New Brunswick (New Jersey) Times, February 17, 1924, page 6:
How Broadcasting Was Done in Jersey Twelve Years Ago
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To Editor of The Sunday Times:
Evidently, some one attempted to give the "Man about Town," an interesting paragraph and failed to tell the story correctly. May I set him straight and give a little information to Mr. Havens, and incidently some of your readers.
I was not the "original broadcaster by wire," but it so happened that about twelve years ago, when the New Jersey Telephone Herald was organised and established at Newark I was editor in charge of the news room.
The system adopted was that which had been in vogue in Budapest, where there were 35,000 subscribers. From a central news room news items were broadcasted over a wire system to the subscribers who paid five cents a day. The news was broadcasted from sound proof booths by men termed "stentors." With an assistant editor I assembled the news daily, cut it down to short, concise statements: received continuous wire service from two telegraph loops direct to the office, and the "stentors" each spoke for twenty minutes without relief.
In the room of the subscriber there was a receiver which hung on a hook. If he cared to "listen in" he lifted it from the hook. The news was broadcasted from eight in the morning until 4.30 in the afternoon. Children's stories were "put on" for an hour. In the evening instrumental and vocal music was broadcasted from a sound-proof music room.
Receivers were installed in several of the department stores of Newark at the time, the service was distributed to more than 3,000 subscribers, and the proposition was going in good shape when the directors had a misunderstanding, and after six months' service it was suspended for three months. Then, it was resumed, continued for about two months, and finally closed down and never taken up again.
Everything that is done now by wireless was broadcasted by wire and it was handled under a patent process brought over by an expert electrician from Budapest.
C. S. ATKINSON