[TenTec] Fessenden

[Ron Notarius W3WN]

Forgive me for making one last post after my official "last comment and I'll shut up" post from last night...

I have some down time from work this morning, and did a little checking on the Fessenden history (I have an interest in early radio history, as you can well imagine by now).  In summary, while there is some doubt raised about the Christmas Eve first broadcast (from a respected communications historian, Donna Halper, for one), there is also no conclusive proof that the first broadcast DIDN'T take place as claimed.  

So why wasn't there more about it in the press at the time?  Because it appears that it was an afterthought... Fessenden's experiments were for point-to-point voice communications; broadcasting (a term in use at the time) to the public, or even a wide audience was never his intention at the time.  It was probably not until many years later that he realized what he did.   

Also, with all due respect to N6IE and the author of the RadioWorld article he cites, it appears that a letter written "five months before his death in 1932" was not the first citation of the first broadcast.  I found references to a 1928 speech that brought the matter up.  (And if I could find that within 5 minutes of a quick Google search, why couldn't the RW article author?)

Suffice to say, we may never "know" for sure.  But until proof to the contrary surfaces, I think we can accept this one, even with a grain of salt.

73, ron w3wn