Evening Star Newspaper, November 29, 1931, Page 65

LITTLE RADIO WORK SEEN BY CONGRESS Other More Important Mat- : tfrs Expected to Keep 4. Session Busy. BY MARTIN CODEL. NOTHER week will see Congress | in session, with radio and its | manifold aspects bound to pro vide a fertile source of congr sional debate. Out of it however, probably will come some v little legislation affecting radio in spitc of the hue and cry being raised against | certain practices of the broadcasters and despite the cemand of the e tors for a slice of the broadcasting wave band. % Except possibly for an act placing radio under much the same restraints 8s newspapers with respect to lotteries and schemes of chance, there seems to be scant likelihood of the enactment of more radio laws at this session of Con- gress. For one thing, the economic de- pression will present more serious prob- lems for the minds of the Nation's leg- islators. For another, the national elec- tion year is in the offing. That there will be much discussion of radio matters, particularly the matter of breadeast advertising, is practically certain. ~The influ of _expressed congressional opinion will probably pla a large part in shaping the future poli- | cies of the broadcasters, for they ere keenly sensitive about their own short- | comings and they know that they arz llable to be regulated to the death. Appointment to Be Made. The one important action cting | radio that is practically certain to come | out of this Congress is the confirmation by the Senate of an appointment to tie Federal Radio Commission. Judge Ira E. Robinson’s second term expires Feb- | ruary 23, and President Hoover must send a nomination to the Senate befc that time. Whether it will be a reap- pointment of Judge Robinson is still in doubt. The former commission chairman eame to the commission as a West Vir- ginia second zone appointee of President Coolidge in 1929. Long in the minority for his views on various aspacts of radio regulation, particularly his conviction that the broadcasters must purge their houses of undesirable advertising and that radio is a form of public urility, Judge Robinson in the last yzar or t1 has found his views gaining wide cur- rency and favor. Lately his votes have been much more frequently with the majority than with the minority of his colleagues, whose determination to rid the air of undesirable broadcasters has been placing all stations more and more on their mettle. Extremely popular with the commis- sion staff and enjoying a devoted fol- lowing, Judge Robinson’s reaappein ment would be welcomed in many qu ters. President Hoover reap: pointed him two years ago, it was for the two-year or shortest term available. Judge Sykes of Mississippi, secured the three-year term which expires a year hence Whether President Hoover will reappoint the Republican from West Vir- ginia can only be conjectured; it is known that soveral individuals are eager to get the job, and it is not improbahle that it will go to somebody from a section of the second zone where more | Republican influence is nesded in the forthcoming presidential campaign. Plans Lottery Ban. Senator McNary of Oregon has indi- cated that he will offer a bill amending the radio law to impose practically the same restraints on radio as the postal laws place on the press with respect to lotteries and. schemes .of chance. The organized broadcasters have expressed themselves in favor of such legislation. In the wake of the recent Treasury announcement that it was considering uxury tax on radio sales—a tax which the manufacturers will bitterly oppose— comes word that Representative La Guardia of New York intends to offer legislation designed to bring $100,000,~ 000 into the Federal coffers from broad- casting and radio apparatus sales. He would impose a 25 per cent tax on broadcasters’ incomes from the sale of time, and a 10 per cent tax on all radio receivers, transmitters and tubes and all acoustical deviees such as those used in the talking pictures. The educators have Senator Fess of | ©Ohio, who is also chairman of the Re- publican National Committee, comm! ted to the reintroduction of his biil loting 15 per cent of all the broadeast wave lengths to educational institutions, which weuld mean that about that pro- portion of existing stations would have Yo g5 off the air to make way. This legislation will be bitterly opposed by the broadcasters. The latter are also deeply interested in copyright legisla- tion which failed in ths last Con, and vhich in amended form will be re- introdueed in this Congress. White Now in Senate. ‘The new Congress will have Senator Couzens of Michigan probably again heading the Senate Interstate Com- merce Committee, which has charge of radio legislation. ' Senator Couzens has expressed the opinion that radio will play a relatively minor part in this| session in view of other more pressing matters. On the House side, Repre- sentative Ewin L. Davis of Tennessee, as ranking Democrat on the House Marine and Fisheries Committee, will probably succeed to the chairmanship of that committee if the Democrats organize | the lower chamb: Wallace White, jr., of Maine, former chairman of the House Committee, goe: to the Senate this ssssion. Senaf Dill of Washington, was expected to re- turn here this week. They are the co- authors of the 1927 radio iaw, and they will provide the Senate with two of the best informed minds on radio matters | on Capitol Hill. | RADIO COMMISSION | CHARGES VIOLATION Holds Recent Contracts Executed by R. C. A. and Mackay Co. Are Unlawful. Allegations that he Radio Corpora- tion of America, by reason of its recent contract with the Western Union for |N “piek-up and delivery” service, and the Mackay Radio Telegraph Co., because of its inter-corporate relations with the International Telephone & Telegraph Co., are violating the radio law, are made by the Federal Radio Commission leading filed with the Court of | of the District of Columbia. 17 of the radio act, whieh rohibits the merging of wire and wire- Feos " compantes engaged in external trade, but, on the other hand, provides for striet competition, is the provision which the commission invokes in asking permission of the court to reopen the whole eontinental shortwave contro- versy. This case, involving the use of the limited number of available con- tinental shortwaves for point-to-point service in this country competitive with ‘wire lines, has dangled befcre the court for three years. ‘The “legality” and “propriety” of the wire-wireless relations of both of the companies, which were suceessful in tne court litigation growing out of the original shortwave allocations, is ques- tioned by the commission. Moveover, demands of other services utilizing radio, such as aviation, for these same facili- ties, should be considered, the commis- jon holds, that further investi- gation through hearings is essential to prosent complete and adequate pic- ure of the present needs of these com- panies. |N. B. C. has exvended such large | THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, Networks Feature Three Popular Artists SINGERS AND CONCERT PIANIST O‘N OUTSTANDING PROGRAMS, RNEST HUTCHESON (left), internationally known pianist, who is giving a series of concerts over WMAL and other Columbia stations. In the center is Gracie Barrie, 15 ear-old “blues” singer, who also is heard over the Columbia network. Catherine Field (right), soprano, who is appearing as soloist with the Black and Gold Room Orchestra over WRC and other National Broadcasting Co. stations Behind the Microphone BY THE RADIO EDITOR. ROGRESSIVE on the one| hand, but reactionary on the other, the Federal| Radio Commission at times | presents some curious anomalies. Its progressive instincts have been | displayed by its determination, however belated, to rid the air of undesirable broadcasters. Its re-| acticnary attitude was evidenced last week when a bare majority decided against an experiment in‘ synchronized operation of several stations on one wave length pro- posed by the Columbia Broad- | casting System. | In the last two months the commission has ordered nine sta- tions off the air for various| causes, of which six are back in operation under temporary slay‘ orders pending appeals to the| courts. For the most part, the| stations ordered deleted were held to be violating regulations, broad- casting in an undesirable manner or otherwise operating contrary | to the public interest. Last week the commission handed down a 3-to-2 decision against allowing Columbia to in- stall a 250-watt booster station in Washington to be synchronized to the clear channel of WABC, its New York key. The station was sought as an experiment to de- termine the feasibility of such common frequency operation. Co- lumbia also wants the station be~ cause it cannot get all the hours it seeks for network programs from WMAL, its present Wash- ington outlet. Reasons for the majority’s de- cision have not been announced but Chairman Saltzman and Commissioners Starbuck and La- fount voted in its favor, the latter issuing a statement declaring his opinion that “the commission should acquaint itself with all scientific development of the art and should permit such experi- ments as may demonstrate the practicability of such develop- men It is anticipated that the com- mission’s grounds for decision, now being prepared by its legal division and from which Columbia can appeal if it chooses, but prob- ably will not, will be based partly on quota regulations and opposi- tion to new construction, and artly on a determination not to grelk down any more clear chan- nels in the fear of establishing a | precedent that other clear chan- | nel operators might seek to follow. | The week previous the commission | also denjed an application from WLBW, Oil City, Pa., to place a booster to operate on its wave length in Erie, Pa. i | Synchronized operation has been feared by many stations now on networks as heralding the day when complete national networks will operate on a single wave length, thus obviating the need of local affiliates on the part of chains. Under the present wave | set-up this would be impossible. Moreover, Columbia repeatedly avowed that it has no intention of spreading synchronization even | should it prove successful. | In fact, Columbia went into the | synchronizing scheme with the | assent of WMAL, which would | have joined the N. B. C. network | had the application been granted. | Immediately after the commis- | sion’s decision Columbia an- nounced it was placing one of its | features, “Kaltenborn Edits the | News,” which it has been unable | to place on WMAL because of that station’s local programs, on Sta- tion WJSV, Alexandria, Va. This move may mark the beginning of a secondary affiliation for Colum- bia in the Washington area. Whether the commission’s de- cision in this case will affect ether synchronization experiments now under way is conjectural. The . B. C. 18 now nchronizing WTIC, Hartford, with WEAF, one of its New York keys, while WBAL, Baltimore, is being synchronized with WJZ, its other New York key. The results so far as widespread reception is concerned have not been any too favorable thus far, but the experimenters have high hopes for the future. So high are their hopes, in fact, that N. B. C. has invested sums ranging into six figures in apparatus and work on the projects. Early in December the WTIC- WEAF and WBAL-WJZ experi- mental licenses expire, and the question now arises whether the commission can consistently renew them in view of its decision on the Washington booster. Since | sums on the project, it is doubtful whether the courts would uphold the commission in an effort to| terminate the experiments. Like- wise, there is a common frequency experiment among four Pennsyl- vania stations now in progress with very promising results, and Stations WBZ-WBZA, Boston- Boston-Springfield, have been operating a half dozgp years in nchronization on a clear chan- nel. Stations WHO, Des Moines, and WOC, Davenport, Iowa, are also operating on a synchronized basis. The latter, however, have been granted 50.000 watts, and it is likely they will shortly abandon scynchronization in favor of high power. TR NLY the report for the third of the big three among the American States having 1,000,000 or more of their homes equipped with radios remains to be issued to complete the United States Census Bureau's first census of American radio. The Illinois re- port was made available this week close on the heels of that for New York, and the report for Pennsylvania will be issued som time next week. Pennsylvania’; radiozed homes, like those of New York and Illinois, will number well over 1,000,000. New York leads all the 47 States thus far reported in the total of its homes equipped with radios, and Illinois is in second place. It is expected that Penn- sylvania will nose out Illinois for second place, and that Pennsyl- vania will bring the total for the whole country to around 12,500,- 000. The figure will be as of April 1, 1930, when the count was taken, or 20 months ago. The total has increased substantially in the interim, especially in view of the coaunulng y large sales of midget sets. Where New York reported that 1,829,123 of its 3,162,118 homes. or | 57.8 per cent, had radios as of 20 !months ago, Illinois shows that 1,075,134 of its 1,934,445 homes, or 55.6 per cent, had radios. New | York’'s average number of persons per family was 4, so that its total audience was estimated at 7,316,- 492. Illinois’ average number of persons per family was 3.9, so that its total audience was estimated at 4,192,025, The Illinols radio census, like W W VYW YWY S EXACTLY RIl 72 P SPECIAL for MONDAY TUESDAY and WEDNESDAY J = NOTE—Limited stocks; this special price effective on present ment terms ranged for. ks only. Easy can be counties and cities. It shows that Cook County, which Chicago, had 640,762 of 992,457 homes, or 64.6 per cent, equipped with radios. Chicago’s suburban communities, like Oak Park, Elm- hurst, Winnetka, Wilmette, Elm- wood Park, Evanston, Forest Park, Highland Park, LaGrange and others, all consistently revealed more than 70 per cent of their homes with radio. In the proportion of its homes having radios, Illinois now ranks fifth, its 55.6 per cent coming under New Jersey's 63.4, New | York’s 67.8, Massachusetts’ 57.6 |and Rhode Island’s 57.1. ok | FJERE'S another convience of the acoustical arts no less inter- esting than the microphone that is placed alongside baby’s crib to warn the family via loudspeaker in the living or dining room when baby should awaken. It is a | gadget contrived by a Greenwich, Conn,, estate owner, who has been having trouble with his dogs | barking in the night and waking | the neighborhood. The kennels being some distance {from the house, he installed a |microphone at his bedside and |amplifiers and loud speakers in the dog houses. Now a gentle ad- monition from the bed room be- comes a crisp commanding shout in the canine apartments, and the hounds, hearing their master's unmistakable voice, cower and | quickly subside. | H. Caldwell, the former Federal radio commissioner, re- ports still another electronic con- | venience. Gates in bridle-paths have always been troublesome to | open and close for riders on | horseback. They must dismount |or whell their horses through awkward gyrations as they swing | the gate open and then must shut {it from the other side. i A horse-lover has solved all this with the help of a photoelectric cell. When he canters up to the |gate the shadow of his horse |operates a relay and motor | mechanism which opens the gate for a few seconds and then auto- | matically closes it 10 seconds after | the shadow is removed. 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