Broadcasting (Jan - June 1940)

SarnofF Foresees Future in Video, FM and Facsimile Describes Recent Progress At Stockholders' Meeting RCA and its subsidiary companies earned a net profit of $2,312,893 during the first quarter of 1940, an increase of 60% over 1939 first quarter earnings of $1,448,770, David Sarnoff, president, reported to the annual meeting of stockholders in New York on May 7. After preferred dividend requirements, he said, the quarter's earnings leave 10.8 cents per share of common stock, as compared with 4.6 cents earned for common stock in the first quarter of last year. Gross income for the quarter was $28,310,407, up 13% from the $25,004,989 of a year ago. Reviewing the decade since 1930, when he was elected president, Mr. Sarnoff singled out research and technical development as the most significant factor of RCA's progress in the 10-year period. "Research," he said, "has directly contributed to otir income and earnings; it has enabled us to expand the scope and variety of our products and services; and today promises even greater expansion in new fields. As a result of RCA research, three new services now beckon those who seek to expand radio's usefulness. They are: Facsimile, frequency modulation and television." RCA's Three Fronts Stating that RCA's position with respect to placing television on a commercial basis has been fully stated during recent hearings before the FCC, Mr. Sarnoff continued: "RCA is proceeding on three fronts in television. Our research laboratories are continuing to develop new processes and new equipment; our manufacturing and sales people are exploring new markets; and our broadcasting company is proceeding with its development of television programs." In answer to a question about obsolescence of present television equipment, Mr. Sarnoff replied that television is just beginning and that there will be obsolescence, but that it should be no greater than that of radio receivers in the early days of sound broadcasting and that he sees no reason why anyone living in an area where regular television programs are available should hesitate to purchase a television receiver now. Another stockholder's question as to the status of the stockholders' suit against RCA was answered that RCA on May 6 had filed a motion for dismissal with the court and that after the complainant had filed an answering brief the court would set the date for argument. Another question regarding ownership of RCA stock abroad was answered with the statement that 5% of outstanding stock was held abroad, 31/2% being held in Great Britain and Canada. The four directors whose terms expired were all reelected for threeyear terms and Arthur Young & Co. was appointed to continue as outside auditor for the corporation. While the ballots were being counted, the approximately 400 stockholders present were given the first demonstration of RCA's largescreen television. LENS flEFlEeilHB YOKE PBOJEClIOl 1 KINESCOPE TOBEJl COHCAVEMIRBOR U BfEST^' tU»V0UA6£TlRMWALV CROSS-SECTION OF the large-screen television system recently developed by RCA Radio Laboratories, schematically drawn, indicates how a newly-perfected optical system picks up the image from a kinescope projection tube on a concave mirror and projects it through an extremely wdde-aperture lens to the 4% x 6 foot screen about 20 feet distant. RCA Large-Screen Television With Clear Images Is Exhibited Pictures 4^x6 Feet Are Shown to 400 Persons in Auditorium; No Diffusion Noted in Images quired for its commercial development. Projection optics of extremely wide aperture, a kinescope capable of high-voltage operation, using 56,000 volts as compared with the 6,000 or 7,000 volts used by the kinescope in an ordinary home receiver, and apparatus suited to those conditions are said to be the basic elements of the new system. The image on the face of the kinescope, where it measures only 2.4 by 3.2 inches, faces not toward the screen but in the opposite direction, being throvra upon a concave mirror surface 16 inches in diameter. The mirror collects the strong light from the kinescope and magnifies the image 221/2 times; the magnified image is then projected back through a glass lens surrounding the neck of the kinescope and thence 20 feet through space to the screen. Signals are received at the Kinescope either through the air as broadcast or by direct vnre line. Both methods were employed during the demonstration, with no noticeable difference in the resultant images on the screen. RCA's new system of large-screen television was given its first public demonstration May 7 at the company's annual stockholders' meeting, held in one of the larger NBC studios and attended by some 400 persons. Program, featuring stars of opera, symphony, stage and radio, was projected by a laboratory model instrument on an ordinary moving picture screen, producing images 4%x6 feet in size that were comparable to home television reception in quality. Asked why the increase in size did not cause a diffusion in the images, which were broadcast on the RMA standard of 441-line definition, comparable to the diffusion that accompanies magnification of a half-tone reproduction, RCA engineers explained that as the size of the image was increased, the size of the spot made by the beam of electrons scanning the picture was also increased, with the result that the large-screen pictures were as good as the smaller images viewed on a regular home receiver, with the scanning lines just as invisible. Too much increase in the size of the scanning spot would cause a loss of definition in the image, it was explained, but experiment located the happy medium at which no lines are visible nor is there any decrease in definition. How It Is Done While the unit was built as an intermediate step in developing apparatus for projection of larger images, suitable for use in motion picture theatres, the present size has "interesting possibilities for use in clubs, schools and other similar places where the viewing group numbers from 100 to 150 persons," RCA reports. There are no immediate plans for marketing this apparatus, it was stated, and from a year to 18 months would be re RCA Dividend QUARTERLY dividends of 87y2C per outstanding share of RCA $3.50 Cumulative Convertible First Preferred stock and of $1.25 per outstanding share of "B" Preferred stock were declared at the regular board of directors meeting on May 3. Dividends cover the period from April 1 to June 30 and will be paid July 1 to stockholders of record at close of business June 7. New York Telecast Caught in Chicago Freak Reception Sets Record For American Television AN AMERICAN record for longdistance television broadcasting was hung up May 2 by NBC when portions of a program telecast by its New York City transmitter, W2XBS, were seen and heard by Howard C. Luttgens, NBC's central division engineer, in Chicago. Tuning in the receiver in his office in Chicago's Merchandise Mart, he reports that after a few minutes of unrecognizable patterns he had a clear view of June Hynd of NBC's women's program staff as she interviewed Dixie's "Maid of Cotton" in the studio in the RCA Bldg. in New York. Five minutes later, when a musical team succeeded the interview, the sound part of the program came through very well but the image faded out, both sound and picture disappearing completely after 16 minutes, although the program was on the air 11 minutes longer. Just a Freak Explaining this unusual extension of the normal 90-mile reception limit to a 1,000-mile distance, NBC engineers said the phenomenon was due to a "sporadic layer" in the upper atmoshpere which acted as a mirror for the ultrashort waves. Ordinarily, it was explained, these waves penetrate the reflecting layers, unlike the longer waves used by stations in the normal broadcasting band, and the engineers added that the conditions which made the Chicago reception possible were not apt to recur for several months. An attempt to repeat the reception on the follovdng evening, May 3, failed to produce any signal, either sight or sound, on the Chicago receiver. The 1,000-mile reception, while setting an American record, is not the longest for the world. Early last year the RCA experimental listening post at Riverhead, L. I., equipped with a special antenna for trans-Atlantic pick-ups, pulled in several television programs of the BBC in London, receiving images that were recognizable although not of high quality. McGill on Directing ADVICE on the fundamental problems involved in the production of radio programs is presented in the textbook Radio Directing [McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York], written by Earle McGill, CBS casting director and producer, and an instructor at New York U. Mr. McGill gives full details of the preparation necessary for a broadcast from the first reading through the casting, rehearsals and final presentation. How to produce different programs, whether children's audience participation, remote or forum type, is covered in detail, and three exemplary scripts are reproduced with mechanical factors carefully explained. CBS board of directors on May 8 declared a cash dividend of 45c per share on the present Class A and Class B stock of $2.50 par value. The dividend is payable June 7 to stockholders of record on May 24 AN ADDRESS on "Decentralization of Relief", by Maj. Gen. James G. Harbord, chairman of the board of RCA, delivered at the University of the South, and one on "Freedom of Speech", by Frank W. Wozencraft, RCA's general solicitor, before the annual inspirational meeting of the Dallas Salesmanship Club, have been printed in booklet form by RCA. Page 32 • May 15, 1940 BROADCASTING • Broadcast Advertising