Radio Broadcast (Nov 1926-Apr 1927)

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46 RADIO BROADCAST NOVEMBER, 1926 Practically two years had elapsed since anyone had gone in or come out of the Southampton Island post. As this isolated point is not equipped with a radio set, the men stationed there had no idea as to what had become of the supply ship and they were in complete ignorance that the other posts some miles south had been rationed. Chesterfield Inlet chanced to be listening-in when the appeal was broadcast and Brother Pigeon of the Oblate Fathers took down the message. The Oblate Order labors among the scattered peoples of northern Canada and ordinarily these missionaries have few contacts with more advanced civilization, and such contacts are separated by long intervals of time. From this same Brother Pigeon, cnro has received a letter, which tells vividly how much radio means to these isolated people: . . . Let me tell you now a few words about radio. A charitable person gave us a receiving apparatus so that we can better enjoy our dreadful solitude in these ice deserts. We heartily thank that person who so generously furnished the missionaries with a little bit of the joys of the civilized world. Here are a few results from the radio apparatus. We heard many a time Ottawa and Montreal. What a joy for us all in hearing of our homes. We knew the results of the last Federal elections as soon as you did yourself. We also gathered a message sent to the Hudson Bay Company asking for help for the Eskimos living in Southampton Island who were threatened by a famine because the boat could not reach them with food last summer. Could we have a few items of news from your locality we would indeed be pleased if you would broadcast them. Since we can pick up your station it is a delightful pleasure to hear "voices from home." Good News for the Winter Season THE pooh-poohers of radio, of whom there are still plenty, should have excellent cause to reconsider their poohs when they learn (if they learn!) that radio listeners are to have a special symphony season of their own offered by no less an organization than the New York Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Walter Damrosch. For if the engineers do a good job of microphone placing and transmitting and the listener has a first rate receiving set the concerts should be very nearly as good as if they were heard in an auditorium. (Providing also that the music is selected with regard to its adaptation to reproduction.) And there will be the added advantage that the radio audience will not be obliged to see the orchestra — which same seeing is more of a detriment to full enjoyment of music than otherwise. The Fansteel Products Company, manufacturer of Balkite Radio Power Units, is the sponsor of the series. The concerts will be given every Saturday night at 9:00 p. m. Eastern Standard time, over weaf, New York; weei, Boston; wgr, Buffalo; wfi, Philadelphia; wcae, Pittsburgh; wsai, Cincinnati; wtam, Cleveland ;wwj, Detroit; wgn, Chicago; wcco, Minneapolis-St. Paul; ksd, St. Louis; wdaf, Kansas City, and woe, Davenport. While Mr. Damrosch and his orchestra have been on the air before, this is the first time that any attempt has been made to broadcast a regular series of symphony concerts. The first concert (October 23rd) will be a full symphony program by Mr. Damrosch and the orchestra. Thereafter the concerts will be arranged as far as possible in pairs. Each symphony program will be preceded by a piano recital by Mr. Damrosch alone. In these recitals he will discuss, explain and play important parts of the programs of the following week. By this method it is expected that the programs can be made not only of the greatest entertainment value, but be made to constitute a liberal education in music as well. Mr. Damrosch is too well known to require comment. It is not surprising that he should be the pioneer in symphonic broadcasting, for he was one of the pioneer orchestra leaders in the was afraid it would be distorted beyond recognition, and for a long time refused to consider the proposal. Finally, however, there came an evening when one of the large Eastern symphonies was broadcasting. A member of his family had a radio set put in the room next to Mr. Damrosch's library where he was working. When the concert began the set was tuned-in. For some time Mr. Damrosch paid no attention to it. Then he came into the room to listen. For some time he sat without comment. But after a few minutes the attempt to sit idly by while an orchestra was playing proved entirely too much for him. He got up, took his position in front of the receiver, and proceeded to conduct for the remainder of the entire concert exactly as if he had had the orchestra before him. When it was over he was as spent as by an hour's work on the stage. He was asked whether he thought the music well reproduced, and he was forced to admit that he hadn't noticed, so it must have been well done. From that point his only objection to broadcasting was removed. Broadcast Miscellany M R. E. M. TINGLEY, Chicago, Illinois, offers the following information in a letter: WILLIAM N. STRADTMAN, AT WLW Mr. Stradtman is the physical director of the Cincinnati Y. M. C. A. For the past two years he has been broadcasting morning exercises at 7:30 through wlw. Eva Carrol Roark gets up in time to play the necessary piano accompaniment for him each morning country. Perhaps no other person has done as much as he in the development of music in America. He grew up with American music, and to many his name is synonymous with its growth. While Mr. Damrosch is now enthusiastic about the prospects of broadcasting regularly, this has not always been so. The following story is told about him. He had been approached on several occasions on the subject of going on the air. He was very skeptical and not at all interested, fearing that orchestral music could not be broadcast with any accuracy. He As a bit of radio history, wor, of Newark, New Jersey, first started to broadcast the time by voice on March 22, 1922. Can any other station claim an earlier date? It had occurred to me that as the correct time is always new and is always news, especially in the country districts, that it would be particularly suitable for a radio item. I accordingly wrote to kdka, wjz, and the Madison, Wisconsin, station asking that they state the time once or twice during each period they were on the air. The idea did not get across, as kdka replied that their time service from Arlington was satisfactory and the other stations did not answer. Finally I made a personal call at wor and their manager and his assistant immediately appreciated the value of the idea and they promised to put it into practice at once. That same afternoon I heard by the voice of their young lady announcer "the correct Eastern Standard time is now 4:16 ?. M., WOR signing off." In the good old days, all one had to do was to inquire of the telephone operator, then known as "Central," "time please?" Since that service has long been done away with, the radio check-up on the time is an occasional convenience. The trouble is that you generally have to wait for a station to sign off to glean this information. Some one station in each center might make it a point to announce the correct time on every even hour. We don't mean that it should interrupt its program to pipe out with "it is now exactly three p. m." but it could make use of the announcer's interval that nearest approximated the even hour, even though it were a few minutes earlier of later. But let the studio clock be correct itself! Graham McNamee must have made many a commuter miss his favorite train when, one day last summer, he signed weaf off at " 10:08 Eastern Daylight Time" when it was actually 10:22 in the evening. The catastrophe occurred, he later explained, because in taking