When TIME covered its first political convention back in 1924, one of the main topics of conversation, then as now, was the impact of a new communications medium on the conduct of political campaigns. This year television's unblinking eye is fixed on the big show at Chicago (see COVER). I thought you would enjoy seeing some of the things TIME was reporting in 1924 about the relatively new field of radio broadcasting.

On July 28, 1924, a TIME story reported: "William M. Butler, campaign manager of President Coolidge, announced that his candidate would not go on the stump, but would campaign by radio from the capital. The radio-casters* threw up their hands in supplication and distraction." The trouble was, it seemed, that the candidates wanted to use national radio hookups, which at that time would have overburdened the wires of the American Telephone and Telegraph Co. To remedy the situation, a radio-company official suggested that candidates limit their speeches to one section of the country at a time, beaming industrial talks to eastern cities, farm speeches to farm areas, etc. Then he offered this additional counsel: "If the campaign managers will take the advice of those of us who have studied the problems of broadcasting, they will not attempt to put on the air long-winded political speeches . . . The ordinary political speech . . . will not go at all with radio audiences. They will tune out in the middle of it and get some station that is sending jazz or a symphony concert."

Neither Coolidge nor his running mate, Charles Gates Dawes, attended the 1924 Republican Convention, but both listened to it on the radio. TIME reported in its issue of June 23, 1924 that a new loudspeaker had been installed on the White House radio set, said: "The President left the executive offices to go to his study to hear the nominating speech of Dr. Marion LeRoy Burton. At luncheon, he and Mrs. Coolidge heard the news of the nomination. He said nothing, but afterwards he went for a walk."

Dawes was attending the 40th reunion of the class of 1884 at Marietta College, Marietta, Ohio. Said TIME: "Naturally, since a big convention was going on at Cleveland, there was some listening-in by radio. Several members of '84 were at it. After a hot roll call, the Republican nominee for Vice President was announced. It was one of those very Marietta '843 [Dawes himself] who were listening in. And he exclaimed . .. : 'Well, I declare!' "

When the Democrats convened, a TIME story said: "The Democratic Convention caused such a grave disturbance at a Cabinet meeting that the President was obliged to have the radio loudspeaker turned off. The din was too great to allow Secretarial deliberation" (TIME, July 7, 1924).

TIME also carried some stories at the time about experiments with electrical transmission of pictures. The issue of June 2, 1924, reported: "In a Manhattan skyscraper on lower Broadway, an engineer pulled a switch. Simultaneously, two cylinders began to turn, one in New York and one in ... Cleveland. Two hundred and seventy-six seconds later, a photographic film of President and Mrs. Coolidge, the original of which was 600 miles away, was ready for development in Manhattan . . . C. Francis Jenkins, a Washington inventor, has also transmitted photographs at a distance by radio instead of by telephone wires, and has even sent simple motion pictures by radio within a building. The A.T. & T. engineers say, however, that the possibility of transmitting action pictures of ball games, riots, prizefights, parades, etc. directly is almost negligible."

For an example of what has happened to the "negligible possibility" after 28 years, turn to the story of television at the conventions in the National Affairs section.

Cordially yours,

*On June 30, TIME had reported that the radio section of the Associated Manufacturers of Electrical Supplies had disparaged the widely used term, broadcasting, which, they pointed out, has to do with the "sowing of seed of material substances," recommended that the word be officially abandoned in favor of radiocasting.

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