The Telefon Hírmondó (also Telefonhírmondó, generally translated as "Telephone Herald") was a "telephone newspaper" located in Budapest, Hungary, which, beginning in 1893, provided news and entertainment to subscribers over telephone lines. It was both the first and the longest surviving telephone newspaper system, although from 1 December 1925 until its termination in 1944 it was primarily used to retransmit programmes broadcast by Magyar Rádió. Three decades before the development of radio broadcasting, the Telefon Hírmondó was the first service to electronically deliver a wide range of spoken and musical programming to a diverse audience. Although its inventor envisioned that the technology could be eventually expanded to serve a national or international audience, the technical limitations of the time ultimately limited its service area to just the city of Budapest.
Establishment The Telefon Hírmondó was founded by Tivadar Puskás (a few reviews translated his name as "Theodore Buschgasch"), an engineer and inventor who had worked with Thomas Edison. In view of the ever-increasing pace of living, especially in major cities, Puskás recognized that daily newspapers, even with multiple editions, could no longer effectively keep up with developing events. He decided that this problem could be rectified through the introduction of a regularly updated audio news source. Initially, the Telefon Hírmondó editorial office was located near Astoria, at 6 Magyar Street. The system began operating on 15 February 1893 with around 60 subscribers, and was inaugurated with a message from Puskás, which, translated into English, stated:
We greet the inhabitants of Budapest. We greet them in an unusual way from which telephone broadcasting all over the world will start its victorious journey. For the initial transmissions, individuals who had telephones called into a central office to listen to Telefon Hírmondó reports that were updated hourly.
At this time newspapers published in the Austro-Hungarian Empire had to be authorized by the government. The contemporary press laws did not apply to a telephone newspaper, and government officials were wary that the Telefon Hírmondó could develop into an "important tool of power", as it could potentially be used to quickly spread strategic, political, and social information. The Telefon Hírmondó had started operations based on an informal verbal approval, to demonstrate that the idea was practical. After two weeks of successful operation, on 2 March 1893 Puskás sent a letter to Béla Lukács, the Hungarian Minister of Trade, requesting formal authorization to run his "newspaper", under the provisions of the Act No. XXXXI of 1888. Included was a request to be assigned 50 years of exclusive rights for operation within the city of Budapest, although the government was eventually unwilling to approve this portion of the request. Tividar Puskás died on 16 March 1893, just one month after the Telefon Hírmondó had been launched. His brother, Albert Puskás, took over responsibility for the service, moved the centre of operations to 24 Erzsébet Street, and resumed talks with the Hungarian government for formal operating authorisation. Included in these discussions were any fees that should be paid to the government, as well as limits on the operation's profits. Because the initial design had subscribers using their existing telephones to call the Telefon Hírmondó, there was a question as to how much the telephone company should be compensated for the use of its lines. While these negotiations were ongoing, Albert Puskás sold the Telefon Hírmondó, along with the associated patent rights, to the engineer István Popper. Effective 26 September 1894, Popper accepted the governmental authorisation conditions. The permission to operate included the provision that the Telefon Hírmondó staff would write down news reports in advance and have them signed by both the manager and the announcer, with copies sent three times daily to the Budapest Royal Prosecutor and the Budapest Police Department, and on the following day to the relevant government ministries. Popper created The Telefonhírmondó Joint stock company, modernized the equipment, and broadened the range of the programmes. In October 1894, the offices were moved to 22 Kerepesi street, with Emile von Szveties acting as the technical director. The company constructed its own one-way telephone network, independent of the local telephone company, to provide a continuous service to subscribers.
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