Radio Broadcast (May 1928-Apr 1929)

254 RADIO BROADCAST SEPTEMBER, 1928 of active radio retailing outlets seems to have been stabilized at a figure of 50,000. It was also announced that the NEMA handbook of radio trade-in values would be distributed in a few months with a view to standardizing the allowances made for used radio receivers in the purchase of new ones. This step is necessary for lapping the re-sale market, which the industry has been able so far to neglect almost completely. So long as radio does not repeat the well nigh disastrous course of the automobile business, in over-valuing the second-hand product, the establishment of a regular secondhand market will open a new re-sale field comprising prospects who are already the owners of obsolete radio receivers and have minimum selling resistance. I 'he automobile industry met the second-hand problem by over-valuing new cars sufficiently to make trade-in values as attractive as possible to the used car owners. O H. LANG LEY of the Crosley Radio Corporation presented a chart before the NEMA convention which illustrated the ridiculousness of the so-called Equalization Amendment, to which we referred in the July March of Radio under the caption. " The Inequalities of Equalization." The Langley chart is reproduced below. The bottom cylinders in the diagram show the area and population of the five zones created by the Radio Act of 1927. The diameters of the cylinders are proportionate to the areas of the zones and the heights to the populations. The first four zones have an almost equal population, but the fifth zone is far below par. The areas of the zones differ greatly, the area of the fifth being approximately thirteen times that of the first. The upper cylinders show the number and total power of the broadcasting stations assigned each zone, the diameters being proportionate to the former and the heights to the latter. The Davis Amendment requires that the power assigned to the zones be equal; in other words, that the heights of the upper row of cylinders be the same, regardless of the proportions of the lower row of cylinders— that is, the areas or populations of these zones. Such is the task that the Federal Radio Commission now has on hand. Keep Commercialism Out of the Amateur Bands PAUL M. SEGAL, general counsel of the American Radio Relay League, has prepared a scholarly opinion as to the type of messages and the character of stations permissible in the amateur band. After carefully tracing the foundation for his opinion, he concludes that "an amateur operator, at an amateur radio station, may, under the law, accept for transmission, transit, relay or delivery a message of any kind of text, import or source, so long as no money or other valuable consideration is directly or indirectly paid or promised to him, or charged or accepted by him, subject, of course, to the general laws against obscene or profane language over the air." Any experimental work, conducted for the benefit of manufacturers and not as the personal hobby of the amateur conducting it, is not therefore permissible in any of the amateur bands. In view of the great curtailment of frequency space recently experienced, the amateur is justified in resenting any invasion of these rights and, for his own protection, should jealously guard against any professional use of the limited space in the air assigned him. Such services as those performed by 6a rd for the San Francisco Examiner in reporting the flight of the Southern Cross are legal in the amateur band only if no emolument, direct or indirect, was paid to the amateur station, according to Segal's definition of an amateur station. Harrisburg, III., Needs a 500-watt Station AVAST preponderance of the letters we receive in comment in our policy of urging persistently the reduction of the number of stations express hearty approval on the part of our reader body. As a matter of fact, although we have frequently named names and condemned broadcasting congestion in no uncertain terms, only one listener not professionally connected with a broadcasting station has ever protested our fight for better broadcasting conditions. Therefore, the receipt of a letter from Joseph R. Tate, operator of Station webq of Harrisburg, III., accusing the writer of prejudice against the small station and of not knowing what he is talking about, has, at least, an element of novelty. Mr. Tate's plea is based on a thorough survey of radio set owners in southern Illinois, covering every town and hamlet south of Springfield, III., and some in Kentucky and Missouri. This survey was made in the form of a petition to the Federal Radio Commission for an increase of power. According to Mr. Tate, who was much gratified at having secured the use of the names of 2800 set owners, this is only one-tenth of the owners in that territory. Even assuming that the 28,000 owners unanimously approved Mr. Tate's appeal — and this is not as impossible as it seems because most people will sign any kind of a petition— 1 am certain that webq does not desire favored treatment, but merely an accommodation proportionate to what its service area deserves. According to the latest estimates, radio sets are now available to 27,850,000 people in the United States. If one radio transmitter is deserved by every 28,000 radio listeners, the total number needed to give equal distribution would be about 1,000 stations. With the limited frequency space available, the operation of that number of stations would result in such hopeless confusion that, instead of radio giving service to nearly 28,000,000 people, it would simply deprive these people of the use of radio receivers. A lesser number of stations, properly distributed geographically, however, would assure good reception, not only to Harrisburg's 28,000, but to the entire listening audiences. While we have not hesitated to make light of the service rendered by most of the smaller stations, our plea for the elimination of stations is based principally on the fact that the first step to good radio service is the elimination of congestion. We have no prejudice against the small station, if it could exist without curtailing service to the listener. Technical progress in1 the next few years will undoubtedly serve to increase the number of stations which can operate happily in the broadcast band, and then Harrisburg can maintain its pride of the air without depriving some other equally deserving locality of good radio service. But, faced with present conditions, we can only continue to urge an immediate reduction in the number of stations to the actual capacity of the band. Many pleas are presented by various communities and organizations that they are of sufficient size and importance to be deserving of a broadcasting station of their own. The Socialists of New York City, for example, who in 19251926 had an enrollment of 11,943, feel they deserve a broadcasting station of their own and are raising a mighty howl of protest because wevd was among the stations listed for the scrap heap by the Federal Radio Commission. Other bodies represented on the air in New York are the International Bible Students, the Paulist Fathers, the Italian Educational Association, the Seventh Day Adventists and various other special interests. If a station representative of Italians deserves a place of its own on the air, then rights also should be accorded to the forty or fifty other substantial nationalistic groups in New York. The same principle applies to a score or more of sectarian interests. Political bodies and fraternal organizations deserve like rights. A broadcasting structure based on such qualifications would obviously be a hopeless mess of confusion lacking public support. If Harrisburg, HI., deserves a station for its 28,000 listeners, so does every other group of 28,000 listeners.' Those who view broadcasting as an inherent Power 35.30 Stations 19.68 19.34 7 80 27.31 16.40 14.55 30.67 10.24 18.68 Zone 1 2 3 4 5 Population 22.69 23.14 22.83 8.59 Area 3.63 6.93 21.33 18.42 49.68 HOW BROADCASTING POWER IS DISTRIBUTED TO-DAY The heights of the five lotver cylinders are proportional to the population of the five radio districts in the L 'nited States, and their widths to the areas of these districts. The upper row of cylinders indicate by their heights the relative broadcasting power in these districts, and by their widths the number of stations