Radio Broadcast (Nov 1926-Apr 1927)

476 RADIO BROADCAST MARCH, 1927 he could get dx easily he would be just as much of a fan as the real dx bug. The writer is a dx hound. This comes after the program part of the family retires. Rely on local (Cleveland) or near-by stations. dx in my opinion is a thing of the past. 1 try regularly in spite of the advertisers, "hi-power, " and the congested wave channels. What would the average receiving set be like to-day if there had never been any so called "dx hounds"? What do you call distant stations? For clearness and volume our (Florida) best programs come from Chicago and New York, kdka excepted. Keep two complete sets in commission. One in living room for general entertainment and quality reproduction. One in den for fishing, but the fishing has become almost impossible of late due to congestion of ether. Confirmed dx hound of worst variety. Not interested in dx. Bores me stiff to hear or read anything concerning dx. Rely entirely on local New York and Newark stations, (not more than 5 in all.) 3 If you had a hundred minutes to listen to • all, or any part of the following broadcasts how would you apportion your time? (At the center of the page is a table set up from a random selection of ten ballots arranged in parallel columns. Plays and speeches don't seem to be faring so well!) Perhaps the most interesting bits of information gleaned from the questionnaires are the unsolicited remarks decorating the margins. Also a number of readers have contributed lists of "pet peeves." Many original and valuable suggestions are made. But lack of space necessitates reserving these quotations for a future issue. Broadcast Miscellany WOS is conducting a Missouri Music Appreciation Contest, sponsored by that state's Department of Education. The contest is open to any student in any rural, elementary or high school in Missouri. The final contest will be held Monday evening, March 14. Certificates of award will be given by the Missouri Department of Education to the students. The plan was decided upon to stimulate a greater interest in music among school children and to direct their taste towards good music. THE erstwhile woaw is now broadcasting under the letters wow, which is the official insigne of the Woodmen of the World. At the time the station was granted its license to broad cast in 1923, it asked the Department of Commerce for permission to use wow as a call but at that time the steamer Henry J. Bibble, operating on the Pacific Coast, had been assigned this call. Removal of radio apparatus from the vessel recently caused cancellation of the letters, wow's station has been completely reconstructed and new equipment installed with a power of 1000 to 2500 watts. WSM, followinga month'ssilence duringalterations, has returned to the air by way of a brand new transmitter, a 5000-watt Western Electric. THE George Gershwin concert on the Eveready Hour we considered pretty hot. The composer himself was at the piano, and was assisted by the Eveready Orchestra and singers. Of course Gershwin had to be good. But added to the inevitable merits of the artist was the rare skill exhibited by whoever arranged the program. It was ably balanced, the serious compositions deftly relieved by lighter ones, and the announcements were terse and interesting. Outstanding numbers on the program were his incomparable songs "Suanee" and " I Was So Young and You located at Richmond Hill, Long Island. Its first undertaking was to change the wahg call letters. The station's call is now wabc; its power is 5 kw. j_J . V. KALTENBORN of the Brooklyn Daily * * Eagle, on the subject of radio education: Another possible development is the creation of an endowed radio university, consisting of a super-power broadcasting station and a special staff of educators selected for their ability to make a wide popular appeal by the lecture method. Such an university would at the same time be a radio' research institute free from all the handicaps which circumscribe the influence and activities of the commercial stations. It would not provide entertainment in competition with other stations, but would constantly experiment with new ideas. With an endowment of $1,000,000 and an operating expense of $100,000 a year, such a radio university could rival institutions spending twenty times as much, in the number of its students, character and value of courses, and general contribution to good citizenship. Here is an opportunity for a benefactor who is looking for a new way to do something for mankind. W hoever creates the first radio university will set a force in motion that may revolutionize popular education. The opportunity is a rich one for constructive achievement in the development of our democracy. FROM koa is available from time to time a band made up of twenty saxophones. It is directed by James M. Reese WOR, in cooperation with the Bureau of Information Pro Espafia of the International Telephone and Telegraph Corporation, and the Spanish Chamber of Commerce in New York, is presenting, at present writing, a series of Monday night concerts by the Spanish Symphonic Ensemble under the leadership of Julian Huarte. A commendable effort has been made in arranging these programs to include Spanish music of a type that is more or less unfamiliar. FRANK REICHMANN, radio manufacturer, opines that "politics, the biggest business in the world, finds itself way behind all other big business in making use of the latest method of advertising. There are Eveready Hours, Ipana Hours, Maxwell Hours, and almost a hundred other hours, but up to now there hasn't been a Republican Hour or a Democratic Hour: What a marvelous opportunity it would be, let us say, for the Democratic Party to sponsor a series of performances of Paul Whiteman and his orchestra; they have established themselves in the minds of the public as a political organization with advance ideas; they have a jazz mayor in New York and a syncopated governor of the Empire State — whyshouldn't they establish a real Syncopated Hour each weekover a chain of stations? Now the Republican Party and its old guard, might do well to establish its Hour with an old-time orchestra such as is now touring vaudeville. It would keep in the minds of the public the rustic simplicity of the Coolidge regime without saying a word about it. Of course that would almost leave the Socialist Party without a musical for broadcasting purposes but upon ight this wouldn't have to be so, for music such as is sponsored by the Authors and Composers" fits in the Socialist program. This provides : major parties. 1 1 would be up to any 1 groups to do some tall thinking for tting. There should always be music ill. ACCORDING to the results of research made by the publicity staff of wbal, only eight per cent, of the radio fans in this country and Canda are women. Concerning this discovery they comment: "This fact may not be of any actual significance, but it is nevertheless provocative and causes one to consider a bit regarding it. While we have no idea of offering any alibi for the women, the reason for their evident lack of enthusiasm for the radio is no doubt largely due to the fact that women, generally, have but little mechanical sense and, lacking that, they naturally lack the patience to become dial experts. Many letters that come to wbal are signed 'Mr. and Mrs.' but nine times out of ten such letters are written in a bold, masculine hand." This does not necessarily mean that women are not as interested in the radio and its development as the men. But just as it has only been within comparatively the last few years that women generally have become automobile drivers, just so will it likely be another decade or more before they will begin to grasp the technical and scientific side of the radio when they will develop from casual " listeners-in" to ardent fans themselves. 4 What are the six best broad• casts you have heard? [This was the last question ] Answers to this question, as you may suspect, cover a lot of ground. Here are a few we come across oftener than others as we glance through the replies: Radio Industries Banquet; DempseyTunney Fight; Victor concerts; National Broadcasting Company Inaugural program; McNamee's World Series 1925; Goldman Band; various Atwater Kent and Eveready Hours; Boston Symphony; New York Symphony; Balkite, Maxwell, Ipana, Goodrich, Royal, A & P, Clicquot, Whittall, and so forth, Hours; Ford and Glenn; Jones and Hare; President's Messages; Army-Navy Game; 1925 and 1926 Democratic National Convention; U. S. Marine Band; Damrosch Recitals; kdka Little Symphony; wgn's "Down the Mississippi"; Dr. Cadman; kdka Westinghouse Band; "Roxy"; Penn. Railroad Hour, etc. Instrumental Music Serious 15 25 50 10 IOO 28 40 I 5 15 Light . 30 25 40 30 40 30 I s 1 5 Popular 30 25 20 I 30 15 30 Vocal Music* 1 10 20 5 I 10 5 10 Radio Play 10 >5 Speech A 2 5 5 Educational Lecture 5 20 20 10 Miscellaneous Novelties . 23 10 30 10 20 50 10 20 Total Minutes IOO 100 100 IOO IOO 100 100 IOO IOO 100 *An astounding number of answerers here make marginal and deprecatory remarks about sopranos. Another goodly number demands to know why we didn't leave a space for sporting events. Probably we should have: but we limited ourself to programs originating in the studios. Were So Beautiful." And in more pretentious vein: the "Concerto in F" and "Rhapsody in Blue." THE Atlantic Broadcasting Corporation has purchased the Grebe group of stations, including wahg and wboq. The new organization has its studio on the seventeenth floor of Steinway Hall, New York City. The transmitters are counterpart second thou modernistic "League ol ideally with for the three new politica a musical se enough for ;