Broadcasting (Jan - Dec 1935)

Million Radio Sets {Jsed in Dominion iainof 15% Over 1933 Shtmn; icense Fees Come Due By JAMES MONTAGNES .ASED on the number of radio jeceiving licenses issued during the J&st year, there was approximateone radio receiving set to every 3.6 persons in Canada, according > a report just issued by the Deartment of Trade and Commerce : Ottawa. There were 798,761 reviving licenses issued during the rst 11 months of the fiscal year ided March 31, making an in•ease of 105,932 licenses or 15.3% \rev the preceding year. Add to lis the number of receivers in omes of people not having licenss and an estimated million radio eceivers are in use in Canada. A ertain percentage of the populaon still holds out against the $2 nnual license, chancing the fine if aught. Unemployed unable to pay lie fee are allowed to use receivers ■ithout a license. Patronage System TARTING April 1 radio listeners lust buy new licenses, and plans t present indicate that the sale of hese licenses will be pressed more his year than ever before. Within he past few years the sale of licenses has been used as political atronage, in that unemployed pary workers or members are auhorized to sell licenses on a door c door system, retaining 15^ of he sale price. With an election to be held for he federal government this sumner this lucrative patronage sys«m is understood to be well oiled o sell as many licenses as possible, iespite the fact that listeners are ndignant about this method of ale, since it means opening the loor and hauling out the license or any number of men who are 'ending the compulsory license, as veil as for the inspector who is iable to come on complaint from my vendor to whom the listener vould not buy or show his license. )f 3ERT PHILLIPS, sales manager KHJ, Los Angeles, suffered racture.s of both heels in March in fall from a transom when he :ried to get in his office at night .vithout a key. Both feet are in ?asts and he expects to be back at lis desk in April with the aid of crutches. WROL REBROADCASTS Schedule of Knoxville Station Has 24 Pickups Daily — REBROADCASTING on an extensive scale has proved effective over a three-year period for WROL, 100-watt station at Knoxville, Tenn., on 1310 kc, and the station is picking up as many as 24 programs a day from WLW, Cincinnati; WHAS, Louisville, and WSM, Nashville. Located within an area which receives these stations satisfactorily, WROL uses special receiving equipment located 10 miles out of Knoxville where noise of power lines and interference are at a minimum. Rebroadcasts are by special arrangement with the originating stations and the FCC. Station breaks are sold to local sponsors for the rebroadcasts, only one of which is a network commercial— the American Rolling Mills Co.'s Armco program. A typical WROL schedule shows three evening rebroadcasts, the rest originating in the station. Reception difficulties are rare. The receiving equipment requires no operators, although weekly inspections are made. Programs from other stations are picked up by the control room with a telephone dial system which operates the automatic receiver 10 miles away. Among popular programs is the Ohio School of the Air which Knoxville schools make available each dav in the school auditoriums. California Libel Bill CALIFORNIA Assembly Bill 188, now before the Legislature in Sacramento, would hold individual radio stations responsible for all statements made over the air by an advertiser. Coast broadcasters will fight the measure as discriminatory, and a measure that would put a penalty on radio advertising whereas there is none on the press. The Los Angeles Broadcasters' Association, in collaboration with the Northern California Broadcasters' Association, late in March was preparing to oppose the bill. WASHINGTON State wrote a radio libel law on its statutes March 21 when the bill extending the application of the newspaper libel laws to stations and speakers was signed by the governor. The measure had passed the Legislature earlier this session. National Advertisers Check KVI Leadership in Western Washington FREE & SLEININGER, National Representatives April 1, 1935 • BROADCASTING .free ,tt<* tftv o*v revert * *nessa<3e nrft*>ei ol Of**!*.**"*****"* CO ot aw s use o&ce fro* Page 47