Radio Broadcast (May 1928-Apr 1929)

Hh MARCH QE RADIO (SEES AND iNlimwiAHON gEXUEEESD BSEOD EHEB 1 S The Low-Power Stations Plead Their Case A' ^T THE recent series of hearings before the Federal Radio Commission, a hundred stations attempted to show cause why tney should be allowed to continue in operation. The evidence proved to be a most comprehensive presentation of the case of the smaller broadcasting station. So eloquently did some of the owners of the condemned stations present their story that many a hard hearted enemy of broadcasting congestion felt that means must be devised to take care of as many worthy local stations as possible. Not only must the rights of listeners to good reception be considered but also that of communities to broadcast. The whole question is: To what degree shall good reception for the greatest number and the widest areas be sacrificed to the self-imposed wish of a minority of communities to broadcast? No one would oppose extension of broad I— casting facilities toany community, however small, did not such a policy inevitably restrict enjoyable listening to that limited number within the high grade service area of a local station. But even disregarding the listener's rights entirely, how many of the insatiable host of radio advertisingstations, most of them parading before the commission as altruistic local service stations, could be accommodated were the entire broadcasting band devoted to their exclusive use? In spite of the obvious local sentiment for the continuance of some of these community stations, the statement remains unrefuted that no great number of them can be taken care of without making high-power broadcasting impossible. From the engineering standpoint, the capacity of the ether is strictly limited to a definite number of stations of a given power per channel, separated by a definite minimum distance. As early as March 24, 1927, a member of the staff of Radio Broadcast presented to the Federal Radio Commission a comprehensive plan for broadcast station allocation which definitely appraised the station capacity of the broadcast band and provided for equitable distribution of channels by areas. The plan proposed that the United States be divided into areas 500 miles square, and laid out a definite quota of high-power, regional and local stations of various powers which could be accommodated for simultaneous operation in each area. It pointed out that the Commission's first task was to appraise the capacity of our 89 broadcast channels and then allot their facilities equally to specific areas. Only now is the Commission beginning to do all of these things. With respect to local service stations, the plan pointed out that 50-watt stations, providing "high grade" service for three miles and "satisfactory" rural service for 22.5 miles, were adequate to meet the requirements of local communities broadcasting for the benefit of a particular city and its environs and would make it possible to provide such facilities for the great est possible number of cities. Several stations of that power can be assigned to the same channel, if separated by a minimum of 500 miles. Were all of our 89 channels assigned to this service exclusively, there would be a maximum of 1157 local service stations. The maximum area receiving satisfactory service would be 1 ,839,630 square miles, or approximately half the area of the STATION POWER AND SERVICE RANGE Station Power in Watts No. in U. S. per Channel Separation in Miles {min.) Range Miles Area Served Sq. Miles High Grade Satisfactory High Grade Satisfactory 50 13 500 3 22.5 7 1590 500 3 1250 10 65 314 13,273 5000 1.5 3000 30 160 2827 80,427 50,000 or 1 6000 90 360 154,470 407,150 over United States. Assuming equal geographic spacing, there would be a carrier on every dial setting of the receiver, but a program of satisfactory strength could be received in half the area of the country on but one dial setting. The other half of the country would have no "satisfactory" service whatever. No allotment would be made to higher powers on this basis, so that the listener, tiring of his one local station, could not take advantage of high grade regional stations. The other extreme which could be adopted would be to give virtually no consideration to the rights of communities by assigning all chan JUST BEFORE MAKING RADIO HISTORY At Signal Hill, Newfoundland, Senatore Marconi, in the center, Mr. C. S. Kemp (left) and Mr. P. Paget (right) arc pictured with a basket containing a balloon that they hope will carry an antenna on which to receive radio signals from Poldhu, England, Time: December, igoi. The balloon was carried away in a gale, but a kite was used, and the historic letter " S " came through from England — the first transatlantic radio signal ever received. nels to super-power stations endowed with exclusive channels. This would provide a maximum of 89 stations of 50,000 or 100,000 watts. A station of 50,000-watt power has a "high grade" service range of 90 miles and a "satisfactory" service range of 360 miles. The total area receiving "satisfactory" service coverage from 89 such stations would be 36,236,350 square miles. Therefore, were these stations ""I spaced equidistantly, there would be twelve 50,000-watt stations within 360 miles of every point in the United States. The high-grade service coverage would be 13,747,830 square miles. . In other words, the listener would have a choice of four stations within high grade service range and twelve within satisfactory service range, no matter where he was located. With 11 57 50-watt stations, only 8099 square miles of the , I United States would have high grade service. Any plan of allocation is a compromise between these extremes. Either few communities will have radio as a medium of expression, while the listener, no matter where he is located, will have a considerable choice of powerful stations, or else many communities will have opportunity to place themselves on the air for local service while the actual area getting high grade service would be significantly reduced. The table on this page, taken from Using Radio in Sales Promotion, gives the average number of stations per channel, their minimum separation and their service ranges and areas. The average of one and a half stations per channel of 5000 watts is based on the fact that two stations of such power may be placed at diagonal extremes of the United States, while in any other location the 5000-watt station must have an exclusive channel. The table also shows that there is no gain in frequency space by reducing the maximum power from 100,000 to 10,000 watts, or any other such figure, as is often suggested, because a 10,000-watt station takes as much ether space as a 100,000I watt station. The most important argument against the high-power station is that the total number of radio broadcasting stations in the United States is reduced in proportion to the number of high-power stations permitted. A few large stations naturally tend toward the centralization of broadcasting in a few organizations, because high-power stations are unprofitable unless they draw upon the finest possible program sources and the most fruitful revenue producing programs. The other extreme is in the establishment of many community stations of low power and necessarily of low program merit. It is our opinion that the low-power station should be encouraged in sparsely populated sections where there is no reasonably good service from high grade stations, but that in populous areas, with many independent broadcasting sta_ 337