Opera on Air: First Radio Broadcast from the Met
Lee De Forest rigged a transmitter to the stage of the Metropolitan Opera House and broadcast tenor Enrico Caruso's voice to a handful of receivers scattered across New York City on January 13, 1910. Most listeners heard static and distortion punctuated by occasional bursts of recognizable singing. The technology was primitive and the audience was tiny. But the concept was revolutionary: for the first time, a live musical performance escaped the physical walls of its venue and traveled invisibly through the air. De Forest, who had patented the triode vacuum tube just four years earlier, understood that radio could deliver entertainment to millions simultaneously. Within a decade, commercial radio stations launched across America, and the broadcast model he demonstrated at the Met became the foundation of an industry that reshaped politics, culture, and advertising.
January 13, 1910
116 years ago
Key Figures & Places
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