Evening Star Newspaper, January 27, 1929, Page 65

RADIO-BY UTILITES SPLITS COMMISSION Judge Robinson Opposed to Grants—Caldwell Favors Best Program Service. By the Associated Pre Radio has run across another one of those snags that develop where there is a difference of opinion. It centers around whether public utilities should b permitted to operate broadcasting stations. The chairman of the Federal Radio Commission, judge Ira E. Robinson, who formerly was justice of the West Vir- ginia Supreme Court, has decided views on the subject. He said that he voted against granting WENR, Chicago, con- trolied by the Insull power interests 50,000 watts power “because it is tne private mouthpiece of the public utili- tes.” Supporting Judge Robinson are several members of Congr have expressed concern at the tions of propaganda activities ties at hearings before the Trade Commission. One of them. Representative Bland, Democrat, of Virginia, told fellow mem- who ela- y utili- Federal bers of the House committee on mar- | chant marine and fisheries, which has charge of radio legislation, that he fa- vored an amendment to the radio law prohibiting the granting of broadcast licenses to power companies. Then he said: “I believe it is an exceedingly dangerous polly to permit public utili- ties to establish stations for the pur- pose of promoting better relations be- tween the utilities and the public.” Looking at the question on the other | side, Commissioner O. H. Caldwell of | New York has an opinion directly op- posed to Judge Robinson. Before the House committee he declared that good program service to the public in the area seived by a station, irrespective of ownership, had been his criterion for the granting of broadcast licenses. Adding to his argument. he said that ost stations, including those operated by churches, colleges, newspapers and independent corporations, have the same object—promoting their interests with the public. Another statement by Mr. Caldwell was that although public utili- ties are operating stations in several | wities, listeners had not complained of | objectionable propaganda. 4 | Capt. Guy Hill, broadcast engineer for the commission, took another slant At the subject. Should Congress put a ban on broadcasting by utilities, he said. ® number of popular stations would come under the knife. PERMANENT BASIS { FOR BOARD URGED Radio Group Handicapped by Ap- pointments for One Year, Bar Report Holds. Placing of the Federal Radio Com- ission or other licensing authority on & permanent basis, in order to stabilize the supervision of broadcasting, is rec- ommended in a tentative report to the American Bar Association by the com- mittee on radio law. “It is undesirable that persons in au- thority over so important a field should be handicapped by the fact that their appointments are only for one year,” the committee says. “The present divi- sion of authority between the commis- sion and the Secretary of Commerce, while justified by the original tempo- rary character of the commission’s di- rect control, involves a great deal of un- necessary duplication of work and some degree of uncertainty and delay.” ‘The committee declares that the most fmportant radio question before Con- gress is that of the character of the licensing authority and the scope of its power, The radio act of 1927, when en- acted, comtemplated that direct author- ity over radio communication should be confided temporarily for a period of one year to a commission of five mem- bers. At the termination of the year these powers were to revert to the Sec- retary of Commerce and the commis- sion become an appellate tribunal to which all controversies would find their way. Fan appeal is provided from decisions of the commission during the first year to the Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia. The act intended to con- tinue this privilege of appeal after the Secretary of Commerce should become the licensing authority, but, says the committee, it is doubtful whether the language of the statute is apt for this purpose. STATUS OF RADIO STATIONS IN MAZE Is Broadcasting Public Utility or Private Enterprise? Is Query Raised. By the Associated Press. Out of the maze of legal opinions, litigation and congressional controversy clouding the status of radio supervision there rises the question: Is a broadcast- ing station a public untility or a purely private enterprise? Louis Caldwell. general counsel for the Federal Radio Commission, sug- gests that broadcasting is a new type of public utility similar to the business of providing heat, light, water:or power, where the general public has a right to service without discrimination. *“In this sense, broadcasting, is a_ public utility by the laws of nature, because once a broadcasting station is in oper ation it can hardly prevent any member of the public from receiving its pro- grams.” he says. “Although it is possible for radio transmission to be so conducted that a | specially constructed receiver is neces- sary to decipher the communication, it may be taken for granted that the Gov- | ernment will not permit any of its lim- | ited number of channels in the broad- | cast band to be used in this mannt’r.l The messages are intended for the public and are not like toll point-to- | point messages which are private in pature, ! “In defining the service of broad- casting sttations, it is a mistake to com- | pare it to wireless telegraphy, to tele- graph or telephone, in which there is | a communication facility open to the entire public for sending messages. In broadcasting, the emphasis is on re- ceiving intangible commodities, con- eisting of information, instruction and amusement.” ‘The theory that a broadcasting sta- tion is a purely private enterprise does ot take into account the rights of the | Hstening public to daily programs of news, market reports. instruction, en- tertainment and the discussion of ques- tions of public importance, Mr. Cald- well says. Although broadcasting is a comparatively new business it has reach- ed the point where the public regards it as a necessary part of daily life. New Operatta to Be Broadcast. A new operetta, “Florida,” composed | by Homer Moore, is to be presented by | WFLA, Clearwater, Monday, February 4. An hour and a half will be required. | | Band Concerts Weekly. KGW, Portland: KiQ. Spokane, and EKOMO, Seattle, the key station, are broadeasting a band concert each Thurs- | 6y night attitude | | | | i THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. (., o= JANUARY . 1929—PART 4. { out. | till recently this has | advantage. All of them will be heard through the local stations. Upper are Lee Sims, pianist, guest artist with the Royal | Canadians, and Eleanor Painter. well known prima donna, who will be featured in the Vitaphone Jubilee of February 4. John Charles Thomas, baritone, and Mary Lewis, famed soprano of the Metropolian Opera, are in the lower group. Thomas will sing during the Vitaphone Jubilee tomorrow night, while Miss. Behind the BY THE RA ACK in October, 1927, when leaders in the radio indus- try were casting about for something novel further to stimulate interest in radio, the National Broadcasting Co. came forth with an announcement that an Anglo-American exchange of radio programs was in the offing. Rebroadcasts of British programs in America and American pro- grams in Great Britain was the plan in contemplation. In fact, the N. B. C. announce- ment stated that it had reached an agreement with the British Broadcasting Co., a monopoly con- trolling all the program stations in the British Isles, to proceed with the erection of special short-wave apparatus to carry each other’s programs across the Atlantic. The plan was to erect relay stations on both shores, the American trans- missions probably being from a short-wave station connected with WEAF or WJZ. The British pro- grams would be flashed across the Atlantic, picked up at Bellmore or Bound Brook, and rebroadcast on regular wave channels over the N. B. C. network. Rebroadcasts of special programs of Station 2LO in London -had been attempted on several occa- sions preceding the announce- ment, and though fading and other disturbances had interfered with these broadcasts, they were nevertheless successful. The peals of Big Ben striking the midnight hour in London and the strains of American jazz played by a London hotel orchestra had crossed the Atlantic and had been heard in thousands of American homes. There was no doubt in the minds of the radio engineers and the lis- teners as well that the contem- plated regular exchange of radio entertainment between the two great English - speaking mations would soon be a reality. Nearly 15 months have passed since that important announce- ment came from the N. B. C. head- quarters, and the American radio audience is still being held in sus- pense, waiting for the initial ex- change of programs across the At- lantic, or at least a statement of what has been done toward car- rving out the ambitious plans. Perhaps the N. B. C. is ready to give its vast audience, which has grown steadily in the intervening 15 months until it now reaches from the Atlantic to the Pacific, another and improved rebroadcast of the 2LO programs. Or perhaps, some unforeseen development has made the scheme impractical. At any rate, a report on what has happened to the plan since Octo- | ber. 1927, would be interesting. In the meantime, however, Ca- nadian stations have stolen a march on the N. B. C, and are giving their listeners occasional rebroadcasts of the London radio programs. * okkk Congress has been given another opportunity to distribute the ora- tory within its chambers to the far- flune radio audience of the Nation. Merlin H. Aylesworth, president of the National Broadcasting Co. told the Merchant Marine com- mittee of the House the other day head Congress can utilize the | company’s coast-to-coast network. “I hope you will take advantage | of this hour,” he is quoted as say- ing. ! Avlesworth pointed out that a joint committee could be apvoint- ed to control the time of such broadcasts between the two major political parties, and they could be put on once, twice or three times a week. He said there would be a | responsive and willing audience. tand that such a program would {2e in line with the comnany's “edi- | torial policy,” which is to give time for everv group which has a suffi- | cient following to warrant it. * k k *x In answer to an almost univer- sal demand for legal information, the National Broadcasting Co. has made arrangements with the American Bar Association for a series of weekly programs on legal topics. A number of the country’s fore- most attorneys, including the so- ¢ Lewis is starred in the Atwater Kent hour tonight. that by the mere nodding of its| Microphone DIO EDITOR. licitor general of the United States, the president and secretary of the bar association and an as- sociate justice of the Supreme Court, are listed among the speak- ers. The first of these talks will be heard through the N. B. C. system Tuesday night. The others are scheduled February 5, 12 and 19. Guerney E. Newlin, president of the bar association, will open the series. He will be followed Febru- ary 5 by Silas H. Strawn, special envoy to China and former presi- dent of the bar association. Emory R. Buckner, former United States district attorney for New York, and Joseph M. Proshauer, associ- ate justice of the Supreme Court will speak February 12 and 19, re- spectively. Each talk will be of 30 minutes’ duration and the speakers are ex- pected to deal in simple language with the everyday legal problems that confront the average Ameri- can citizen at some time in his workaday life. * ¥ % x Walter Damrosch, dean of American musical conductors, has been inspired by the success of the educational concerts which he has given over the N. B. C. network. Tens of thousands of letters re- ceived from all parts of the country, he says, indicate that millions of children in the ele- mentary and high schools as well as college students, have accepted his novel method of imparting a knowledge and appreciation of good music. “I am amazed,” he said, “at the quickness with which this has been accomplished. Thousands of radios have been installed in the schools, not only in the large cities, but in the smaller towns and villages as well. In some cases the funds for the sets were sup- plied by the school authorities or local women’s and parent-teacher associations. In others the cost was covered by money subscribed by the children themselves. “In the beginning I looked on these concerts as an experiment, Already I am sufficiently encour- aged by the results and by letters received from educators all over the country who have been ob- serving the effect, to feel that we are laying a foundation for a na- tional musical culture on which a beautiful and permanent edifice will later be raised. “The concerts have now been going on for more than three months. They will continue through May 10 zlong the lines Jwhich I outlined in the beginning, two each Friday morning. W= have already taken up a number of the instruments of the orchestra specifically. Before the end of the series I hope my young listeners will be able to identify the various strings, woodwinds. brasses and percussions. From the results al- ready apparent I feel I am not overconfident in promising that by the time the series of concerts is finished the works of the great | masters will have left their mark{ {upon millions of our young, people.” * k X % We have a letter from Elmeda Ansell, secretary of the division of :music of the Library of Congress, announcing that the concert of the Gordon String Quartet of Chi- cago in the chamber music audi- jtorium of the Library Tuesday nizght will be broadcast bv NAA. | The concert will bezin by 8:30 | o'clock. ‘The quartet is composed of Jas- I ques Gordon and Walter Hancock, violins; Clarence Evans, viola, and Richard Wagner, violoncello. Ru- dolph Reuter, pianist, will assist. The program is comnosed of three i groups of comnositions by Sow- berby, Carl Engel and Joseph Haydn. | Organist Candy Addict. | Emil Velazeco, who plays the organ | from WOR, Newark, is a candy addict, | particularly when he is composing. He | does not smoke, but relies upon candy, SHORT WAVE SHIFT [ Internal Power Valves Stops Feedback. BY LAUREN M. COCKADAY. | well as improved reception s !in communication all «over the not only more easily controlled, but ar the prescribed wave wavering or, in technical terms, with: 'swinging.” This is a continuou variation in wave length at the trans antenna s of frequencies. Receivers at a distanc for these swings in frequency been a serious dis- What “Swinging” Is. The reason for this swinging is mos Iy due to changes in the anienna c cuit wherel v of the an tenna incre: An outstanding group of radio and concert artists that will face the| | | microphone in the chain station broadcasts. A Cabinet or Table to Fit Every Radio and Every Purse e 'l ‘H’ | i) %%/‘q fiis - : 2 | b | the kind made with peanuts and choco- late, to give him stimulation in build- ing something new in music. NOW ELIMINATED Shielding in New Improved methods of transmission, as | widening out the scope of short waves world. New circuits have been evolved that are more stable. and will keep on exactly length without mitter, in which the frequency of the stem changes constantly and the emitted wave wobbles over a band would have to be continuously tuned and up | by actual | transmitting movement of the antenna wires, as in cases where the antenna shifts about in a heavy wind. This change in antenna capacity is transferred to the oscillator circuits by intertube coupling and adds to or sub- tracts from the circuit capacity, so that the frequency of the master oscillator is changed periodically. This trouble has been eliminated now. however, by the application of the principle of the screen-grid valve to grid valve, or tube, is primarily different from the ordinary three-electrode type of tube in that it contains two grids in- | stead of one, | One of these grids is the regular | control grid and the other is used as | a screening or shielding grid. Th purpose of the screening grid is to pr tect the plate circuit from the ca pacity effects of the control-grid cir- | cuit “and, vice versa, to protect the| | control-grid circuit from the capacity | | effects of the plate circuit. It does | | this while at the same time allowing | electrons which are emitted from the | filament to pass through the two grids e | freely and unretarded, unless the con- trol grid is made either positive or { negative, In other words, the screen - | grid tube prevents feedback inside the s | valve. 2 New Transmitting Tubes. | The latest tubes utilizing this prinei- | | ple for transmitting are being placed e | into service for short-wave transm! | sion quickly and in increasing numbers account of the great stability they - | offer to transmitters so equipped. They are made in two st of 1 and 2 kilowatts, and are used ¢s amplifi that are controlled by master osci lators equipped with crystal frequency | control. ~| When used with the proper shiclded | circuits they out out! | WLAC. Artistic Design of New WLAC Station Secks to Develop “Atmosphere Appeal” NASHVILLE (#).—The science of radio has joined hands with the es- thetic. Realizing that, while cold science it cannot create it, the radio world has sought to develop “atmospheric appeal” through the artistic design of studios. Buildings for the transmitter equipment also have not been forgotten An example of the cffort to meet the plea of broadcasting artists for sur- roundings that would be in harmony with their work is the new station of Beautiful studio settings climaxed by a mission type transmitter house. In the studio and reception room harmony in interior design and ap- pointments has been sought. Spacious- ness is a feature of the reception room, which will accommodate 400 guests. Each of the two main studios has a | vided with rubber matting and felt to| are | the system of transmitting. The screen- | alone can reproduce the ideal program, | 1 new | |cither the National or the Columbia | syste! is to go t from the former. 1t will open at 8:30 pm., Eastern time, will "include WJZ, SAL. WHAM, KDKA. <. WREN, KYW and pointments, i program are in oot Trei Gl ha > ;. Erskine, chairman of studi 1 casting commit- black is carried out ven through the The other studio, large enc ber each week, DGt 100 artists, s a color comb: nufacturers’ Assoeis- green and gold. " A similar concern for beaut in the transmitter south of Nashv 5,000-watt W mitter and is the home of the The house is made stuceo with 3 ming: a roof of green til On e e building are the | 200-foot ¢ | Every known lowed 1o n perfect The w are insulated thr absorbing materi to hold ' € y of a me tion of with the Radio M: Sponsor. > been arranged and varlous I be used shown scheme has b studios acousti floors and cei ghout with sous Every | into the studios FOR distinctive motif in the blending of ap- | check outside noises swinging and transmit a pure wave that “stays put” and that is easily picked up and *held” by distant short- wave transmitters. The new screen-grid power tubes are known as radiotrons type UV-861, and are made by the General Electric Co. Circuit stability and ease of adjust- ment have always been problems with short-wave transmitters in the past, and the use of the screen-grid tube prevents undesired coupling between the different parts of the circuits and thus greatly simplifies the design and | calls operation of these transmitte: RADIO MANUFACTURERS | Radzo Servxce TO BROADCAST WEEKLY NEW YORK (#).—Broadcast enter tainment, to be a weekly feature over | alternate chains, is to be supplicd the listener by the Radio Manufac Association, beginning February 6. The first er a plan that for of the We claim, a2d are willing to prove, that we have the finest Radio Service ., Grganization in Washington. sl USE IT— ** CAPITOL- RADIO - SERVICE Capitol Ra ecring Institute, Inc. 3166 Mt. Pleasant St. N.W. 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