Michigan State Gazette, February, 1907, page 8:
"Tellevent" Experiments a Success
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A Number of Prominent Detroiters Listen to Senatorial Caucus Proceedings Eighty Miles Away
The development of the "Tellevent", while necessarily slow because of the great amount of experimenting which has been required to perfect certain features of it, has been none-the-less satisfactory and several severe tests, its practicability beyond question.
The last, and by long odds, the most trying of these demonstrations, was the transmitting of the recent Senatorial Caucus, from Lansing to Detroit. This caucus was the first, in years, where the result was in question, and the interest was state wide. Unfortunately Detroit's candidate, the Hon. William C. McMillan, was taken ill shortly before the Caucus and was confined to his bed. No telephone nor telegraph could possibly satisfy his desire to keep in close touch with the proceedings. This fact was brought to the attention of General Manager Land, who immediately thought of the "Tellevent" but the difficulties in the way seemed almost insurmountable. The Hall of Representatives, where the Caucus was to be held, was a great barn of a room with most unsatisfactory acoustic conditions, and its lofty ceiling and the absence of columns, offered no desirable locations for the apparatus.
After taking all these facts into consideration, he decided at least to make the attempt, and Mr. Charles E. Gardner, Sup't of Plant of the Detroit Exchange, who has been closely identified with all previous Tellevent experiments, was requested to proceed at once to Lansing, to install the equipment. Mr. McMillan's house was already wired for Tellevent service.
Mr. Gardner, after much study, decided to suspend the transmitting apparatus from the ceiling, and to control it by a switching device, to be operated by himself, from the balcony. This device would make it possible to cut in or out any transmitter, at will, and so avoid the blurring of sound which would necessarily arise if all transmitters were in service at once.
The plans were carefully made, and the results were satisfactory beyond expression. From sixty to eighty Detroiters, whose interests prevented their attendance at the Capitol, listened, in the privacy of their own homes, to every word of the proceedings of January 9th and 10th, and heard as well, if not better, than those who were present in person. The nominating speeches, the seconding remarks, the balloting, the applause, and the speeches of the successful and defeated candidates, were heard in turn, and no portion was less distinct to this audience eighty-eight miles away, than to the audience in Representatives Hall.
In the past, experiments in transmitting theatrical performances, music, church services and political speeches, have all been tried and in most cases the results have been all that could be desired, but this last great achievement stands by itself, and indicates the tremendous possibilities of the service in the future.
It is expected that a company to promote and install this service generally throughout the State, will be formed within a short time, in Detroit. Such a company will control all of the special apparatus which has been devised and without which the service would be impossible.