The Publisher's Weekly, April 13, 1912, pages 1265-1266:
PHONE NEWSPAPER SERVICE.
A RECENT MODERN DEVELOPMENT THAT HAS FAILED SO FAR TO BE A FINANCIAL SUCCESS--THE WAY THE "PHONE HERALD" WORKED--NEWS "ON TAP" DAY OR NIGHT.
A RECENT issue of the Fourth Estate had a very interesting account of the phone "publishing" service, which for several months this winter was in actual operation in the suburbs of Newark, N. J. The account was suggested, it is true, by the "Phone Herald's" demise; but for all that the experiment was an interesting one, and, from the subscriber's point of view at least, not unsuccessful. Indeed it is said that had the operating company had more capital the self-supporting stage would soon have been reached.
When M. M. Gillam, the well-known advertising specialist, of New York, visited Budapest, Hungary, several years ago, he was impressed with the possibilities of the telephonic news and amusement system in vogue there. It was a realization of the dream of Edward Bellamy in his "Looking Backward," and was seemingly popular with the people, as the system had more than 20,000 subscribers. Mr. Gillam conceived of the idea of adapting the service to some of the larger cities in this country. With others he organized the United States Telephone Herald Company. Offices and an experimental and demonstration plant were established at 113 West 34th Street, New York.
The company then decided to dispose of the rights for the various states to the best advantage, the parent company to receive a royalty on every instrument installed. The New Jersey Telephone Herald Company was organized about a year ago with Mr. Gillam as president, and William E. Gunn, who was famous as the builder of the battleship "Oregon," which made the trip around Cape Horn, as vice-president and general manager.
It acquired the rights for New Jersey, and decided that Newark and the surrounding suburbs was an ideal community for an enterprise of the sort. At the time the company was organized one of the Blaisdell brothers, wealthy coal men of New York, was heavily interested, and this gave the enterprise substantial financial backing.
It was planned to open for business last March, or just a year ago. The New York Telephone Company, just as the service was ready to begin, refused to furnish the wires required, which were to be leased, and the matter went to the Public Utility Commission for adjudication. It was September before a decision was finally rendered favorable to the telephone newspaper, but the service was not inaugurated until October 23 last. In the meantime, Mr. Blaisdell, wearied by the long legal fight, had lost interest and dropped out of the company, so far as any active participation in its affairs was concerned.
MUSIC THE FAVORITE.
While the city of Newark was being canvassed for subscribers, which were procured readily, because the musical program was a strong selling feature of the service, Captain Gunn was hustling energetically for a man with sufficient capital to see the enterprise through to a sound business basis. The forty-odd canvassers brought in about 3500 contracts in less than three months, although less than 500 installations had been made at the time the service was discontinued. The installations were held back by the lack of capital.
The news room was handled very much after the fashion of a big daily newspaper. There was a telegraph service from one of the big press associations, all of the local news of Newark was supplied by one of the daily papers in advance of its publication; and with the morning and afternoon New York newspapers there was no lack of material to keep the service continuous between the hours specified on the daily program.
HOW NEWS WAS GIVEN.
The news was read over the service from the soundproof booths, each stentor, as the readers were called, reading fifteen minutes and resting forty-five minutes. The "copy" was all prepared ahead by the two editors, all scandal and sensational matter being eliminated. In fact, so much care was exercised relative to the character of the news used that a child of tender years might listen at any time and not be offended by what would be heard. The stentors read at the rate of about 135 to 140 words a minute, so that between fifty and fifty-two columns of matter was talked over the wire daily for the benefit of the subscribers.
Different kinds of news were put over the wire by schedule. For instance, at nine o'clock the bargains at the local department stores were talked to the subscribers, at half-past ten o'clock the latest foreign news had the wire service for an hour, while at two-thirty o'clock in the afternoon household hints and recipes went over for the benefit of the housewives.
Rarely, if ever, was the cry of "copy," which is never-ending in a regular newspaper office, heard. And yet, at rare intervals the "stentor" would find himself running out of copy, and he would open the door of the booth quietly, and fairly whisper the magic word that would send one of the editors scurrying to the booth with more material.
There are many interesting stories told about the experiences of some of the musicians in the music room. One is to the effect that a big, husky tenor singer, when he had finished singing a solo before the microphone in the music room, had such an attack of stage fright that he found himself clutching the stand which supported the microphone with a death-like grip. The fact that he could not see his auditors, had no idea of the number of listeners, and could not gauge the effect of his singing, all had a tendency the first time to produce one of the worst attacks of stage fright he had ever had.
The service was installed by means of a wall bracket, with two receivers, similar to a dollar watch. The sound was transmitted by means of the microphones, which are of greater carrying power than the ordinary telephone transmitter, to the switch-board, and then by means of a transformer distributed throughout the service. The transmission was even better than the ordinary telephone, and the music was heard with great satisfaction by those who had had the service installed in their homes in Newark. The cost was $18 a year in advance, or five cents a day--the price of two daily papers.
Had the Newark venture been a success, it was the intention of the parent company to dispose of the rights for various states. It is understood that a company has been organized to establish a system in Los Angeles, Cal., but whether the closing of the Newark plant will have any effect on it is a matter of conjecture.