Television digest and FM reports (Feb-Dec 1947)

FM SETS — CHEAPLY AND QUICKLY: Here's a gadget that may be the answer to the prayers of FMers losing their shirts Sweating out audience — a tiny unit, costing only few dollars to make, that attaches to any AM radio and transforms it into an FM receiver. In a downtown Washington office we> saw this little adapter (called "blooper" by its inventor) plugged into an ordinary table AM set, listened to it, handled it. It brought in a local FM station well; according to inventor, it covers entire 88-108 me band, is static-free, has fidelity range limited only by the> audio of AM set to which attached. We're not going overboard for it yet, but as far as we can tell there's no catch in it — and we've heard enough about converters, adapters, ,etc., to be very leery. On his counsel's advice, the chap who thought it up — K.G. (Pug) Marquardt , chief engineer for the Capper stations WIBW and WIBW-FM, Topeka, and KCKN, Kansas City, Kan. — would not open up his blooper's innards or tell what makes it tick, not until legalities have been completed. It looks like' a square box made of aluminum, about 3 % in. cube, just about big enough to contain 3 packs of cigarets. Youn^ Marquardt was quick to emphasise that his unit won't supplant a true FM set, that it's intended primarily for the lonesome STA-holder, particularly the fellow with no AM to foot the bills. That's because gadget needs at least 500 uv/m signal for good reception. Asked how he calculates it can be mass-produced for a few dollars while GE, Stromberg, Magnavox and Packard-Bell (the latest) can't seem to make a converter under §60, Marquardt says laconically: "Nothing to it. The parts only cost me §4." No half-way FMer, he also rigged up a 10-gain, 3-element receiving antenna, which he calls "plumber's delight," to wholesale at §5.90. 1,533 AMs, S09 MORE SOUGHT: Do you know that, as ,of today (March 15), there are exactly 1,585 AM stations licensed or authorized for construction (some 1,100 licensees, the rest CPs)? And that 579 of these have been authorized in the 14% months since Jan. 1, 1946, when the count was 1,004 (940 licensees, 64 CPs)? And that still pending before FCC are approximately 900 applications for new AM stations, 350 applications for changed facilities for existing AM stations? We cite these figures not only to contrast them with FM (48 licensees, 515 CPs, 177 conditionals, nearly 300 applications) — showing that AM still holds greatest venture appeal — but also to emphasize the importance of our new AM Directory, due for publication shortly after the May 1 "freeze" ends. This Directory will list all North American AM stations by States or Provinces and by Frequencies ; all U.S. stations by Call Letters; all pending applications by States and by Frequencies. By maintaining the weekly addenda sheets that will be furnished to subscribers, as with our FM Directory (Supplement No. 47), you will have before you the' AM picture in any locality and on any frequency at any time. WHAT'S NEXT IN TV SETS: You'll be hearing a lot now about the new General Elec tric and Stewart-Warner TV receivers, just beginning to dribble into hands of~distributors in areas with TV service. Both are in production, both broke first illustrations in ads in mid-March slick publications and both included models for "T-Day" showings in Los Angeles this week. GE had floor models of its No. 801 (de Copyright 1947 by Eadio News Bureau