Western Electrician, November 21, 1903, page 390:
The "Electrophone."
The London Daily Mail asserts that it has made a revolution in reporting by the use of the "electrophone," which seems to be simply an adaptation of the long-distance telephone. By this means reporters for the Mail were able to hear in London every word of the recent notable speech of Joseph Chamberlain, delivered in Birmingham, 113 miles distant. The speech was printed verbatim and the papers were selling on the street 27 minutes after the speech was concluded. The "electrophone" beat the telegraph one hour and 27 minutes.
Since the foregoing paragraph was put in type the following explanatory note, from the London Electrician of November 6th. has been received: "The 'electrophone' is no new invention, and, in fact, the employment of a microphone for the purpose of transmitting music and public speech through telephone lines dates back to the earliest days of telephony. Yet it is only recently that it has been employed for commercial purposes to replace the telegraph for transmitting newspaper reports of speeches. A demonstration of the practical manner in which it may be applied for this purpose was given by the Evening News on Wednesday night. Mr. Chamberlain spoke at Birmingham for nearly two hours, and concluded his speech at 10:05 p. m. At 10:32 p. m. an edition of the Evening News was issued in London with a verbatim report of the speech. Headgear receivers were worn by the reporters sitting in the Evening News office. All the arrangements made by the Postoffice and the National Telephone Company worked without a hitch."