1977
On January 2, 1977, Max Neuhaus executed his most ambitious telecommunications project, Radio Net, a live, two-hour national broadcast on National Public Radio (NPR).
Neuhaus invited listeners across the United States to call a toll-free number and whistle into their telephones.
The Network: He utilized a complex system of five regional nodes (New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, and Atlanta) to collect these calls. The sounds were then channeled to a central processing location in Washington, D.C.
Neuhaus used custom-built electronic circuits to "digest" the incoming whistles, shifting their frequencies and layering them into a continuous, evolving sonic texture that was broadcast back to the nation in real-time.