WMAF: Colonel Green’s Voice From Way Down East
Col. Edward H. R. Green is known locally in Southeastern Massachusetts as the rich eccentric son of “Wall St. witch” Hetty Green, once the richest woman in the world. Col. Green spent his life trying to spend and give away his mother’s fortune, making him the area’s most prominent philanthropist of his time.
MIT erected the "Radome" antenna on top of the Round Hill water tank in the 1950s. (image from Wikipedia)
Having grown up in Rhode Island, I spent a lot of time in nearby Massachusetts. I was always fascinated by the “dish” on Round Hill in South Dartmouth, Mass. Much of the information available to me as a child about this massive, seemingly alien structure was part of local folklore, a muddle of facts, stories and rumors. Some said it was an MIT experiment to eliminate fog, others said it was a radio antenna for listening to deep space. I never quite understood the connection between it and the impressive mansion just to the dish’s north until I began researching it as an adult. In my travels I found an original printed copy of this publication “WMAF: The Voice From Way Down East” published by Round Hills (sic) Radio Corporation in 1923. The document is somewhat of an early “corporate PowerPoint,” outlining Col. Green’s company and the radio station as well as his passion for broadcasting.
WMAF was one of the first broadcast stations in the country when radio was born in the 1920s and WMAF and sister station WEAF in New York were linked via AT&T cable and carried live music, theater and other entertainment on the airwaves between New York and Massachusetts.
Today his mansion on Round Hill is condominiums and his water tank turned lighthouse turned MIT radio antenna demolished, but his legacy as a radio pioneer and early technology enthusiast is documented in this booklet and several other local publications. Col. Green was a bizarre and interesting character whom, if alive today, would most certainly have his own reality show and it would be far more interesting than The Apprentice.
For more on Col. Green and his story check out the book Colonel Edward Howland Robinson Green and the World He Created at Round Hill by Barbara Fortin Bedell. It may be available from Partners Village Store in Westport, Mass. The cover price is $39.95.
