Woodrow Wilson's 1923 Armistice Day Radio Address

This is the oldest known radio aircheck or linecheck of an American president. The recording was made by Washington DC electronics engineer Frank L. Capps, using a homemade electrical recording system, two years before the first electrically recorded commercial disk was released by Victor. The original disk is believed lost, but a copy is in the FDR presidential library. The newsreel footage comes from archive.org. Both are in the public domain. Listen carefully and you will hear the former president knock the microphone. Mr. Wilson made this address over an ad hoc radio network and was heard by thousands of early radio listeners.