Demonstration of the wireless telephone, June 1920. In the 1920s, broadcasting was still in its infancy, with radio transmitters and receivers owned only by amateur enthusiasts. To demonstrate the potential and efficiency of the 'wireless telephone' as a means of broadcasting, Dame Nellie Melba, the Australian soprano shown here, gave a concert of operatic arias that was transmitted across Europe from Essex, England. People gathered at receiving stations were impressed by the clarity of tone. This portrait is from the Bain News Service, one of America's oldest news picture agencies, which holds images dating from the 1890s to the 1930s.