Hudson Falls in 1922 — Gather around the radio
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Ice cream and “many other attractions” were on tap for the upcoming Christian Endeavor Society fair at Hudson Falls Baptist Church, The Post-Star reported on Jan. 7, 1922.
“Booths with all kinds of very useful and pleasing articles and music will have a part in making the affair a great success.”
The main attraction was an opportunity to listen to a concert broadcast over a radio set, a novel form of entertainment at the time.
“Glen Cornell, a local radio agent, will provide the equipment and furnish the operator,” The Post-Star reported. “All those who desire are cordially invited to come and listen to the radio.”
U.S. Secretary of State Herbert Hoover, around that time, had great expectations for radio.
“Four years ago, we were dealing with a scientific toy; today we are dealing with a vital force in American life,” Hoover wrote in his memoirs. “We are, I believe, bringing this lusty child out of its swaddling clothes without any infant diseases.”
Technology had its limits, however.
“As to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s suggestion that radio may at some time make possible communication with the dead … I can only reply that I cannot take the suggestion with any seriousness,” Hoover said in a news interview in 1922.
