Radio broadcast .. (1922-30)

896 Radio Broadcast C. H. MURCHLAND Telegraph operator for the United Press at the Dayton, Ohio, Herald receiving press dispatches by radio broadcasting during a recent storm which struck down press wires. Broadcasting has frequently come to the aid of newspapers in an emergency caused by a storm since it was first used in this connection by the Detroit News in 1921 concerned. People come to their churches not so much to get religion as to get the speaker's view on religious questions— they want their religious convictions to be deeply rooted in their inner consciousness and appreciate consciously or unconsciously that these magnetic and powerful speakers can bring this about much more thoroughly than would result from any analysis and study of their own. So that if the evidence of such men is to form the basis of our judgment, we must admit that radio is a great assistant to the church — thousands and thousands who cannot get into the church do nevertheless hear these scholars discourse on Christ's philosophy and examine critically the question as to what things are really worth while in our modern complex life. Many meetings are held outside of the church doors, says one of the ministers interviewed, to listen to his sermon over the radio at points far distant. Do these radio listeners also attend their own church services? or have they forsaken their own comparatively mediocre leader to listen to one of much greater power? Before we can really tell what effect radio has on church attendance we must interview many of these less gifted preachers whose congregations may have fallen off as rapidly as the metropolitan preachers' have increased. So let's interview the country pastor whose flock can listen every Sunday to S. Parkes Cadman or Harry Emerson Fosdick over the radio channels, what the effect of radio on church attendance has been, and see if his views agree with theirs. Another Antiquated Transmitter Scrapped THERE is no doubt that broadcasting is making progress; only last month we spoke of the spark signals from the United States Mail tug President in the port of New York carrying on its sometimes heavy traffic by means of a spark set which spilled its energy promiscuously throughout the broadcast range. During the past month. the Government has decided, after pressure brought by the American Radio Association, to scrap this outfit and install a vacuum tube transmitter in its place. A aoo-watt tube set, which will send out practically all of its energy on one wavelength, will be used to replace the; one kilowatt spark set at present used. Orders for the purchase and installation of the tube transmitter have already been placed by the Post Office Department. Wavelengths Will Not Be Changed THE recent National Radio Conference recommended to the Secretary of Commerce certain changes in the assignment of wavelengths to the various broadcasting stations. It was the opinion of the conference members that interference could thereby be lessened. Soon after the conference disbanded, it became evident to officials of the Commerce Department that the suggested plan had already become obsolete, because of the rapidly increasing number of broadcasting stations, and the consequent demands for wavelength assignments. The present "rush to broadcasting" will not continue very long according to the ideas of some of these officials, and any change in wavelength assignments had better wait until that time. The complete upset of the re-allocation plan has apparently convinced those responsible for radio regulation that the art is changing so rapidly that a general re-assignment at this time would be useless and should not be attemped until the conditions in the broadcasting world have become more stable. We are inclined to agree with one official who expressed the opinion that many people are getting broadcast licenses who don't want them, and that as the art progresses the number of stations will decrease rather than increase, thereby automatically eliminating