There were plenty of kids and men who experimented with radio fifteen years and more before broadcasting became common in the twenties. They built receivers, strung antennas, learned code, listened for code stations, and built transmitters from spark coils. This was going on from the early 1900's. Here and there some developed ways to transmit voice and phonograph records, etc. Here are a couple of boys transmitting and receiving in 1904. This website has many other interesting articles.
http://earlyradiohistory.us/1904ama.htm