Re: [ARSCLIST] Scopes Trial Sound Recordings

[David Lennick <dlennick@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Off-the-air recording did exist at the time, but it was either experimental or used
for really important speeches, samples of which have been pressed and preserved and
even issued commercially in a few rare instances. But the radio network as such was
a couple of years in the future, except for the odd one-time hookups, and an entire
trial or even the news reports from same (if there were such things..newspapers
didn't want their stuff broadcast and went to great lengths to keep the radio
freeloaders from using it) would have been too much to record and there wouldn't
have been much interest in preserving it, when newspapers would serve the purpose.

An Edison Dictation machine wouldn't be anachronistic, I suppose, but I can't think
of any reason there'd have been one in the courtroom.

dl

Mwcpc6@xxxxxxx wrote:

> In a message dated 2/1/2006 8:23:10 AM Eastern Standard Time,
> kmccormi@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:
> The trial was the first live radio broadcast from a trial but there was
> not recording made. William Jennings Bryan did record a number of other
> speeches some of which are available online at
> <http://www.historicalvoices.org/earliest_voices/bryan.html> from the
> Vincent Voice Library (although none appear directly related to Scopes).
> ************
>
> This information is helpful. The people putting on the play somehow thought
> that they should incorporate a wire recorder into the set. While we could have
> loaned them a Telegraphone, it is just as well that they don't need it.
>
> That time period must have been a null in extemporaneous sound recordings.
> Wax cylinders were out of the picture and instantaneous discs had not been well
> developed.
>
> I remember reading in a contemporary early 20's magazine about a project to
> archive radio broadcasts on Telegraphone wires. I wonder if anything ever came
> of that.
>
> Mike Csontos