Radio Digest (May-Oct 1930)

21 AS THE motion pictures are visioned by specially constructed machines the. studio proper was not in use. However, for my benefit, Miss Lemke took up a position in front of the big studio television camera while I peered, with much curiosity, into the business end of a receiving set. The image I saw was unquestionably a reproduction of the features of the dark-eyed Miss Lemke. For a moment or so the image smiled at me. Then, to my great astonishment, the image started making faces at me! Returning to the studio I learned that Announcer Jones had been kidding the young lady, who, in the spirit of self defence I suppose, had resorted to face-making. I must say that it recorded perfectly. Only I wonder what those owners of television sets who happened to be tuned in on the program thought? Believe me, this test I witnessed proved one thing; that when television comes into its own the concert artists who now enjoy the privilege of removing collars and ties when appearing before the mike will be out of luck. The motion pictures which are now being broadcast from Station W2XCR are all short subjects of the silent variety with subtitles. In the laboratory there is under construction a projector for the broadcasting of any standard make of talking pictures. Who will finance the rental of these films for broadcasting? Will the picture producers permit their films to be broadcast? Those are questions which at present are unanswerable. In the early days of Radio the question of who was to finance the broadcasting of expensive sound programs was asked. This problem was solved when the commercial advertiser used the microphone as a medium of sales promotion. The answer to the two above questions in some way will be found as soon as public demand forces the television broadcaster to give it something other than experimental programs. DURING the month of April Station W2XCR installed a broadcasting studio and a reception room in Lincoln Park, New Jersey. In the reception room several television receiving sets were in operation. The studio officials named the quaint stone building housing the studio and reception room "The World's First Television Theatre." The public was invited to come and witness both broadcasting and reception of television. The public came and so did many men with scientific minds. For one week the "Standing Room Only" sign was hung right along beside another which read, "The Line Forms On the Right." Every night a three-hour program featuring Broadway stars, lecturers, aviators, concert singers and instrumentalists was broadcast from the theatre while in the reception room General and Mrs. Public saw and heard the program in reproduction. Among those who appeared before the pick-up camera were Eunice Howard and Larry Bolton of musical comedy fame, Ruth Elder, Clarence Chamberlain, Sir Hubert and Lady Wilkins and Major George Vaughn. To Earl Carroll, the well known producer of the "Vanities," goes the distinction of perpetrating the first television kiss. And the young lady who assisted in making the distribution of this feature on the airwaves possible was Doris Lord. Anticipating your many questions regarding this new art now making its bow to a startled public, I will try to give you my honest opinion of television as it exists today. Is it practical? Yes. But it still is in its experimental stages. I would say that television is in much the same stage of development that Radio was in prior to the memorable broadcast of the Dempsey-Carpentier fight in 1921. The only broadcasters in 1921 were amateurs and experimentalists. Television needs to broadcast an outstanding event of national or international importance to awaken public interest. All that is necessary to make it forge ahead is a little push from the ultimate consumer. How many television stations are in operation today? I do not know the exact number but there is hardly a section of the country which is not covered in an experimental manner at least. Stations W2XCR, Jersey City, and W3XK, Washington, are on the air several hours a day. Home of the first Radio Vision Theatre, Lincoln Park, N J., where practical television had its birth. Sir Hubert Wilkins, the polar explorer, his bride and Miss Ruth Elder, aviatrix, on a Radio Vision program, witnessed by Radio Digest correspondent. HOW does one tune in on a broadcast with a television receiving set? In much the same way one tuned in a Radio program in the early days. At the studio I visited the announcer gave out the following statement: "This is Station W2XCR, Jersey City, New Jersey, operating on a wave-length of 147 meters by authority of. the federal Radio commission. We will open our program this afternoon with a test picture so that you may adjust your receiving equipment. As soon as this picture has been broadcast the announcement of our regular program will be made." Yes, these are the days of television pioneering — but it won't be long now before we'll all be seeing as well as hearing via Radio. Just the other day someone popped a question at me that made me sit up and take notice. It was a simple question. Just the sort of query I imagine has been asked by thousands of Radio fans. Here's what it was, "How old is Radio?" Can you answer it? I couldn't at the time it was thrown at me. And it took a lot of digging to unearth the data which finally gave me the answer, or I should say, answers, for there are three. As you probably all know, Radio is the child of wireless telegraphy, not a step-child either, but the legitimate off-spring of a very hale and hearty parent. So, if you would know the age of the family tree, the exact date of the planting of the seed, we will have to confess our inability to make a positive statement. However, this much I can say, that in 18G7 "James Clark Maxwell, of Edinburgh, read a paper before the Royal Society, in which he laid down the theory of electro-magnetism and predicted the existence of the electric waves that are now used in wireless telegraphy." This is quoted from the YearBook of Wireless. As the beginnings of this discovery are traceable at least forty years back of this date (1867) one answer to. "How old is Radio?" can be "At least a hundred years old!" If your question refers strictly to broadcasting, the answer can be made quite specific. "Radio broadcasting is between twenty-three to twenty-four years old." The answer to this is based on the date of the first experiments of Dr. Lee de Forest 'to broadcast phonograph music and music furnished by an electric organ. FOR the third answer I am assuming that you mean, "When were receiving sets manufactured for the general public and placed on the market." Here you have it — September, .1920! Less than ten years ago. Yet it was not until a fewweeks before Christmas, 1921, that purchasers in any appreciable numbers were really' attracted to this new-fangled plaything. Perhaps some of my readers will remember the thrill they got out of those first crystal sets. And the headphones. The hours we spent with those things on were as a string of DX pearls! We had no idea as to what sort of a looking place a broadcasting studio was in those happy days. All we knew was, "There's music on the air and we're hearing it." And the announcements! (Continued on page 87)