Radio age (May 1922-Dec 1923)

RADIO AGE— "THE MAGAZINE OF THE HOUR' "I bring to you a message from Prof. Jansky, of the University of Minnesota, who was one of the members of the Hoover committee which drafted the Kellogg-White bill. Here is Professor Jansky's letter, in part: " 'Radio traffic is being regulated by the Department of Commerce, under the law of 1912. The Department is to a certain extent, handicapped by a lack of funds and personnel. To my mind the situation may best be remedied by early consideration of the Kellogg-White bill, which was prepared by the radio conference to give the Department of Commerce necessary authority to handle the present situation. " 'The Department, under the present law, must proceed very slowly. The assignment of a wave band for broadcasting service in place of two single wave lengths will do much to prevent interference between stations. You can readily see that the allocation of wave lengths will be a very difficult one.' " Mr. Findley went on to say that various men selected by Secretary Hoover to draft this bill spent a great deal of time on it. There has been opposition to the bills but Mr. Findley said Professor Jansky was convinced it was a step in the right direction. It was suggested by the speaker that station owners broadcast a summary of the bill to their audiences and ask for expressions of opinion on the bill from the listeners. He urged that the users of receiving sets be enlisted in a move to induce congressmen to have the bill brought before the house without further delay. He said that some persons believed nothing could be accomplished until the senators got back to Washington but he disputed this, saying that the time to show the national legislators what was needed and what was wanted, was right now, so that when they returned to Washington they would be ready to act. The bill referred to is the KelloggWhite radio bill, Senate Bill No. 3694. It was introduced April 20 and referred to a Senate committee on interstate commerce and to the House committee. "This will slumber on the tables of the committee," said Mr. Findley, "unless the broadcasters get busy and bring about some action on it." Ralph C. Watrous, former Governor of Rhode Island, representing (Note — The Kellogg-White bill was published in full in the September issue of Radio Age.) the National Radio Chamber of Commerce, spoke next. Mr. Watrous explained that the Chamber was interested only in the common interest of all elements in the radio art. He said that only persons who would quarrel with the Chamber was one who had some selfish interest to promote. Mr. Watrous advised those present to get together for discussion and solution of the interference problem and other difficulties. He suggested a national conference. It was apparent that Mr. Watrous believed it would be best for the broadcasters to affiliate with the Chamber of Commerce, but when outspoken opposition to such a plan was expressed, he said that he hoped the League about to be formed would cooperate with the Chamber and that the Chamber would be glad to serve the broadcasters. Radio Inspector E. A. Beane, of the Ninth District, next addressed the meeting on the subject of interference. As he is the air policeman for a territory covering an immense territory, his version of the interference situation was awaited with interest. "It seems to me," he said, "that the only solution to local interference is the making of a definite program for each station and this can be done through organization. The plan I favor is to arrange a program of six days a week for each broadcasting locality. The seventh day would be called a "silent day" or "silent night" and on that night all broadcasting and local communications would cease, giving the listeners with the better class of equipment a chance to receive programs from a longer distance. "The next night you would be in the air when some other location is silent and your broadcasting gets across. You can go to the amateur and say you are arranging a silent night to permit those with receiving outfits to listen in to outside concerts. If the amateurs will agree to stand by every night during your general broadcasting program from 7 to 10:30 o'clock you will stand by and give them a chance to send and receive long distance work. "In Louisville we put such an arrangement through in a few hours' time. A committee was asked to take care of all complaints. I believe your organization should incorporate such a plan in your work. The public should be educated in the proper use of apparatus." Thorne Donnelley, Station WD APF, Chicago, expressed the opinion that one national organization should assume the work outlined by the extra speakers. George Lewis, Secretary of the National Radio Chamber of Commerce, brought up the question of what rights, if any, owners of copyrights on music and songs had in the way of taxing broadcasters of such musicand songs. C. B. Cooper, secretary of the Broadcasters Society of America, told how that body of a few eastern broadcasters had found difficulty in eliminating interference in New York. George S. Walker said : "We are broadcasting out in Denver at a great expense. I am wondering where we are at. I have made a big investment and would hate to lose it. I went into it at the request of my boy who is 18 years old. I believe there should be an organization of broadcasters to protect our investment if nothing else. We do not know at what moment we will be wiped out, with our investment. "We are told that we can broadcast expensive programs but where do we get our compensation? I have a radio store in Denver, but when we broadcast music for the entertainment of radio fans at great expense we expect to be repaid by the sale of radio goods. Yet the next morning we find that the soft drink parlor has put in a receiving set to permit patrons to listen to our programs and the soft drink parlor is selling radio sets. "We should form an organization that would not be the tail of any kite. I am in the radio business to make money, but it strikes me that the Radio Corporation of America are making the money out of radio." Arthur H. Ford, State University of Iowa, said no matter what commercial Stations might do, the universities would go on supplying broadcasting service. He was in favor of an organization that would include in its scope newspaper stations, university and school stations and stations operated by individuals or firms engaged in the radio business. On motion of John P. Tansey, secretary of the Radio Club of Illinois, the chair appointed a committee comprised of Messrs. Donnelley, Walker, Ford, and the secretary to draw up an organization plan, which resulted in the selection of the officers already named. Present at the meeting were: B. L. Moore, Vice President of the Federal Telephone and Telegraph Company, Buffalo, N. Y. (WGR) Frank W. Elliott, Vice President, Palmer School of Chiropractic, Dav(Continued on page 30)