I am reading about radio station histories of many AM outlets across the country and how they began their operations, etc. While reading on WABC 770 in New York City, this interesting event was brought up from March 24, 1932 (when at that time callsign was WJZ) the station became the first to do a live broadcast on a moving train. This was a variety show on a B&O psgr train traveling through Maryland. No other details are given. Do any B&O history buffs have any details of this? Also this gets me to thinking. I can’t confirm but back in the 80’s, perhaps early 90’s, one of the talk stations in Kan City (either KCMO or KMBZ) broadcast its morning local show from the lounge car of Amtrk 304 going to Jeff City. Thatsall i recall and don’t have an exact date. Does anyone also have details on this also? I miss old AM from the 70’s-80’s when most stations did a full local news report every hour with the latest weather info.
Of course the first voice communication to and from a moving train was done by the DL&W in conjunction with Marconi and Sarnoff. It was successful but WWI broke out and the ‘test’ was scratched and moved to ship to shore voice radio. There have been many train to radio and train to tv over the years. One TV show I remember was when David P. Morgan rode an NYC S out of GCT with the Century to Mott Haven on the NBC live show Omnibus in the earlyh 50’s. You might try the Broadcasting Museum archives in NY as well as the B&O/CSX transportation museum.
AM radio, any real radio for that matter, is long gone…and will be for a long time yet…as multiownership of stations in any given market and nationwide is in the hands of investors and not radio broadcasters or braodcasting companies. Many believe that internet and wireless phone networks which can actually track your moves, your purchases, your listening and buying habits, etc, are what broadcasting and communication is and is going to be all about forever. No individuality, no real entertainment, no real information. You miss radio of the 70’s and 80’s, I miss radio of the 40’s through 60’s; my parents missed it from the 30’s and 40’s, and of course, my grandparents didn’t miss it at all!
An article in 1962 Sun Magazine, written by Peter Balcerak, a B&O clerk who participated in the radio broadcast project, documented the trip from Washington Union Station to New York. The railroad converted the dining car “Molly Pitcher” to accomodate the experiment that took place on March 27, 1932. CBS was the broadcasting network.
They removed the furniture from the dining car, added extra carpeting to eliminate vibration, installed the transmitter in the kitchen area and two antenna’s on the cars roof. Batteries were installed for power.
The show had a small orchestra, the Jack Denny Orchestra, and two singers. A senator also gave a small speech. Microphones were placed outside the car so occasional train sounds could be broadcast. The cast was from a show called the “Ever-Ready Gaieties”. The half hour show was a sucess and many telegrams were received by the network from people saying they heard the broadcast without problems. It proved they could do such in a moving studio.
Laurel Maryland was the trackside facility used to monitor and track the radio signals. Tunnels and such along the route were a concern with causing interferance but all apparently went well.