What's on the air (Mar-June 1931)

Page 6 WHAT'S ON THE AIR May, 193 1 year. One ray of hope is seen in the application of Radio Pictures, Inc., now before the Commission for permission to experiment in television in the upper radio spectrum above the present recognized limit of 23,000 kilocycles. By the way, we find the hours of 4 to 6 A. M. surprisingly interesting for DX work. We tune in some convenient testing program and wait until the set is warmed up thoroughly. Then if static seems heavy we turn the set off and go back to bed; but if atmospheric conditions are at all favorable, we find that patient work up and down the dials will often bring in a surprising number of stations. Early morning listening-in almost always adds to your list of stations heard on such crowded channels as 1200, 1210, 1310, 1970, 1420 and 1500. ft A piece of copper tubing three feet ten inches long and one inch in diameter, wrapped from one end to the other with No. 20 copper aerial wire, and then buried in a deep hole is a most perfect ground for DX reception. At least, this is the scheme adopted by Ollie Ross, of Vallejo, Calif. With an eighty-foot aerial and lead-in from this ground to his radio set he tells of bringing them in far and near. In three years' time his record shows that he has logged over 1,308 stations from every State in the Union as well as from Canada, Mexico, Europe, Asia, the Philippines and Africa. Si An amazing number of DXers not only on the Pacific Coast, but in decreasing numbers as far east as Indianapolis, have been made happy the past three months by listening in on Japan. On the west coast even five-tube battery sets well located have proved sufficient to pick up all eight of Japan's 10,000 watters. While it is almost too much to hope that such favorable reception conditions will continue through April and into May, a tip from the successful DXers will undoubtedly be welcome. The best time to fish for the JO stations is between 3:3 0 and 6:30 A. m., C. S. T. The Jap stations are JOFK at Hiroshima (849 Kc.) ; JOGK at Kumamoto (789 Kc); JOCK at Najoya (810 Kc.) ; JOBK at Osaka (75 0 Kc); JOIK at Sapporo (831 Kc.) ; JOHK at Sendai (769 Kc.) ; JOAK at Tokyo (869 Kc), and JOKK at Yokohama (590 Kc). Sport Broadcasts in May. The Intercollegiate track championship to be held at Franklin Field, Philadelphia, early in May will be another offering of the chains to sport lovers. m If you can get WLW and are a sports fan, don't overlook Col. Bob. Newhall's week-day night sports reviews over the Cincinnati 50,000 watter. '/' CBS announces that it will carry over its chain an average of four sports events of general interest per week throughout the summer months. Golfers will have an extra inning on the air in May when the chains cover the Ryder Club Matches (U. S. vs. Great Britain) to be held this year at the Scioto Club, Columbus, O. in As usual, the automobile race at the Speedway, Indianapolis, will be broadcast by both chains on Memorial Day. However, only the closing hour of the race will be covered. Both NBC and CBS have arranged to cover the two outstanding races in May: The Preakness at Pimlico track, Baltimore, on May 9, and the Derby at Churchill Downs, Louisville, on May 16. Clem McCarthy will be at the microphone for NBC. The CBS announcer has not yet been announced. 1^ Major League baseball is to be on the air regularly this season from Chicago, St. Louis, Cleveland, Detroit and Boston. In Chicago, WGN, WMAQ and WCFL cover the home games of both the Cubs and the White Sox, while WBBM follows the Cubs daily. In St. Louis KMOX and KWK broadcast the Cardinal's home games. WTAM is scheduled to describe the Cleveland team's home games; WJR, the games at Detroit, while WNAC will follow the local fortunes of both Boston teams. Irene Bordoni as "The Coty Playgirl." (See Cover Page.) Irene Bordoni, who hitherto has confined her radio activities to guest appearances, has signed a longterm contract to portray the title role of "The Coty Playgirl" in a series of broadcasts over the Columbia network every Sunday at 9 p. M., E. D. T. A star of the first magnitude on stage and screen, Mme. Bordoni had often expressed a desire to affiliate herself with radio entertainment, and, though many highly remunerative offers were submitted to her, she was unable to select a suitable vehicle. However, as "The Coty Playgirl," the chanteuse is given a sophisticated setting that affords her ample opportunity to display her charms as a singing and dramatic actress. Each broadcast presents her in a different locale — one of international reputation as a rendezvous for the socially prominent. On one broadcast she is heard entertaining aboard a ship bound for Havana, and later at a popular Havana supper club, singing such typical Bordoni numbers as "So This Is Love" and "Let's Do It." Appearing with Mme. Bordoni in her first dramatic and singing role on the radio is a specially selected cast of players recruited from the Broadway stage. An orchestra of eighteen pieces, directed by Eugene Ormandy, accompanies Mme. Bordoni's songs and provides the musical interludes. Irene Bordoni was born in Corsica. She made her first stage appearances in the music-halls and opera-houses of the Continent, where her name soon shone brightly in large electric lights. Her American debut occurred in "Miss Information," with Elsie Janis, and later she was seen with Raymond Hitchcock in "Hitchy-Coo," subsequently co-star CHANGES IN SCHEDULES RECEIVED AS WE GO TO PRESS Literary Digest Topics in Brief, with Lowell Thomas, will be heard only over NBC Eastern stations at 6:45, E. D. T., each week night. A second broadcast for a Western network will be given at 10:15, C. S. T. Beginning May 9, Tony Cabooch, AnheuserBusch program's one-man show, will begin a new time schedule, changing from early Monday evening to 10:45 p. m., E. D. T., Saturday. Additional stations have been added as follow: WNAC, WEAN, WCAU, WMAL, WKBW, KLZ, KDYL, KHJ, KOIN, KFRC, KOL, KFPY. WLEX, now off the air, will return to activity late in April as WAAB, with headquarters at Squantum, Mass., adjoining WNAC. ring with H. B. Warner in "Sleeping Partners." This success was followed by "As You Were," with Alice Delysia and Sam Bernard, and so marked was her success in this production that she was immediately rewarded with her own starring vehicles. In chronological order they were "The French Doll," "Little Miss Bluebeard," "Naughty Cinderella" and "Paris." % The March of Time. Dramatization of the outstanding news events of each week forms the basis of the "March of Time" program. In this novel form of presenting current events, a large cast of actors, supported by a symphony orchestra and special sound effects, bring each scene as near as possible to reality. The program varies from other news broadcasts in that it seeks to restore reported incidents to their original forms. News is selected by the editors of "Time," however, on the basis of its importance rather than of its dramatic possibilities, and embellishments for sheer dramatic effect are not indulged in. The music, which serves as a "curtain" between each episode, is selected and specially scored by Howard Barlow to provide appropriate atmosphere, while each scene is otherwise "set" by a narrator, the Voice of Time, who designates the time and locality, and otherwise prepares the listener for the dramatized news event to follow. The program really consists of six to ten shows in one, depending upon the number of news events treated with, and a cast of fifteen to twenty people is utilized, exclusive of the orchestra. At least eleven hours a week are spent in rehearsal— more, if it is necessary to make last-minute changes, due to last-minute news of great importance coming in. The programs raise two major production problems: First, they require extraordinarily complete details from the correspondents who report the items to be presented; second, they require unusual versatility on the part of the director, the cast and the musical director, who may frequently have scant time in which to prepare and rehearse the programs. No effort or expense is spared by the producers of the programs to make eachtscene authentic. In one event in which former Gov. Alfred E. Smith was a principal, the actor who impersonated him in the program interviewed him beforehand in order to be able to accurately imitate his speech and manner. In another program a scene in a church in Soviet Russia was presented. In order to create an authentic atmosphere the choir from a Greek Catholic church in New York was added to th? cast. The choir sang for only forty-five seconds, but the mood that was created made it worth while. in For ten consecutive weeks the National Radio Forum, arranged by the Washington Star and broadcast over CBS, will present each Saturday night at 9:30 a member of President Hoover's Cabinet, who will tell the public about the method of operation and problems faced by his respective department. "Canada on Parade," sponsored by General Motors of Canada, will soon be on the air. Twentyfour Canadian stations and WJR of Detroit will carry this series, making it available to every section of Canada. The program will be of an hour's duration, from 9 to 10, local time, Friday evening, at CKX, CKLC, CFCY, CJCA, CJRW, CKPR, CFNB, CHNS, CKOC, CJGC, CKAC, CFCH, CNRO, CFLC, CHRC, CKCK, CFBO, CJCB, CKGW, CNRV, CFCT, CKY and CJGX, and at 10 p. m. from CFQC and CHNS.