Radio Broadcast (Nov 1926-Apr 1927)

556 RADIO BROADCAST APRIL, 1927 congestion, unable to make any material progress in that direction. If each five of these combined to form a single station, it would reduce the number of stations to the point giving the listener the best possible service. Not only would consolidation increase potential audiences of remaining stations fivefold, but actually tenfold, because the elimination of congestion would considerably increase their service ranges. The individual share of maintenance cost of each station sponsor would be reduced by eighty per cent, by combination with four others, thus enabling him to employ talent rivalling the best of stations. Instead of owning a joke of a station of his own, a station sponsor would have an interest in a real, high-power, broadcasting station, with a substantial audience. Under these conditions, the monopoly of good broadcasting now held by the chain system would at last be faced with real and sorely needed competition. Consolidation and bigger investment in station facilities, however, cannot be hoped for until the individual broadcasting organization is protected in its ether franchise. When the Government faces the problem of dispensing privileges, such as public lands, railway franchises, or ether channels, which can be accorded only to a limited number, private capital is offered it in return for accepting the obligation to perform a public service of a definite standard. In return for the investment, the holders of such franchises are protected from destructive competition. Broadcastingstation investments deserve the same protection. If it is not accorded to them, then the risk of capital expenditure in broadcasting becomes too great and the progress of the art is consequently hampered by hesitancy of capital. Before consideration can be given to the rights of individual stations, the principle of length of service on the wavelength now being used by a station should be established as the basis for determining the claims of rival stations to the same frequency. Station kdka, for example, has broadcast for about six years on its present wavelength. Had it been one of those stations which upset conditions by shifting their wavelengths upward three or four months ago, its priority to its present wavelength would 500 CHANNELS THE EFFECT OF REDUCING NEW YORK LOCAL STATIONS Reception in the New York City district would be greatly improved by the consolidation into six main stations of the many broadcasters now licensed to operate in that area. This chart, prepared by Edgar Felix, gives a visual indication of the result of such a consolidation. In column No. 1 are listed the more important of the forty odd local stations which may be heard with an average four-or five-tube receiver. Column No. 2 indicates just what outside channels may now be tuned-in through the locals, the assumption being that a local station blankets out stations on two bands above and below its allotted frequency. Column No. 3 shows the proposed consolidated stations, no attempt being made to re-space them equally in the frequency spectrum made available by the discontinuance of the many lesser stations. Column No. 4 shows that the number of outside channels made free by cutting down the locals has been more than doubled. The fifth column is a typical log made in the early evening when all of the locals are on the air, while column No. 6 is an imaginary yet conservative log supposing the suggested consolidation to have gone into effect. An expensive, highly selective receiver is now capable of tuning-in more outside stations than are shown in columns No. 2 and 5, probably to the extent of a dozen or so. then be, by all sound reasoning,, only on the basis of three months, of service. Wavelength jumpers, who abused the broadcasting privilege, should not receive the same consideration as those who rendered faithful and orderly service on their assigned wavelength throughout the broadcasting dark ages, the only course which decency and honor dictated. Stations which pilfered Canadian wavelengths should be forever banned from the ether. A list of all stations now operating, and their present wavelengths, arranged in the order of date on which these wavelengths were adopted, should be prepared for the Radio Commission. The first hundred stations are the pioneers who advanced broadcasting to its present high standing and they should be given permanent licenses with a minimum of delay. Naturally, acceptance of the principle of priority will bring loud howls of protest on the part of those who discovered broadcasting in 1926 and invested a few thousand dollars in the faceof repeated public warnings that there was no room for them in the ether. Unfortunately, some of these persons have considerable political influence and, by taking advantage of the facilities of the gullible press, they can make loud shouts about discrimination in favor of the interests of huge monopolies. The smallest of these protesting broadcasters has interests just as selfish as those of the most hardened trust. He has some product, carburetors, cartridges, or calliopes, to thrust on the public, which could be exploited more efficiently through a good and established broadcasting station. The duplication of broadcasting facilities is not a public benefit and should not be tolerated to accommodate lustylunged publicity seekers who have made no contribution to the advancement of the broadcasting art. The foundation of the Commission's work should be a basis of frequency allocation which permits every station to be heard without interference to the limit of its service range. Such a basis means that a maximum number of stations can be heard by every receiving set, and this entails reducing the present number of stations by about four hundred. Whether the Commission will