Radio mirror (Jan-Oct 1923)

mbt r RADIO DIG WGY OFFERS $500 FOR RADIO DRAMA NEW ART UTILIZES VOICE TO BUILD SCENERY General Electric, Fostering Novel Theatrics, Encourages Use of Sound Imitating Devices SCHENECTADY. X. Y.— Station WOT, al Electric Company here. Is a prize of (500 for tho best R drama submitted in competition during the three months' period beginnir tember 1. The prize-winning play will be presented by the AYGY players during the winter when transmission conditions are ind when perhaps 1,000,000 persons will be listening in. An audience of this size will be equivalent to the attendance at 500 performances of a stage production in a theater seating 2,000 persons. Other plays offered in competition will be produced via the air. if found suitable, and the authors remunerated. Public Demands Radio Drama One year's production of Radio drama by the WGY players has convinced Martin P. Rice, director of broadcasting, that there is a public demand for this type of entertainment and that the peculiar requirements of the Radio drama as compared with that of the stage and the screen will result in a new form of dramatic art. The screen has evolved a distinct type of drama which depends solely on the eye for its appreciation; tomorrow the Radio drama may be so written that the ear and the imagination unaided by the eye may be satisfied. It is to stimulate the development of the Radio drama that the General Electric company has inaugurated the contest. The author of the Radio drama must place himself in the position of writing for a blind man. The words or lines of the actors must convey a picture of the scene in which the action takes place. When Speech Is Scenery This apparent limitation or handicap becomes an aid to the action, as the writer need not restrict his play to three, four or five scenes. For example, he can depict an automobile race and carry his audience through its exciting phases by means of the lines. He may take his listener from room to room or floor to floor in a dwelling, if farce or melodrama call for such action. The chase, long' a popular feature in the early motion pictures, may be brought into the Radio play by means of speech. The spoken word builds the scenery. Dramatic situations may be built by the voice and by sound-making devices. The writer is encouraged to make use of the latter so as to simulate rain, thunder, surf, roar of a moving train, a pistol shot, an airplane, a telegraph key or an automobile motor. ITCOSTHIM$110TO LISTEN TO KPO MUSIC San Francisco Radiophan Robbed by Fair Hotel Guest SAN FRANCISCO.— It cost J. W. Phillips $110 to have a strange but pretty woman share a KPO Radio concert with him in his room in the Ventura hotel here recently, he told the police. Phillips, "explaining that he was a Radiophan, installed a receiving set in his room. Shortly after he had tuned in and was intently listening to a musical program broadcast by Hale Brothers, he said he heard a gentle knock at his door. "Come in!" he called. The door opened, a pretty girl begged pardon, but asked if she could listen in with him. Leaving the door ajar, Phillips told the police, the young woman pressed her head closely to his and shared with him the receiver. "While listening in she was 'dipping in' to my pockets." said Phillips, "for after she had thanked me and hastened away, I missed $110 I had in my vest pocket." WOC OFFERS PRIZE TO BACK ITS CORN TALE DAVENPORT, J A.— So that the thousands • ><' ■ uncomen t of Station WOC of this city that it is "where the V\ n the Where the tall corn li in prizes will be :> i>oys and girls in Iowa who report ami exl the tallest stalks of corn. SUNDAY'S "DRY" TALK WILL BE SENT BY WGR B, N. Y. -\\ GR .'ill: Sunday during the wi Rev, Mr. Sunde uled t" speak to th i venti. i'. All o ■ ; Icro pl i' the Pedi | hone and I ion. THEY'LL NICKNAME HIM WGM "Lasso" Moseley, director-announcer, Station WGM, The Atlanta Constitution, "christening" the twomonths-old baby boy of Mr. and Mrs. George F. Pollock, of Atlanta, Georgia. William Grady Moseley, whose initials represent the call letters of "Old Reliable" of the South, was the name given the youngster. Mrs. Pollock is shown "standing by" during the ceremony New Station KGB, Built by Operator, Is Opened Newspaper Plant in Tacoma Operates Temporarily on 50 Watts TACOMA.— Station KGB, the new plant of the Tacoma Daily Ledger, one of the most powerful in the northwest, was opened here recently by means of a fine musical program. The station, which was built by Alvin Stenso, chief operator, who also constructed The Ledger's two preceding plants, is designed for facilitating reception by crystal and less powerful tube sets in a wide area. KGB will operate temporarily on 50 watts; it is a 100watt station. WOR AGAIN PRESENTS PLAY FROM BROADWAY Writer of "Thrillodrama" Introduces Characters NEWARK, N. J.— Another Radio matinee of a current Broadway success was staged at Station WOR, L. Bamberger and company, here recently. It was Myron C. Fagen's "thrillodrama," "Thumbs Down"' A prologue, especially written, was read by the author, who also described each scene and each character and personally introduced each player to the listeners in. The rise and fall of the curtain was indicated by a gong;; there was orchestral music between acts. CHAIN OF THEATER STATIONS PUNNED PLANT IN BOSTON SECOND IN LOEWS PROJECT Line of Playhouses Broadcasting Own Feature Acts Part of New Yorker's Scheme By P. N. Holling-Bworth. BOSTON, MASS. — This city is to be the second in a chain of broadcasting stations to he established by Marcus Loew in connection with his chain of vaudeville and motion picture houses across the country. Mr. Loew has already transferred Station WHN from Ridgewood to the Loew State theater building in New York City. It is planned to extend this service; part of the plan calls for the erection of a s'imilar station in Boston, at the new theater under construction in the former Siegel building, which will be the third Loew theater in Boston. Will Broadcast Headliners It is his intention to broadcast headline acts. Theaters not in the same building with the broadcasting station will be connected by telephone and microphone service With the broadcasting studio. Mr. Loew's finest orchestras will also feature the broadcasting as will celebrities of the stage and screen who will discuss topics of interest to Radiophans. Station WHN has been heard in all of the eastern states and as far as Dallas, Tex., and Butte, Mont. Mr. Loew plans to increase its range to 2,000 miles. ■Will Help Theater Patronag-e Leading theatrical men say that the plan of Marcus Loew points the way for other theatrical men and that it will have a marked effect in raising the plane of Radio programs throughout the country. Viewed in the light of the results attained by grand opera broadcasting last winter, when many thousands hitherto unfamiliar with grand opera became enthusiasts and many hundreds became patrons, the project of Mr. Loew will undoubtedly result in largely increasing the interest in and direct patronage of theaters. Room will be reserved in the studio of the Boston theater so that famous orchestras may send their repertoires readily by Radio. Proper acoustics and every detail necessary to successful broadcasting will be provided. The studio will be connected by telephone lines with Station WHN in New York so that any important event in Boston or New York can be broadcast simultaneously from both stations. Word from Arctic Ship and Back in 10 Minutes Message from Bowdoin's Operator Is Relayed to Mother WATERBURY, CONN. — Ten minutes was the record time consumed for the sending of -a Radio message from Donald B. MacMillan's Arctic-bound schooner. Bowdoin, to Bristol, Conn., via a local amateur station, and the relaying of a reply to the ship somewhere northeast of Labrador on the way to Greenland. The prophecy that the Radio installation on the Bowdoin could be utilized by members of the crew to communicate with friends and relatives at home, thereby relieving the tedium of Arctic loneliness, has proved true, the feat demonstrating the efficiency of the American amateur traffic system. The message was a personal greeting from Donald H. Mix. Radio operator with the exploration party, to his mother in Bristol. Communication was established with WNP, the Bowdoin's Radio, shortly after midnight by Allen C. Lawson here, who immediately called Mrs. Mix by telephone. The reply was soon on its way north; Lawson heard Mix thankfully acknowledge its receipt.