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Content: It was pretty hard to keep a good secret in those days. There were no dials or pushbuttons on telephones; you had to place every call thorough an operator 
at the town's central switchboard. ( See drawing above.) The operator  asked the same question, 
"Number please," a few thousand times a day. A cord was plugged into a jack 
connecting two lines and the operator would push a button to ring the phone. Before leaving the line, the operator would wait until someone picked up — or inform you that there was no answer. Given the ability of any number of people to listen in on interesting conversations, the medium actually ended up being a limited form of 
"broadcasting" in some communities. This fact not withstanding, the telegraph and telephone were still considered point-to-point communication devices; that is, the messages that were sent were not intended for mass audiences (as in mass communication).