XMAS Eve 1923 & 1906=1st Natl. Xmas Tree & 1st Radio Broadcast Program (Electric Lights)

The Writer's Almanac for December 24, 2013 with GARRISON KEILLOR:

At 5 p.m. on Christmas Eve in 1923, President Calvin Coolidge lit the first national Christmas tree outside the White House in the area known as the Ellipse. The tree was a 48-foot balsam fir, a gift from the president of Middlebury College in Coolidge's home state of Vermont. Unfortunately, the bottom 10-foot section of the tree was damaged during shipping, so branches from another tree were tied on in place of those that had been broken. The tree was lit with more than 2,500 electric lights in red, white, and green, which Coolidge lit by pressing a button at the base of the tree. The use of electric lights on Christmas trees was still a new phenomenon, as was electricity in general — Coolidge's hometown of Plymouth Notch, Vermont, still didn't have electricity. A partner of Thomas Edison had first put electric lights on his home Christmas tree in 1882, but it took a long time for the public to trust the idea, especially since the lights themselves were expensive and you had to hire an electrician to rig them up.

On Christmas Eve, about 6,000 people gathered to watch the tree-lighting ceremony. There were musical performances by the U.S. Marine Band and the Epiphany Church choir. After the ceremony, the First Congregational Church choir was scheduled to sing Christmas carols, and first lady Grace Coolidge had invited the public to come sing along on the White House grounds. Music and lyrics for the carols had been published in The Evening Star so that people could clip them out and take them along, and they were encouraged to carry a flashlight as well. At midnight, after the official festivities had wound down, the city's African-American community was allowed to view the tree, and they held a 40-minute ceremony.

The media — excited about the national tree — had been following the Coolidge family's every move for several weeks, reporting in-depth on their shopping trips. For Christmas, Coolidge gave his wife 25 one-dollar gold pieces. But he forgot to buy a card, so he reused one that he had received from a friend a few days earlier, which unfortunately still had the original guy's name on it.

On Christmas Eve in 1906, the first radio program was broadcast. Canadian-born Professor Reginald Aubrey Fessenden sent his signals from the 420-foot radio tower of the National Electric Signaling Company, at Brant Rock on the Massachusetts seacoast. Fessenden opened the program by playing "O Holy Night" on the violin. Later he recited verses from the Gospel of St. Luke, then broadcast a gramophone version of Handel's "Largo." His signal was received up to five miles away.