By Rev. C.J. Barry Kentner
The original voice of radio belongs to Reginald Fessenden, a Canadian. I said voice because Reginald Aubrey Fessenden personalized with the natural voice, what Guglielmo Marconi made…a practical radio-wave -ibased, wireless telegraph system.
Marconi is credited with the establishment of radio, but it was Fessenden who made it what it is now.
In l903, on Christmas Eve, the first broadcast of radio was made to a group of ships involved with The United Fruit Company; engaged to carry fruit and vegetables from their growing place to the American and Canadian markets. It was radioed by telegraph to the ships only to be aware of a surprise on Christmas Eve, and if it was successful it would be repeated at New Years.
It was a success!
In a studio at Brant Rock, South of Boston, Massachusetts, at 9:00 P.M. on Christmas Eve 1906…. Reginald Aubrey Fessenden’s dream of a lifetime came true. He stepped to the microphone, gave a short speech on what was to follow, and then one of the operators turned on an Edison Phonograph, and a solo voice singing Handel’s Largo went out onto the airwaves. This was followed by a violin solo and a message, and finally, a Merry Christmas Greeting all done by Fessenden. Several others were to do particular chores, but all of them got stage fright!
Not only the intended audience but the entire fleets of many ships also heard the First broadcast of radio as we know it today.
However, the getting—while worth it—was more tedious than changing the Christmas Lights, so to speak.
Reg had from an early age wanted to transmit sound. He worked for (among others) Thomas Edison, and George Westinghouse, and had a major part to play in Sir Adam Beck’s plans for Ontario’s Hydro System.
Unfortunately literally all of his inventions, (and there were many) were developed with company funds and most of the credit went to them.
One last note: Remember the man who dropped pebbles and rocks into the water to get the results that brought radio into the world. It happened on Chemung Lake in the Peterborough District of Ontario, Canada. That man was Fessenden, and it was no joke. The waves he found from those rocks and stones were Continuous Waves….they just continued out from where they were until they ended. That is the Radio Wave for A.M.
