Broadcasting (Oct 1931-Dec 1932)

all the inmates of an institution, or all the persons living in a boarding house, are ordinarily counted as one. No account was taken of second sets in the homes, auto radios, office radios and the like in the census count. The figures tell their own story. Broadcasting has added one column to the tabulation given out by the Census Bureau — that reckoning total audience, which was compiled by using the figure for the average number of persons per family in each state and geographical unit as the multiplier of the total number of families reporting radios in that state and geographical unit. Cities Set Pace IN THE MAIN, it will be noted, that the preponderance of "radioized" families, both as to total and proportion, is to be found in the large population centers. Also, just as broadcasting stations seem to have gravitated toward the larger trading areas, so do radio sets seem to be most numerous in those trading areas. This census, incidentally, should furnish the Federal Radio Commission with an excellent index to public-to-beserved by individual broadcasters, an element which its quota figures and the haphazard growth of broadcasting have not taken into account thus far. It should not be overlooked, however, that the sparsely settled areas of the country deserve as much radio service, if not more, as the thickly inhabited centers, for obvious reasons. This the Commission has sought to provide through strategically located high power stations. The Middle Atlantic states of New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey quite naturally lead in the total number of families with radios as well as in the proportion of their homes having radios. Of their 6,388,913 families, 3,531,532 or 55.3 per cent had radios as of April 1, 1930. In totals, New York leads all the states with 1,829,123 of its homes reporting radios; Pennsylvania is second, with 1,076,770; Illinois is a very close third, with 1,075,134. Then follow in order California, Ohio, Michigan, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, Indiana, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota and Texas. New Jersey leads all the states m the proportion of its families having radios, with 625,639 of its 987,616 families, or 63.3 per cent. New York is second, with 57.8 per cent; Massachusetts third, with 57.6 per cent; Rhode Island fourth, with 57 per cent; Illinois fifth, with 55.6 per cent; Connecticut sixth, with 54.9 per cent; the District of Columbia seventh, with 53.9 per cent; California eighth, with 51.9 per cent; Wisconsin ninth, with 51.1 per cent; and Michigan tenth, with 50.6 per cent. At the bottom of the list in total sets is the sparsely settled state of Nevada, with only 7,869 homes with radios, but that figure represents 30.6 per cent of its total homes. At the bottom of the list in the proportion column is Mississippi, with only 5.4 per cent of its homes having radios. The accompanying tabulations tell the whole story of the relative as well as the absolute standings of the respective states. Page 8 CBS Radio Count Totals 17,313,000 John Karol Uses Census and 1930-31 Set Sales as Basis USING the 1930 radio census figures of the U. S. Census Bureau as the base, and carrying them forward to include 1930 and 1931 set sales as estimated by Radio Retailing magazine, John Karol, director of market research of CBS, estimates that there are now more than 17,313,000 radio sets in the United States. The Census Bureau's official figure, based on its count of radio-owning families 20 months ago and announced Nov. 30, places the total number of homes with radios on April 1, 1930, at 12,078,345. About 4,750,000 sets have been sold to homes not previously equipped with any kind of receiver since the census count was made, according to the Karol estimate, Radio Retailing estimated that 2,250,000 radio sets, exclusive of replacements, were bought during the last nine months of 1930, and that an additional 2,500,000 sets were acquired for previously unequipped homes during the first 10 months of 1931. Replacements during the same period in 1930 are estimated at 620,000 sets, and during 1931 until October 31 at about 600,000 sets. The network's research bureau does not use as high a figure in calculating the potential number of listeners as does the Census Bureau, it is disclosed by the Karol estimate. The bureau uses 4.1 persons as constituting the average size of the family listening to each set. The CBS statistical bureau, however, reduces the figure to three in order to eliminate infants and the dependent aged. The Census Bureau count shows that the potential audience totalled about 50,000,000 on the basis of 4.1 persons per family. The Karol estimate, however, numbers the potential radio listeners at 52,000,000 for the up-to-the-minute figure of 17,313,000 sets. Had the Census Bureau's 4.1 persons per family been used, the potential audience figure in the network's estimate would have been about 72,000,000 persons. Canada's Half Million THE number of radio receiving sets licensed to private owners in Canada as of August 1 was 452,879, according to a report to the U. S. Department of Commerce from Assistant Trade Commissioner Herbert W. Barrett, Ottawa. Toronto leads all Canadian cities in the number of licensed sets, with 68,034. Montreal is second, with 56,072, and Vancouver ranks third with 23,196. That these figures are far from complete is commonly known, many set owners neglecting to pay the $1 per annum license fee and the government having practically no machinery to enforce collection. Some opinion in Canada has it that the total is well over twice the official figure. Plans 100-Watt Net PLANS for a chain of 100-watt stations stretching from El Centro, California, through Washington and over to the border of Idaho, have been formulated by Ben McGlashan, owner of KGFJ, Los Angeles. The project calls for connection with each station by land wires and all of the programs originating at KGFJ which operates on a 24-hour basis. Wire tolls thus far have been the obstacle to early fulfillment of the idea. CBS Acquiring WKRC NEGOTIATIONS practically have been completed for the sale of WKRC, Cincinnati, to CBS. The station is owned jointly by Sam Pickard, CBS vice president, and John Boyd, of Chicago. The purchase price was around $200,000. "Printer's Devil" WJAG, Norfolk, Neb., uses the unique slogan "Home of the Printer's Devil" because it is owned and operated by the Norfolk Daily News. A.N. P. A. Fails to Renew Radio Attack California Body Urges European System Broadcasting Topic at Three November Meetings : One Group Asks Government Supervision THOUGH verbal fireworks assailing radi© failed to materialize in any substantial way at the fall convention of the American Newspaper Publishers Association in Los Angeles, Nov. 12 to 14, the meetings of the California Press Association in San Francisco on Nov. 13 and 14 brought forth a resolution favoring "government supervision of all radio programs along the lines followed in continental Europe and a stricter control of the air in the interests of better entertainment for the people." A few days later the Association of National Advertisers, holding its annual convention in Washington on Nov. 16 to 18, spent one of its sessions discussing the use of radio as an advertising medium. Talks were made by Kenyon Stevenson, of the Armstrong Cork Co., Lancaster, Pa., Benjamin Soby, of the Westinghouse Radio Stations, and Edgar Felix, New York radio consultant. The A.N.P.A. convention in New York last spring was devoted in large part to bitter attacks upon radio as an advertising medium, but there was considerably more dispassionate regard for radio at the Los Angeles meeting. In fact, attacks upon radio were conspicuous by their absence, although it is understood several elements tried their utmost to bring the subject to the fore. Weiss Defends Radio AMONG the speakers on radio were S. R. Winch, business manager of the Portland Oregon Journal, which owns KOIN, Portland. He declared that broadcasting will never replace newspapers as an advertising medium but will remain a supplementary aid. Another speaker was Frank R. Tripp, publisher of the Elmira (N. Y.) Star-Gazette, who discussed the relative merits of newspaper and radio advertising largely on the basis of studies made for the Gannett newspapers. Mr. Winch's talk evoked from Lewis Allen Weiss, general manager of the Don Lee-CBS network on the Pacific Coast, the retort that "radio has become so well loved by the people, so much a part of the American home and American institutions, that its 'side remarks' — its advertising — stand fully as good chance of being heard as the advertising pages of anj printed medium of being read." Mr Weiss was particularly provokec at Mr. Winch's reported statemenl that "radio stations, billboards anc other media are side roads, necessary and useful, perhaps, but always side roads." Two radio talks were on the pro gram of the California Press Asso ciation's annual convention in Sar Francisco. Homer W. Wood, o: the Porterville (Cal.) Recorder spoke on "Does the Radio Com pete with the Town Newspaper,' while E. L. Finley discussed th< subject of radio in general and ad vocated that the United States adopt the European plan of gov ernment control. Termed Luxury AT THE A. N. A. Washingtoi meeting, the statement was mad' > by William H. Rankin, presiden of the New York Agency bearinj his name, that costs of radio ad vertising are now so high that i I is a "luxury," only the larges companies can afford if they wan i to present high class programs Mr. Rankin blamed this on the ex J cessive cost of talent, pointing ou that radio stars are now demand ] ing as high as $4,000 an appear ance. It was Mr. Rankin's opinio: that radio advertising has serve' to increase the volume of newspa I per advertising and that ther . should be the closest kind of co l operation between the two medi j for the most effective results. H I said radio advertising should hav j the background and support o daily newspaper advertising. Lee H. Bristol, vice president o the Bristol-Myers Co., New York was reelected president of the -A N. A., and Stuart Peabody o Ward & Co., New York, was re elected vice president. Bernar j Lichtenberg, of the Alexande Hamilton Institute, New Yorl was reelected chairman of the exi ecutive committee. The new d: I rectors are Paul B. West, of th.j National Carbon Co., New York! W. B. Griffin, of the International Silver Co., Meriden, Conn., and W| L. Schaeffer, of the National Tub Co., Pittsburgh. BROADCASTING • December 1, 193