The coastland times. [volume] (Mnateo [i.e. Manteo], N.C.) 1947-1959, 1952-04-04
DARE'S FAME IS.
TOLD IN CHICAGO
BY C. CRITTENDEN
States History Director Ac-
cepts Fessenden Award

Chicago The election to ra-
dos Hall of Fame" of Reginald
A Fessenden, inventor and pioneer
in wireless telegraphy, was an
nounced Tuesday at the annual
dinner of the Radio Pioneers Club
at the Conrad-Hilton Hotel. The
award honoring Fessenden, whose
experiments on Roanoke Island,
North Carolina, took place just
fifty years ago, was made by Carl
Haverlin, president of Broadcast
Music, Inc. 1t was accepted on be-
half Of the Fessenden National
Memorial Association by DIR. Chris
topher Crittenden, director of the
North Carolina Department of Ar
chives and History.
In accepting the award, DIR. Crit
tenden pointed out the pioneer role
which Dare County, North Caro-
lima, has played in history. Within
the present limits of that county
were located the first English col
onies in the New World, sent over
by Sir Walter Raleigh in the
1905. There in 1908 the Wright
brothers made the worlds first
airplane flight. And there Fessen-
den conducted his noted expert
ments.
Fessenden was born October 6,
1866, in East Bolton, Quebec, Can
ada. In 1900 he resigned as profess
sor of electrical engineering at the
University of Pittsburgh to under
take research in wireless tele-
graphy under the United States
Weather Bureau. With headquar-
tiers near Manteo, North Carolina,
he conducted experiments in 1901
OF which established wireless COM
munication between Roanoke Is
land and Cape Hatteras, the great
est distance then SPAWNED by the
new biography.
In 1906 Fessenden produced the
first transatlantic radio communi-
cation by sending a message from
Brant Rock, Massachusetts, to
Machrihanish, Scotland. That same
year he sent out from Brant Rock
what is said to have been the first
broadcast Of speech and music
ever made.
The Radio Pioneers Club, or
ganized in 1912, is composed of
veterans of more than twenty
years in the industry. Herbert
Hoover is honorary chairman and
Mr.. Haverlin the retiring presi-
dent. In 1850 the club established
the Hall of Fame" to honor de-
ceased persons who have made
great contributions to the cause of
radio and broadcasting." Previous
recipients of the honor have been
Thomas A. Edison and Guglielmo
Marconi.
In 1914 the manuscripts of Fes-
sender relating to his inventions
and patents were presented to the
Association and placed in the
North Carolina Department of Al
chives and History by the inven-
tors son, Reginald X. Fessenden
These valuable archives pertain
ing to the early days of radio fill
Sc cubic feet in "a filing drawers
and 4 wooden boxes.
Although Fessenden received
several hundred radio patents, his
experiments were not confined tc
that field. Among other inventions
generally credited to him are the
radio compass, the fathometer OIL
sonic depth finder and several sub.
marine ~ignaling devices, the
smoke-cloud for tanks, and the
turbo-electric drive for battle.
ships. In defense of his patent
rights ne was often involved ii
complicated and time consuming
law suits during. the latter years
of his life.
The Fessenden National Memoir,
ial Association was established il
August, 1941, at Washington, D
c., with r. Bruce Etheridge, Presi
dent, Miles Clark, Roy Davis anc
Mrs. Roxie Atkinson, Vice Presi
dents. Victor Meekins, Secretary
and Martin kellogg, Jr., Treasurer
All except Mr.. Clark, resident
of Elizabeth City, North Carolina
are citizens of Dare County. A
mong the other charter member.
are DR.. Crittenden and Mrs. Agne.
L. Starrett of the University o,
Pittsburgh. The Associations plal
to erect monument to Fessendel
on the site of his wireless station
on Roanoke Island was delayed b.
the outbreak of World War II.
Shortly before his death in 1914
Colonel Fessenden established
trust fund to aid the memorial t,
his father. At meeting in Mantle,
on March 20, 1852, plans wer
made to revive the project durin,
the fiftieth anniversary year Of tn
rnrfa -