Radio Broadcast (May 1928-Apr 1929)

10 RADIO BROADCAST MAY, 1928 every important field of industry. But in none is the dominant group so generally disliked and so freely criticized. Mention of the General Motors to an independent automotive engineer or motor car wholesaler does not have the effect of ruining his digestion or moving him to profanity. Why all this resentment against the radio combination? The Radio Corporation of America is singularly devoid of public relations sense. It has never effectively set itself to the task of winning public goodwill. Only when under attack does it offer belated explanations. It conducts its affairs in a dictatorial manner, deciding for itself what is good for it and what is good for the entire industry. It regards the interests, but apparently not the opinion, of the public. The severest penalties are imposed by the court of public opinion. We must distinguish between publicity and public relations. Publicity is a matter of releasing information to the press. In this respect the R. C. A. is highly efficient. It issues publicity material copiously. Public relations involve every relationship with those outside a company's personnel, not merely relations with the press. The building up of satisfactory public relations requires that every act, however small, be considered in the light of public understanding and interpretation. It may be legal to collect royalties based on the gross business of a licensee, but how will the public react to the knowledge that one manufacturer, making a cheap table model radio set, pays three or four dollars royalty on each set he makes, while another, using the same patents in the same way, pays fifteen or twenty dollars because his set is of high quality and is housed in a piece of fine furniture? How will the public feel when it learns that R. C. A. patent royalties have been sufficiently large to add greatly to the cost of producing radio sets and to make the operations of some of the most successful independent companies almost profitless? An early adjustment of the present situation must be effected, lest it cause the passage of legislation detrimental to all patent holders. Any law which makes a patent less valuable and offers less protection to the owner of a patent will discourage scientific research and rob the independent inventor of his incentive to devote himself to progress. Unless considerable forbearance and cool judgment is displayed by all the parties involved in the present controversy, the only possible outcome is legislation which will permanently weaken our patent structure. Aroused public opinion may exact too great a penalty, unless the patent holding group be guided by more of the spirit of live and let live. Radio Laughs at Wired Wireless OUR contemporary, Radio Retailing, leads off, in a recent issue, with a stirring editorial to the effect that the radio industry can no longer "laugh off" the approach of wired wireless. It states that the program services, which the electric companies will soon pour into American homes via the power lines, will be superior in quality to "space" broadcasting and hints that radio will have difficulty in competing with them. The publication solemnly warns the radio industry to prepare for the competition of wired wireless. Because of the well-earned reputation of our contemporary, these editorial remarks have created some uneasiness in the radio trade. It is our view, however, that we can "laugh off" wired wireless competition for many a year. In fact, we very gravely doubt that the future of wired wireless is as rosy as Radio Retailing believes it to be. If the electric power companies can find better symphony orchestras than the Philharmonic and the New York Symphony, more important prizefights than the Dempsey-Tunney, better bands than the Marine Band and the Goldman, greater artists than Jeritza, Mary Garden, Gall i Curci, John McCormack, Gigli — oh well, what's the use of continuing — anything they can unearthwill quickly be recruited tothe broadcasting field. The power companies will require as elaborate and as expensive transmission equipment as do broadcasting stations serving an equal area. There is no reason to believe that the wired wireless company can secure talent at a lower cost than can broadcasting companies. They KM * A SAMPLE OF FACSIMILE TRANSMISSION BY THE HORN SYSTEM cannot claim better transmission quality because power lines also have their share of atmospheric noises and, in addition, current surges and disturbances which are fully as great, if not greater, than those with which radio contends. They cannot claim more faithful reproduction because radio now encompasses practically all the frequencies heard by the human ear. Wired wireless has no advantage over radio in cost of program and technical operations or in reproduced result. The most important claim, made by the supporters of wired wireless, is that it will not put forth publicity programs. Wire broadcasting will derive its revenue, not from transmission, but from reception. The consumer will pay directly at a rate probably ranging between three and ten or twelve dollars a month, depending upon whether he is content to use headphones or wishes high-grade loud speaker reception. We hazard the prediction that the electric power companies will, sooner or later (and probably sooner), yield to the temptation of making occasional remarks about electrical appliances, good lighting and a few other things which will promote the sale of electrical apparatus and increase current consumption. The monthly wire broadcasting toll will be a much more serious obstacle to spreading wired wireless than is the publicity accompanying commercial radio programs tothe growthof the broadcasting audience. The American public is not accustomed to paying for something which it can secure without direct payment. The monthly payment feature of wired wireless will confine its market very largely to public places, such as restaurants, hotel lobbies, and railroad station waiting rooms. That element of the consuming public which considers programs coming over an electrical circuit so superior to radio reception that it is waiting for the coming of wired wireless is not, and never has been, a prospect for radio sets. We believe our contemporary has considerably exaggerated the possibilities of wired wireless. The radio industry has little or nothing to fear from its competition. Wired wireless will serve a field peculiar to itself and has a valuable mission to perform but, in so doing, it will not be a serious or dangerous competitor to the radio industry. Congress Dabbles with the Radio Situation CONGRESS has been intensely busy tinkering with the radio situation during the last few months. The House Committee on Marine and Fisheries, the Senate Committee on Interstate Commerce, and the Senate Patent Committee have been the scene of endless hearings, inquiring into every phase of broadcasting and radio manufacturing. The result, at the time of writing, has been to paralyze the Federal Radio Commission into almost complete inactivity and to confuse the entire situation with a riot of rabid opinions. It is likely that some form of legislation will be passed by the time this editorial appears, presumably extending the life of the Radio Commission for another year. The opposition to this course is based largely on a desire to embarrass Secretary Hoover with the radio situation by the automatic operation of the unamended Radio Act of 1927. If the situation does revert to his jurisdiction, he must make some progress with it and. in so doing, will incur the enmity of politicians in the areas affected. Thus Congress, unable to help the radio situation by intelligent legislation, proceeds to use it to its own political advantage. Nothing of particular novelty has been revealed in any hearings and only one statement of importance has been made. A bill has been pro