Radio Broadcast (May-Oct 1925)

576 Radio Broadcast THE PONY EXPRESS In the earlier days of national development was the chief means of communicating intelligence. The method was slow, not especially certain, and rather hard on the pony expressman. This old engraving shows an express relay station in the Rocky Mountains be known within five minutes wherever men have ears. THE INFLUENCE OF NEWS BROADCASTING ON THE PRESS '"PHIS new practice of instantaneous news * broadcasting must essentially have a wide influence on the press. A dozen years ago the "extra edition" was the special marvel of the newspaper field. In some plants it was possible to produce such an edition within twenty minutes from the time of a world development. During the recent war these extra editions were almost an hourly event, particularly when the battle of the Marne hung in suspense and the Germans beat hard upon the door of Flanders. Peace brought fewer editions and a steadier tone to the press. In the few years since 19 1 8, radio broadcasting has developed so extensively and intensively that extra editions would lose much of their interest if the war were under way to-day. It might be argued that bulletins in front of newspaper offices whet the public appetite for news, instead of dulling its edge. But these bulletins are glimpsed by only a few thousands of people. And at best they are nothing more than skeletonized dispatches. This is not the case with radio news broadcasting. When events justify, announcers inform a myriad listeners what has transpired. It is easy to read dispatches in full. Ordinarily news of the first rank arrives in short, preg nant messages. The man with a radio set maylearn in the evening of some great event that his particular newspaper will not convey to him until the next morning. When an event of this kind is far distant — such as the Tokio earthquake — it frequently happens that a day or more will elapse before details begin to come through. In view of all of these considerations, no one may doubt that radio is exerting a strong influence on the press, and the press certainly will have an equal bearing on radio. It would seem that the press has been somewhat backward in developing the possibilities of news transmission and broadcasting. Only a comparatively small group of American newspapers are using the international stations and there are but two press receiving stations in existence. Publishers of small newspapers have found that radio broadcasting reduces interest in warmed over news. It is an old axiom of such newspapers that the scissors are mightier than the pen and seldom are the shears idle when a small paper is in the making. But the publication of matters already covered by some broadcasting station will not satisfy even country readers. The event may have been completed, perhaps wholly reversed, by the time that these papers appear. Therefore small papers are beginning to suffer from radio competition. Even the papers in large cities will feel the stress of this competition as it expands. But we may be certain that the newspaper is a fixed institution. Although it may lose some of its claim to freshness, when news broadcasting becomes general, it will have wide opportunity to amplify and develop news. In a measure, the newspaper is likely to evolve along the lines of established magazine practice, departing somewhat from the breathless, last minute attitude that marks such a large section of the press. If that evolution ever comes about, it will bring a large measure of relief to an abused public. We may conceive of the day when no paper can print such headlines as this one — "Burglar Slays Widow; Flees With Jewels" — for the excellent reason that it will be "old stuff." When the next edition comes out the burglar may be in jail, by the help of radio. THE EFFECT OF THE WAR AFTER the Armistice, radio development received a new stimulus. But it also lost in momentum because of the lessening of concentrated attention bv the world's best