Radio Broadcast (May 1929-Apr 1930)

RADIO BROADCAST style comes to the aid of maintaining replacement turnover, only engineering improvement will remain as the means of keeping up the growing production rate. Regarding Direct Radio Advertising Most listeners have doubtless appreciated the excellent dance orchestra which punctuates the advertising announcements broadcast by the Lucky Strike people on Saturday nights through the N. B. C. chain. They have become so hardened to the blatant advertising which characterizes a number of so-called good-will programs that they automatically become deaf when the announcer's voice starts. This fact alone accounts for the few protests registered against radio advertising and minimizes the negative reaction which would otherwise be felt by its sponsors as well as their listeners. By and large, experienced users of the larger chains observe wisdom and restraint in their announcements but there has been, nevertheless, a steady lowering of standards in radio advertising. Those few which exceed the bounds of propriety, however, embolden others to transgress further and further into the realm of direct radio advertising, with the inevitable consequence that an increasing number will search the dials for less offensive programs or shut off their sets altogether. It must be remembered that the listener, unlike the reader of the printed page, is seriously inconvenienced by undesired advertising. He must rise from his comfortable seat by the fireside when silly announcements destroy the program value :of the channel to which his set is tuned and he must then find a more attractive and intelligently conducted feature on another frequency. When reading a magazine or newspaper, one glance is sufficient to distinguish between education, entertainment, and undesired advertising. The managers of broadcasting stations are unfortunately faced with high pressure from radio advertisers, spending large sums of money, for greater and greater concessions, while the listener remains relatively inarticulate. He will remain so as long as he can find satisfactory entertainment on other channels when the offering on one is distasteful. If the blatant advertising vogue, however, becomes universal, the loss of following will no longer be confined to the audiences of unintelligently presented features, but to all broadcast presentations. The fact that direct advertising programs bring satisfactory return encourages this type of presentation, but reliance on returns is deceiving as long as there is available no measure of the unfavorable reaction engendered by misuse of the radio medium. With 80 per cent, of weaf's time sold between seven and ten p.m., as nearly as we could calculate it for a recent week, and nearly as good a percentage of revenue-producing features on many of the leading stations, there is every reason for observing the utmost caution to guard against the insidious influence of "radio advertising halitosis." The logical outcome of the unfortunate tendencies gradually developing is an undermining of the good-will influence of radio advertising, a mutual loss to listener, manufacturer, broadcaster, and advertiser. That this trend is recognized as dangerous to the progress of broadcasting by station managements is indicated by the position taken by several committees of the National Asso ciation of Broadcasters at their meeting held in Chicago last March. Their committee on ethics recommended that all programs after six p.m. shall be of an entertainment and goodwill character and that "commercial announcements" shall be barred after that hour. Many of the lesser stations disregard their obligations to the public's entertainment needs Silence! and they will discover that adherence to their association's recommendation is the most effective way to increase audience following and thereby their revenue. The code of ethics for the guidance of station managements which was adopted by the committee also advised all broadcasters to prevent the broadcasting of matter which is regarded as offensive, fraudulent, deceptive, obscene, or information regarding products which may be injurious to health; to ascertain the financial responsibility and character of their clients; to stop the broadcasting of statements derogatory to others; and to follow strictly the regulations of the radio law of 1927. To the listener, who has tired of the growing abuse of the microphone by the radio advertiser, this code may not appear sufficiently stringent, but it must be remembered that it is the work of the broadcast station managements themselves and that it frowns on many of the current practices so detrimental to program standards. The radio industry is to be congratulated upon the constructive character of the activities of its trade association in the broadcasting end of the business. It is, by such wise and far-sighted recommendations, demonstrating its capacity for leadership in the field. Tube Makers Sign R.C.A. License The first independent tube manufacturer to sign the R.C.A. tube license agreement is the Raytheon Manufacturing Company and a number of independents it is said, may follow shortly. The $50,000 minimum annual guarantee will prove a stumbling block for many of the minor manufacturers in the field, but several of the better-known makers made sufficient tubes last year to meet this figure. Delay is being experienced in several instances in securing signature to the agreement because the prospective licensees are themselves the sponsors of promising improvement and process applications and patents which they feel should be taken into account. Furthermore, with the unfavorable adjudication of the tipless tube and tungsten rolling process patents, considerable encouragement has been given to the belief that the R.C.A. position is not impregnable. It requires a major adjudication, corresponding to the Alexanderson cascade tuned-circuit patent in the receiver field, to win the wholesome respect of the vacuum-tube industry and to precipitate a rush of the field to sign the license. With such a vast and diversified research force to draw upon, there is little doubt that some such adjudication will take place with a consequent further enrichment of the R.C.A. royalty account. A useful by-product of licensing the field on the R.C.A. basis will be the discomfiture of various vacuum-tube manufacturers of a low order of competence which should result in a corresponding improvement of the technical standards of the vacuum-tube products offered the consumer through a certain type of unscrupulous though rather well-patronized radio outlets. — E. H. F. • JUNE 1929 • • 73