Harlow, Alvin F., Old Wires and New Waves: the History of the Telegraph, Telephone and Wireless. New York, Appleton-Century, 1936. at page 455
Fessenden, Helen M., Fessenden: builder of Tomorrows,New York, Coward-McCann, 1940, at page 153.
In Eric Barnouw's book, A Tower of Babel published by Oxford University Press 1966 the specific reference (pages 19-20) to Fessenden playing the Gounoud "O, Holy Night" on his violin is from the Helen Fessenden book. She was his wife.
More information can be found about the remarkable Reginald Aubrey Fessenden (1866-1932) and an account of his inventions and achievements can be found by following the link in the following paragraph. There are also copious sites containing information about Fessenden, too numerous to list here.
If you would like to hear Reginald Fessenden's voice using a Spark Transmitter similar to the one he used for his first voice
transmission on December 23 1906. click here. If you would like to see a picture of him and read more about him and his interesting life. click here
The First Broadcast
The first extended broadcast of the human voice was transmitted through the air on December 24, 1906 from Brant Rock, Massachusetts. A Canadian engineer, Reginald Fessenden, had worked for Thomas Edison in his New Jersey Laboratory, and later became a professor at the University of Pittsburgh.
Fessenden was convinced that the "wireless", which then carried only the sputtering dots and dashes of Morse code, could carry the human voice. The only use for wireless at that time was communication with ships at sea. The shipboard wireless operators were called "Sparks."
An account by Fessenden's wife Helen reports the transmission, as the Sparks on ships across the Atlantic heard what they had dreamed about and not thought possible.
"...a human voice coming from their instruments - someone speaking... Then a women's voice rose in song. It was uncanny! Many of them called their officers to come and listen; soon the wireless rooms were crowded. Next someone was heard reading a poem. Then there was a violin solo; then a man made a speech."
The broadcast historian Eric Barnouw reports that Fessenden himself played Gounod's "O, Holy Night" on the violin. He also read from the Christmas story from the Bible book of Luke and played a phonograph recording of Handel's "Largo."
Violin Land wishes to thank WORLDWIDE FAITH NEWS for their kindness in granting permission to reproduce this web page.
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