NBC Transmitter (Jan-Dec 1938)

NBC TRANSMITTER VOL. 4 I UNE, 1 9 3 8 NO. 6 PRESS VIEWS PROGRESS MADE IN TELEVISION Recent developments in the RCA-NBC all-electronic television system were revealed to members of the press on May 17 in demonstrations by NBC at Radio City. The demonstrations were designed to show the progress made in technical and program development during the seven months elapsed since the system was last shown to the press. While no startling innovations have been introduced in the RCA system during the last year, steady advances have been made toward technical perfection of the medium. David Sarnoff, president of RCA, in reviewing results of two years of experimentation and research in electronic television, said, “Our experiments with television in the past 18 months have improved the system by increasing its capabilities and efficiency, thus enabling it to move closer to the inauguration of a television service for the American home.” NBC’s activities in television at the present time are still strictly experimental. Since 1936 field-test transmissions have been undertaken periodically by RCA and NBC, under the direction of R. R. Beal, RCA research director, and O. B. Hanson, NBC vice-president and chief engineer. The demonstration, arranged by C. W. Farrier, NBC television coordinator, and consisting of a dramatic production drawn from one of the regular evening programs, was broadcast over Station W2XBS, in the Empire State tower. The drama. The Mysterious Mummy Case, was adapted from a Tom Terris adventure script by Thomas H. Hutchinson, television program director. Its presentation required three studios and four distinct techniques to portray the misfortunes attendant upon the purchase in Egypt of an ancient mummy case. The main action took place in Studio 3H where the actors were located, but auxiliary media in the form of slides, motion pictures and special television effects were contributed from two other studios. Five sets were used in the live talent studio by a cast of nine players. Slides and motion pictures were scanned in another studio, two floors above, and all the effects, constructed and operated by Engineer Bill Eddy and his staff, were televised in a special studio nearby. More (Continued on Page 13) NBC Receives Awards For Educational Features Educational features presented by NBC were honored signally last month when five out of nine possible first awards were made to NBC programs by the Ninth Annual Institute for Education by Radio at the final meeting of the Institute at Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio. In addition to the five principal awards, representing the greatest number awarded to any station or network, honorable mentions also were given two NBC educational programs. Nine programs were entered by NBC in the Second American Exhibition of Recordings of Educational Radio Programs, a competition established by the Institute for the purpose of encouraging the broadcasting of educational programs by calling attention to the “most meritorious ones of each type.” The winning NBC programs included. Science in the News produced by the University Broadcasting Council, Story Behind the Headlines, produced by the American Historical Association and NBC. NBC Home Symphony, produced by NBC under the direction of Ernest La Prade, America's Town Meeting of the Air, produced by Town Hall, Inc., and NBC, Your Health, produced by the American Medical Association and NBC. Honorable mentions were awarded to the University of Chicago Round Table, produced by the University Broadcasting Council, The World Is Yours, produced by the U. S. Office of Education. AMATEUR DRAMA GROUP FORMED BY EMPLOYES The curtain soon will rise on another enterprise of the NBC employes in Radio City. This time the curtain will rise literally, because the enterprise is an amateur theatrical production to be produced, directed and acted by members of the New \ ork staff. The play, June Moon, a Broadway hit written by Ring Lardner and George S. Kaufman, will be the first attempt of the group which shall be known as The Stagecrafters. The opening night, which will probably take place in one of the large studios in Radio City, has not yet been announced. However, the play is now being cast and the rehearsals are expected to begin this month. (Continued on Page 13) NBC AND WESTINGHOUSE OPEN NEW MODERN STUDIOS FOR KYW On the afternoon of May 20, while a squadron of Navy planes droned overhead in tribute, KYW’s new modernistic studios in the heart of Philadelphia were officially dedicated as ex-Senator Pepper of Pennsylvania opened the main door with a gold key flown by air mail from KGU, Honolulu, NBC's most distant station. This was the signal for a three-day celebration which terminated in a banquet held at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel. Outstanding feature of the banquet, which was attended by NBC officials from New York, KYW and Westinghouse employes and leaders of Philadelphia’s business and social world, was the presentation of a large American flag to KYW' by the Betsy Ross Association of Philadelphia. The presentation was made by William A. Carr, president of the Association and accepted in behalf of NBC, by A. H. Mor ton, manager of NBC managed and operated stations. The ceremony was broadcast over a coast-to-coast hook-up of the NBC-RED Network. One of the highlights of the celebration was a race by three convoys of carrier pigeons on Saturday, May 21. Released by U. S. Signal Corps officers, one group sped to NBC President Lenox R. Lohr in Radio City, a second to Frank McNinch, Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission in Washington, D.C., and the third to the Seaboard Homing Club at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey. The new NBC studios are a striking example of what engineering and radio science have made possible in the past few years. Technicians and specialists from Westinghouse RCA and NBC and others contributed equipment especially designed to meet the needs of broadcasting in the Philadelphia area. In various details of design and construction they surpass NBC’s famous Radio City studios, built only five years ago. The building contains seven studios occupying four floors and is the first on record to have a studio in the basement. This sub-surface studio is built along the lines of a theatre and seats 225 people. The two top floors are reserved for future television activities, for which the station is admirably located, being close to the (Continued on Page 13)