A suprisingly short time after the first televised play was broadcast from one end of Schenectady to not quite the other, General Electric was able to report success in transcontinental television transmission. On February 5, 1929, the Associated Press reported that:
“On the basis of reports received from Los Angeles, radio experts of the General Electric Company here announced Sunday night they had conducted their most successful trans-continental television transmission.
“Television signals of the face of David Wark Griffith were sent out over Experimental Station 2XO, using a short wave of 21.58. Mr. Griffith’s voice was transmitted over WGY by long wave and over Experimental Station 2XAF, 31 meters. The voice and television picture were received in Los Angeles, the company announced.”
Funny that the name David Wark Griffith doesn’t really ring a bell – unless you use his initials, and realize that perhaps the first face sent by television across the country was that of D.W. Griffith, the pioneering film director.