Variety (Jan 1934)

«0 Variety Tataday, Janrnur % 1934 2 YEARS OF RESEARCH TO DECORATE STUSfOS We 'll Ihll the World By GERARD CHAtFIELt? (recrttico? Art-.D>''^ri)<ir cf th>; - 2*a- tk/niil rcadcnati "the h«='a.j;t:if'>I {a a'a ns'^i-ii ka, th'e BseffJi.' In thi-.'f )S'e."iera!';vr...of -edn- cati^d eyp'S have^ ^i.-aeovered that It la. g-oo'l faasin^'.^a tp; make the use-. tal aa t)ea'.itiful aa poaaible.;' .Glahe«^ throi::.!^h- the Sd^rertfsinf?., sectfpn o£ CTi-rrent. De-;5'!«p.ip«r3 aftcl periQ!^i<:al9, ofeserve new rjaotor c^Lr; napctela an^d furniture designs, or stroll through th6 neareat fiveraTia:-tftn> t ator^. it an/te'mlnda that aesthetic .Vaiuea now ooTwmancl eommerclaij valu*. Today they do not thin.lt of desri^- tag a n«w building- or'fumlahl^g-^a coroniereial eatabliahmcnt. withc^ttt seekfns to. make It as yiauafly at- traeitive and GomfoTtiMe'aa conaiat- e»t with ita purpose, and practical leQulrements. There 19' somethlngr genuinely spookey ahoriit a broadcasitlrtg studio to tltose urtaecustorared to faclns a microphone. Even, the veterSttt radio artist, as well asl the .novice, intuir lively crav^ some stirnuiant' to oontpen-aate for the abaeiitfe-bf ap- pTaode and the srtlmula.ting reaGtiofl of a seen aiudlence. l>rah. bare walls and the terrify- ing sight of ittechanical ectuipinent have spoiled manir a broadcast; Ei- perfenee had taDg|>t ua that it ia vital to coniceail aa much mecbani<?al apparatus as possible, and .to . cafirt- o'aSage acoustical reqalremerita ^rth decorative schemes that wonid. help t^ose' who p^rform. This would be a aiinple task, in- deed, Ef acoastltal requirements did not take .precedence. Any. Interior decorator of taste could itaye ban- dlaa 'the Sob magnificently* Our __i)r obIemt was not so giriiple. Only: By CW. Horn ^G«ri«rar Engineer of ih« National Broad«a«trng Co.) a comparatively fe^ persans'aee uiS" inside of a Iwoadcastihg studio; mll- Wnts hear what'conje?; from it. Of necessity decorative art muSt 'com- I^omise. witli iscienee and psycholo- gy* Figuring the Future When caBed. ujpon to take charge of dectwtiting oar new headquai^ters in Radio. CSty 1 felt aottiewhat ac- quainted with the IpTQplems that confronted us- Uowevet,; the. prog- ress of radio science and the devel- opment ' of broadcasting technique bad. created new problemsr.. We even discovered, ft necessary to think about things we .had not yet thought of. We were building for the future as well as for the present and It was imperative that "vve discpunt future problems that did not even exi^. Broadcasting studios require spie- eial acoust icaI~.tr eatment to •i)revent echoes,-to absorb sound refractions. Tet there are certain types of pro- grams that require Just this or that degree of studio resonance. Differ- ent instruments, different groups Qt instruments, different- voices, each and all demand their owA individual acoustical consideration.- Our new Studios. are virtually rooms within rooms, boxes within boxes» These are suspended on springs, eiach with Its specially treated floor and with walls and ceiling of a material per- fected for our use. This material: is perforated In a manner that resem- bles a porous plaal«j This material I could-not-be 'pape:^' without de- jf stroying its very, purpose. - •'■Paint would not reilevigi its unsightly ap-^ pearance. Of necessity our paint- ing, ahd papering had be. done with textile fabrics. Not ordinary wall fabrics: but special fjibtlcs sensitive to our acoustical require- mentsi Special glues a,lsp were re- quired .iof . afRslng these fabrics to walla and celllrigs.i for the same acoustical reasons. For psyehological reasons we deemed .it necessary that all corri- dor, and reception room ceilings, all dreissing room and artlat green-room wialls be acoustically treated like studio Interiors. Artists stepping into the avejbage studio.are cQnfu3e;d by the strange sound of their voices .and .Inistrumients In such acoustical surroundings. But, ^vith reception rooms, corridors, etc., similarly ^^tr^fl,t.pA,the-artiat js-adjustcid-to: .t his If, as-Einstein .-■su^ea us, time and apace are re!^ tiye, ^Jid very greedy relatives they are, n<JthIns -de- ligii.ta us more than cheating either or both. We cen- sunae^a. great deal'dff energy trj-ing to sl\?ilk up-new sp<efl. recoF.dis, robbing space by stealing from- tim^* Possibly one di iha Srst things Queea Isabella sadTd to .Columbus upon hfa return to, Spain vrsa, ^Cttriiv yoii simply must do better than two mbntlis and nine ■ days.the next tlnae.' But i't;^ok 400 years before they perfected the clipper-shlp. Aiid, that wasn't .fast enough. Fulton's: 'folly' sug- geated ari ldea, and so to the S. S. Kei, pTiesent trans- Atlantio. cnampipn. Meanwhile, news was beconaing. a- comrttodity .quite as. valuable as thpaie ticli trajis^Atlantic cargoes. Morse had invented his telegraph, and sot long after- wards men reistleaaly began trying to bridj^e the At- lantic with .dots ..and d[ashea. Then, in 1858, Qtteen Victoria, sent her historic greeting to President James Buchanari:, 'Europe, apd Anierica have been tinlteii by telegraph. Glory to God in the highest, 9Jid on earth, peatee, good wfil to men/ Along came Marconi with visions of taJcIng the wlrie put of telegraphy. He rigge^l up one of his send- ing, sets in Englaild siiid then .came to this side and bitilt a receiving station. Patiently . he waited with earphones clapped to his liead^ At last he heard what sounded like three dots but -wrouldnft trust hJa own. ears. His .colleagues •listened. Te^ trans-Atlandc • Trtreless ivas a .realityi i)e'cemi>er 12; 1301, v Wireless telegraphy played an important part in the wat n>pt. only for oommunicating commands, ta the front-line • trehches, but in ..contbatting submarine craft. Sub-chasers usi^uany .worked in. threes, listlg matbemiati^l triahgixlat|on pf siE>uiidings ■ for locating: their quaiTyi- Telegraphic code wias hard to learn, ahd besides'it was etmibersonie. It took , too long atnd errors crppt. in . too easily. This necessity gave an impulse to: espertinelits with -wireless'telephony, and raldio came Into beilng. We - wpuld have had radio witihout the war, but probably not aa soon. irst Internationai Program Kadip. broadcastktg had not becdnie a practical .and jis aMe instrument very long b gfore station WJZ Ho?er picked, up dance music being played by the Savoy otchestraL in Ltpndon and rebroadcast It for do- mestic consumption. Perhaps yon remember that first •Westward, So' of radio; March 14, 1925. Shortly before that a London station .had succeeded.in picking lip and. rebrpadcasting a program from KDEA, Pitts- burgh. It took Magelian'3 fleet three years and jl . month, lacking one day,, to bring back the hews that the' eiirth. was rounds Jules Verne calculated the trip could be niade in 80 .days. In 1929. Dr.- Eckner in his Gtaf Zepplin did It in 21 days; in 1933 Wiley Post .did it In a thlEd^bf that.^time. A radio signal can .circumnavi- gate the globe in a fraction of .a second. Badlo signals travel with the speed of light Boughly that is 186,000 miles per second, fast enough to circle the world at the equatpr seven timies a sec- ond. This thakes it possible. for you to hear a man speaking or singing on the other side of the earth sooner than a person sitting 25 feet away." from the perfornier—providing you ai'e sitting beside - your, loud-speaker. Today we can, and are, eavesdropping across the seven seas. The facilities -nrhlch make this possible, are similar to, yet different from, those which enable ybu to hear programs broadcast from pur New Tork studios. .For instance, it was discovered that the lower frequencies (the longer ether waves at the bass end of the radio keyboard) were the best channels for carrying domestic programs, but that these were not adequate for long-distance, . seiwilng and-receivingj-- Wheireas the higher frequencies (the shorter ether waves), are Ideally suited for this purpose. Tour re- ceiving set is like an ear that can hear only the bass and tenor voices, while a short-wave receiver Is like an ear that c^n hear only the high soprkhp and pic- colo tones. By meiins of special short- ve receiving sets we pibk-up tiaris-Atlantic, trans-Pacific and South Amer- ican broadcasts, transpose them ..Ihlp lhe^a^^^ lower keys that your receiving set can heaxi and re- broadcast these in the same way:-as we do our regu- lar studio, programs,: thus making it possible for you to hear a man speaking or singing in Australi Exflehsiye $hort Wave Short-wave reception, like shPrt-waye. sending, is quite ,a complicated process . requiring special and costly apparatus tp accomplish satisfaction. It ih- volves many; problems not common to Ipng-waye re- ception. It is because of these peculiar problems that amateurs who experiment with short-wave, reception are .so frequently disappointed and discouraged. There are miny " dead areas in the realm of short waves, spots where certain wa.ye. channels are impps- ehvirohment Ipng before he'reaches the scene of his performance. To enumerate all the problems In- volved in decorating this iicw estab- lishment would require yoliime.s. This work is the result of two years of consulting with architects and engineers, endless experimentation and cpuntless 'laboratory, tests—'all for the purpose of making the' whole as attractive arid pleasing as pos fllblej all qualified by scientific re quirements^and artist psychology. flible to Intercept. This Is due to theJr nature of zjg- sagglag upward and dowh^raxd in. their fllghtt from the earth -to. the heaviald© topf of the world*. Fading; Is -aiiother ffreat problem. We liave found tbat fading does not occur simultaneously at all points^ even, -within liznited areas, that when a radio- idgn^ fades In' one spot it may become atfonger fh otheris. Hence to overcpme this conunon nuisance of ishort-wave transmission we employ several antennaie^set up at Taripus points of'the compass. We b^je: perfected a very delicate apparatus- for picking np the ■algnal'ss from these several antennae, blending and ssTnchron"- Izing them in such a way as to attain and. maintain an even balance of volume so that the energy' can be -Teb;roadcast to you on a .smooth^ ^d. pl^easing leveU Theiae high frequencies (or short waves) we at|S- ceptibie to many mysteHotis interftiring sun-spots, ntagnetic storms; luziar plias<es| th^ angle of the solar raysi times of sunrise an.d sunset, and other known and uzikno'wh cosmic forces.. .By keeping dally records of these influenceis, and preparing chatts. to show the' optimum times of the day and of the year -Vjphen different wave channels give the best service, fre are: learning to oyercpme many of these obstacles., The British Broadcasting .tJorporatlon, the GermM^ Broadcasting Company, and the N. V. P'Mllps C6m7. pany of Holland :have co-operated 'with us In. acr gTimnlating this data. We have also had the aid of the General Electric Company and the ■VV'estinghoui3e Companies in this work. . The National Broadcasting Company has been the clearing house for this In- .formatipn. We'are continuotisly. accumulating data» compiling, corelating, tabulating and cataloging this information, and rei>alrtng. ciiarts that -show the curves of variability. Depending upon the time, of the day and year, the conditions of the "weather and vari-. pus celestial influences, this or thiatt wave-channel is used.' ive .Short Waye Stistiens Wei command the use of five NBC i^nd jasspclate short wave .receiving, and transmitting cehters: Bound Brook, N. J., with one transmitter; Chicago,.; ■with one; Pittsburgh, 'vy^.lth four; Schenectady, N. 'With three, and Springfleid, .Mass.,-with one.. In .ad- dition tp these, the circuits of the .Radio Corporation -of'Aigeric a, inc., ^d-the-traas-AAlahtictLtelftphonf^ toll. cJrcnitis Of the American. Telephone , and Telegraph Company are used in contacting foripign countries. .A program ha-ving been scheduled for a certain day' ajad time, the engineers determine which frequency is most suitable for the station which is to receive the broadcast, and the sending station is so notified. As the transmitters are In almost constant operation, the. receiving station la enabled to keep a running test on the signals and know pretty much .what to . expect; Sometimes two or more transmitters are used for.«i." single pirogram in order to assure sucoess. The program being;, picked up (which may. or miay not be rebroadcast on regular dpmestic broadcasting stations) is fed to. the proper short w:ave sending sta-. tion and transmitted. From this point on, the matter devolves upon the receiying 8ta.tion to. pick up the signals a.nd by riieahs. of 'wire lines these. are fed to our central control bpard. The program is then fed into the network arid distributed in the usual manner to the brpadcasting stations for rebroadcasting.to y.o^-. , When using the HCA comm'iDl^atlons circuitsj. the. program is picked yp by their receiving stations and brought by wire to our central control board for dis- tributiPn in like manner* . The BCA station at. Rocky Point, Long Isiand, N. T., Is in regular communication, with i^uropean and South American countries. Its sta- tion at Bolirias, just north of San Francisco, main- tains direct contact with Hawaii, the Philippines, Japan, Australia and other Far Ea^stern centers. WTiile tiere 'were frequeFt~transmIssioris :or'IriteTr-' national programs during the experimental days of short waves, these were usually of. a test nature. NBC was the first to inaugurate a. regular schedule of international service. One by one -w-e have'been Ironing out the wrinkles in the short waves, improving equipment, eliminating or minimizing those factors which have obstructed ciar way.^' AXready • w^ hkve febrpadcast programs from Argentina, Austria, Anstralia, . Belgium,- Brazil, Chile, Cuba, England, France, Germany, Ha.wail, Hoi-:' land, Hungarj-, Italy, Japan, the Phili ines, PPlarid^ Spai Swedfeh, Switzerland, Ui-qguay,. Yenezuela; Yusoslavia, New Zealand, T^byway, the Vatican State, from ships on and under the sea, and fi'btn ships In the NEC and its Associated, stations are .well equipped ■^vith both transmitiing and receiving sta- tions which are in active operation, it Is a rather simple matter to add new countries to the list; Orad- ualiy additional circuits are being established, and within another few years practically every point oh the globe will be .brought within the range of your receiving set. lOTONSOFHDSIC IK THE NBC LIBRARY By THOMAS H, BELVtSO (Diredtor of jUustc Library, Jtieseaifc^i ; ani 3tuiic~RiffMs X>ept^ far XBCy .Those Europeans -vvhjj .In the past ^aye so freely criticized ijs for 'com- mercIa^UzIng. art'-'-arid' -wha. are, now beginning tb marvel at tiie resulta, —mWely forgot one of' feheir hfatpry leaispnfl. A vlialt the N!atlpnal Brbadcastlng ■ -. .Cp^pah,yfs music 11- brstry "wpuld. refresh their memory. Art Is ail. orchidaceous parasite:.' Seldom has. ft-thriyed: Id -the soil. Ifc has .attained its fuOest flowering only, when able to- attach itself to .a prosperous people and nourish- itself on :the flby pf golden sap. Libraries are usually .-considere'd tp be mUesftones that' marie the progress of a culture, btit .rather are they-prpducts of that , culture. . And taJiio has .beien directly .respotisible for "aihassing one, of the greatest iibcaries of mu^ic ever ,asSenible<l, i -TeHf -to- the mUislc library of th« N;at.ional Broadcasting .. Cpmpariy :v^rhl!Ch,-witiiout question, is the most exte.nsive working libi^ary of . music in the World* And .this great iibrairy eairie. into eiiateitce not througli somis altruistic whim or. philan- thropic ambltibn but, to serve x business necessity* . .^,000 Muiiical Programs igures are convincirig. Last year ^mo^e than ■ 25,000 programs were. broadcast, from the New York irtudios. of ..NBC. At least 27.000 of these were.- musical or of a musicaJ nature. . .Such programs, avenige eight different numbers, which makes 250,000 selections broadcast during one.; year. This does not in- clude .the auditipns conducted daily. Quite conservatively this would raise that figure ' ainother lOO.OOO.' This Is' a Ipt pf music. Ten tons of music.. ■W hil e it is ^-ferae-that-man y artls'ts .. Radio Showmanship (Continued from page 57). revive its outstanding show$.. Of course this has been done in Iso- =lfltAd=^ra«Pfl—huh—ha-q—npvei:. bftfttL widely considered. Radio showmanship has made succe.'s^ful use Pf minstrels, long sterile of pi'ofits for the theatre itself. profrarijs such as the WLS Barn Dance arid the Corn Cob Pipe Club '. of Edgeworth Tobacco (Laruj;), al- though after radio develops an au- dience such attractions are often, gold mines for theatrical ,(>nu merits. KaiUo can al.so airti at and reai.-h a fctrata of the pniju'.ut'.on comparatively inaccessible to other, forms pf amuseriients,. It Is no'vy an old, story about .Selh Parker, the radio hokum, king of thousands of devout, and pious souls many of 'W'hom never ha've entered a theatre jn -their Uvea .i^^ Steady advancement of ' radl^o showmanship doesn't mean there isn't plenty pf room for further ii;i- provement. But obviously quality Only radio could popularize j In any highbrow or literary sense ~ is not and will not be a goal. Big budgets are to reach big audiences not minorities. There have been lhili<;r> ions thut radio itself' has lifted ^^'e- \ level of di.«^c;rlmlnation may und phistit-uit-fi rather Ptavi!:'V:r. ?i Vrho rutiitr oMcJif tlously never turn on their • radios riaake' a point of classifying the radio as the lowiest form of Amerl cana. Certainly radio Is a ready ob- ject for satire and .ridicule; Tet radio. has brought to the home i#X^i^^|e^| entert^nment a^id^n- lighteriment in spSe ofaTPt'Ke doodle, Decline of certain former' favor- ites, may prove they wero engulfed in a rising tide of radio- educated popular discrimination that once would accept what presently it snubs. After all, the public in Kep kuk and ivalamazob ar.e su^'optibio the general I to inoculation and after,a diet.o a bit. This' the best thoy. too. find • it riuioh !-.urdor "to. n.turn to -their .s?inirl<.i' tas-it-3. bring and use their own music tot audition and peifPnriance, experlr encc/has taught us to be prepared for enaergencles. There can be ho holes in programs, no excuses. The music library must • bef prepared to cooperate and assist on all commer* cial arid susitairiing programs alikew It is a port of ca^l at all hours. 'Dp you have such-and-such a song in such-and-such:, a key?"; 'Rush, the score -a^d: parts of Riin^ sky-Eorsakoff's ^Flight of the Bum- ble Bee' to Studio X at once.'; ''My; piano program is one minute short. Can you lend me dhopin's |Minute Waltz','; "Let hie have a male quar- tet arrangement of 'Old Black' Jbe'^ or 'an arrangement for treble 'trio.*^ These are a sample of the de-' mands that rain upon the musi library daily. This library is care- fully catalogued and accurately crpi^s-indexed a^ to title, coniposjer, content^ character, etc. We also iiave our own bindery for-reppjrintf Worn music and properly, preserving new. We have our own arrahginif and copying department and "• an- other important-'functiott of- the--ll--— brary staff is .to checli over eacli program, not only to avoid conflict- ing repetitions of a number but also to determine whether it is:.free of copyright or performing fees, and If. it is not to obtain such perhiis^io or arrange otherwise. Altogether 50- personis are .em- ployed in the music library, .Ariiong Qi^se .is one.man whose sole duty it to purchase new music; He spends seven, hours a day digging up the unuBiial thirigs "vi^hlch' we are called upon supply, or shopping arpundi . to keep us up. with' the latest pub- lications. ^ . Aissuredly we may have 'coriamer* cialized art' in this country but in so doing we have liiid the founda- tiPrjs of an.'American Renaissance.' This library is just one of .the many, evidences that can offe.red in proof. HABOID fAlSL BACfK HOME Omaha^. Dec. Commercial staff at KOIL bfta. added Harold Fair, formerly witi the station four or five y^ars ago. In in'teriria Faiy has worked at W;BB34 and was manager at WEBM, :-Buffavlo.^R;.a'it4l.g.A=-n.T,ti.vP^- Qf-Cou oil Bluffs and. will do most of hi* work there. lugs Dec. 31. A. C. ark';riug groos pn 'N'BO next' vvct-k set throuvrh tlni Camp- bell Kwalii agency.' On tlio red'Nvob for 30 n>lti'utos CvXoh 9 p.mi I'r'U-r.uu '(-...i »»'rstv-.^o I I K:'ti.ii;'uiul i»is Kv.'-kU at-