That same year, the Federal Telephone & Telegraph Company (FTTC), headquartered in a sprawling manufacturing complex in North Buffalo, began marketing its first, completely assembled radio sets. To fill a radio void in the city, and to stimulate sales of the company's new "high-tech" products, the FTTC applied for and received a commercial radio license from the Department of Commerce. It took WGR from the pool of available call letters in honor of George Rand (founder of Remington Rand), a key investor in the FTTC. On May 22, 1922, WGR first signed on the air, beginning nearly a century of continuous service to Western New York and Southern Ontario. Published reports say that the first programs on WGR were: a clergyman's lecture; a concert from Victor's Furniture Store showroom; and a presentation on the advantages of a college education by Dr. Julian Park, from the University of Buffalo.