February 9, 1925

“College Hears First of Series of Radio Concerts,” announced The Miscellany News, as music from the Victor Concert Orchestra and two noted Italian singers on New York radio station WEAF was heard in Vassar Brothers’ Laboratory. The program featured performances by two noted Italian singers, operatic soprano Mme. Toti Dal Monte (Antonietta Meneghel), on the crest of her triumphant American debut in late 1924, and the leading baritone of the Metropolitan Opera, Giuseppe De Luca.

New York City’s first radio station, in 1922, WEAF was owned by Western Electric AT&T. At the time of this series of broadcasts, the station announced a “super radio” arrangement, sending its programs between 8 and 10 each night over underused telephone lines to stations in 18 cities as far west as Minneapolis and Davenport, IA, for simultaneous broadcast and reaching some 12,500,000 listeners—the first network. The station was also interested in transmitting more “good” music and in stemming the tide of jazz.