Thomas Chalmers Making a Record, Edison Recording Laboratory; Unknown Date.

On The Air or On The Web

Radio and Internet audiences can explore the musical treasures of a legendary inventor's attic as Edison National Historic Site, in cooperation with radio station WFMU of Jersey City, presents "Thomas Edison's Attic." The biweekly program features historic Edison recordings from the sound archive at Thomas Edison's West Orange, NJ, laboratory and airs every other Tuesday evening from 7:00 to 8:00 PM.

Hosted by Jerry Fabris, Edison National Historic Site's Sound Recordings Curator, "Thomas Edison's Attic" draws upon the 10,000 cylinder and 37,000 disc records of the Edison National Historic Site sound archive. Fabris notes, "We have a world class record collection, but it gets very limited exposure. This program brings the Edison sound archive to a worldwide audience."

The program showcases over forty years of music and performance on Edison records: popular songs, ragtime, vaudeville comedy, dance bands, and old-time country tunes are just a few examples. Once popular recording artists, like Billy Murray, Ada Jones, and Vernon Dalhart are among the featured performers. Listeners to "Thomas Edison's Attic" will also hear rare recording experiments, test pressings, and private recordings not originally intended for public release.

Interwoven with the music itself is the history of Edison sound recording. Ten years after inventing the phonograph in 1877, Thomas Edison organized one of the earliest record companies. From the late 1880's into the 1920s, Edison was among the top five record producers in the United States.

WFMU is an independent "free-form" radio station broadcasting at 91.1 FM in the New York City area, at 90.1 FM in New York State's Hudson Valley, and live on the Internet at http://www.wfmu.org/.