When Republicans and Democrats gathered for their 1924 national conventions, Americans nationwide heard the proceedings from gavel to gavel for the first time. Carried live on radio, both conventions were heard by millions. In these first convention broadcasts the new entertainment medium simply eavesdropped on the events, recording them as a bystander. An editor for The Nation noted that convention speakers addressed themselves exclusively to the delegates-in the halls, as if they were unaware of their national audience. Conventioneers continued their traditional practice of demonstrating for their candidates even though radio could not effectively convey the excitement of these demonstrations. Lamenting that politicians had not developed a "radio-oratory," the editor hoped this shortcoming would be remedied before the 1928 campaign began. Some observers realized that once the novelty of radio had faded, listeners' patience with forty-seven-minute demonstrations that produced only muffled noise...