Magyar News, 1993. szeptember-1994. augusztus (4. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)

1994-03-01 / 7. szám

In the first days of January, 1882, a carnival party took place in the Fest Vigadó, one of Budapest's decorated palaces on the bank of the river Danube. The party which lasted well into the night, had a strange, almost shocking element for most of the people present. On the first floor, the guests could see a booth with some half a dozen headphones in it. On behalf of the Inventor Tivadar Puskás (1844-1893), his brother, Ferenc Puskás gave Information on how to use the equipment.

Participants of the carnival party, the fairly well-off citizens of Pest and Buda were informed by his lecture about the Initially absurd claim that by means of this equipment one could hear the opera Robert le Diable composed by Jacomo Meyerbeer on the libretto of Eugene Scribe. What's more, it came from a distance of several hundreds of metres from the stage of the national Theatre on Rákóczi Road, nobody believed it. nobody really dared to place the headphones, to his ears despite of long persuasion by Ferenc Puskás. Finally a few determined people of curious nature volunteered. Actually, what they wanted to do was to prove Puskás wrong. They were disappointed. The voices of the two significant opera singers of the age, Maria Wilt and Károly Kőszegi were clearly and unmistakably Intoned from the headphones. An ear-witness noted: "A century ago, the Inventor would have been burned as a witch-masterl"

That is how the memorable event took place: the first public demonstration of the Telephonic Mews Dispenser, Tivadar Puskás’ news and programme-transmitting invention In Hungary. The genious inventor was Edison's work associate in the United States and then moved over to Europe and perfected the news and programme-transmitting equipment He entrusted his younger brother, Ferenc, with heading the representation office in Hungary and spreading the news about his two inventions, the telephone exchange and the Telephonic Mews Dispenser. Budapest's telephone network was inaugurated on May 1,1891 and on February 15, 1893 the Telephonic Mews Dispenser also commenced operation. One could read In the Sunday Paper In 1895, that the two silvery receivers ,of the Telephonic Mews Dispenser were shining in the homes of every well-off family, and those who got used to it, "have the same attitude to It as to the striking of the old wallclock, that they do not even notice

when it strikes but If they do not hear the striking just once, they would notice It." This delicate observation was noted when the Telephonic Mews Dispenser already had 6,000 subscribers In Pest. For a subscription of five pennies per day, this story-telling machine proved to be Just as good a chatting companion as the reader of the old days who "came to the house in the evenings in order to read to old people with poor eyesight the papers or the novel that came from the bookmerchant."

The benefit of the Telephonic Mews Dispage 4

penser was realized almost immediately but still thirty years had to pass before this magnificlent invention spread throughout the city and later throughout the country. The radio was born, at last. In the middle of October 1925, the first studio was set up in the Telephonic Mews Dispenser building at no. 22 Rákóczi Road, experimental broadcasts took place and Hungarian Radio started permanent service on December first. In the early afternoon daily broadcasts began In the fifty square-metre studio. The first feature was a reading followed by an afternoon concert. In the evening hours, the programme switched by turns from the Hungarian Royal Opera House to one of the city's

public restaurants, broadcasting opera performance from one place and Qipsy music from another. Opera broadcasts were steady, customary programmes for years. An average of 52 operas were broadcasted every year, which - taking Into account the summer break of the opera house -, meant 2-3 opera evenings regularly every week.

That is how it began.

Months even years passed before Hungarian radio managed to step out of its tight boundaries. The main problem was the lack of professional staff. At most, staff members were aware of only the technical conditions of broadcasting, while programme-making and editing were totally unknown. It was characteristic of this period that enthusiastic young people suspended their music or arts studies in order to join the field of radio broadcasting which was beginning to develop at that time. One of them was the 18-year-old Tibor Polgár, a student of Zoltán Kodály, who Joined the radio as a sort of genera) music editor and performer. He was a piano accompanist, chorus master and chamber musician. Later he even composed songs and musical works. Tibor Polgár spent decades serving Hungarian

broadcasting and was one of the most successful musicians ever working in the studios of the headquarters at Bródy Sándor street. Music features had a special place in the programming of the first decade. It was primarily a technical issue. Music played a special role in a programme structure made up of features most of which - concerts as well as radio plays, readings etc. -, were produced in the fifty square-metre studio. Apart from being ideal In connecting programmes of different types and balancing them In atmosphere, music was viewed as the most adaptable studio programme. It was able to feature, even underthe adverse circumstances of the studio, all kinds of genres

from solo aria and song recitals to symphonic concerts or professional and amateur music groups with only a few members. With their abundance of choice, which meant at the same time a wide variety of genres, music programmes became the most attractive features in the first years of broadcasting.

This decade saw more and more new music talents emerging and developing. With the help of the radio, young musicians and performers were given a forum which played an Immense role in establishing '.heir reputation. Besides, the great music personalities of previous decades were also present. They had the flattering task of authenticating the radio by their

persona] exemplification and performance in the studio.

From this point of view, the first person to be mentioned is Béla Bartók. Bartók realized the huge opportunities of broadcasting. "It is such an Important and great means of spreading music and all kinds of culture In general, which we could not even dream of not too long ago. Financial reasons, geographical Isolation and a lot more things simply made it impossible for classical music to spread to the extent with which radio has provided mankind" - Bartók said in an Interview with the magazine Radio Life on October 25. 1929.

Beside Bartók, the other great Hungarian music genius, Zoltán Kodály also frequently appeared in radio programmes. Several of Kodály’s works, like the best of his choral works and his musical comedy János Háry became really popular by means of radio. The musical play János Háry was produced by the Opera House with an excellent cast on October 16, 1926. Imre Palló, who played the title role, Izabella Magy, who played the main woman character and Mándor Magy, who conducted the orchestra of the Opera House, also featured in the performance recorded by the His Master's Voice in 1928. We must not forget about light music either, which has been very popular from the beginning. Fortunately, the radio management realized this in time and strove for the harmonic unity of various music genres. In this country, nóta (Hungarian popular song) and Qipsy music were always received with the greatest interest. In 1928, some thirty percent of subscribers were asked what programmes they liked and which ones they did not, and whether they wanted tó keep listening to them or preferred them terminated. The almost thirty thousand answers produced an order of the most popular radio programmes. According to that, nóta ranked first and Qipsy music

TELEPHONIC NEWS