Nowadays we’re very accustomed to recording and hearing the sound of our own voices. But in the 1930s many people were doing it for the first time. And a surprising trend began. People started sending their voices to each other, through the postal service. It was literally: voice-mail.

We recently combed through a large collection of early voicemail at the Phono Post Archive, and we discovered that many of these audio letters are about the same thing: Love.

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This episode is supported by Zola, a company that’s reinventing wedding planning. To sign up and receive a 50 dollar credit towards your own registry, go to http://www.zola.com/radiodiaries