Radio mirror (Jan-Oct 1923)

RADIO DIGEST — Illustrated September 15, 1923 Radio Digest REG. U. S. PAT. OFF. AND DOM. OF CANADA Published by the Radio Digest Publishing Company, Inc. 123 West Madison Street Telephone: State 4843, 4844, 4845 Chicago, Illinois E. C. RAYNER, Publisher Chaa. F. Smitor, Editor Evans E. Plummer, Managing Editor Harry J. Marx, Technical Editor Eastern Representative, Jacob Miller, Times Bldg., Times Square, New York; Telephone Bryant 4909 Pacific Coast Representatives E. J. Wood, 2S1 Kearney St., San Francisco Telephone Kearney 1472 H. M. Morris, 417 Western Mutual Life Building, Los Angeles Telephone 12011 Member of the Audit Bureau of Circulations 58 PUBLISHED WEEKLY SUBSCRIPTION BATES Yearly in U. S. and Possessions and Canada, $5.00. Foreign postage, $1.00 additional. Single copies, 10 cents. Vol. VI Chicago, Saturday, September 15, 1923 No. 10 Public Discontent Interference from Ship Stations Causes Trouble PUBLIC discontent, we read, continues to grow regarding the range of wave lengths allotted to broadcasting stations. In defense it is urged that manufacturers should provide more selective apparatus but in reply to this attitude it is urged that selective apparatus requires expert handling. Listening in on many coastal towns is impossible, owing to interference from poorly tuned ship stations. This reads like a chapter out of our own experience. Rural Districts to Have the Best Education by Radio, Not by Mail PEEHAPS not so very many years from now one of the really great accomplishments of Eadio will have been recorded. The old school house will be cast aside and in its place will arise a new mode of education, much more broad for the rural dweller. Eadio broadcasting is bound to make inroads to the children of the country. Eadio education will be the thing of the future, how near is to be determined. Colleges will establish and conduct Eadio courses especially designed for students of the country districts. The enrollment of such students and their final graduation will be developed, beyond a doubt, on a logical, workable basis. Nearly all the functions of _ a high school or college can be accomplished, and will be accomplished, by Eadio. Some of the more progressive universities are plan' ning lectures. The far-seeing and deep-thinking among educators, sociologists and statesmen are beginning to understand what this will signify. Thousands of America's best youth will be trained as their fathers and forefathers never were. Young folks, who live far away from centers of learning, who could never go to high school, nor to college, will have high schools and colleges brought to them. The limitations of the country school will be swept away. The earnest but often inexperienced and illpaid country sehool teacher will be reinforced, perhaps supplanted, by the best type of college professor through Eadio. The shortcomings of the district sehool, some usually open only two or three months, will vanish. Behind the Scenes in Broadcasting 5 The Public is Not Pleased with a Junket Program DID YOTJ even picture in your mind's eye just the sort of person playing a part in a movie act ? Many <|f us have figured the good little girl or young man as saintly. There have been many instances in which you have talked to a person, over the telephone, for years pjerhaps, yet have never seen him nor her. A correspondence may have sprung up between persons which may have brought great friendship; yet the picture in the mind's eye remains, a picture for good or bad; it cannot be brushed away. Some day you are awakened; the saintly girl or good young man has met some tragedy that has bared her or his home life. You are brought face to face with the underworld act in Teal life where these two have played the important parts. The man at the other end of the telephone may be a " dub ' ' when you first see him. The correspondent may be uncouth, far from the person with whom you want to associate. Eadio broadcasting is very similar to the persons in real life. However, some of the bad features come out in the Eadio broadcasts and the unseen audience has a better chance to determine who is who at the sending station. It is very regretful to say that we have the broadcaster or station manager who is very indiscreet in his management, who will permit a hoodlum party which slips low street talk into the concerts. This is not only harmful to the station but to the broadcasting situation as a whole. The cheap way of giving prizes and a lot of uncalledfor talk turns many listeners away with disgust. Eememher, suoh a station will tickle the fancy of the low class but the best will not be reached. Are we to pass tl e low class or will we advance to higher levels? RADIO INDLGEST The Lay of the Last Repair Job A crystal set that worked was built by Jonnie Bone So be opened up a store, all his very own, Hung up signs all over, just to advertise, "Come in here and get expert advice." He built all hook-ups, never skipped a one, Sure all would work as his crystal set had done; Sold all the sets, took in the jack, But knew not why they started coming back; Took in repair jobs, just on a guess, Started changing wire. My, what a mess! Left his customers raving, closed up the store When be blew all the tubes in a set of four. Frank Tessler Show Him This: He'll Laugh to Death Dear Indi : There is an amerchewer round our way who wasn't brought up right. 1 have triedp hitting him Indi Chest, but he keeps on hogging the air. Suggestions for a remedy are in order. Mike Roparads. Contest Entry No. 3: Fairly Bum Dear Indi : In response to Gess Hoo's noble petition for a limerick contest in which Mike and Izzy are to be featured and the worst limerick wins, allow me to present the following : Mike and Izzy of aerial raising fame, Sat in on a little poker game. Raising a full to the limit, They called but were not in it. Since then they've not been the same. In conclusion I wish to claim that this is bad enough ; it really ought to win. Spidee Webb. STATION BLAH IS SCANDALIZED BY MISS HULA, OSCILLATORY DANCER WALLA WALLA. — Staggering evidence (not liquid) that the entire if not all the personnel of Station BLAH, Indi-Gest's broadcasting station here, has been on an awful orgy and not paying attention to the super bum equipment, has been turned up and a picture of the reason on the beach at W^alla Walla secured. The reason, depicted herewith for proof, is named Dua Hula. She has managed to live up to that name so well that the condensers of Brambdin Bray, dumb announcer, Wattle Knees, program director on silent nights, and Mike and Izzy, chief antenna raisers, have become charged with magnetism and radiant energy and the ground upon which they tread is counterpoised in thin air. Dua started shaking a wicked antenna just when the summer static season began and has kept the entire force of BLAH in the air and off ©f it ever since. But the tables have been tabulated and Dua is outaluck for the time being, all on account of the clever staff snapshooter. This thinking member of the Indi-Gest scandal gathering organization, told Dua to pose for her picture and led her to believe that it is still being snapshot. Holding the pose, of course, she can't oscillate at any appreciable frequency. Having satisfactorily sleuthed mystery of the unheard from Station BLAH and stopped Dua's free and sustained oscillations, the staff correspondent and snapshooter report to Indi-Gest's flock of readers that they believe the plant can now be kept on the sharp and narrow wave length. As a conclusion to the interview with Indi-Gest's station employees, Brambdin Bray, dumb announcer, announced, "I will announce a lot next time I don't have anything to announce," and Wattle Knees, programless director, curtly remarked that although his remarks were not for publication, he hoped we'd tell the world that he, "will give a very beautiful noiseless program on the very next silent night." A-B-G Lessons for Indigest Beginners Chapter XIII — It's Senatore Guglielmo Marconi BY GOSH MIS for Marconi, Who started all the holler, That fills the ether everywhere And makes the wo^ld grow smaller. Sure, But We Don't Know What Dear Editor of Indigest : I have hooked a spark plug in shunt across the primary of the teakettle in my Stebbins Degenerating set, and have changed the carburetor lead to the positive side of the rear tire and ever since have listened to every program from Walla Walla without hearing anything. Does this prove anything? Grid Leak. Muffle the regimental drums And toll loud the bell; J. Brotcn added water to acid In a Battery Cell. Looking Ahead In Response to Many Calls from Indi-Gest's Corps of Enthusiastic Readers, next week will be given the first half of a poem entitled, "Radio in Cactus Center," written by Arthur Chapman, the well-known poet and author. Don't miss this rough and ready epic of the growth of Radio popularity on the plains where ranch bunk shacks are the largest buildings for miles around. (P00JPOO! for your nusic rsr Condensed By DIELECTRIC The season for using portable sets may be considered by some as about over since vacation time, is drawing to a close. I believe the portable set will continue to be used through the winter months, certainly by those seeking the location of coal piles. If it is popular this winter, tubes requiring only dry cell batteries to operate them will be steadily in demand. Birthday resolutions are not like some brands of New Tear's resolves' — made to be broken. No one who has listened to the programs broadcast by Station WSY in "sweet Alabam" can recall a single instance of an objectionable feature during the first year of broadcasting. On entering the second year the announcement was made that WST would continue to maintain a standard in music, religion and education second to none. In all three realms Eadio broadcasting is providing a great service. As an announcer remarked recently, the experience of entertaining from a studio is at best rather trying — no applause, no noise. A great deal has been done to make the interior of modern broadcasting studios really attractive and beneficial psychologically to the artist. WSB, the well known "voice of the south," was never behind in these particulars. At present the station is one of the finest and most attractive of any in the United States, having undergone extensive changes. Its acoustics, always good, are even better. A tentative plan for maintaining broadcasting in Sweden has been presented to the Swedish government for its approval. In the event of acceptance a joint monopoly on Badiophone broadcasting between the government and a corporation just formed would result, giving to the government the erection of all sending stations and to the company their use for five hours daily. Programs like those known to us will be broadcast. It is further proposed that each owner of a receiving set shall pay a fee; the make of the set is not to be stipulated. This evidences progress. Although Station WOE suffered an adverse decision in the United States district court relative to the broadeasting of music controlled by the ' ' interests, ' ' that fact has not dimmed the optimistic vision of the National Association of Broadcasters — and it should not. In response to the association's invitation to musical composers to submit new songs and popular airs the listeners in are now assured entertainment subject to no tax or fee to the stations. Eadio audiences have never been taxed for the pleasure of listening to music but the stations have had to procure their own compositions to escape taxes. To the majority of listeners in Eadio is resorted to as a diversion, a purely entertaining feature. Such it is; yet over the ether lanes may come without warning news that will turn joy to sadness and make one fearful for some time to listen. While sitting with the headphones comfortably adjusted during an excellent program from WHAS, the announcer broke in to tell of the sudden death in an auto accident of a man in Virginia. To me it was an incident; to the brother, who may have been listening, for whom the news was broadcast, it would bring distress. Yet who would be without a set? Eecently Dr. Steinmetz was credited with the assertion that all of the smaller broadcasting stations should seek favor with the big ones in the near future, for the reason (as he sees it), that only a few of the latter will be broadcasting; they will utilize some of the lower powered stations for relaying concerts. The number of Eadio stations has increased by 1,126 since June 30 of last year, according to the department of commerce; of these, 191 are broadcasting stations. So long as good programs carefully transmitted are given listeners in, their source will be of little moment. S