The Map of the Airwaves: Celebrate Public Radio Broadcasting Day

January 13, 2026

Today, January 13, 2026, marks Public Radio Broadcasting Day. While digital media evolves, radio remains a uniquely reliable lifeline, reaching listeners where the internet cannot. To celebrate, we are highlighting a favorite for enthusiasts and professionals alike: the NEW 2025 United States Frequency Allocations: The Radio Spectrum Poster.

Available through the Government Publishing Office U.S. Government Bookstore, this best-selling poster is the definitive visual guide to our nation’s airwaves. It transforms the invisible infrastructure of communication into a clear, color-coded map.

The poster utilizes color codes to illustrate the parts of the radio spectrum allocated to various types of radio services, including amateur (ham) radio, commercial radio, television broadcasting, radio navigation, mobile, satellite, and others. Essential facts about the poster include the following:

  • The definitive and most current official copy of the 2025 US Radio Spectrum Frequency Allocations, crucial for regulatory adherence and operational planning.
  • Substantial size for optimal readability: 39″ x 27″ (inches).
  • Expertly printed using fade-resistant, premium archival inks on high-grade 100 lb. premium matte paper. This ensures vibrant colors, crisp detail, and long-term durability.
  • Proudly Made in the USA.
  • Unframed, offering flexibility for the buyer to customize their display.

For those who want to dive deeper into the rules of the road, the Manual of Regulations and Procedures for Federal Radio Frequency Management is also available to explain the “how” behind the map.

Radio Milestones

  • 1906: First radio broadcast by Reginald Fessenden.
  • 1910: On January 13, the first public radio broadcast featured a live performance from the Met.
  • 1920: KDKA in Pittsburgh begins the first commercial broadcasts.
  • Today: Radio remains the most accessible medium, requiring no subscription or high-speed data to keep the public informed.

Whether you’re a hobbyist or a professional, the Radio Spectrum Poster is the perfect way to appreciate the technology that keeps us connected.

The GPO Online Bookstore – Easy Access to Federal Publications

HOW DO I OBTAIN THESE RESOURCES?

Sign up to receive promotional bulletin emails from the US Government Online Bookstore.

Shop Online Anytime: You can buy a vast majority of eBooks or print publications —with FREE Standard Shipping worldwide— from the U.S. Government Online Bookstore at https://bookstore.gpo.gov.

Order by Phone or Email: Call our Customer Contact Center Monday through Friday, 8 am to 4:30 pm Eastern (except US Federal holidays). From US and Canada, call toll-free 1.866.512.1800. DC or International customers call +1.202.512.1800.  Email orders to ContactCenter@gpo.gov

Visit a Federal depository library: Search for U.S. Government publications in a nearby Federal depository library. You can find the records for most titles in GPO’s Catalog of U.S. Government Publications.

Find more than a million official Federal Government publications from all three branches at www.govinfo.gov.

About the author: Blogger Trudy Hawkins is the Senior Marketing & Promotions Specialist in GPO’s Publication & Information Sales Office supporting the U.S. Government Online Bookstore (https://bookstore.gpo.gov).

6 Comments | Department of Commerce, Telecommunications | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Trudy Hawkins

Just for Fun: Aunt Sammy’s Radio Recipes

April 19, 2010

When I first got the idea to blog about Aunt Sammy’s Radio Recipes, I figured that I’d be shedding light on a totally forgotten Government publication. I remembered Aunt Sammy as the title character of an odd-sounding booklet that GPO was selling in my early days here. When I searched the Internet, though, she was everywhere. Cooking sites, old time radio sites, newspaper sites – who knew?

On October 4, 1926, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Bureau of Home Economics and the Radio Service launched its Housekeeper’s Chat show, featuring Aunt Sammy – Uncle Sam’s wife, of course. In addition to meals and recipes, she talked about all kinds of other household matters, but it was the recipes that got listeners’ attention. In 1927 USDA put the most popular recipes into a pamphlet: Aunt Sammy’s Radio Recipes. According to the introduction to the 1976 USDA reprint (the one I remembered hearing about),  “The demand was so great that it had to be reprinted after only a month. ‘Aunt Sammy’s Radio Recipes’ was revised and enlarged three times between 1927 and 1931. In 1932 it became the first cookbook published in braille.”

Aunt Sammy vanished in 1934 and the show did likewise in 1946, yet her memory lingers on. I discovered that the 1931 edition has been reprinted by a private publisher and is still available. I like the 1976 edition, which you can find here, because it has contemporary recipes from USDA as well as some 1920’s favorites. It’s all what I think of as “hearty fare” or “comfort food” – definitely BA (before arugula). What with diners and such making a comeback, our Aunt Sammy may be more contemporary than we think. Maybe I’ll have meatloaf tonight…

18 Comments | U.S. Department of Agriculture | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by govbooktalk