Radio mirror (Jan-Oct 1923)

Record Details:

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RADIO DIGEST ILLUSTRATED HOW THEY DO IT AT WDAP'S PLANT She at the Wt .^^hSS semblc of WUAr broadcasting staljon. Ch'«g-& »n*«r> standing a of the orchestra. »elow deliver dent Coolidge, •»".?*„";, Pallophotof„eg an address mto 'he "<„ dcast ^ phone, whj' en • , from WUT. voice, recorded on a n • were natSchenectady. The resenerg beheved u/al ^tTfi^'fi'** hand" the voice to De "Jazz Nomads" Send Wicked Tunes Into "Doughnut" as Lady Visitor Looks On Reporter Gets "Inside" Tells How Drake Hotel Plant, Chicago, Puts Sunday Evening Program on Air By V«ra Brady Shipman "Say, fellows, aren't you going to play 'Three o'clock in the Horning?' You've been on fifteen minutes and we've had twenty requests." And the jocular voice which the "Drake Radio Family" knows so well announces — '■ — "By special request the Campus Nomads will play " I visited the Drake broadcasting Station "YVDAP Sunday evening. The broadcasting room is not so privately enclosed as many, and the chance guest can get a wonderful idea of how they do it at WDAP. ("We do Atlantic Pacific," as the announcer adds.) Microphone Resembles Doughnut The room is heavily hung with draperies on three sides with the fourth side open. Before a microphone which looks like a large black doughnut with smaller doughnuts around the outer edge, the orchestra plays, the soloist sings and the speaker talks to the great unseen, as though the audience were hidden in that doughnut. A red electric light bulb flashes on when the microphone is open, when the operator in the adjoining room opens the switch which opens the air to the broadcasters. Intense silence drops at the moment the light flashes on. The orchestra if not ready, quickly assembles itself, and instantly the opening chords are sounded. When the number is finished, silence until the red bulb goes out. Then the hubbub resumes until the next red flash. Glimpse at Musicians The Sunday night program I heard was given by the Campus Nomads, a group of five Northwestern University students who are jazzing their way to knowledge, and the Drake Hotel Orchestral Ensemble of five soloists under the direction of Henry Sellinger. Also pianologues by Jean King Leighton with Anne Mortensen Herre at the piano, were sent forth over the air in Miss Leighton's regular fashion of interesting dialect. Two grand pianos in the broadcasting room are used for every kind of musical entertainment, all of which are under the personal direction of Mrs. Saida Ballentine. The Drake station, which unlike others in Chicago, is privately owned, began its existence atop the Wrigley building a year or so ago and is owned by two Chicago men, Thorne Donnelley and J. Elliott Jenkins. Goes to Transmitter Boom By the courtesy of the announcer-operator (oh, how he hated to let a woman in, and I can't blame him), Ralph Shukart, otherwise called "The Sheik of the Drake," I was allowed to go silently into the operating room. Here the operator broadcasts his announcements through the same kind of a "doughnut" microphone, which catches every room sound as well as longdistance wire telephone interference. Here the operator listens in on the musical program and times his announcements accordingly. The second operator, M. L. Green, courteously gave me some of the data needed for this story. Pine Peeling Pervades Plant I meant to stay just a short time, but I found upon leaving that I had been there nearly two hours. The time flew and the informality, the courtesy from the owner on down to each assisting operator, and the comradeship which exists throughout this station strengthened the feeling that the listener in always obtains of the "Drake family." As I left the top floor of the Drake, the boys at the telephone were still answering "Oh, yes, Madam, they have played 'Three o'clock' and I am sure they will play it again before the evening is over, Yes, Madam, glad you called." Close Large Business Deal by Air; 'Bugs' Aid COLUMBUS, O.— Except for the customary written confirmation and acceptance, a business deal involving several hundred dollars brought to a successful close by Radio recently by the Columbus State Company, it has been announced by H. W. Webb, secretary and treasurer of the company. Amateur operators were the exclusive "agents" in this matter. Frank Hahne, tin and sheet iron worker of Savannah, Georgia, is an old customer of the Columbus Slate company and also is a code Radio enthusiast. On Thanksgiving morning, he sat down to his transmitting set and sent a message to the Columbus firm. It was picked up by an amateur in Cincinnati, who in turn relayed it. R. C. Bohannan, with the Erner & Hopkins company, Station WBAV, received the message at his home and called Mr. Webb on the telephone. Mr. Webb at once quoted by telegraph the price on sea green slate, according to the amount wanted. The next day, ' Hahne sent the written confirmation and also a Radio confirmation. A return telegram acknowledged the order and the deal was closed. This is believed to be the first time in the Radio history of Ohio that business has been negotiated through amateur Radio stations. Device Photographs Voice on Film Reproducing Message for Broadcast Flickers of Tiny Mirror Record Speech on Pallophotophone Film — Developed Strip Gives Natural Tones — Weeks', Denby's and Coolidge's Speeches Reach All Corners of U. S. at Once by Means of Instrument By B. S. Beach, Christmas greetings and messages to the people of the United States from Vice President Coolidge, Secretary of War Weeks and from Secretary of Navy Denby were broadcast on Christmas eve from Station WGY, the General Electric transmitter at Schenectady, N. Y., without their being present, or speaking, in fact. This was the first time that three leading executives of the country ever attempted to extend their greetings in a way that reached the four corners of the country simultaneously. The feat was made possible by use of the Pallophotophone, a new device for photographing the voice and later reproducing it with perfect clearness. How Xt Was Done The machine was set up in a hotel in Washington ten daj s before. The vice president and the war and navy secretaries spoke into a small recording horn. As they did, their voices caused a small diaphragm to vibrate to which is attached a tiny mirror, scarcely smaller than the head of a pin. This oscillation or flickering of the mirror reflected a beam of light upon a moving photographic film, thus recording the human voice accurately with the overtones, the delicate shadings of speech, and all other characteristics which make one voice sound different from another. Develop Film, Reproduce Messages * The film was then taken to Schenectady and was broadcast twice on Christmas eve from the WGY studio, the first time at 7:30 o'clock Eastern time, during the regular Christmas program and then again at 10:30 o'clock for Radiophans in the western states. In reproducing, the film is passed before a strong ray of light and the zigzag markings photographed on it by the sound waves create electric waves which pass through an arrangement of vacuum tubes and produce sound waves again which are sent directly into the Radio broadcasting apparatus without the use of a microphone or any sort of a pickup device ordinarily used. Value of Device The feat of recording the speech of a person in a distant city is believed to have introduced an entirely new element in Radio broadcasting — the possibility of making a master record and then broadcasting it days or weeks later from any Radio station in the country. The reality of the characteristics of the reproduced and broadcast voices was evinced by thousands of complimentary letters received by WGY from fans who praised the feat. The following is to WGY from W. C. Crews, who listened in on a single tube, non-regenerating set, 500 miles away from Schnectady, N. Y. : "Calvin Coolidge, Weeks and Denby came in just grand, almost as though they were in the next room — sounded as though it was the real thing. Had you not said something about Photophone I never would have known the difference. To me it seemed marvelous. "I am sure thousands of fans throughout the country would be interested in knowing the outcome of the experiment, as it related to Europe as well as knowing something in detail about the Photophone, and it is suggested that when results are definitely known that they be given to RADIO DIGEST for a story." Give Set to Wounded Vets SPRINGFIELD, O. — Mrs. Albert A. Wright, of this city, is the chairman of a committee of the Woman's Auxiliary of the Springfield American Legion, which on Christmas Day presented a complete Radio receiving set to the wounded world w?" veterans of Ward 27 at the Nation?^ * diers' Home in Dayton. The ward are those suffering fnr shell shock and woun/1 -■»" overseas,