a directional antenna that protected the coverage areas of other stations on 950 kHz, including WNTD in Chicago, KKSE in Denver, KPRC in Houston, and WKDN in Philadelphia. The move was not without its disadvantages, as the new site's distance from commercially important Oakland County meant the signal, though adequate for home and outdoor listening, was difficult to receive inside office buildings. Even though WWJ was now using the maximum power permitted to AM stations in the United States, it was still considered to be a Regional station, because 950 AM is classified as a regional frequency in the U.S., on which only Class B stations and Class D stations may be assigned. Notable former on-air staff Mark Champion Hugh Downs Bill Kennedy Byron MacGregor Paul Keels Fred Manfra Pioneer station status Although WWJ is widely recognized as a pioneer broadcasting station, its exact status compared to other early U.S. stations, especially KDKA in Pittsburgh, has been a source of contention for nearly a century. (KDKA began operating on November 2, 1920, initially under a temporary "Special Amateur" authorization as "8ZZ"). The disagreement over WWJ and KDKA has been long-standing, and controversial enough that some have gone out of their way to avoid becoming involved. This was on public display after the September 3, 1945, issue of Time magazine included a short note that the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) had recently endorsed WWJ's "claim to being the world's first commercial radio station," by concluding that KDKA "was ten and a half weeks younger." This assertion brought a quick denial from NAB President J. Harold Ryan, who sent a letter to the magazine stating that Time had misconstrued informational material sent out by the association, and: "It was not the intention, nor is it the prerogative of the NAB to attempt to decide the relative claims of two pioneer broadcasting stations." One complicating factor is that the U.S. government initially did not have a formal definition of "broadcasting" or any specific regulations. In particular, there were no restrictions about broadcasting stations operating under amateur or experimental licenses. It was only effective December 1, 1921, that formal standards for broadcasting stations were adopted, which essentially grafted a broadcasting service definition onto the existing Limited Commercial license category, as an authorization issued to a select number of designated stations. (A license class dating back to 1912, not all Limited Commercial stations were