David Sarnoff, an employee of the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company of America, demonstrated the broadcast of music in New York circa 1915. This and other demonstrations of long-distance wireless telephony inspired many memos to his superiors on applications of radio technologies. In 1920, he proposed that the company develop a radio music box for the amateur market of radio enthusiasts. The proposal was rejected:

"The radio music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?"