Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-11-17
FIRST BROADCAST
GIVEN IN CAPITAL
Initial Complete Air Program
Radioed From Trinity
Church in 1919.
BY EDWIN FAIRFAX NAULTY.

the radio program Of diversified ele-
ments. easily proven by the files of the
Washington newspapers of August.
1919. The actual birthspot was Trinity
Church, Third and D streets; the time,
from to 10 O'Clock, Sunday, August
"a, 1919; the parent, it had only one,
was the writer; the godparent was
the United States Signal Corps and
the infant prodigy was christened THE
Voice Of the Air"
The presentation of the first radio
program was not the casual result of
accident nor a gradual development,
but was carefully thought and worked
out to combine vocal and instrumental
solos and chorals; speech, both of run
ming explanation of the features pre-
scented and the oral features themselves;
electrical space broadcasting and direct
loud speaker broadcasting at the same
time, and interstate air coverage over
the District, Virginia and Maryland.
The first radio program was heard by
every crystal set in Washington at
that time that was capable of listen
ing in" by $500 persons in Trinity
Church, all of whom saw the inStalla-
ton used; by about $4,000 persons
crowding the streets adjacent to the
church, by many persons scattered
throughout the city, who heard the
program as conveyed through wires
from microphones placed near the altar
to four loud speakers installed in the
south steeple of Trinity; Oh board the
Mayf1ower, cruising down the Potomac
that hot Summer night at Arlington
and by the owners Of radio sets OUT
side, the District. who phoned in
acknowledging their reception that
night and Monday.
Service Not Religious.
Although Trinity Church was used
for the purpose the service vas not q
religious one. 1t was the concluding
evening of Trinity Forum, which had
been organized to discuss end debate
the treaty of peace with Germany and
the League of Nations by Senators
away from the limitations of the Sem
ate chamber and which had continued
discussion of other public questions. the
one under consideration on the night
of the radio broadcast being, Tho
High Cost of Living
Although the files of the Washing
ton newspapers from August 20 TO
August IS, 1919, today show the fore
and subsequent reports of the broad
casting, while the Associated Press and
other press associations carried the
story in their dispatches, and with the
exception Of the late Vice President,
Thomas Riley Marshall, all those who
participated are still alive to give lively
witness. it may be well to quote di-
rectly from The Sunday Star of Au-
gust "a, 1919, which, under the head
ing, Device Will Spread Marshall
Speech-H. G. l.. Address Tonight to
Be Flashed Over Wires" also printed,
in part, as follows:
Science will serve as the handmaiden
OF economy tonight. when an address
by Vice President Marshall at the
Trinity Civic Forum will be sent all
over the city by the new great voice
apparatus for magnifying sound, and
will at the same time be flashed to
more distant points by means Of the
wireless telephone and telegraph"
Radio had not yet fully supplanted
wireless" as term. There were no
radio editors" in those days and the |
reporter was struggling to explain the |
perhaps confusing combination of radio |
broadcasting, addition In person within |
the church edif1ce and application by |
the apparatus used between the altar |
and the loud speakers in the steeple |
and the open telephone connecting the |
rcstrum and Arlington wireless station. |
The article after further explanation |
continues:
THE Forum will begin with Secre-
tary Fairfax Naulty issuing the call by
the great voice. the carrying power of
which will be determined somewhat by
electrical and atmospheric conditions
1--WE had and knew static" and fading"
even in those far-back days., but which
will make the voice Of the speaker
audible within most Of the District of
Columbia, it is said. Fairfax Naulty
will call all citizens Of Washington to
attend the program by giving attention
In their homes or wherever they
may be.
Music Precedes Address.
cdr Covell (the rector of Trinity
church, will then read the Eighth
Psalm, the congregation will sing On
ward, Christian Soldiers A cello solo,
The Palms; cornet solo, The Holy
City and the playing of Gounod's
'Sanctus' on the pipe organ will follow
in turn, after which the Vice President
will speak.
THE entire program will be magni-
fed by means of the great voice and
1t is expected that the cello solo will
be particularly pleasing, as the vibra-
tons will be taken directly from the
bridge of the instrument and not from
the air, as will be necessary with the
other numbers.
Mai. Gen. George o. squier, chief
signal officer Of the War Department.
has co-operated with Mr.. Naulty to
make the transmission of the program
a success and the actual work (of in
stallation of the apparatus) has been
in charge of Lieut.. Col. Paddock, a
nephew of Gen. Pershing. who has been
decorated by the French government
for bravery"
The program was given as announced
and was reported fairly in the morning
and evening newspapers of the follow
ing DAY. and the event passed into his
tory. With the exception of its orig
lnator and Maj. Gen. Squier, few per-
sons realized that the affair was
epochal and that, as the writer and
Gen. Squier agreed in discussions prior
to the event, the day is coming soon
when wireless sets far beyond anything
we now have will be as common as
motor cars now are" hence not a great
TODD was made over the matter
IL was not forgotten, either by par
tlclpantS or oral or wireless" auditors.
but lay in abeyance-an ACCOMPLISHED
TACT awaiting commercial application
and general usage. All the material
us2d was from the United States Sig
nal Corps equipment the best in the
land then, with the exception of the
loud speakers, which were furnished bv
San Francisco maker Receiving sets
except military. naval and connntlnica
lions corporations. were crude affairs
but all those in use near Washington
listened in
Relay Plans Arranged.
Arrangements were made to rebroad-
cast or relay the program through
Arlington in an effort to get it to Secre-
tary OF the Navy Josephus Daniels, then
at sea on the way to Hawaii, and a spe-
cfal telephone installation was made
which was held open and which would
relay the program across the Potomac
to Virginia to the Arlington Station
from the altar. This was part of my
Dlan for the proOram HIT whefba n