12.4

//Source(s): RADIO ART by Robert Hawes, photography by Paul Straker-Welds// Green Wood Publishing Company Ltd, London 1991 ISBN 1-872532-29-2 page 24 "At about the same time as the telephone and gramophone were beginning to be domesticated, a near precursor of the radio was going through a similar process. It was a home-entertainment invention of about 1893 known as the 'Theatrophone,' a device which grew out of the invention of the telephone and was demonstrated at the World Exhibition of Electricity in 1881. "For just a few years at the start of the century, Parisians could have Theatrophone instruments installed which actually provided home entertainment, rather than mere telephone communication, by relaying live performances from theatres. However, unlike the wireless, the Theatrophone needed wires between the transmission apparatus and the receivers, rather than broadcasting via air waves. Microphones installed on the stages of such theatres as the Paris Opera picked up the sounds of live performances and relayed them by wire to the telephone exchange, where an operator was on hand to offer a selection of programmes to subscribers renting Theatrophone receivers. "Several different programs, related from various theatres, were available to subscribers who could make their own selection by revolving a switch and inserting coins into their machines to buy a fixed amount of listening time. The Theatrophone receivers, ornamental boxes with telephone earpieces attached on trailing wires, even offered stereophonic listening by the use of a pair of microphones left and right on the stage, connected by twin lines to the home receivers. These were also installed in hotel lounges and in restaurants; furthermore, programmes could be relayed to London and Brussels via normal international telephone distribution exchanges. "By 1895, Britain had its own equivalent of the French Theatrophone. It was called the 'Electrophone' and it offered subscribers a similar service via their telephone lines and as well as receiving 'local' relays from theatres, churches and London's Royal Opera House, they could also switch to exchange programmes from Europe via a link-up with the French company. The Theatrophone idea might have proved a great success as an entertainment and news broadcasting medium if it had not been for the appearance of the wireless which nipped it in the bud."
 * Dead medium: The Theatrophone, the electrophone**
 * From: bruces@well.com (Bruce Sterling)**