Electrophone (information system)

The Electrophone was a distributed audio system, which operated in the United Kingdom, primarily in London between 1895 and 1925. Using conventional telephone lines, it relayed live theatre and music hall shows plus Sunday church services to subscribers who listened over special headsets. It was ultimately unsuccessful in competing with the development of radio broadcasting in the early 1920s.

The Electrophone was preceded by the similarly organized Théâtrophone system of Paris, France, which began operation in 1890. In 1894, Mr. H. S. J. Booth formed the Electrophone Company, Ltd. with an initial capitalization of £20,000, and the service began operations in London the next year, with Booth acting as the Managing Director. Initially the company operated under a licence issued by the National Telephone Company.

The Electrophone relayed theatre shows, opera performances and other events (such as Sunday church services) over telephone lines. To pick up the programmes, multiple large carbon microphones were placed in the theatre footlights to pick up the sounds of the performers. In churches, the microphones were disguised to look similar to bibles. Home subscribers were issued headphones connected to their standard telephone lines. The annual charge was £5, which limited its affordability to the well-to-do. Queen Victoria was included as one of the listeners. In 1897, it was noted that coin-operated receivers had been installed in some hotels, which provided a few minutes of entertainment for a sixpenny. Additional lines were installed, for free, for use by convalescing hospital patients.

A special manual switchboard, located at the Electrophone building in Pelican House on Gerrard Street, London, provided links to the participating entertainment establishments and churches. Subscribers called Electrophone operators to have their lines connected to the site they selected. Subscribers with two telephone lines could use the second line to make a request to change the site during the course of an evening. A 1906 advertisement stated that they could choose from among fourteen theatres—the Aldwych, Alhambra, Apollo, Daly's, Drury Lane, Empire, Gaiety, Lyric, Palace, Pavilion, Prince of Wales's, Savoy, Shaftesbury and Tivoli—in addition to concerts from the Queen's and Royal Albert Halls, and, on Sundays, services from fifteen churches.

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