Evening Star Newspaper, July 26, 1931, Page 45

LAYTON WILL TALK | OVER OCEAN RADIO British Economist Will Speak on Radio from London Via WMAL Today. | Sir Walker Layton, one of Great Britain's leading economists, speaking from London today in Columbia’ weekly international program, will dis-| cuss the recent negotiations of seven world powers to relleve Germany in| her financtal crisis \ WMAL will carry Sir Layton's ad-} dress from 11:30 to 11:45 o'clock this | morning. This will be followed by the regular concert of the Vagabonds. As a special feature WMAL wiil join with a number of other stations in broadcasting at noon a Watch T rogram frox the Coli us, Ohlo. The principal add | be made by Judge J. F. Kutherford, | who will speak on “The Hope of the World.’ Stadium Concert Tonight. Columbia attractions on WMAL's schedule tonight include the Lewisohn Stadium concert, the Chicago Varlety program and Ann Leaf's organ recital. From its own studios the station will present a recital by Maxine Snavely, soprano, accompanied by Martha Stevens. “The Serenade for String.” from Mozart's “Eine Kleine,” will be played by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra in the stadium concern. An- other selection is A tone poem of Richard Strauss, “Death and Transfigu- Tation.” Ruth Etting Back as Soloist. Ruth Etting, Broadway musical comedy star, returns as the guest solo- ist with the Choral Orchestra in its weekly broadcast tonight over WRC and other National Broadcasting Co. stations. ‘The program contains 16 selections, most of them of a popular nature. Miss Etting's contributions in- clude “Cigars. Cigarettes,” one of the hit songs of the current “Follies.” ‘The remainder of WRC's program is made up of the regular N. B. C. at- tractions. These include the dramatic serial, “Moonshine and Honeysuckle,” a concert by the Goldman Band and dance music by the Palais d'Or Or- chestra. ‘WOL will broadcast the morning serv- ice of the New York Avenue Presby- terfan Church in addition to several musical programs. The program of ‘WJSV contains its regular religious and musical features, and the Watch Tower program. I.T. & T. FACES U. S. RADIO PROBE Foreign Ownership Consolidated in ! Recent Mackay Mergers to Be Investigated. An inquiry to determine whether the International Telephone & Telegraph Corporation, ranking second only to the Radio Corporation of America, has vio- 1ated anti-alien ownership provisions of the radio act by joining forces with Swedish communications_interests will be undertaken by the Federal Radio ‘Commission. Swedish Interests Join. Bection 12 of the radio act provides that no licenses for radio stations shall be granted alien companies or | companies having aliens on their boards | or owning more than one-fifth of the capital stock of the radio licensee. It is under this section that the com- mission will inquire into the I. T. & T. transaction, since the company is the parent of the Mackay Radio & Tele- graph Co. holding scores of trans- oceanic radio, ship-to-shore and other external communication licenses. A report received by the Commerce Department from Trade Commissioner B. D. Dahl at Stockholm gives de- talls of the transaction by which the L. M. Ericsson Telephone Co. of Sweden A and the I T. & T. are said to have exchanged stock having a par value of about $8.000,000 in connection with joint communications projects in for- eign countries, particularly Mexico and Argentina, This report has been brought to the commission's attention. Commission in Recess. Chairman Charles McK. Salt¥man the commission and Col. Thad H. Brown, its general counsel, both are absent on vacations, and the commis- sion is in recess until September, but it was said at the commission’s offices that the matter would be investigated thoroughly. of H. v Lafayette's Life to Be Told. Dramatized incidents in the life of Lafayette will feature the Radio Play- bill presentation on an N. B. C. net- work August 8. Major Radio Features SPORTS. Base ball scores, WRC, 6:00. SPEECHES. *The World's Busine 6:0l f 4 Haggard, WMAL, 7:00: “Our Gov- ernment,” by David Lawrence, WRC, 8:00. CLASSICAL. Prilbert and Bullivan gems, WRC, 4:00; Lewisohn Stadium Concert, WMAL, 8:30. VARIETY. ©Choral Orchestra, WRC, 7:00: Tony Parent! and his singing saxophones, WMAL, 7:30; South Sea Islanders, - WRC, 10:30. DRAMA. Moonshine and Honeysuckle, WRC, 2:00; Daddy and_Rollo. WMAL, 6:30; Big Brother Club, WRC, 8:45. WIGH LIGHTS FLSEWHERE. @ $00—The Fur Trappers; musical B s gram — WABC, WNAC, WCAU Fr and WHK. |' @830—The Dandies; Betty Smart, con- #Ralto; Benn Alley, tenor, and Preddie Rich's Orchestra — WABC, WFBL, WEAN, WNAC i and WCAU. ®30—Theatrical _Scrapbook, “Fanny Ellsler” — WJZ, KDKA, WGN, WRVA and WSR. ' E00—Melodies; Betsy Ayres, Mary Hopple and Wilworth's Ensem- t ble—WJZ, WBZ, WBZA, WHAM, WJR, KDKA and KYW. P:15—Sea Chantles; male octet and accordion_soloist — WJZ, WBZ, WHAM, KDKA, WJR and WMC. §:30—Harbor Lights; tales of an old sea captain—WJZ, WBZ, WBAL, WLW, WJB and KDKA. $¢16—The Stag Party; Harrison Knox, tenor, and Nat Brusilof's Or- chestra — WBAL, WJZ, WBZ, ! WBZA, WHAM, KDKA, WJR and WLW. 115—“World Adventures” by Floyd Gibbons—WJZ, KDKA, WBAL, KWK and WBZ. 9:30—Slumber Music; Ludwig Lau- rier's String Ensemble — WJZ, | WBZ, WBZA, WHAM, KDKA, WJR and WLW. - | spectively. dcan stations, 00—Clyde Doerr's Saxophone Octet —WJZ, WBAL, WHAM and won.m . $4100—Henry and his orc! 3 — u -He! ¢ 1o YTON. Musical Comedy Celebrities to Broadcast STARS OF “FOLLIES” AND OTHER BROADWAY REVUES ON THE NETWORKS. HE Brox Sisters (left) will assist Rudy Vallee and his Connecticut Yankees in presenting the Sunshine Hour Thursday night over an N. B. C. petwork. who will be heard tomorrow over s Columbia network. Apple Blossom Festival of 1929. On the right is Mary Jo Matthews of “The Band Wagon" cast, She will be remembered as queen of the Shenandoah RADIO CENSUS NOW LISTS 4 168 510SETS Final U. S. Total Expected to Be Under Estimated 15,000,000 Outfits. With nearly two-thirds of the States and the District of Columbia already | accounted for, it appears that the | “radio population” of the country, taken as a part of the decennial popu- | lation census last year, will fall far| short of the industry’s estimate of 15,- 000,000 sets. | The analysis of the United States Census Bureau discloses that 34 States and the District. thus far tabulated, had | only 4.168.510 sets on April 1 of last year. They had an aggregate of 12.- | 941,653 families, of whom 32.2 per cent reported sets. Since last year, of course, the number of sets in use has in- creased considerably, but so has the number of families. ‘The final count, however, still remains | highly speculative. Numbered among | the States which have not yet been tab- ulated are many densely populated areas known to be well advanced in| radio. These include New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Illinois, Califor- | nia, Ohio and Missouri. May Be 10,000,000 Sets. It is estimated officiallly, on the basis of returns thus far recelved, together with the “expectancy” in those States | unaccounted for, that between 40 and 50 per cent of the families have radio | sets. It is difficult for these officials to | see how the number of sets will exceed 10,000,000 or 80, as compared with the | present industrial estimate of about 15,- | 000,000 and the estimate of lz,soo,uoo‘1 | made last year. Although the statistics when finally | computed will be nearly two years old, they will be of great value to the | ufacturing industry, broadcasters and | to the Federal Radio Commission. For the manufacturers the compilation will be an index to new markets and will en- able them to concentrite in the areas shown to be the most delinquent in sets. Broadcasters will have at hand more or less accurate information as to the ex- tent of their listener coverage, since they will know the approximate number of sets in their respective service areas. The commission, as the radio licensing authority. will utilize the information to advantage in the allocation of broadcasting facilities and presumably will base its assignments in such a way as to most effectively cover the greatest areas of ‘radio population,” as shown by the set census, Michigan’s Average High. ‘The latest releases by the bureau cover Michigan, Virginia, Minnesota and North Oarolina. Michigan achieved an average of more than 50 per cent, placing it fourth among the areas thus far tabulated in point of radio popula- tion. Minnesota approaches the same mark, with 47.3 per cent of its families reporting sets, but Virginia and North Carolina lowered the national average, with 18.2 per cent and 11.2 per cent, re- Michigan had a total of 1,188,157 fam- ilies on April 1, 1931, with 599,196, or 50.6 per cent of the total, reporting sets. Aggregate number of families was 530,- 092, with 96,569, or 18.2 per cent, hav- ing sets, and in North Carolina the number of familles was 645,245, with 172,329, or 11.2 per cent, reporting sets. ‘The set survey was the first ever un- dertaken on a comprehensive basis. In their house-to-house canvasses census | enumerators asked the question, “Do | you have a radio set?” Up to this time the only data available on set distribu- | tion and the size of the radio audience | have been industrial estimates, which were little short of guesswork. English Police Sets Fit Pooket. Costing about $20 each, the new pocket police radio sets d ed by C. L. P. Dean of Slough, England, proved highly efficient in recent tests. A warn- ing note on his pocket busgzer informs the policeman on his beat that a mes- sage is coming through from headquar- ters. pounds and has an effective range of 100 miles. Poland Has New Station. Poland is covered “like a blanket” by its new 120,000-watt broadcasting station near Warsaw, according to a report received by the Commerce De- partment. Using more than twice the power allocated to the biggest Amer- the Polish transmitter | ranks among the most powerful in the world. Radio “subecribers” now reg- istered in that country aggregate 230,- 000, an increase of more than 27,080 as compared with 1830, Ships Telephone to Shore. Radiotelephones are already in use aboard Swedish ocean vessels for con-| tact with the shore telephone systems | while they are sailing the Baitic Sea, and now the Swedish-American Line is| planning the installation of telephones aboard its Atlantic vesseis. Sweden's Coest Guard uses radiotelephony for communioation and the mainland, man- | 1 ‘The set weighs less than two| WHAS e | Today on the_Radio (All Programs Scheduled for Eastern Standard Time.) 315.6 Meters. 950 Kiloeycles. WRC 0a—Children’s hour. a—Josepe Woodwind Ensemble. —Lew White, organist. 0a—Neapolitan_Days, 0:30a—Jewels of Destiny. 11:00a—Sparklets. 11:15a—Echoes of the Orient. 11:30a—Biblical drama. 12:00m—"Pop” Concert. 1:00—"Debunking Big Game Hunt- ing,” by Carveth Wells. 1:15—The Caribbeans. 1:30—Artists’ Service program. 2:00—Moonshine and Honeysuckle. 2:30—Balkan Mountain Men. 3:00—National Sunday Forum. 4:00—Gilbert and Sullivan Gems. 5:00—Catholic_hour. 6 6:59—Program__ highlights. 7:00—Choral Orchestra and Ruth Bt- ting “Our Government,” by David Lawrence. 8:15—The Russian Singers. 5—Big Brothers’ Club. 5—Goldman Band. 5—Sunday at Seth Parker's. 5—Duci Kerekjarto, violinist. 0—Correct time. :31—South Sea Islanders. :00—Weather forecast. :01 to 12:00—Palais d'Or Orchestra. Early Program Tomorrow, :30a—Tower health exercises. :00a—Gene and Glenn. 15a—Morning devotions. 0a—Cheerio. ‘The Minute Men. ‘Teddy Black's Orchestra. 5a—Food program. :00a—Mrs. Blake's Radio Column. ‘15a—Hits and Bits. | :30a—"Please Tell Me” by Jean Carroll, 45a—Hits and Bits. 00a—The Blue Streaks. :30a—Singing Strings. 1 ms. 2:00—Women's Radio Review. 3:00—Garden melodies. 4 Meters. WJSV 1,460 Kilocycles. 10:30a—Salon musie. 11:00a—S8ervices of the Fourth Presby- terfan Church. :00m—Watch Tower Bervice. 2:00—Church of the Afr. 3:00—Base ball scores. 5:00—Gospel twilight hour. 6:00—Gospel Spreading Assoeciation, 7:00—Twilight hour. 17:30—Roland Wheeler, tenor. 7:55—Service at First Christ. Scientist. 9:05—Organ melodies. 9:30—Program from Temple Baptist Church. 10:00—Songs by Sammy Brown. 10:15—Evangelical Church of the Afr. 11:00—Good-night. Early Program Tomorrow. 9:00a—Down South in Dixie. of 9:10a—Dance music. 9:45a—Hints to Housewives, 10:00a—The Party Line, 10:15a—Mr. Fixit Tup. 2:30—S8trickland’s Orchestra. 3:00—Base ball scores. 475.9 Meters. mlAL 630 Kilocycles. 9:00a—"Land O' Make Believe.” 10:00a—Duets by Julia Mahoney and Charles Carlisle 10:18a—Edna Thomas, “The Lady From Louisiana.” 10:30a—"The Volice of St. Louis."— Classical concert. 11:30a—Rebroadcast from London— “The Seven-Power Conference,” by Sir Walter Layton. 11:45a—The Vagabounds 12:00m—Watch Tower Service. 1:00—Ann Leaf at the organ. 1:30—Gypsy Trail. 2:00—Symphonic Hour. 3:00—Cathedral Hour. 4:00 to 5:00—Evensong service from Washington Cathedral. 6:00—"The World's Business” by Dr. Julius H. Klein, Assistant Becretary of Commerce. 6:15—Fray and Braggiotti, piano duo. 6:30—Daddy and Rollo. 6:45—Boswell Sisters. 7:00—"Devils, Drugs and Doctors,” by Dr. Howard W. Haggard. 7:15—Kate Smith, crooner, 7:30—Tony Parent! and his singing saxophones. 7:45—Catherine Gross, contralto, 8:00—Around the Samovar. 8:30—Lewisohn Stadium Concert, 9:30—The Gauchos. 9:45—Maxine Snavely, soprano. 10:00—Continental String Quartet. 10:30—Chicago Varlety program. 11:00—Hollywood Orchestra. 11:30—Ann Leaf at the organ. 12:00—Weather forecast. Early Program Tomorrow. 8:00a—The Commuters. 8:30a—Tony’s Scrap Book. 8:45a—The Dutch Girl. 9:00a—Opening the Morning Mail 9:30a—Mr. Fixit. 9:45a—Melody Parade. 10:00a—"Behind the Microphone,” by Edward Harris. 4 10:15a—The Madison Singers. 10:30a—Children’s stories by Bruce Chapman. 10:45a—The basadors. 11:00a—Don Bigelow's Orchestra, 11:30a—Columbla Revue. 12:00m—Earl Carpenter's Orchestra. 12:30—Harry Tucker's Orchestra, 1:00—The Street Singer, 1:15—Rhythm Kings. 3:00—Columbia Salon Orchestrs. 2:30~—The Three Doctors. 2:45—Columbia Artists’ Recital. 3:00—United States Army Band. 3:30—St. George Orchestra. “4:00 to 4:45—Dancing by the Sea. WOL 2289 Meters. 1,310 Kilocycles. Organ melodies. B Light Opera Gems. 11:00n—Services of the New York Ave- nue Presbyterian Church. 12:25—Birthdays. 12:30—In Funnyland With Uncle Jerry. 1:00—Dance music. 2:00 to 2:15—Program by the Interna- tional Bible Students’ As- sociation. Early Program Tomorrow. 7:00a—Musical Clock. 8:00a—Birthdays. 8:05a—Musical Clock. 10:00 ‘Talk by Peggy Clarke. 10:15a—Organ melodies. 10:45a—Novelettes. 11:00a—Parents’ Forum. 11:15a—March of Music. 11:30a—With the Composers, 12:00m—Luncheon music. 12:30 to 1:00—Dance musie. KLEIN WILL EXPLAIN U. 8 Expert to Tell Radio Listeners Meaning of Debt Plans Because of his unusual ability to translate complicated and technical problems into simple and easily under- stood terms, the Columbia Broadeast- ing System has asked Dr. Julius Klein, Assistant Secretary of Commerce, to address the system's coast-to-coast su- dience tomorrow night at 10 o'clock in that he: 80 |of the London financial conference, Flashes from The Evening Star, a resume of world news, is broad- cast daily by WMAL at 5:45 o'clock, PERRY TO BE HONORED B. C. to Broadeast Memorial Rites for U. 8. Naval Hero, Ceremonies at the dedication of the Commodore Perry Monument at Put in Bay, Ohio, will be broadcast Friday over a network of the National Broad- casting Co. The monument commem- orates Perry's victory in the battle of Lake Erie, Senator James N. e h)‘h.mflwn Lewis of Tilinois, the principal speaker. Addresses also will be made Gov, George White of Ohlo, and Edwin A. of the Cenadisn b Baas phagers . bt Just successfully concluded; Hoover's moratorium proposal, possible debt revision and What it means to Americans. . Spain Has Radio Ministry. Possibly in anticipation of playing host to '.{10 nations of the world during the international conference of all radio- using countries in Madrid in 1932, when the Washington convention of 1927 will be keeping with advanoes in rld‘l’oml‘:xl S:Qh):n n?re years, the new pro- tions to repl lent | boy] D RADID CHAIN PLANS TELEVISION TESTS Columbia to Extend Its Work S of Experimental Sending. Premiere Disappoints. BY ROBERT MACK. An intensive campaign for television development, to cover perhaps a half different visual broadcasiing processes, has been outlined by the Columbia Broadcasting System and will extend far beyond the air experiments in New York inaugurated this week. While the primary work now will be undertaken at Columbia headquarters over its new station, W2XAB, the net- work will subject to practical tests varfous other visual transmitting sys- tems, either through its own stations or stations affiliated with it. In New York. Philadelphia, Chicago, Los An- geles, St. Louls and Washington these experiments will be conducted in the effort to speed up public offering of practical television. Columbia’s engineers admit freely that much development work remains before real television can be offered the public. The New York station, em- ploying R. C. A.-Victor Co. apparatus, is but a beginning. Systems using scanning discs, and the more modern methods employing cathode ray tubes as the “heart” of both the visual trans- mitter and receiver, will be studied. Premiere Disappointing. Technically, Columbla's television premiere Tuesday evening was dis- apgointing. _ Although standard scan- ning of 60 lines. with 20 pictures per second. was used, there was a notice- able flicker in the received images picked up on the “peep-hole” type tele- visors within the studlo. This system employs the scanning disc. It is not unfair to say that the quality of the images was much Inferior to several other recent public television demon- strations and even to some of the reg- ularly scheduled visual broadcasts of- fered experimentally by several stations. This, however, is not deterring the net- work in its television campaign. Of significance is the disclosure that Station WCAU, at Philadelphia, closely allled with Columbia, will experiment with the Farnsworth Bystem. which employs no moving parts and is de- clared to eliminate sidebands. thereby conserving valuable space in the ether. WCAU's new studio has been fitted for television pick-up. The Levy Bros., owners of WCAU, also are officials of Columbia. 4 Philo T. Farnsworth, 24-year-old in- ventor, recently became assooiated with the Philco Radio Corporation and de- velopment of his novel system will be carried on in the laboratories of that company with WCAU to put experi- ments on the air synchronized with its sound transmissions. A system origin- ally developed by Parnsworth will be used by Don Lee, incorporated, operat- ing station KHJ at Los Angeles, a Columbia network station, once its pending application for an experimental station is granted. Since there are no television experimenters on the Pacific Coast, it is expected the commission will approve the favorable examiner's report on the application. WMAL to Join WIXK. In Chicago, Columbia 1s watching closely the Wetsern Television Corpora- tion system, originally developed by U. 8. Sanabria, being used by station WMAQ, affiliated with Columbia. Sta- tion KMOX, at St. Louis, has asked the commission to hold in abeyance a hearing on its pending application to give it opportunity to explore the tele- vision fleld. _In Washington, station WMAL, Columbia outlet, this Fall plans to synchronize with the Jenkins tele- vision station, W3XK, at Wheaton, Engineers are rallying to the view that in the nalfi analysis television of- fered the public will be in the ultra high frequencies, with the cathods ray tube rather than the scanning disk as the televising medium (Copyright. Folks Behind 1931) BY THE RADIO EDITOR. The Microphone O spend one's life perfecting grimaces, grotesque mannerisms and attaining the peak in the pantomime art and thereby gaining the friendship of queens, Vice Presidents and statesmen, is one thing. And to face a micro. phone, where the voice alone will record your art is quite another. Bob Sherwood, 1ast of the beloved clowns of Bar- num's Circus, and later a writer of memories of the saw dust trail, is facing this experi- ence in broadcasts for the National Broadcasting Co. In_the studio, his _mellow, drawling voice in songs of boyhood :‘nd cucuL a lot as crea [ greater audience of SN S friends than all his life of circus tours. “Oh, I was born in Ohio, the home of Presidents, in 1856. Circus came to town in 1867 and I didn't think I'd be missed in a family of eight , 80 Tan away and apprenticed myself Dan Rice, the idy of all the great clowns. I finished my apprenticeship in 1870 and joined the Barnum Circus, where I remained consecutively as’ acrobatic clown until 1893 when I mar- ried a minister's daughter and quit. . But if you will prod deeper than this sketchy resume you will find incidents of astounding Europe by proffering his hand to Queen Victoria when she at- tended a ¢ircus performance, And what's more, recelving a handshake and a smile from her majesty; of alding & ragged kid, in jeans and barefooted, to sneak into the eircus, stuffing him with hi bering the clown for the "hlw-‘ and sickest day And these are but a few incidents in a life made rich by genuine friendships cemented “under the big top” between 2 vari-painted clown and freckled kids, pop-eyed, who have since become lead- ers and made history. Classification of Smoke. More attention is being given in Lon- don to the matter of smoke than ever the Spanish |4, munica the Interior Department which, under|being King Alfonso, regulated all communica- tions and mail ices. e Golf Game at Midnight. Elgin, Scotland, recently su‘i&ls‘:’;::rne o Midnight and Anished as the sun was appearing above the horizon, The two teams were headed by James Welsh and Low Mustard, and 18 ‘holes were played. Light-colored amount of tar in the smoke affects its opacity. This, it is thought, may prove a simple basis for differentiating be- tween smoke that constitutes a legal nuisance and smoke that does not. though the experiments may be unsuc- cessful in their primary object of es- tablishing an n:F al method of meas- density of smoke, they will uring_the ; valuable results in the G the efficlency, of allowed Behind the BY THE RA LOWLY but surely the Feder- al Government is establish- ing its claim to ownership of the ether, as against the counter claims of racio stations. Practically since the beginning of radio the question “Who owns the ether?” has been in doubt, despite the admitted fact that it is the most important legal point in this new electric art. Nobody knows what the ether is, but it is known that there are invisible roadways in the sky over which all radio waves travel, and which have become of tremendous value. Another legal ruling in favor of the theory that Uncle 8am owns the ether, In trust for the Ameri- can people, has been written on the statute books. The question cannot be settled finally until it reaches the Supreme Court of the | United States, and several at- tempts to have that tribunal pass on it have proved futile. Broadly, the question involved is whether radio stations, because of their previous service to the public, and by virtue of their capital investments in equipment, actually have a vested right to the channels they occupy. Congress, when it wrote the radio law in 1927, said they had not, and com- manded the Federal Radio Com- mission to do what it thought necessary in the way of reducing stations or their broadcasting power and assignments, to give the people good radio. The new decision was that of the Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago, which upheld the prev- ious decision of Judge J. H. Wil- kerson of Chicago in the case in- volving Station WMBB, at Chi- cago. This station was removed from the air by the commission in 1928 to reduce interference, and it appealed on the ground of prop- erty rights, challenging the con- stitutionalily of the radio law. Once before the case went to the Supreme Court, but was sent back for a decision on clearly defined issues. Judge Evan A. Evan of the Cir- cuit Court wrote radio law when he said, in upholding the lower court’s opinion, that the commis- | slon’s action in reducing the num- ber of stations was “for the good | This same case of the public.” may come up to the Supreme Court again, and with two opin- ions of the lower courts affirming the judgment of Congress that no | property rights exist as against the right of Congress to regulate interstate commerce, the view is held that the Nation's highest tri- bunal will sustain this judgment. *oxoxox ON'T always blame the radio announcer if he happens to pronounce a foreign word or a word of foreign derivation incor- rectly. Very often he knows bet- ter, but radio makes some rather eculiar demands. Consider the act that, while you may happen to know the correct pronunciation, the vast majority of the radio audience may not. British and American radio an- nouncers, speaking the same lan- guage if not the same accent, are confronted with much the same word problems, so that the follow- ing observations by A. Lloyd James, secretary of the Bri Broadcasting Corporation's A. visory Committee on Spoken Eng- lish, are apropos: ‘A question that is certain to remain contentious for a very long $ 0'S SIGNALS COST RADIO TIME REBATES Commission Upholds U. 8. Laws for Silencing Ether Despite Opinion to Contrary. When an BSOS message is flashed from a ship, whether it be bona fide or spurious—and there have been many of the latter attributed to rum runners seeking to divert the Coast Guard and thus land their illicit loads—it not only means that broadcast listeners residing along and near the seacoast are de- prived of radio programs from certain stations but it also means a dead loss to_the stations themselves. ‘The broadcaster must foot the bill ‘when juired to sign off due to dis- tress He must rebate the cost of the time s0ld to & sponsor if he is carrying & commeroial am, and he must pay the talent whether it goes on the air or not. Worse even than that, he must offer profuse apologies to the radio audience—and even apologles and explanations of the rigid require- ments of the Federal rulers of radio are often of little availl when Amos ‘'n’ Andy or similar popular features are suddenly cut off. Though some Coast Guard officials are of the opinion that the silencing of broadcasters is no longer necessary 10 insure clear reception of 8O S signals on the 600-kilocycle distress frequency, and though some broadcasters want the restrictions upon them made some- what less rigid, Federal radio officials point out that many ship radios are still of old type and emit on broad bands of frequencies. Broadcast trans- missions, they . not only would make reception of the distress signals from ships difficult but would render the reception of replies on the ship recelvers uncertain because of the poor selectivity of many ship receivers. Moreover, they say an absolute right of-way in radio traffic is any ship's right if it is in distress, regardless |J whether its radio apparatus is modern Sometimes it is nec- battery trans- mission, is that all broadcasting sta- tions must go off the air a give absolute priority to ships or aircraft in distress if they happen to be operat- ing on the wave from 55 1,000 kilocycles and be on or near the seacoast or the coast of the Great Lakes or within & fixed scale of distances from commercial or ‘Government stations engaged in marine comimunica If their po the . for stations of 5,000 to 10,000 watts; 70 miles for stations of 10,000 to 25,000 watts and 100 miles for stations of 25,000 to 50,000 watts. Voyage Long, Talk Too Short. J. H. Barker traveled 12,000 miles from New Zealand to Blackburn, Eng- land, to represent his ocountry at the annual con! ce of the Federation of Amfia ‘When he was ‘speak five minutes, Microphone DIO EDITOR. time,” writes James in Radio Times, British Broadcasting Cor- poration periodical, “is the pro- nynciation of foreign words, and more criticism is received on this point than on any other question of pronunciation. The problem bristles with difficulties, and it is not quite so easy to solve as many of the critics think. Let us ex- amine it briefly. “News of importance comes from a hitherto relatively un- announcer wants to know, very somethink like ‘Haca,’ or ‘Jaca’ with an English ‘J’ He knows what the Spanish pronunciation is, because it is part of his duty to know the elements of the pronun- ciation of the principal languages. What is he to do? “If he says ‘Haca’ & large ma- | Jority of his listeners, not know- ing Spanish, will fail to realize that this is the place referred to in their newspapers as ‘Jaca.’ If he gives a purely English version, he will be criticized by everybody who knows Spanish, and the Brit- ish Broadcasting Corporation will be taken to task for doing the wrong thing. He is on the horns of a dilemma. “He dare not give places like | Madrid, Grgnada or Barcelona their Spanish pronunciations be- cause to do so would merely be a| snobbish pedantry. And, suppose | the place is not in Spain, but in| Mexico, or \Chile, or Argentina, what is he to do then? Can we expect him to know, for instance, that certain letters may stand for |one sound in Spain, another in | Chile, and yet another in Mexico and Argentina? Then he may be uncertain” whether he is dealing with a Spanish name or a Portu- | guese name, in which latter case | the whole sound values of the let- |ters may be different from the Spanish. “If we remember that the an- nouncer frequently has to make his decision rapidly and seldom has time to refer to a gazetteer, or a Universal Pronouncing Diction- ary (which does not exist), we may not be surprised if he does the best he can and gives us a purely English version.” * * x % 1 MONG radio novelties was the recent interview of Stella Willins, world champion woman typist, over Columbia by Albert Tangara, six times champion and | present holder of the world| championship all-around typing ! record for both men and women. Miss Willins, who has just re-| turned from a European trip, dur-| ing which she toured England for | |a month at the request of the British Business Men's Associa- | tion to demonstrate her skill, was | asked what test sentence was used best these days to replace the old Now is the time for all good men . . etc.” Miss Willins said that a quick movement of the enemy fleet would jeopardize six gun boats” was a comprehensive test, containing all the letters of the alphabet. “Let's hear it,” said Tangara, and Miss Willins started to finger | the keys before the microphone. | “Hmm, that's pretty fast,” the| champion commented. It was| ‘only at the end of the broadcast that he discovered he had been | hoaxed. What he then saw on/| | the otherwise blank sheet of paper was “It is the duty of a man to do me & good turn, and if he can he is to do so.” ONLY 10 NEW RADIO - STATIONS LICENSED Total of Broadoast Plants mains About 615 in U. S. Commission States. Re- Of the hundreds of applicants who | poupded the doors of the Federal Radio Commission during the past 12 months | for the privilege of establishing new broadcasting stations, exactly 10 won| their battles. | P These -new stations have been authorized by the commission to take | the air upon showings that their com- | munities did not receiye adequate radio service, and therefore were entitled to the franchises. Despite the licensing of the new stations, however, the num- ber of stations on the air—about 615 known place in Spain—Jaca. The! naturally, whether he is to call it 9 SLASHIN STATIONS PLANNED FOR FALL Congestion to Be AMHeviated by Federal Commission After Chicago Verdiet. BY MARTIN CODEL. Armed with the legal suthority it | has awaited four years, the Federal Radio Commission plans to inaugurate a malled fist policy in its dealings with broadcasting stations this coming Fall. Sharp reduction in the number of stations. to alleviate the congestion in the broadcast spectrum,,will be the objective of the campaign. The com- mission is likely to begin the pruning operations shortly after it convenes in September. The opinion of the Circutt Court of Appeals in Chicago, upholding the Government's contention that broadcasting stations have no vested property rights to the channels as- signed them, the commission feels, gives it ample legal ground upon which 10 justify the projected station cur- tailment. The overcrowded condition in the broadcast band is admittedly the worst ailment of broadcasting. Engineers called in by the commission at techni- cal conferences repeatedly have said that the only way general improve- ment can be accomplished is by an arbitrary reduction in the number of stations, to bring about less duplica- tion of assignments on the same chan- nel and greater geopraphical separation between stations, both essential factors in the curtailment of interference. 610 Stations Now. On _the 90 wavelengths available to the United States there are about 610 stations, all of which, of course, do not operate at the same time. And of these 90 channels a dozen are shared with Canada. The inevitable result has been & hopeless muddle on most of the so-called “regional” and “local” channels. On the 40 exclusive wave- lengths, with only one high-powered station operating during evening hours, the reception has been clear and un- marred, true to the predictions of en- gineers. Up to this time, however, the com- mission has been most cautious in its dealings with stations, removing from the air only those stations whose of- fenses have been intolerable, and when it was clear that the courts would sus- tain its actions. So long as doubt ex- isted as to whether stations possessed vested rights to their channels, because of their capital investments, the com- mission felt it could not attempt an arbitrary reduction in the station roster, even though the radio act of 1927 seemed to give it that power. Col. Thad H. Brown, general coun- sel for the commission, is authority for the statement that the commission will wield a “firmer hand” in its control of broadcasting as a result of the court's ruling. The decision in the case of station WMBB-WOK of Chicago, which was deleted by the commission in 1928 to reduce interference, sustained a previous opinion in the same year by Judge J. H. Wilkerson of the Chicago Federal District Court. Decision Backs Commission. ‘The decision, said Col. Brown, “lends a greater sense of security to the com- mission’s future actions, and confirms the view that has been held by the legal division of the commission since the enactment of the law. It strength- ens the commission's position in ita efforts to improve broadcasting by eliminating inferior stations,” he de- clared. How severe the commission's action will be cannot be foretold. It has learned from the courts that hearings must be held on issues “clearly de- fined” before it can take a station off the air, or reduce its facilities. There~ fore, it is to be expected that general hearings will be held, and that any reallocation, if that course is decided upon, will be brought about gradually, to avoid an upheaval such as was oc- casioned in 1928, when the assignments of nearly all stations were changed al- most overnight In the WMBB-WOK case there yet may be an appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States for a final adjudi- cation. The decision of the lower court, however, was so sweeping that lawyers believe such an attempt would be futile for the American Bond & Mortgage Co., which owned the for- mer 5,000-watt Chicago stations. This company claimed that the commis- sion’s action was unconstitutional, in that its property, in the nature of sta- tion facilities, investment and good will, had been destroyed without com- pensation and due process of law. ‘The court, however, in its opinion, would not countenance this contention. “We are well satisfled.” said the court, “that there is a vital difference between the rights of one whose property (in coal land such as was considered in 260 U. S., 393) is confiscated by judicial decree and the rights of one to the use of the air, which right is dependent upon & Government permit limited both as to extent and time. The for- mer is vested. The latter is permis ve.” remains the same today as it was a year ago. A study of commission records dis- closes that these new stations were authorized during the 1931 fiscal year, which ended June 31. In every case, the assignments were made in States which were, and still are, delinquent in broadcasting facilitles. The Davis amendment to the radio act requires an equitable distribution’ of facilities among the 48 States, according to their Ppopulation. Altogether the commission estimates that it received some 25,000 applica- tions of every character during the past 12 months, Broadcasting appli- cations probably made up 3,000 of that number, of which a fair share wa: for nmew stations. All of the applica. tions did not come up for formal hear- ing, since the commission notifies all such lrpllclnu that their chances for procuring new stations arve virtually nil, and that the broadcast band now is jammed full. Under commission policy no new stations may be assigned States now having their quota of facilities or more. une 30 records show that 25 States have less than their quotas and that ::m umllnt:‘ 33 States are over quota varying degrees. Pennsylvania, Michigan and Vermont mflfih two additional stations shire, Alabama, Vermont and Montana. The “‘quota” records show that Pennsyl- vania is the most under-quota State in the Union; lacking 7.40 units. A unit is the equivalent of one station of 1,000 watts power operating full time, with other classes of stations rated in unit value on this basis. Michigan is 248 units under quota; Vermont, 0:40; Hampshire, 0.51; Alabama, 1.17; Maine, 0.02, and Montana, 0.48, - Real Champion of the Air. When we are discussing the mastery of the air, we are liable to give the credit to some member of the bird fam- ly, but a Tecent tourist says the dragon fly deserves the credit. The dragon fly is found in great numbers in Guiana, and it is said that they keep the mos- quito best in check. The writer says: “There are big dragon flies in the Guianas. When our hydroplane swooped down and came to rest in the middle of | Demarra River at Georgetown, there were big, ‘blue darner’ dragon fifes coursing about over the river in some numbers, and they looked like minia- ture bipianes. They were industriously plcking mosquitoes out of the air. They could fly as fast as we in our plane, and, in addition, they could stop and start and dodge and turn and hover stationary in midair with a facility that we can only envy. Theirs is the com- pletest mastery of aerial navigation. * // careful. precise and nominal charges. Phone Col. 0068 / RADIO SERVICE You will appreciate our service COLONY RADIO SERVICE 4838 Georrin Ave. N.W. . Fiel Famine in West Cork. ‘Heavy rains in West Cork, Ireland, have caused danger of a fuel famine The le depend on dried turf, which stacked in June. Six weeks of almost continuous rain has dampened the turf and caused green grass to sprout in it. A RARE TREAT! 1 BOSCH €onvenient Terms ALES—SERVICE