In 1921, they called it “the largest audience in history,” the
300,000 or so people estimated to have heard one of the first
radio broadcasts of a special event – the outdoor heavyweight
championship boxing match between American Jack Dempsey and
French challenger, Georges Carpentier. Dempsey was reigning
world champ at the time, and Carpentier was a European boxing
champion and decorated French Army veteran. The fight’s promoter
had billed the event as the “Battle of the Century.” A hastily
assembled outdoor arena was built on a farm in Jersey City, New
Jersey, not far from New York City. More than 80,000 fans came
to see the fight in person on July 2, 1921, producing boxing’s
first million-dollar gate. Dempsey won in four-round knockout in
a scheduled 12-round fight. But the big news for many was the
radio broadcast of the fight. It was the first ever broadcast to
a “mass audience,” with the blow-by-blow call of the fight from
ringside relayed over the new “radiophone,” reaching hundreds of
thousands in the