Radio doings (Dec 1930-Jun1932)

March, 1931 RADIO DOINGS Page Thirty-one Telephony's Part in Broadcasting Despite the popular impression that radio programs are carried long distances, say from New York to a small city in the Midwest, through the ether, the truth is that broadcasting, strictly speaking, plays only a small part in bringing the entertainment to its listeners. This is pointed out by H. A. Bellows, vice-president of the Columbia Broadcasting System and former Federal Radio Commissioner, in an article on "Broadcasting: A New Industry," in the current edition of the Harvard Alumni Bulletin. "Most of the long-range work of broadcasting is done, not by radio or wireless at all, but by wired telephony," he says. "Broadcasting, or radio in the popular sense of the term, is really nothing but a very economical and moderately efficient means of local distribution. The long-distance listener, the 'radio fan' of earlier days, is happily, almost extinct. Most people will tell you that long-distance listening, like the old gray mare, is not what it used to be, and will lay the blame at the door of the Federal Radio Commission, or sun spots, or the tariff. The real fact is that listeners will no longer tolerate the hodge-podge of squeals and squawks which used to delight them. They demand quality, day and night, at least comparable to that of a first-class phonograph record, and such quality is not dependably deliverable by any broadcasting station in the world over a radius of more than a couple of hundred miles. "In the broadcast studio you will find no radio equipment whatsoever, except perhaps a receiving set for use in checking the transmitter output. Microphones, amplifiers, controls, rectifiers, speakers, all belong to the domain of telephony, not to radio. The microphone translates sound waves into electrical impulses, much as the ordinary telephone transmitter does; wires convey these impulses to the amplifier, and thence to the radio transmitter, generally miles away from the studio. It is to the telephone, not to radio that we owe the development of the equipment whereby speech and music are made available for broadcasting. "More than this, it is the telephone wire, not radio, which carries programs the length and breadth of the country. John Smith, in San Francisco, listens of a Sunday afternoon to the New York Philharmonic Orchestra playing in Carnegie hall. For 3,200 miles the telephone wire carries the program so faithfully that scarcely an overtone is lost; for perhaps fifteen miles it travels by radio to enter John Smith's house. And then he marvels at the wonders of radio. "But what of programs from overseas? Here, indeed, wireless telephony steps in, but not broadcasting in the ordinary sense. The program from London is telephoned across the Atlantic by radio, but on frequencies entirely outside of the broadcast band. And the time may be near at hand when even this service will come over the wire, eliminating the interference which so far has imperilled all long-distance use of wireless telephony "Broadcasting, then, is the child of the telephone; in America it is certainly the child of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company. The whole structure of commercial chain broadcasting as we know it today has grown out of the pioneer work done prior to 1926 at 195 Broadway, New York; the commercial policies adopted in those early days, when chain broadcasting was regarded merely as a means for utilizing telephone wires after the peak load was off, still influence, both for good and for evil, the whole structure of broadcasting, although the conditions which produced those policies have been revolutionized. "For better or worse, American broadcasting has entered the advertising field. The broadcasters in general are fully aware of the perils of too much advertising, but they feel that the situation will automatically correct itself. No advertiser, and above all, no advertising agent, will knowingly create public ill-will and disapproval by broadcasting programs the sole purpose of which is to create exactly the opposite. "The unanswerable argument is that broadcasting on its present advertising basis has been responsible for the fact that 13]/2 million radio receiving sets are now in use in the United States. In no other country in the world does broadcasting play so large a part in the national life; in no other country is there such a wide variety of broadcasting service. "It is impossible to estimate accurately the total amount of money spent by advertisers on broadcasting, but a guess of between 80 and 100 million dollars for 1930 would probably not be far wrong. In 1924, this business was absolutely non-existent; most of its present volume has been the creation of the past three years." * * * U. S. Scientists to Study Fading Some of the most baffling problems of radio, among them static and fading, will be tackled with new equipment with the erection of two new experimental stations for the use of the United States Bureau of Standards. A bill authorizing the expenditure of $147,000 for their erection has just been passed by Congress and signed by President Hoover. Efforts are now being made to put through an appropriation at the current session. The authorization covers the purchase of additional land and equipment for the setting up of a special Radio Research Laboratory and the erection of a transmitting and receiving station at some distance from each other. Detailed study will be made of the variations which radio waves undergo between the transmitter and receiver, according to Dr. George K. Burgess, Director of the Bureau of Standards. The work will be under the direction of Dr. J. H. Dellinger, Chief of the Radio Section. "The studies most urgently needed on radio waves have to do with fading, one of the most serious limitations on broadcasting; changes in direction, of great importance in navigation of ships and aircraft: and the behavior of short waves or high frequencies," Dr. Burgess said. Research will thus be conducted in both the communication and the broadcasting fields. Two additional transmitters will be made available by the fund, also for extending the standard frequency service, by which broadcasters may check their frequency stability and prevent "wobbling," to make it continuous. This service would do much to eliminate much of the present interference, according to Dr. Dellinger, and would serve to improve the technical operation of broadcasting stations. Congressman Asked to Ban "Stadick" The high mark of faith in the omnipotence of Congress was expressed in a letter received recently by a Representative from a village in his district. While declining to permit his name to be used for political reasons, the congressman revealed the following letter: "Dear Congressman: We, the citizens of ■ — , have a little radio and we have so much trouble with Stadick, it is no pleasure for anyone so we wish you would use your influence and see if you can clear the air for us."