Editing AM broadcasting (section)

===Early experimental broadcasts===

The demarcation between what is considered "experimental" and "organized" broadcasting is largely arbitrary. Listed below are some of the early AM radio broadcasts, which, due to their irregular schedules and limited purposes, can be classified as "experimental":

* <u>Christmas Eve 1906.</u> Until the early 1930s, it was generally accepted that [[Lee de Forest]]'s series of demonstration broadcasts begun in 1907 were the first transmissions of music and entertainment by radio. However, in 1932 an article prepared by Samuel M. Kintner, a former associate of Reginald Fessenden, asserted that Fessenden had actually conducted two earlier broadcasts.<ref>"Pittsburgh's Contributions to Radio" by S. M. Kintner, ''Proceedings of the Institute of Radio Engineers'', December 1932, pp. 1849–1862.</ref> This claim was based solely on information included in a January 29, 1932, letter that Fessenden had sent to Kintner. (Fessenden subsequently died five months before Kintner's article appeared.) In his letter, Fessenden reported that, on the evening of December 24, 1906 ([[Christmas Eve]]), he had made the first of two broadcasts of music and entertainment to a general audience, using the alternator-transmitter at Brant Rock, Massachusetts. Fessenden remembered producing a short program that included playing a phonograph record, followed by his playing the violin and singing, and closing with a Bible reading. He also stated that a second short program was broadcast on December 31 ([[New Year's Eve]]). The intended audience for both transmissions was primarily shipboard radio operators along the Atlantic seaboard. Fessenden claimed these two programs had been widely publicized in advance, with the Christmas Eve broadcast heard "as far down" as Norfolk, Virginia, while the New Year’s Eve broadcast had been received in the West Indies.<ref>[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b4540711&view=1up&seq=167 ''Fessenden: Builder of Tomorrows''] by Helen Fessenden, 1940, pp. 153–154.</ref> However, extensive efforts to verify Fessenden's claim during both the 50th<ref>[https://www.radioworld.com/columns-and-views/fessenden-the-next-chapter/300426 "Fessenden — The Next Chapter"] by James E. O'Neal, ''Radio World'', December 23, 2008 (radioworld.com).</ref> and 100th<ref>[https://www.radioworld.com/news-and-business/fessenden-worlds-first-broadcaster/311783 "Fessenden, World's First Broadcaster?"] by James E. O'Neal, ''Radio World'', October 25, 2006 (radioworld.com).</ref> anniversaries of the claimed broadcasts, which included reviewing ships' radio log accounts and other contemporary sources, have so far failed to confirm that these reported holiday broadcasts actually took place.
* <u>1907-1912.</u> Lee de Forest conducted multiple test broadcasts beginning in 1907, and was widely quoted promoting the potential of organized radio broadcasting. Using a series of arc transmitters, he made his first entertainment broadcast in February 1907, transmitting electronic [[telharmonium]] music from his Parker Building laboratory station in New York City.<ref>''Father of Radio'' by Lee de Forest, 1950, pages 225.</ref> This was followed by tests that included, in the fall, [[Eugenia Farrar]] singing "[[I Love You Truly]]" and "[[Just Awearyin' for You]]".<ref>"I Was First to Sing Over the Radio" by Eugenia H. Farrar, ''The American Swedish Monthly'', January 1955, pp. 10, 26.</ref> Additional promotional events in New York included live performances by famous Metropolitan Opera stars such as Mariette Mazarin and [[Enrico Caruso]]. He also broadcast phonograph music from the [[Eiffel Tower]] in Paris. His company equipped the U.S. Navy's [[Great White Fleet]] with experimental arc radiotelephones for their 1908 around-the-world cruise, and the operators broadcast phonograph music as the ships entered ports like San Francisco and Honolulu.<ref>[https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82015415/1908-11-25/ed-1/seq-1/ "Mysterious Voices Startled Him: Wizard Isbell Thought He Heard Angels Talking"], ''Hawaiian Star'', November 25, 1908, p. 1.</ref>
* <u>June 1910.</u> In a June 23, 1910, notarized letter that was published in a catalog produced by the Electro Importing Company of New York, Charles "Doc" Herrold reported that, using one of that company's spark coils to create a "high frequency spark" transmitter, he had successfully broadcast "wireless phone concerts to local amateur wireless men". Herrold lived in San Jose, California.<ref>Electro Importing Company catalog page, reproduced in ''Charles Herrold, Inventor of Radio Broadcasting'' by Gordon Greb and Mike Adams, 2003, p. 6.</ref>
* <u>1913.</u> Robert Goldschmidt began experimental radiotelephone transmissions from the [[Robert Goldschmidt#First European scheduled broadcasts|Laeken station]], near Brussels, Belgium, and by March 13, 1914, the tests had been heard as far away as the Eiffel Tower in Paris.<ref name="cahiers">''"De la T.S.F. au Congo-Belge et de l'école pratique de Laeken aux concerts radiophoniques"'' (Wireless in the Belgian Congo and from the Laeken Training School to Radio Concerts) by Bruno Brasseur, ''Cahiers d'Histoire de la Radiodiffusion'', Number 118, October–December 2013.</ref>
* <u>1914–1919.</u> "University of Wisconsin electrical engineering Professor Edward Bennett sets up a personal radio transmitter on campus and in June 1915 is issued an Experimental radio station license with the call sign 9XM.<ref name="wprs">[https://www.wpr.org/wprs-tradition-innovation Wisconsin Public Radio's Tradition Of Innovation] (wpr.org)</ref> Activities included regular Morse Code broadcasts of weather forecasts and  sending game reports for a Wisconsin-Ohio State basketball game on February 17, 1917.
* <u>January 15, 1920.</u> Broadcasting in the United Kingdom began with impromptu news and phonograph music over 2MT, the 15&nbsp;kW experimental tube transmitter at Marconi's factory in [[Chelmsford]], Essex, at a frequency of 120&nbsp;kHz. On June 15, 1920, the ''[[Daily Mail]]'' newspaper sponsored the first scheduled British radio concert, by the famed Australian opera diva [[Nellie Melba]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=R88-AQAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA10 "A Newspaper's Use of the Radio Phone"], ''The Wireless Age'', November 1920, p. 10.</ref> This transmission was heard throughout much of Europe, including in Berlin, Paris, The Hague, Madrid, Spain, and Sweden. Chelmsford continued broadcasting concerts with noted performers. A few months later, in spite of burgeoning popularity, the government ended the broadcasts, due to complaints that the station's longwave signal was interfering with more important communication, in particular military aircraft radio.<ref>''The History of Broadcasting in the United Kingdom: Vol. I: The Birth of Broadcasting'' by Asa Briggs, 1961, pp. 49–50.</ref>
* <u>August 27, 1920.</u> Argentina made the first mass radio transmission as a communication medium. Medicine students of the UBA made the first radio program by transmitting Wagner's Parsifal on radio and picked up by about 100 amateurs in the city, emitting from the roof of the Teatro Colón. They kept transmitting over the nights different operas being the first in offering a radio program. There were known as the "Locos de la azotea" (the crazies of the roof).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.radionacional.com.ar/la-verdadera-historia-de-los-locos-de-la-azotea/|title=La Verdadera Historia de los Locos de la Azotea – Radio Nacional}}</ref>