Cassier's Magazine, February, 1907, pages 275-276:
WIDENING APPLICATIONS OF THE TELEPHONE
By William Maver, Jr.
Probably nowhere has the use of the telephone become more widespread than in many of the farming communities of the Western States of America, and nowhere has it worked greater changes than in the social life of such communities. It has virtually removed the sense of isolation that so often wears upon the dwellers on farms. However remote one farm house may be from its neighbours, with a telephone within reach at will, the feeling of aloneness disappears.
In addition to the ordinary uses of the telephone in these communities it is also in numerous ways made to add to their pleasure and instruction. Thus quite frequently telephone musicales are arranged at which the musical talent of the neighbourhood furnish the entertainment, while the audience is made up of the subscribers and their friends, scattered over a large territory, the result, it is said, being much more satisfactory than a phonograph entertainment.
A rural news service is also supplied on certain of these farm lines. At a certain hour of the evening, say seven o'clock, a general call is rung over the lines. When all the subscribers are gathered on the lines the central office begins by giving the exact time of day. The weather indications are then given, together with the latest news of the day from home and abroad, briefly, of course. Then follows the market quotations of farm produce, oats, wheat, eggs, etc.; all of which, as intimated, is working a revolution in rural life.