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BUILDS NEW TIME CONTROL Electric Clock System Designed by NBC Engineers Does Not Vary Third of Second in Day; Problem of Deviation Eliminated. O. li. HANSON AT THE PANEL BOARD OF NBC's NEW TIME CONTROL SYSTEM. A PRECISION electric clock control system that does not vary more than one-third second a day, is now in operation in National Broadcasting Company's Radio City headquarters. The system was de- veloped by the NBC engineering staff under the direction of O. B. Hanson, vice president in charge of engineering. Similar installa- tions are being made at the net- work's division offices in Chicago, Hollywood, San Francisco, Wash- ington, Cleveland and Denver. Need for a highly accurate time clock control has been increasing since war time activities commenced to add heavy loads to commercial power lines. As a result of these huge power demands, many of NBC's operating divisions, particu- larly New York, have encountered deviations in the frequency of the alternating current supiily lines. Ordinarily of small magnitude, these variations, nevertheless, were sufficient at times to become a seri- ous problem in network operation where programs must be switched on a split second basis. The new system, with its accuracy of better than one part in 20.5.000, eliminates this trouble. NBC's time control is based on the use of a special tuning fork vibrating at the rate of 60 cycles a second within a vacuum chamber. The fork's movement creates in- finitesimal impulses which are am- plified millions of times by a series of vacuum tubes, until suflBcient power is generated to operate the required number of clocks. In Radio City alone, 200 clocks must be syn- chronized. To check the absolute accuracy of the system, the master clock is compared daily with the extremely accurate time signals transmitted by radio from the U. S. Naval Ob- servatory, Washington, D. C. U. S. Leases Short Waues (continued from page 2S) British audiences and some should be equally acceptable to any Eng- lish-speaking listener. NBC's English program schedule is patterned in such a way that the best War Department, OWI and NBC programs are included in the schedule. Letters from service men show a strong preference for news, dance music and sports, so nat- urally the schedule includes many such shows. Currently, the English Section is transmitting 14 sports programs each week. Variety shows are high- lighted by "Service Serenade," "Fashions in Jazz" and "Command Performance." World wide interest in news from America is fulfilled by four news broadcasts a day. Before the leasing of private short-wave facilities by the Gov- ernment, NBC's English Section carried more than 20 commercial programs originated by NBC's do- mestic network or by the English Section. At the present time, all commercials have been cancelled but it is hoped that these broadcasts may be resumed with the commer- cials deleted. Mr. Royal pointed out that the OWI "is eager to continue the com- lietitive programming policy which has been the foundation of the American system of broadcasting and which has made the short-wave )irograms from the United States the most eagerly listened to of any countrv in the world." [28 RADIO AGE]