Radio Broadcast (Nov 1926-Apr 1927)

FEBRUARY, 1927 USELESS NEWSPAPER RADIO PROGRAMS 357 new members had joined a local radio club and, encouraged by this substantial increase of membership and evidence of interest, they decided at once to proceed with the erection of a broadcasting station. Moving picture theatres, hotels, radio stores, automobile agencies and ambitious amateurs comprise a large part of the wavelength seekers. Municipalities and religious organizations which ought to know better, have hardly been in the minority when it comes to vandalistic wavelength-jumping and ruination of reception. The character of the applicants for space on the ether is exposed by the ruthlessness with which the meagre allotment of six exclusive wavelengths to our Canadian neighbors was usurped. There is no greater disgrace in the annals of broadcasting than this wanton and ungentlemanly action on the part of stations which have deliberately ruined broadcast reception in Canada. A total of 57 American stations have seized Canadian wavelengths, including WHT, WNAC, WHAP, KSO,WJAZ, WWAE, KFCW, KWDH, KSBA, KTLD, KMMJ, KGDT, KFKB, and KFXF. There are ample broadcasting facilities for all, if sympathetic interests will combine in the operation of stations, but, if each must use his own station, the future needs of commercial aviation, of short-wave rebroadcasting links, of high speed point-topoint communication, of emergency railroad service and a score of other useful services are menaced by this insistent rabble of the ether. Why should we accommodate more stations? Simply as a sop to those who must be excluded from the present broadcasting band if there is to be an end to radio chaos. It is an economic waste. If those who apply for stations do not have prospect of an appreciable following, they certainly should not be licensed. If they do, it reduces the audience of existing broadcasting stations. That means less value to their microphones and, in consequence, less attractiveness to better artists and features — in other words, lowered program values. It is hard to see who gains by the insane mania which some people seem to possess to stir up the ether through their own private microphone. Conserving of radio frequencies is a problem calling for the same foresight as the conservation of forests and the judicious planning of our public highways and railroad grants. Divesting one established on a frequency thoughtlessly assigned today, will be as difficult a generation from now as it would be for the government to regain former public lands, occupied for twenty years by thriving farms, villages, and cities. Many rail at the lack of foresight of our fathers because of their failure to plan cities, highways and railroads while rights of way were purchasable at low figures. Today we cut up the only remaining airplane landing fields near large cities into real estate developments and we give away broadcast radio frequencies for which there will ultimately be a crying need to promote the safety of aerial travelers and to extend worldwide communication. Gentlemen, have mercy on your grandchildren! A GERMAN POLICE MOTORCYCLE, RADIO EQUIPPED A complete outfit is installed in the armored car at the left, so that the unit may be at all times in communication with headquarters. If any shooting starts, things must be a bit difficult for the unprotected driver In Great Britain, there are 2,105,000 licensees, but whether listeners are wholly satisfied with their much vaunted broadcasting system is indicated by another item in the same publication: The British Broadcasting Company carries on remarkably, but many promises and long overdue improvements, such as high power stations and alternative programs, are held up, among other reasons, because of lack of funds. In view cf the fact that of the £2,227,000 received by the Post Office in license fees for the three years ending March 31, 1926, only £ i, 166,000 has been handed over to , the B. B. C, the Wireless Retailers' Association has instituted a campaign to recover the bulk of the balance for the purpose for which it was subscribed. After outlining the activities of the Wireless Retailers' Association in stimulating the Postmaster General, the article continues: "The Wireless Retailers' Association's activities are far from finished in this connection and dealers throughout the country will undoubtedly do all they can in this endeavor to secure better broadcasting." A well known New Yorker, a zealous radio follower, is quoted anonymously in the Times as follows: "What makes British radio rather dull for an American is the heavy official way in which they run it. Parliament is constantly talking about and laying down rules for it. Every sev. owner pays a license fee and the really huge sum thus raised does not appear to go back into broadcasting. The general impression one gains is that the government is everything, individual initiative nothing — in radio." The Useless Newspaper Radio Program Failures in the Broadcasting Tax System t; kHOSE who dislike commercial broadcasting in principle always suggest, if they have any constructive idea, the establishment of a taxation system to support broadcasting. The experience of South Africa, as described in Broadcaster and Wireless Retailer, a leading British trade publication, is enlightening. In the prosperous South African province, two stations have been given a monopoly, one at Johannesburg and one at Durban, the former now showing a deficit of over $25,000 and the latter about $35,000. The magazine complains that there are 20,000 "pirates" in Johannesburg who do not pay their broadcasting fee and incidentally points out that the cost of collecting the $50,000 revenue from listeners was more than $2500. The annual license fee is about $10.50. EXTENDING still further their policy of disregarding the interests of tneir radio readers, newspapers are now publishing the radio programs in a manner which makes them totally useless. By leaving out the specific names of commercial features and substituting some asinine generality such as "musical feature" or "entertainers" they have destroyed the news value of the only part of their radio sections which commands general inteVest. This is done on the ground that commercial features should not be given free publicity, but its only effect has been to make the" ambiguous program listings a waste of space. Perhaps the astute newspaper publishers will discover that their news columns give free publicity on a much larger scale than do the radio programs. Headlines will read, "Famous automobile manufacturer reduces prices," instead of "Ford prices drop," and all news will studiously avoid