Promoting Scottish Amateur Radio to the World

and the hobby of Amateur Radio to Scotland

Fessenden: King of the Radio Waves
BBC World Service
Discovery - Wednesday 20 December 2006.

The world's first radio broadcast took place a hundred years ago on
Christmas Eve 1906. The broadcast, a programme of live music, readings
and phonograph recordings, was transmitted to ships in the Atlantic
Ocean by Reginald Fessenden – a prolific inventor largely forgotten by
history.

Presenter Richard Hollingham traces the events of the world's first
radio broadcast in Discovery - Fessenden: King of the Radio Waves on
Wednesday 20 December.

In the early 1900s, people communicated by radio using Morse code.
Fessenden, a Canadian rival of Marconi, decided to broadcast a voice
message. His invention of AM radio was years ahead of its time.

On 24 December 1906, radio operators at sea were startled to hear a
voice coming over their receivers. Before the word broadcast had even
been invented, they heard a mix of speech with live and recorded music
– including a rendition of 'silent night'. However, Fessenden's
innovation failed to take off commercially and it wasn't until the
1920s that the massive potential of radio for entertainment was
realised.

Fessenden originally planned to broadcast across the Atlantic to
Scotland. With considerable effort, masts and equipment were built at
the small hamlet of Brant Rock near Plymouth, Massachusetts and at
Machrihanish on the west coast of Scotland. When, at the last minute,
a storm destroyed the Scottish installation, he decided to broadcast
to ships at sea instead.

Presenter/Richard Hollingham, Producer/Georgie Robinson

Programme times:
Europe: Wed 1232 rpt 1632, 2032, Thu 0032, Sat 1032, Sun 0332
Australasia: Tue 2232 rpt Wed 0432, 1032, 1432
East Asia: Wed 0132 rpt 0832, 1332, 2132, Sat 0032
South Asia: Wed 0432 rpt 1032, 1532, 2232, Sat 0632
East Africa: Wed 0632 rpt 1432, 2232, Thu 0132
West Africa: Wed 0832 rpt 1432, 2232, Thu 0132, Sat 0332
Middle East: Wed 0732 rpt 1332, 1932, Sat 0432
Americas: Wed 1232 (not Caribb), 1332 (Caribb only) rpt 2332, Thu
0332, Sun 0732

Listen on demand:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/programmes/discovery.shtm