Pedestrians around downtown Glens Falls had difficulty figuring out where the music was coming from on Sept. 18, 1922.
The music was live, but not in person.
The owners of Morf and Galusha electrical store, across Maple Street from City Park, were testing emerging broadcast technology to determine the feasibility of holding regular “radio concerts” in City Park the next year.
Morf and Galusha Electrical Store is in the row of buildings along Maple Street, across from City Park, in this circa 1920 photograph • Photo courtesy of The Folk Life Center at Crandall Public Library
A “loud sounding horn” speaker was set up on the shop’s front counter, and the door was opened to determine if the music could be heard in the park and elsewhere.
The test was deemed a success.
“Every note could be clearly heard as far away as the front of the Empire Theatre (about a block-and-a-half away on South Street) and in the rear of City Hall,” The Post-Star reported the next day. “No static nor any other disturbances marred the entertainment. The music and songs could be plainly heard throughout the park, as plainly and clearly as a band,” The Post-Star reported.
Some mistakenly thought the music was coming from a phonograph.
“The best tribute to the genius of the members of the firm was the comment of one man that he never appreciated radio until he heard last night’s concert.”
The concert included a full-live concert broadcast from WGY in Schenectady, other musical selections broadcast from stations in Louisville, Kentucky and Minneapolis, Minnesota, and news reports from The Detroit News.
Early on in commercial radio, music was primarily performed live.
Federal law required stations to notify listeners if the station was broadcasting recorded music.
WGY, which broadcast into the Glens Falls area, was one of the nation’s first commercial radio stations.
Edgar A. Rice, a young Schenectady musician, conducted the studio orchestra when WGY made its first broadcast at 7:47 a.m. on Feb. 20, 1922, according to a station history on file at The Folklife Center at Crandall Public Library.
WGY and its owner, General Electric Co., were pioneers in virtual concert technology, developing the first condenser microphone used in commercial radio in August 1922.
In 1922, relatively few families had radios in their homes.
“I now have a radio receiving outfit in my library where I am entertained and inspired after a day or evening of work,” syndicated columnist George Matthew Adams wrote in his “Today’s Talk” column, published May 6, 1922 in The Post-Star. “I wish and hope that the time will come when every home may listen in. … It’s so marvelous!”
Retailers such as Morf and Galusha staged public radio concerts to introduce radio technology, and hopefully entice people to buy radios.
“A radio demonstration will be given under the auspices of the Odd Fellows in I.O.O.F. hall Friday evening at 7:30, old time. Richard Lawton of Glens Falls will be the operator. … A program of music and speeches will be given, broadcasted by the General Electric station in Schenectady. It is probable that Pittsburgh and Newark (stations) also will be heard,” The Post-Star reported on March 4, 1922.
A radio concert was to be the main attraction of the upcoming Christian Endeavor Society fundraising social and sale at Hudson Falls Baptist Church, The Post-Star reported on June 7, 1922.
“Glen Cornell, a local radio agent, will provide the equipment and furnish the operator. … “All those who desire are cordially invited to come and listen to the radio,” The Post-Star reported on June 7, 1922.
The second annual Industrial Exposition for Warren and Washington Counties, Sept. 11-16, 1922, at the Glens Falls Armory, featured radio concerts each afternoon and evening.
Radio dealers weren’t the only ones using radio concerts to attract business.
“C. Fay Newell has installed a radio phone in the read of his Broadway (Fort Edward) jewelry store and yesterday afternoon several invited friends listened with much interest to a concert given in the General Electric Company’s building in Schenectady,” The Post-Star reported on April 6, 1922.
Radio enthusiasts in Glens Falls formed a club that had a club house on Thomson Avenue.
Membership, like many social clubs of that era, was exclusive to males, but women were invited to some gatherings.
“The Glens Falls Radio Club members last evening held the first in a series of ladies’ nights,“ The Post-Star reported on April 8, 1922. “More than fifty persons listened to a fine program picked up from several broadcasting stations and set their watches by the Arlington time signals.”
Leonard Williams gave a talk about radio waves and the parts and functions of radios.
“After the radio program, instrumental and vocal selections were rendered by members of the club, vocal numbers by Henry Gilbert being particularly pleasing.”
Later in April, club members gathered to listen to a WGY experimental live broadcast of chimes being played at Watervliet, where they were recently cast for installation at the McKim Memorial Tower of the Church of the Epiphany at Washington, D.C.
“Those who heard the concert said the chimes could be heard distinctly,” The Post-Star reported on April 28, 1922.
It would be more than two decades before AM radio broadcasting would take root in Glens Falls.
The first of several short-lived local radio stations went on the air in 1930.
WWSC, the longest continuously operating radio station in Glens Falls, went on the air Dec. 18, 1946, and will celebrate its 75th anniversary this winter.
WSET, later WBZA and now WMHL, went on the air on May 28, 1969.
