Frank Conrad was an engineer working for the Westinghouse Company when he began experimental broadcasts that led to the development of historic radio station KDKA in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, often described as the birthplace of broadcasting. Conrad had dropped out of school in the seventh grade, but his curiosity and determination led to employment as a bench assistant in the Pittsburgh laboratory of Westinghouse in 1890. Because of his unusual motivation and mathematical ability, Conrad was able to work his way up in the company's engineering department and was assigned to the testing of electronic equipment. Along with  this technical work at Westinghouse, Conrad devoted much of his time at his home in Wilkinsburg, near Pittsburgh, to electronic experimentation. Based on a wager concerning the accuracy of his watch, he constructed a wireless system in 1915 to receive time signals from the Naval Observatory station in Virginia. Becoming increasingly immersed in his radio interest, Conrad expanded the amateur wireless station located in his garage, licensing it as 8XK in 1916.

On 7 April 1917, following the entry of the United States into World War I, the government canceled the licenses of amateur stations, including that of 8XK, although Conrad did receive authorization to use the facility for periodic testing of Westinghouse military wireless equipment during the war. After the ban on amateur wireless was lifted in early October 1919, Conrad reestablished 8XK and began regular broadcasting. Much of the content of these early on-air efforts involved descriptions of the equipment being used by the station.

By mid-October 1919, Conrad was tiring of reading newspapers into the microphone and offering on-air recitations concerning the 8XK equipment, but he continued to be fascinated with broadcasting, especially with responses from listeners who described the strength of the 8XK signals. To minimize the need for constant talking and to further entice listeners, Conrad placed a phonograph in front of his microphone and began broadcasting recorded music. Listener response was positive, and growing requests for specific selections led Con­ rad to turn to the Hamilton Music Store in Wilkinsburg for additional recordings. The store compiled, with the proviso that Conrad announce the availability of this music at the store. For two hours each Wednesday and Saturday, Conrad played his recordings, and the store reported increased sales of the music heard on 8XK. Thus radio, music, promotion, and advertising came together in a manner very foretelling of the future. This content was also supplemented with live music, both vocal and instrumental, and Conrad's two sons occasionally spelled their father as on-air hosts for this pioneer variety programming.

By September 1920, the station was drawing so many listeners that the Joseph Horne Department Store placed an announcement in the Pittsburgh Sun describing the Conrad broadcasts and advertising the availability of wireless sets for sale at the store, with prices starting at $10.

Harry P. Davis, a Westinghouse vice president, took note of the announcement and conceived the idea that the future profitability of Westinghouse lay in the manufacture of receiving sets, the sales of which could be greatly stimulated if listeners were provided with reliable signals and programming designed to capture their interest and attention. Davis convinced other company executives of the value of this opportunity for a profitable Westinghouse role in electronic communication, and the company submitted an application for a license on 16 October 1920. The license, specifying the call letters KDKA, arrived on 27 October, and Westinghouse hastily constructed a station, locating a studio in a tent on the roof of a building near the KDKA transmitter. KDKA was on the air in time for the station to begin broadcasting on election night, 2 November 1920, a date used by some historians to mark the actual inauguration of broadcasting in the United States. Frank Conrad, however, was not on hand at KDKA for this momentous event. He was standing by, back in Wilkinsburg at 8XK, ready to fill in on the air if trouble occurred at the Pittsburgh station.

In 1921 Frank Conrad became assistant chief engineer at the Westinghouse Company and continued with experiments and improvements in radio, including work with signals of different frequencies and with the reflection of sky waves from an ionized layer above the Earth. At a conference in London in 1924, Conrad demonstrated the use of shortwaves for long-distance broadcasting. He also directed Westinghouse efforts in the improvement of designs for transmitting and receiving equipment during the 1930s, earning 178 patents during his career.