OHIO
HISTORICAL
MARKER
FIRST SHIP-TO-SHORE RADIO BROADCAST
On July 1, 1907, Dr. Lee deForest broadcast the first
ship-to-shore radio message from the steam yacht Thelma.
The communication provided quick, accurate race results
of the Annual Inter-Lakes Yachting Association (I-LYA)
Regatta. Frank Butler, a Monroeville, Ohio native and
assistant to deForest, was stationed in the pavilion at
Fox's Dock (today where the Jet Express Dock stands) and
received the radio transmission.
The creation of the vacuum tube by deForest permitted
the rapid development of radio and eventually television. The
inventor disliked the existing term "wireless" and instead chose a new
moniker -- "radio". On this site wireless-transmission radio
broadcasting was born.
OHIO BICENTENNIAL COMMISSION
THE LONGABERGER COMPANY
LAKE ERIE ISLANDS HISTORICAL SOCIETY
THE OHIO HISTORICAL SOCIETY
1999
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