Broadcasting (Oct 1931-Dec 1932)

NEWS NOTES From Foreign Lands INDIA'S two big national stations, operated by the government, will be shut down shortly due to lack of public support in the payment of license fees on receiving sets, according to advices to the Commerce Department. The stations are VUG, Calcutta and VUB, Bombay, each with about 3 kw., hitherto operated similarly to the British system. This will leave only two local stations in the nation, one at Lahore and the other at Madras. ABOUT a dozen amateurs in Portugal recently inaugurated regular broadcasting service and are supplementing the only regular station, CTIAA, Lisbon, operated by a large department store. CONTRACT has been awarded for a new 175 kw. broadcasting station at Lakihegy, Hungary, to replace the existing low power station there. The station will begin broadcasting with 50 kw. but proposes to step up its power to 175 kw., giving it substantial covering of the continent. Hungary's new high power short-wave station at Szekesfehervar, designed to maintain direct telegraph service with the United States and other countries, also will be used in international broadcasting program exchange. FRANCE'S hide and skin industry has taken the air, the Commerce Department has been advised, with the results of the auctions of these commodities now being broadcast regularly over the Eiffel Tower station. Prices thus are dispatched to all buyers in France, acquainting them promptly of the trend of the market. BRITISH Broadcasting Corporation figures show circulation increases of the "Radio Times" from 900,000 in 1927 to 1,603,000 on July 31, 1931; the "World Radio" from 50,000 to 258,000; and "The Listener" from 33,000 to 40,000. All are published and sold by the BBC. ACCORDING to Wireless World of London, German radio set owners are feeling so keenly the strain of having to pay their license fees of two marks a month (about 50 cents), that more than 300 have gone to jail for failure to meet the Reichpost collections. Recently they were allowed to pay the fee to their postmen in quarterly installments instead of monthly, as formerly. BY AN agreement between the Italian government and the E. I. A. R., official national broadcasting concessionaire, the concession granted that company has been extended to 1948, when the government will have the right to buy up the existing transmitters. In October, under the terms of the concession, the company took over the new stations at Florence and Bolzano and next April it will take over those at Milan and Bari. "WHAT I Would Do With the World" is the title of a series of talks being given over the British broadcasting system by notables in Great Britain. PARAGUAY is the latest addition to the family of broadcasting countries, having opened a station at Asuncion on June 25 with the call letters ZPI. It is operated by the Compania Radioemisora Nacional, which means National Broadcasting Company. RADIO broadcasts on the high seas have been inaugurated by the Adelaide Steamship Co., on the Manunda, plying from Melbourne to Cairise, Queenland. For the benefit of passengers and the crew, the officer on the bridge speaks into a microphone, describing conditions en route at frequent intervals. His words are picked up by loud speakers scattered over the vessel. SPAIN offers a growing market for radio apparatus and sets, according to reports of United States consuls to the Department of Commerce. Exports of radio equipment by the United States to that country in 1930 were valued at $532,994. Of this amount, $291,772 represented receiving sets, while $91,750 was the value of tubes. Spanish manufacture of receiving sets is at present limited to the mounting of sets with imported materials. MEXICAN broadcasting stations maintain their own advertising staffs and do not as a rule contract with independent agencies, according to advice to the Department of Commerce. Business is reported growing and competition among stations is keen. CBS Buys All Stock In WCCO for $300,000 FULL ownership of WCCO, Minneapolis, has been acquired by the Columbia Broadcasting System through purchase of the remaining two-thirds stock from General Mills, Inc. Announcement was made Oct. 22 by James F. Bell, president of General Mills, who said the sale had been made because of the development of broadcasting during the past few years into a highly specialized business. Nearly three years ago CBS acquired a one-third interest in WCCO. Henry A. Bellows, former radio commissioner and vice president of CBS, remains as president of the operating company. The network exercised its option to procure complete ownership of the station, and it is understood that approximately $300,000 was paid for the additional two-thirds capital stock. Adams Revives Service ADAMS Broadcasting Service, which came into radio in 1925 as creator of the Atwater Kent programs and later was merged with the Judson Radio Program Corp., will be revived on Nov. 1 by John T. Adams, for the last few years president of the Judson corporation. Mr. Adams has purchased contracts of the latter concern from the Columbia Concerts Corporation and will build programs through the firm bearing his name. Ernest Chappell will be general manager of production and Joseph Pasternack director of music. Raising of Regional Power Limit Urged Four Stations on 940 kc. Seek Increase from 1 to 5 kw. A HORIZONTAL increase in power from 1 kw. to 5 kw. of stations assigned to the 940 kilocycle channel, which might necessitate revision of existing radio regulations, was sought in a test case presented before Examiner Elmer W. Pratt of the Federal Radio Commission on Oct. 22. Four stations on the channel — WCSH, Portland, Me.; KOIN, Portland, Ore.; WD AY, Fargo, N. D.; and WFIW, Hopkinsville, Ky. — joined in the application on the ground that regulations limiting power to 1 kw. on regional channels and relating to quotas, should give way to engineering advances. Evidence that intra-channel inference would not be increased by such a step, but, on the contrary, that the areas served by the stations would be increased substantially, was offered in behalf of the applicant stations. WFIW did not put in its entire case but will do so at a later date. Through Paul M. Segal, counsel, the other three stations presented their testimony. William L. Foss, chief engineer of WCSH, and C. M. Jansky, Jr., consulting engineer, presented technical testimony in support of the horizontal increase. George O. Sutton appeared as counsel for WFIW, and offered preliminary evidence. On the Commission's behalf, Ben S. Fisher, assistant general counsel, moved that all of the applications be dismissed as opposed to General Order 40, which limits power to 1 kw. on regional channels, and of General Order 102, relating to quotas, in that the facilities of the states in which the stations are located would be increased without following the terms specified in this order. Representing WBCM, Bay City, Mich., Howard S. LeRoy joined in Mr. Fisher's motion. In behalf of Station KOMO, Paul D. P. Spearman, counsel, joined in the motion insofar as it related to KOIN, at Portland. Examiner Pratt did not rule on the motions but permitted the hearing to proceed with the submission of evidence on the engineering considerations. In his report it is assumed he will pass on the matter of possible modification of regulations which apparently prevent the granting of the applications. WAAT, Jersey City, operating daylight on 940 kc, through its counsel, Spencer Gordon, made known it had no objection to the applications. If the increases are granted, however, Mr. Gordon said, WAAT proposes to apply for a parallel increase in power from its present 300 watts to 1% kw., "or less." Mr. Segal said he would offer no objection; he added that each of the stations involved would be able to give a higher quality and more satisfactory service to listeners in its service areas; that a station involved will be able to extend its present service area; that no additional interference will be caused; that no stations or listeners will be adversely affected, and that the applications accord with the most modern trends in radio broadcasting technique. Commission examiners previously have heard requests for increases from 1 kw. to 5 kw. from KGW, Portland, Ore., and KHQ, Spokane. Other stations on the same channels, however, did not join in the applications with the result that no horizontal increases were involved. The case was continued by Examiner Pratt to give WFIW opportunity to gather additional engineering evidence. The station burned last year, and field intensity surveys for that reason could not be made. Evidence in behalf of the Commission will be presented when the hearings are reconvened, probably in December, by Andrew D. Ring, broadcast engineer. Novel Plan Urged To Satisfy WTMJ Pratt Proposes Changes in WFLA-WSUN Equipment RESTORATION of the former service area of WTMJ, Milwaukee, by ordering changes in the mechanical setup of WFLA-WSUN, Clearwater Fla., assigned to the same frequency, is proposed by Examiner Elmer W. Pratt in a report to the Federal Radio Commission. By such a move, Mr. Pratt holds in Report No. 263, the Commission can comply with the mandate of the Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia instructing it to "measurably reestablish" WTMJ's service area as it existed in 1929 prior to certain shifts in the assignments of Stations WDAE, Tampa, WFLA-WSUN, and an increase in power to Station WLBZ, Bangor, Me. This decision grew out of four different appeals brought by WTMJ having to do with a purported hedging of its service area, which the Court found actually to have occurred. Stations WLBZ and WDAE would not be affected by the proposed change. Station WFLAWSUN would be required to change the location of its transmitter, to install special apparatus capable of maintaining frequency within 25 cycles, and to install a new antenna designed to supress sky wave propagation in the direction of Milwaukee. Pending compliance with these conditions, however, the Clearwater station would be granted a temporary license authorizing operation with a maximum power of only 250 watts, as against its present power of 1 kw. night and 2Y2 kw. daylight. WTMJ is licensed for the same power, while WLBZ uses 500 watts. All three stations are on unlimited time. The fourth station, WDAE, is assigned to 1220 with 1 kw., unlimited, but formerly was assigned to 620 kc, and seeks a return to that preferred position. Cooperation is Urged CLOSER cooperation among broadcasters and the ownership of stations by newspapers were urged at the Inland Daily Press Association convention in Chicago on Oct. 22 by A. L. Miller, Enquirer and News, Battle Creek, Mich., and H. S. Mann, Journal-News, Racine, Wis. Stations should be allies rather than business competitors, they said. Page 26 BROADCASTING • November 1, 1931