneered the latest form of the all-news format: WTOP2, a 24-hour, 7-day all-news radio station on the Internet.

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.