NBC transmitter (Jan-Dec 1938)

NBC TRANSMITTER VOL. 4 MAY, 1 9 3 8 NO. 5 NBC EXPERIMENT IN EDUCATIONAL TELEVISION Television and educational history were made at Radio City on April 27 when the first demonstration of television’s applications to educational work was broadcast before Dr. James Conant, president of Harvard University; Dr. Harold Dodds, president of Princeton, and Dr. Livingston Farrand, president emeritus of Cornell University. The three distinguished American educators, as guests of President Lohr, saw the first television program designed specifically for educational purposes in the series of experiments being conducted by NBC into possible uses and applications of the new art. Five prominent figures in educational fields appeared in the screen of the receiving set as performers in the program. They were: F. Trubee Davison, president of the American Museum of Natural History, Dr. Roy W. Miner, the museum’s curator of living invertebrates, and his associate, Herman Mueller; Dr. Clarence C. Clark, of New York University, and Ambrose Lansing, egyptologist of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The demonstration was probably the first in American television in which ideas and suggestions for the educational use of the new art materialized. It proved the success of combining film, laboratory experiment and expert running commentary into a single program designed for adult education. Each medium contributed its special qualities to illustrate and clarify the others and gave an indication of what the American public may expect in education by radio in the future. TWO STATIONS ADDED TO BLUE NETWORK Two additions to the NBC-Blue Network on May 1 brought the total number of broadcasting stations affiliated with NBC to 152. The new affiliates are WMFF, Plattsburg, N. Y., and KMA, Shenandoah, Iowa. WMFF operates full-time on 1310 kilocycles, with daytime power of 250 watts and night power of 100 watts. KMA, located in a rich agricultural section, operates on a frequency of 930 kilocycles, with daytime power of 5,000 watts and night power of 1000 watts. General Service Holds Informative Discussions The General Service Department in New York has just terminated an experimental informative course on personnel and management problems which was tested among some of its members. According to the various executives of the department, the experiment, which was started last November and extended over a period of five months, has produced favorable results in the interests of the Company and the employes. The experiment, some of its main objects being the education of new employes in regard to the structure, functions and personnel of all the NBC departments, the improvement of employe relationships and a better handling of employe readjustments by supervisors, was divided into three series of round-table discussions, one for division managers and their assistants, another for section supervisors and their assistants and the third for new members of the department. The executives met at least once a week in groups of five or more to discuss their problems. The director of the department, Walter G. Preston, Jr., presided at some of these meetings and participated in the discussions and the settling of theoretical 25,000-WATT STATIONS FOR NBC SHORT WAVE Two new 25,000-watt transmitters, enabling American radio programs to penetrate every country of Europe and all parts of South and Central America, have been installed and will go into operation in the short-wave station, W3XAL, Bound Brook, New Jersey. Designed and built by NBC engineers, the new transmitters will operate through four directive beam systems and two nondirective antennae, occupying twenty-four acres at Bound Brook. Plans are under way to sharpen the directive beams so as to concentrate radio energy even more toward European and South American countries covered by NBC’s transmissions in six languages. Incorporating the latest developments in high frequency transmission, the new NBC short-wave transmitters will deliver international programs with higher field strength and greatly improved fidelity. The output stage of each of the transmitters consists of two water-cooled tubes delivering a maximum of 12.500 watts each to any one of the seven antenna systems. These tubes are excited by two other high frequency tubes newly developed for this purpose. The modulating stage consists of (Continued on Page 9) (Continued on Page 9) NBC Photo by Desfor Television’s place in adult education was demonstrated for the first time in America on April 27 when a special program devised by NBC was shown before the heads of three of the leading Eastern universities. Following the Radio City demonstration, Lenox R. Lohr, president of NBC, guided the visitors through the television studios. Left to right: Mr. Lohr. Dr. Livingston Farrand, President Emeritus of Cornell; President James Conant of Harvard, and President Harold Dodds of Princeton.