Broadcasting (July - Dec 1938)

The RADIO BOOK SHELF BIR©AD€ ASTD Nl € arvcL Broadcast Advertising Published by BROADCASTING PUBLICATIONS, Inc. Executive and Editorial Offices: National Press Bldg. 9 Washington, D. MARTIN CODEL, Publisher Telephone MEtropolitan 1022 SOL TAISHOFF, Editor GATE TAYLOR, Advertising Manager Subscription Price: $3.00 per year-15c a copy-Copyright, 1938, by Broadcasting Publications, Inc. J. FRANK BEATTY, Managing Editor % BERNARD PLATT, Circulation Manager NORMAN R. GOLDMAN, Advertising Representative NEW YORK OFFICE: 250 Park Ave., Telephone PLaza 5-8355 BRUCE ROBERTSON, Editorial • MAURY LONG, Advertising CHICAGO OFFICE: 360 N. Michigan Ave., Telephone CENtral 4115 • Paul brines HOLLYWOOD OFFICE: 6331 Hollywood Blvd., Telephone GLadstone 7353 • david h. glickman Television Emerges WHEN the Radio Act was being written, and then rewritten as the Communications Act, it will be recalled that it was the sentiment of the Congress that the commissions it set up should devote their energies to advancing the art and science of radio. Now comes television out of the laboratories after a decade of costly experimentation, as the latest child of an industry that has been battered about unmercifully by the political elements. With the emergence of television as a potential public service, the Government, and the FCC in particular, have an unparalleled opportunity to prove whether their regulators basically have the public interest at heart. It is impossible to prophesy whether television will "take" with the public. It has progressed very slowly in England, even with governmental subsidy. Even the most convinced researcher and industrial executive in the field won't hazard a guess as to how it will be received in this country. Actually, the rado set manufacturing industry approaches television with trepidation lest it upset its half billion dollar per year business. We won't venture to predict whether the American public, in those centers where television by reason of natural limitations will first be introduced, will take to their hearts the rather small images first offered. Time alone will tell. But it does appear that television is starting out properly and modestly and fairly. RCA is making its machinery and its services available to all comers qualified by the FCC. Thus there can be no monopoly except as dictated by the limitations of the wave lengths, which are under the control of the FCC. Here is an opportunity for the FCC to direct the destinies of what may, with care and foresight, become a new "billion dollar industry." It is our firm belief that broadcasters, by reason of their knowledge of public desires, their experience with technical operation and their investment in research are the natural inheritors of television. Some of them are already pioneers in the field. Others may choose to enter it, cautiously perhaps but certainly with their chief object the rounding out of their service to the public. They should be given every encouragement by the regulators of radio and every assurance that television will not, like sound radio, become a political football. Otherwise the public will be the chief loser, for even without television, sound broadcast ing is going to continue as the basic service to the American masses. Harry Shaw ONE OF RADIO'S almost forgotten but really great benefactors has passed on with the untimely death of Harry Shaw. It has been four years since he participated actively in radio — a long time on the radio calendar. Some seven years have elapsed since he served as president of the NAB during a trying year in its development. Many broadcasters will recall how Harry Shaw hopped from city to city in his own plane to keep things perking in industry affairs. He gave generously of his time and energy and finances to do what he considered the proper job. He worked hard for radio. Here at Broadcasting we have particular reason to mourn his passing. In the autumn of 1931, when the present owners were searching for financial backing, it was Harry Shaw who saw mei-it in the idea of an industry trade journal, independent and hard-hitting, unfettered by outside alliances. He provided the initial capital and took only a minority interest. He launched its first business drive, but left the editorial direction to its editors, who have been its sole owners since 1933. Harry Shaw was broken in health during the last year of what had been a full, active and unselfish life. He had suffered reverses in a business way. But if there is recompense for a job well done, the broadcasting industry will always look back on Harry Shaw as one of its truly great and beloved leaders. Reverse English THE OTHER day there came to our attention a release of Media Records, statistical information service on newspaper and magazine advertising lineage, reprinting an article on American radio published in the Statistical Review of London. The article told of dire things happening in commercial radio, stat'ng that while it is not quite "on its way out", the whole structure is about to crumble. The article itself is just about the most contradictory thing we have ever seen. After telling about how radio is ruining legitimate advertising and demoralizing agency service, the editors very honestly penned a footnote on "the other side of the picture". Broadcasting first was quoted as an indication of the steady growth of broadcast advertising in the United States. Then, rather remarkably, it was THE STORY of a wholesome, unsophisticated, warm hearted individual who won fame and success through a combination of hard work and luck is presented in Living in a Great Big Way, Kate Smith's autobiography, published by Blue Ribbon Books, New York ($1). In addition to telling her life story, Kate takes her readers behind the scenes in broadcasting, telling how a radio program is written, rehearsed and broadcast, and describing the changes that have occurred in broadcast technique since she first spoke her now famous "Hello, Everybody" into a microphone. She also tells of her enthusiasms for helping people who are sick or distressed, for sports and for foods, even including some of her favorite recipes and a plug for the products she advertises on her weekly program. EXPLANATION and illustration of the technique of writing for broadcasting, from planning the radio program to production, is included in Practical Radio Writing [LongmansGreen & Co., N. Y., $2], by Katharine Seymour and John T. W. Martin. EXPANSION of ultra-high frequency relay broadcasting is the basis of an article on u. h. f. equipment for that purpose by W. A. R. Brown, NBC assistant development engineer, in the October issue of the quarterly RCA Review. The same issue carries a review of u. h. f. vacuum-tube problems by B. J. Thompson, of RCA Radiotron Division, and a survey of u. h. f. measurements by L. S. Nergaard, also of Radiotron. PROCEEDINGS of the Second National Conference on Educational Broadcasting, held in Chicago Nov. 29-Dec. 1, 1937, have been edited by C. S. Marsh, executive secretary, and published in book form by the University of Chicago Press [$3]. INSTITUTE of Radio Engineers, New York, has published Standards on Radio Receivers 1938 and Standards on Electroacozistics 1938 in pamphlet form. brought out that in Great Britain, statistics on sponsored programs in English from continental stations, like those in Luxembourg and Paris, have skyrocketed. Expenditures for time for these English programs, earmarked for British listeners, increased from $880,000 in 1934 to $3,750,000 in 1937, according to these figures. And it was added that the tendency is for more advertisers to spend money on the air. Thus British listeners, despite a rigidly non-commex'cial government-owned broadcast structure, are dialing the hard way to get programs they like — the commercials. Add to that the significant fact that Winston Churchill, eminent British Conservative, when he answered Hitler the other day, was heard in the United States because radio by the American Plan permitted it, but was barred from the facilities of the BBC, operating under the European Plan. Page 44 • November I, 1938 BROADCASTING • Broadcast Advertising