From Marconi’s ‘S’ to Strauss Waltzes: Why Earth’s Been Broadcasting to Aliens for Over a Century

Music in Space
By. Dr. Larry Burriss
06/02/2025

Back in the 1960s, when something was really good, like music for example, it was said to be “far out.” Well, this past weekend, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, in cooperation with the European Space Agency, broadcast some music that really is “far out.”
In honor of the 50th anniversary of the European Space Agency, the orchestra performed the Strauss waltz, “By the Beautiful Blue Danube,” which was converted into an electromagnetic format which a radio antenna in Spain beamed into the cosmos.
Now, here’s something odd about this: in 1977 NASA put 27 pieces of music onto a golden record which was then attached to Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, and sent on an interstellar journey. But “Blue Danube,” for some reason, was not part of the sound collection.

“Blue Danube,” it must be noted, is one of the most popular pieces of classical music, and received an international boost when it was used in the movie, “2001; A Space Odyssey.”
And because this music was travelling at the speed of light, it reached Voyage 1, launched 48 years ago, in a mere 23 hours, more than 15-billion miles away.
But this is not the first music has been sent into space. In honor of its 50th anniversary in 2008, NASA beamed the Beatles song, “Across the Universe” into deep space.
Now, sometimes we hear overly-fearful people saying we shouldn’t be sending these messages into space, because aliens might want to home in on our signals in order to attack us.
Well, that’s all well and good, except we’ve been sending radio, and television, signals into space since the first radio and television broadcasts.
In fact, it’s possible Marconi’s first wireless transmission, the letter “S,” sent across the Atlantic Ocean in 1901, has passed more than 100 exoplanets. Which means it’s entirely possible some alien on a planet orbiting the star Kepler 2, is watching “I Love Lucy” at this very minute.
So here’s something to consider: if you are an alien, you might think an advanced civilization that can produce “By the Beautiful Blue Danube” might be worth visiting. But then again, “I Love Lucy”; probably not worth your time.

… I’m Larry Burriss.