Radio age (Jan-Dec 1926)

RADIO AGE for March, 1926 The Magazine of the" Hour rT1HE number of broadcasting stations appears to -* have reached its maximum. The editor has it on the highest authority that the number will be decreased rather than increased. Gradually the list of more than five hundred stations will be reduced. Under the legislation now being planned in Washington it will be necessary for broadcasters to show that they are using the time allotted to them before they obtain a renewal of their licenses and authority to use time on the air. So many important groups now are desirous of using broadcasting to further their civic, educational and cultural objects that it is felt that a means will have to be found of admitting them to the air. Inasmuch as it is impracticable to add .any more stations it eventually will be necessary to force stations now licensed to divide their time with new interests. This does not mean that the Department of Commerce will adopt any arbitrary method of refusing licenses or forcing new divisions of time. The department will renew present licenses in practically all cases. But each broadcaster, as stated, must give an account of his use of time on his wave-length. A development that is likely to take place with the passing of the years is a consolidation of broadcasting by various interests through a centrally located station which is now using full time on its own activities. It is the theory that there is too much duplication of efforts among broadcasting stations, accompanied by interference which confuses and annoys the Listeners. It is said by those who have made a study of the situation that there should not be more than two hundred broadcasting stations in this country. It is contended that radio broadcasting is getting out of the merely entertaining class into a position where it is more and more a public utility. Looking at broadcasting as a public utility for the dissemination of information it is plain that the same rules are likely to be applied to it as are now applied to the construction and operation of railways. It would be regrettable if broadcasting should lose its independence. Competition among private interests perhaps will develop and expand the usefulness of broadcasting more satisfactorily than could be done by a group that partook of the nature of a monopoly. Steady resistance has been made to the efforts of the last four years to monopolize the air and we hope the resistance will thrive. In any case the handling of broadcasting is almost sure to undergo important changes. Having reached the saturation point as to the number of stations we are now to witness a gentle but continuous readjustment of time schedules, wave lengths and licenses. Conditions are far from ideal but in improving them we believe the government will do everything within its power to conserve the rights of individuals and groups now licensed to broadcast. It is comforting also to learn that there is no intention of censoring the radio programs. Radio, like the press, is to be free in America. A CONSIDERABLE interest was aroused by our -£"* editorial in the February issue of RADIO AGE regarding the improvement in loud speakers. We have had correspondence from many sources and this response indicates how vital the question of good reproduction of sound has become in the radio art. We had no intention of advertising any particular speaker or speakers. We believer it is proper for makers of good loud speakers to do their own advertising and some of them are advertising. We repeat that the buyer of a radio set will run the risk of wasting his money if he does not at the same time make sure that he buys a speaker that reproduces sound with pleasant fidelity. If the loud speaker is bad the best receiving set cannot make reception good. TN a recent issue a reference was made to the biblical ■* story of Jacob and Esau. After the magazine was off the press it occurred to us that we had erred in identifying the brother with the hairy hands. No reader has yet called our attention to the mistake and we begin to suspect that blue prints may have distracted attention from the good book. We regret the error but if the father of Jacob and Esau was confused about the matter we may have some excuse for mixing it up. TF NOTHING else was accomplished by the inter-* national tests during the last week in January we did discover that the blooper is a universal nuisance. Careless tuning of sets and the tuning of regenerative bird cages that no amount of care could save from being pestiferous made the effort to hear Europe or South America a radio nigh .mare. We believe that the operators of regenerative outfits learned a lesson. They found that their neighbor was smashing their hopes of getting the other side and thereby reached the conclusion that they themselves probably were interfering with their neighbor. As a result we have been receiving numerous inquiries since international week about construction of tuned radio frequency outfits. The best way to cure a blooper is to bloop back at him when he is trying to hear 2-LO or PTT. Safe to say there will not be so much interference from regenerative receivers another year.