Montreal Gazette, May 21, 1920, page 7:
WIRELESS CONCERT GIVEN FOR OTTAWA
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Royal Society of Canada Heard Songs From Montreal Last Night
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THE NEW TELEPHONY
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Contact Was Established, But Noises of Montreal Frustrated Complete Success From Ottawa End
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A concert, which was staged in the top floor offices of the Marconi Building on William street, was given last night for the benefit of an audience which was assembled over one hundred miles away in the Chateau Laurier, Ottawa. Later in the evening there came the message from the Chateau that the concert had been heard, and congratulations were offered. The occasion was an experiment in wireless telephony, which, although it has been successfully operated on short distances, has not in a public way been demonstrated for distances of one hundred miles or more. Advantage was taken of the fact that the Royal Society of Canada was in session at Ottawa yesterday, and that Dr. Eve, of McGill University, was delivering a lecture last night on "Co-operation In Science." The "co-operation" in this instance was between the University, the Royal Society of Canada, the Naval Service, and the Marconi Wireless Company. From the Montreal end the experiment was, as far as could be gathered, rather one-sided; that is to say, the other end evidently heard more than those at Montreal did. The explanation of this by Marconi officials was that in the Chateau Laurier arrangements had been made for an amplifier to convey the sounds to the audience, and, further it was stated that the fact of the station in the city being in the very centre of all the noises, tended to defeat the passage of the message. The experiment, however, clearly demonstrated the possibility of getting wireless connection, of getting messages through in some form, so that evidently the matter of getting clear messages through lies in the direction of perfecting the invention as has been the case with other inventions of the age.
HELLO, OTTAWA
Shortly after half-past nine, Mr J. O. G. Cann, chief engineer, called, "Hello, Ottawa; we will now play a record for you," and he turned on "Dear Old Pal of Mine," the music being caught by a big megaphone, which was linked up with the cabinet that had the wireless installation. "Hold the line," he said a few minutes later, "we are going to give you another record; or, perhaps I should have said, 'hold the ether!' "
Following the music, there was read through to Ottawa by Mr. Cann, copy of a wireless message that he had received last night from Dr. Ruttan. The message read as follows:
"As president of the Royal Society of Canada, at this its 39th annual meeting, I send you this sealed message to be transmitted by wireless telephony to the audience assembled at the annual public lecture of the Royal Society. I wish to congratulate all those representing the Marconi Wireless Telegraph of Canada, and the Radio-Telegraph Branch of the Department of Naval Service at Ottawa, on their success in transmitting the spoken word over 100 miles, audible to a large assembly, a demonstration given for the first time in Canada. I wish, further, to thank them and their associates in the name of the Royal Society of Canada for their kindness and their generous co-operation in this difficult scientific experiment."
The chief engineer then informed Ottawa that a lady was to sing, and Dorothy Lutton stepped forward and in front of the apparatus sang "Believe me, if all those endearing young charms," following this up by "Merrily Shall I Live."
OTTAWA END.
The challenge to Ottawa to make itself heard reminded one rather of the tense experiences of a seance, when the first difficulty is to get contact and then to make any sense out of the result of the contact. For half an hour or more ears were strained, with receivers over them, to hear what was coming through. Sometimes it was the sound of a gramophone, sometimes the sound of a voice, but the overhead noises were most persistent, the explanation of the Marconi staff being that, properly speaking, this station ought to be just outside the urban area so as not to carry all the ourlen of the multitudinous noises of a great city. Finally, a message was sent to Dr. Ruttan and Dr. Eve, asking how the evening's signals had been received. At 11 p.m. came the message in code, that the concert came through O.K., and that congratulations of the audience were offered. The fact that the Capital is a quieter city and that there was an amplifier provided in the Chateau Laurier, was considered as sufficient explanation for the better success at that end; but the evening's experiment indicated that another big step in electrical transmission and communication has been taken, the possibilities of which can scarcely be conceived.
Among those present last night were Mr. A. H. Morse, managing director, with Mrs. Morse; Mr. and Mrs. A. L. MacCallum, Mr. J. O. G. Cann, chief engineer, and Mrs. Cann, Miss Lutton and Miss Lichtenstein.
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HEARD IN OTTAWA
Large Audience Assembled in Chateau Laurier
Ottawa, May 20.--A large audience at the Chateau Laurier assembly hall tonight heard quite distinctly a gramophone played in Montreal and also Miss Lutton singing in that city, over 100 miles away, by means of wireless telephony. The demonstration was arranged by Dr. A. Eve in connection with an address on "Some great war inventions," before the Royal Society of Canada. The experiment took place at 9.30 and by means of a magna vox, the voice of the distant singer was quite distinctly heard in all parts of the hall. The magna vox however, not only accentuated the sounds coming from the telephone receiver, but also the ordinary noises of a city and for that reason at times the singing was slightly interrupted. Dr. Eve explained that scientists were endeavoring to so develop the instrument that only the sounds coming from the wire would be increased. Another test was made from a gramophone half a mile away and that was very distinct. Several members of the audience wore receivers similar to those used by "Centrals" at the regular telephone exchange and they heard the singing from Montreal with absolute accuracy.