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Remembering a forgotten radio pioneer: Marshfield to mark anniversary of historic broadcast
By SHAMUS McGILLICUDDY
The Patriot Ledger
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He is the forgotten pioneer. Yet anyone who has ever tuned a radio dial has experienced Reginald Aubrey Fessenden’s legacy.
A Canadian-born scientist and inventor, Fessenden is said to be the first man to make a radio broadcast.
And he made that broadcast from Marshfield.
‘‘People first envisioned radio as a way of communicating, - point to point communications,’’ said Edward Perry, owner of Marshfield radio station WATD. ‘‘What Fessenden did was he demonstrated that you could entertain people with it.’’
‘‘He’s a forgotten hero,’’ said Dave Riley of Marshfield, a ham - or amateur - radio enthusiast. ‘‘He gave us most of what we have today (in radio).’’
Next month begins the 100th anniversary of one of the most important years in radio and communications history.
Fessenden’s legacy in Marshfield began in 1905 when he and his associates came to Brant Rock and built a 400-foot radio tower in what is today the Blackman’s Point trailer park and campground. He arranged the construction of a second tower in Macrihanish, Scotland.
The towers were completed within a few months, and on Jan. 2, 1906, Fessenden recorded his first historic moment. He made the first two-way radio communication across the Atlantic Ocean by transmitting Morse code signals between Marshfield and Scotland, and by the end of that year, used radio waves to broadcast music.
Now, 100 years later, people in Marshfield are preparing to celebrate the anniversary of Fessenden’s pioneering year of radio in Marshfield.
Riley and several other locals have restored the masonry base of Fessenden’s radio tower, which was torn down in 1912.
They have a dedication planned at the tower’s base in Blackman’s Point at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
And on Jan. 2, Riley and hundreds of other ham radio operators across the world will transmit Morse code signals to each other to mark the anniversary of the first two-way transatlantic communication. Specifically, he will send a message to radio enthusiasts gathered in Macrihanish.
Others in town are talking about a summer celebration to mark the year. Perry and Robert Demers of the Marshfield Historical Society said the town will form a committee to plan an event.
Until that two-way radio transmission on Jan. 2, the signals had been sent only one-way by Guglielmo Marconi.
Fessenden continued to experiment with radio throughout the year. In November, while sending Morse code signals to Scotland, he accidentally transmitted his voice as well, becoming the first person to transmit voice across the Atlantic.
But late in 1906 a storm destroyed the tower in Scotland.
Riley said this dashed the hopes of Fessenden’s fledgling company, the National Electric Signaling Company, which intended to sell his technology based on demonstrations of the two-way communication.
Then Fessenden decided to try something else.
U.S. Navy vessels and ships of the United Fruit Company had been equipped with radio equipment Fessenden had built. The equipment had been used only for point-to-point Morse code communications.
The day before Christmas Eve 1906, Fessenden sent a message to those ships, telling them to listen for a message on Christmas Eve.
They were surprised when they heard Fessenden’s voice.
‘‘All the shipboard operators were astonished when they heard this coming over their radio instead of the beep beep beep (of Morse code),’’ Perry said.
Fessenden began his legendary broadcast with a brief introduction about what he planned to do. Then he played a phonograph record of George Frideric Handel’s ‘‘Largo.’’ He followed that with his own violin solo, playing ‘‘O Holy Night.’’
He read some passages from the Bible, wished his listeners a merry Christmas and signed off for the evening.
Ships reported hearing him up and down the Atlantic coast, as far south as the Caribbean.
Perry said Fessenden’s broadcast was historic.
‘‘We think it was Fessenden that laid the groundwork for radio to become a broadcast medium rather than point-to-point communication. We see him as the founder of entertainment radio communications.’’
Perry said it took another 15 years for the radio entertainment industry to get going with the country’s first commercial radio station, KDKA in Pittsburgh.
‘‘But Fessenden was at the beginning of this thing,’’ Perry said.
Unfortunately, Fessenden’s Pittsburgh-based investors were not interested in transmitting voices and music.
As the radio entertainment industry exploded in the 1920s, Fessenden’s legacy was forgotten.
It wasn’t until 1928 that he won $500,000 in a lawsuit over some of the patents he had lost to his investors.
Riley said he wants to mark the centennial because he hopes Fessenden’s inventiveness will inspire other aspiring technological pioneers in the area. He also wants Fessenden to get the credit he is due. Many historians remember Marconi has the father of radio.
‘‘He never really got the credit I think he deserves,’’ Demers agreed.
Shamus McGillicuddy may be reached at smcgillicuddy@ledger.com.
Copyright 2005 The Patriot Ledger
Transmitted Saturday, December 10, 2005