This Christmas Eve, 2006, is the 100th Anniversary of broadcasting... the 100th anniversary of the very first transmission of voice and music. This week, in a special, unusual presentation, we commemorate the man who invented radio as we know it today, Reginald Fessenden. In an exclusive interview, we talk with Dr. John Belrose, one of the foremost experts on Fessenden, and we hear Belrose's technical simulations of Fessenden's first voice transmissions. We ask the question, "Who was really the 'Father of Radio,' Marconi, as is commonly assumed, or Fessenden, who was for many years forgotten, but is now being reassessed?"

Then, we continue peeking into the very origins of radio, listening to the oldest known recording of a radio transmission... a bit of spark-gap radio from 1910.

It's a once-in-a lifetime Christmas this year... a chance for radio enthusiasts to reflect on the origins, and we do it here, exclusively on Radio Journeys.

This week, we inaugurate a new serial. Listen to find out which one we've chosen! Plus three serials continue: Redbook Dramas, with an episode dated July 28, 1932; Family Doctor, episode 24; and the return of Si and Elmer with a "new" adventure.

This week, the second episode of the Ziegfeld Follies from 1932, as we continue our special look at this seminal radio program. We feature the origins of "Baby Snooks," who first appeared on the radio through the Ziegfeld Follies. Plus, the last installment of Kay Kyser's orchestra, and another episode of the Family Doctor.

Radio Journeys returns after a two-week break for a much-needed studio upgrade. And this week, we pay tribute to Florenz Ziegfeld, the master promoter who only tasted radio fame in the last few months of his life. In the first of two podcasts focusing on Ziegfeld, we take a long look at his career, and the enormous legacy he left to American entertainment in general, and to radio in particular. Then, after installments of Kay Kyser and the Family Doctor, we hear the very first episode of Ziegfeld Follies of the Air, which sadly had only a very brief run in 1932.