The First Broadcast - Christmas Eve 1906
For their entire careers, the "Sparks", the ship wireless operators, had only heard Morse code "dit - dahs" coming through their headphones. Suddenly at 9 PM Eastern Time on Christmas Eve, they heard something that made some think they were dreaming, a human voice coming from those headphones. Then they heard singing. There was a violin solo. Then a man made a speech. Some called their captain and ship's officers to come and listen.
The genius responsible was Reginald Fessenden. He had succeeded in transmitting voice and music over the air. Fessenden himself played a violin solo of "O Holy Night" accompanying himself as he sang the last verse (below). He also read the Biblical account of the birth of Christ from Luke chapter 2 over the air. The text of the angels' song "Glory to God in the Highest - and on Earth - Peace to Men of Goodwill " was heard as if by miracle.
At the conclusion, Fessenden wished all a Merry Christmas and invited the Sparks to write him at Brant Rock, Massachusetts with reception reports. Reports were received from ships all along the Atlantic northeast coast and from shore stations as far south as Norfolk, Virginia. A repeat broadcast on New Year's Eve was heard as far south as the West Indies.
. The 420 foot top loaded umbrella antenna at Brant Rock .
Fessenden researched and developed the continuous wave (CW) method of wireless transmission as a replacement for spark. He had provided specifications and subsequently modified a device that was built to his design by General Electric. It would later become known as the Alexanderson alternator in honor of the GE engineer who made numerous improvements to it. Fessenden's 1906 alternator reportedly operated at a frequency of 42 KHz with a power of 1 kilowatt although others have noted 75KHz and a half kilowatt. His 1906 broadcast was on the sixth anniversary plus one day of his first successful transmission of human speech at a distance of one mile from Cobb Island on the Potomac River (December 23, 1900). He invented a chemical detector diode as a replacement for the Branly Coherer which, due to its design, could only receive code.
For an excellent historical account and comparison of early research by Fessenden, Marconi and other inventors, follow this link for an article by John S. Belrose.
Here is a link to another article detailing Fessenden's work, also written by John S. Belrose.
Fessenden's widow Helen provided an account of the first broadcast in her 1940 biography of her husband Fessenden; Builder of Tomorrows, published by Coward-McCann, Inc., New York. She was present at the broadcast but reportedly had stage-fright which kept her from participating. Of course, a carbon microphone live with RF energy connected between the transmitting alternator and the antenna may have had something to do with that.
Fessenden sang the last verse of "O Holy Night" while playing his violin.
"Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we
Let all within us praise His holy name
Christ is the Lord
Then ever, ever praise we
His pow'r and glory ever more proclaim
His pow'r and glory ever more proclaim"
