Radio mirror (Jan-Oct 1923)

RADIO DIGEST ILLUSTRATED IN THE AIR— HERE AND THERE Below we have with us E. D. O'Dea, "Radiodea" as he is microphonically known, who manages and announces for WWT. McCarthy Brothers and Ford. Buffalo. N. Y. WWT was the pioneer broadcasting plant in western New York. The two gentlemen in the circle trying to talk both at once into the "mouthpiece" of WOR, L. Bamberger and company, Newark, N. J„ are (left) Don Allen, writer of "Screenings" for the New York Evening World, and (right) J. E. Williamson, inventor of undersea motion picture photography. And below, well the daily mail of Kolin D. Hager or "K. H." as he is known in the air, contains many letters, ardent and perfumed, from the girl Radiophans. He is chief announcer and studio director of WGY FOR OR AGAINST PHONE CLUBS? From the Pen of a Died-in-theWool Member By a Hard-Boiled Badiowl Are you a "Radiowl"? If not. someone you know is, for the unique fraternity of the air founded November 22 by WSB, Radiophone broadcasting station of the Atlanta Journal, has swept the nation from coast to coast and in the few weeks of its existence many thousands of Radio "hugs" have filed application for membership and have received their "Radiowl" badges. Station WSB, known to thousands as "The Voice of the South," was the first broadcasting station in America to conceive the idea of joining its listeners by the bonds of an air fraternity. Object of Organization Briefly, the "Radiowls" is a formal affiliation of the "hopeless, benighted and incurable Radio bugs who sacrifice health, home and business" to tune in with the extremely nocturnal concerts originated and inaugurated months ago by WSB, 'The Voice of the South." A message through WSB's microphone at midnight November 22 invited members of the unseen circle to apply for charter membership in the Radiowls, the first thousand applicants to receive blood-red credential cards and to be known forever as founders of the order. Atlanta Zs "Big Boost" It was explained that Atlanta would be the big Roost, that the head of the order would be called the Big WhooWhooWhoo, that there would be various degrees of Radiowls, such as Boiled Owls, Hard-Boiled Owls, Cuckoo Owls, Buzzard Owls, Ananias Owls, Hoot Owls, Screech Owls and the like. The only qualification for entrance into the fraternity is that applicants testify they had listened to at least twenty concerts from Atlanta's coast-to-coast station. One Owl an Early Bird A marvelous feature of the organization of the Radiowls is that, while Lambdin Kay, the Journal's announcer, was making the initial statement relative to the organization of the order, a listener in Mississippi called by long distance telephone and was entered as a member before Mr. Kay had left the microphone. The thousand blood-red charter membership cards and lapel buttons were distributed in a few days after the initial announcement and many thousand have since been sent to many parts of the United States. WSB Leads Again WSB has "started something" again. Already other stations are organizing their regular listeners, utilizing the names of various night fowl. First it was the chime call to identify the station, later the inauguration of a slogan, "The Voice of the South," and then the first late concerts. Of all these, however, it seems that the Radiowls is destined to bring more attention to WSB than any of the other ventures. From the Address of a Strong Anti-Clubman By Anti-Phone Clubman I've been asked to say why I am prejudiced against the formation of silly clubs FANS, DO YOU LIKE IT? YES OR NO! Open Secrets of the WSB 10:45 Radiowls 1. The name of the brotherhood of the air shall be WSB 10:45 RADIOWLS. 2. Membership is open to all disciples of Radio who have heard at least twenty concerts from station WSB, "The Voice of the South," radiophone broadcasting station of The Atlanta Journal, Atlanta, Ga. 3. Possession of. RADIOWL credentials is prima facie evidence that the owner is a hopeless, benighted and incurable Radio Bug. 4. Every RADIOWL offers the courtesies of his outfit to any visiting RADIOWL. Every RADIOWL is automatically entitled to maximum privileges when visiting the Big Roost, Atlanta Journal Building, Atlanta, Ga. Every RADIOWL pledges himself to introduce the wonders of radio to uninitiated blind barbarians on all possible occasions. Every RADIOWL pledges himself to cooperate with the other RADIOWLS of his Home Roost in bringing radio entertainment to hospitals, charitable institutions, prisons, orphanages and other centers where the aged, the sick, the permanently afflicted, or otherwise unfortunate, may benefit thereby. 5. Every RADIOWL will hold a credentials card from the Big Roost, certifying that the member is a bona fide lost soul of the unseen circle. 6. The first 1,000 RADIOWLS will hold Red cards as token of charter membership. The second thousand will hold White cards, and the third and additional thousands, if any, will hold Blue cards. 7. Local roosts will be known as (town) Red, White or Blue roosts. 8. All local Roosts will be given placards signifying membership and standing. 9. The head of the RADIOWLS will be addressed as the Big WhooWhoo-Whoo. This job was preempted when the order was born by Lambkin Kay, Radio Director-An nouncer, station "WSB. because he thought of it before anybody else. 10. Serving in the posts of vice presidents will be the" first RADIOWLS to qualify from each state in the union and in foreign countries. They enjoy the entitlement of state or national Whoo-Whoo (Mississippi Whoo-Whoo or Porto Rico WhooWhoo. for instance). Next in rank will be the heads of local Roosts, known as Little Rock Whoo-Whoo, for example. 11. No RADIOWL meeting may assemble before 10:45 p. m., Central Standard time. 12. The RADIOWL call will be the trilogy, "Whoo, Whoo, Whoo," chanted after the fashion of WSB's chimes, which sound the first three notes of America's war song, "Over There." 13. HE-RADIOWLS will be classed generally as Hoot Owls; sheRADIOWLS as Cuckoo Owls; juvenile RADIOWLS as Screech Owls. 14. A Boiled Owl is a RADIOWL who conscientiously testifies that he has lost one hundred (100) hours of needed sleep to listen to WSB concerts. A Hard-Boiled Owl is a RADIOWL who conscientiously testifies that his health, household, morals, or business are imperiled by Radio mania. A Buzzard Owl is a RADIOWL who has visited the Big Roost. An Ananias Owl is a RADIOWL with imagination enough to exaggerate the miracle of radio. 15. All RADIOWLS' ceremonials, initiations, elections and other activities, as well as the transmission of news of the circle, will be conducted during WSB's nightly 10:45 trans-continental concert broadcast. 17. Other officers, titles, degrees, penalties and the like will be introduced and established from time to time, depending upon the happy notions that RADIOWLS may send in to the big roost. 18. WSB 10:45 RADIOWLS modestly admits being the first thing of its kind since Adam. of a tawdry nature by broadcasting stations. My reasons against the clubs, from which several famous long-distance Radiophone plants seem to be having "great gobs" of fun, are very well stated by Ellis Chaney, vice president of the Southern Equipment Company, San Antonio, Texas, operators of Station WOAI. He is stronglyopposed to such clubs and has made an ether address on the subject. Here is what he has to say: "Every owner of a receiving set which has a range of 300 miles and over is entirely familiar with the recent idea of some broadcasting stations organizing socalled clubs. It has been suggested to us by some that Station WOAI should fall in line and organize a club— one gentleman going so far, in an effort to co-operate with us. as to outline briefly by letter the character of matter to be broadcast. "He also suggests a name for the proposed club, and if we were going to undertake the club idea we would be very much interested to consider the plan and we want to thank this gentleman, whose name is unknown to us, for his interest shown and compliment him on the original and amusing article which he submits as a proposed opening or introductory announcement. Clubs Bore Fans; Lose Dignity "In our opinion, the novelty quickly wears off and listeners in become tired and weary, and, in fact, provoked with the reading of names and addresses of those who have written a station in application for membership in a club, or, for that matter, regarding having heard their broadcasting. "We think stations such as KSD of the St. Louis Post Dispatch are apt to retain the best will of Radio receiving set owners simply because they maintain their dignity by not broadcasting anything except features of general interest, such as high-class music, current news items, market reports and weather forecasts, without sidelights, and we are always pleased when we are able to tune in on such a station and we admire and compliment them for dignity and respect for those people who have Radio sets in their homes. Abase of Broadcast License "We believe it is an abuse of the privileges granted under a Government license to perpetrate various nuisances on the Radio public in the form of ridiculous attempts at wit and humor, which is nothing more or less than plain shoddy advertising, which we hope will soon be more closely supervised by the United States Department of Commerce officials. Acknowledge Communications by Mail "We greatly appreciate receiving communications from listeners in who have (Continued on page 6)