Young Francis McCarty was one of the first to experiment with the transmission of the voice by wireless. Here he is shown transmitting from the Cliff House in San Francisco. This public demonstration of his equipment was widely reported by local newspapers in 1905.

McCarty and his brothers were able to attract some investors and built a transmitting station on the sand dunes of West San Francisco (shown).  Unfortunately, his efforts to develop the new technology were cut short by his untimely death in an accident shortly after the San Francisco earthquake.