Radio today (Jan-Mar 1939)

TELEVISION LOWDOWN Where service will begin this Spring Complete list of licensed stations Open season for television starts in April for New York's millions when NBC goes on the air with regular broadcasts. Program material for many weeks of telecasting has already been arranged for, so if the engineers finish ahead of schedule, the program directors will be ready to go. Other stations to provide service in the New York area are to be operated by CBS and DuMont. Columbia hopes to be on the air from the Chrysler tower in May, while DuMont plans to start some experimental broadcasts from Passaic, N. J., in February and regular program broadcasts at a later date. Another immediate prospect for television is the Don Lee station in Los Angeles which has been operating for many months. This station, formerly with low-definition images is now going to the E.M.A. standard of 441 lines. Getting ready Jumping back to the) East, one finds facilities in Philadelphia and Camden, 1ST. J., that could soon be put into service. Likewise is true at Boston. Two significant construction permits are held by G-E, one for a station at Bridgeport, Conn., and the other for Albany, N. Y. In Chicago Zenith is getting its transmitter ready, but judging by the company's frigid attitude to television, it is for experimental work in program telecasts. Super-power station The G-E transmitter for AlbanySchenectady district will be built on top of a 1,500-foot hill with an antenna strung on 100-foot towers. This station will be at least 250 feet higher than the one atop the Empire State building in New York. With a power output of 10 kilowatts, it will cover a combined population of more than 500,000 and will be put into operation in three months. Tabulated on this page is list of the stations licensed for television by the F.C.C. Since only those stations operating on the 4 and %l/2 meter bands are suitable for broadcasting, they are printed in boldface type. Wavelengths less than 4 meters at present are used only for relay broadcasting and experimental purposes. The 150 meter transmissions are insignificant insofar as high definition television is concerned, being a holdover from the early experimental days. None of the &l/2 meter stations TELEVISION^ STATIONS IN U. S. LICENSED BY FCC Wave Power In KW Location Call Length Video Audio Owner Boston, Mass W1XG 6 >/2 & 4 >/2 0 Gen'l Tel. Bridgeport, Conn tWl 6 >/2 & 4 3 3 G. E. New York, N. Y W2XAX 6>/2 & 4 7% 7>/2 CBS New York, N. Y W2XBS 6>/2 & 4 12 15 NBC Camden N.J. (Portable) } W2XBT 3 & m 04 0.1 NBC New York, N. Y > Long Island City, N. Y W2XDR 6 >/2 & 4 V2 V2 Radio Pictures Passaic, N.J fW2XVT 6'/2 .05 .05 Dumont Schenectady, N. Y tW2 iy2 G. E. Albany, N. Y tW2 4 10 10 G. E. Camden, N. J., (Portable) W3XAD 2K Vi H RCA Philadelphia, Pa W3XE 6'/2 & 4 10 10 Philco Camden, N.J W3XEB 6y2&4 30 30 RCA Philadelphia, Pa W3XP \y2 .015 0 Philco Springfield, Pa W3XPF 6>/2 & 4 \i 1 Farnsworth Los Angeles, Calif W6XAO 6 1/2 & 4 1 0.15 Don Lee Manhattan, Kansas W9XAK 150 >/8 >/8 Kan. State Coll. Kansas City, Mo W9XAL 6>/2"& 4 0.3 0.15 First Nat. Tel. W. Lafayette, Ind W9XG 150 \y2 0 Purdue Univ. Iowa City, Iowa W9XK 150 0.1 0 Univ. of Iowa Iowa City, Iowa W9XUI 6y2 & 4 .1 0 Univ. of Iowa Chicago, 111 W9XZV 6i/2&4 1 1 Zenith Mobile— Portable W10XX 614 & 4 .05 .05 RCA tConstruction permit. Bold face type shows stations operating on 4 and 6]/2 meter bands. should be overlooked, however, for with a license to operate, only money and hard work by the engineers are needed to start telecasting entertainment programs. For Mr. and Mrs. Public in New York and Los Angeles television is just around the next corner — for some half dozen other cities it is just a bit further away. And by next Fall there may be a dozen or more large cities with television service. NEW YORK DEALERS "GO" FOR TELEVISION SETS Interest is white hot in television. Dealers want "sight and sound" receivers for prestige and "to be first". They don't mind investing money for several months until telecasts become a reality. That's the experience in metropolitan New York of the Allen B. Du Mont Laboratories of Passaic, N. J., who have sold 150 television receivers in the past two months. Seventy-five of these sets are already on dealer floors; the rest are in production, and there is a backlog of 200 orders for television receivers to be delivered when broadcasts begin — expected this spring from the NBC station atop the Empire State tower and from the CBS transmitter on the Chrysler Building. Sets only on display The sets are generally not being sold to homeowners. They are used for demonstration and display, although dealers, of course, can sell them if they wish. Despite this, radio stores are not hesitating to put down a ten per cent deposit on the $237 dealer cost, and are paying the rest 30 days after delivery. Using six salesmen — one each in Brooklyn, Long Island, Manhattan, The Bronx, Westchester and nearby New Jersey, the Du Mont people report no trouble in finding sales. Dealers are interested in a multitude of questions about the new art. Once assured that the set will augment rather than displace present radios, they want to know all about it. What does the cathode ray tube do and how long will it last? What is the replacement cost? Can television broadcasts be extended beyond the present 50-mile limit ? Why so many tubes? Does the height of a building affect the reception? Must a room be entirely dark for television? Is a coaxial cable needed for the lead-in? These and a host of other "stiek(Continued on page 53) 16 Radio Today