Broadcasting (Oct 1931-Dec 1932)

il&©AID€A§YO The NEWS MAGAZINE OL. 1, NO. 3 WASHINGTON, D. C THE FIFTH ESTATE OVEMBER 13, 1931 $3.00 PER YEAR — 15c A COPY Radio's Progress in Five Years of NBC By MARTIN CODEL 4ylesworth, Looking Backward and Forward, Compares Art To Printing as Contribution to Advance of Civilization rIVE YEARS of organized national broadcasting have brought radio to '.he stage where it may justly be iescribed as marking the greatest idvance since the invention of orinting in man's eternal battle igainst ignorance, war and intolerance. Yet we are just on the hreshold of increased achievements n radio broadcasting. These are the words of Merlin Hall Aylesworth on the occasion of :he fifth birthday of the National Broadcasting Company. It was mly five years ago — on November 15th, 1926 — that NBC was created and went into operation. What a tremendous growth and development in such a short span! The story of NBC, like the story of radio itself, is an epic of modern achievement. It is needless to recount its brief history here, but it seems apropos to put down some of the views and impressions derived from his experiences during those short few years by the man who guided its destinies from its inception, Mr. Aylesworth. It was Owen D. Young, then chairman of the boards of the General Electric Company and the Radio Corporation of America, who called Mr. Aylesworth to the helm of NBC when the project of a regular network was conceived as a logical successor of the occasional networks formed of its own and various independently owned stations by the American Telephone & Telegraph Co. Owen Young's Idea THE A. T. & T., which had developed many radio patents in its research laboratories and owned several stations, in 1926 decided to forsake the broadcasting field, leaving it to others. Yet it sawimmense revenues for itself in the toll lines needed to link stations for networks. Mr. Young is generally credited with having conceived the idea of a great chain of radio stations obtaining highest grade programs from a common source and devoting all its attention to their widespread distribution. ONLY five years have elapsed since the NBC was created to provide the first regular network service to the American radio public. Those few years have been fraught with prideful accomplishment. Especially proud may be Merlin Hall Aylesworth, NBC president who has guided the destinies of the network since its inception. M. H. Aylesworth Mr. Young called Mr. Aylesworth, son of a Denver minister and law graduate of the University of Colorado, from the managing directorship of the National Electric Light Association. The basic idea back of the network was that it should serve as a medium for disseminating programs that would stimulate radio equipment sales for its parent organizations. At that time the RCA held 50 per cent of its stock, G. E. held 30 per cent and the Westinghouse Company held 20 per cent. Today the NBC is a 100 per cent subsidiary of RCA. How well NBC fulfilled its mission is only too well know-n by the radio world and the public at large. That within three years it placed itself free of subsidy and on a sound economic basis, is a fine commentary on Mr. Aylesworth's leadership and the efforts of the brilliant staff he gathered around him. What lies ahead for NBC — well, consider the gigantic Radio City project which John D. Rockefeller, Jr. decided to undertake largely upon the assurance that radio and television, as well as their allies of the opera, the theater and the movies, wrould be substantial tenants. Two Years Ago TWO YEARS ago Mr. Aylesworth w^rote, for a symposium being prepared by this writer, as follows: "The National Broadcasting Company came into existence as a realization of the ideal of nationwide broadcasting service. It was charged with the preparation and presentation of the highest type radio programs possible, together with the distribution of such programs via networks and associated radio stations throughout the country. As the starting point, it Sovember 15, 1931 • BROADCASTING took over the ownership of Station WEAF and the extensive radio network developed by the American Telephone & Telegraph Company. WEAF became the key station for the first, or Red, network. Shortly afterward, Station WJZ of New York and Station WRC of Washington, both owned by the Radio Corporation of America, which had developed a modest network of stations, were taken over on a management and operation basis. Station WJZ became the originating station for a second, or Blue, network, thereby providing an alternative program in most territories already covered by the WEAF network. Still later, a third network was organized for the Pacific Coast, with San Francisco as the originating point. [Now there are two NBC networks on the Pacific Coast.] Based on Service "THUS came into being an organization primarily devoted to indirect sales promotion for the radio manufacturing industry. Its basic principle of operation was obvious. In order to carry out the purpose for which it was organized, it must of necessity be, first of all, an institution of service to the listening public, for the listener is the economic basis upon which the broadcasting structure rests. In other words, in order to serve the radio manufacturing industry, the broadcaster must give the radio listener what he wants. The sale of a radio set, in the final analysis is in reality the sale of a seat in the theater of the air. The buyer of that seat expects a continuous show throughout his waking hours, seven days a week, always different, always fresh, always interesting. Such is the sum and substance of the public's thought of an investment in radio. "It was a kind of fate that caused commercial broadcasting to see the light of day in America — the New World — the Land of Opportunity— the haven of advertising and publicity. Having created a vast audience, the newly formed organization naturally turned to the sponsored program as the solution of its economic existence. In Page 5