Great Falls tribune., 1922-03-16
The HQSkin Letter 81 T1ssss. 2:sa
TELLING THE WORLD BY RADIO

York is under the spell Of a new fas-
cination these days. It has gone In
for radio phoning. Suddenly, every
body has begun to talk radio, play with
radio and invite you to studio ether
tapping parties. The once so popular
ouija board is now a back number
when it comes to receiving weird and
amusing messages. InsteL1, the fam
lily gathers about its little radio-re-
ceiving apparatus and listens to the
varied program Of music, lectures,
news dispatches and children's bed
time stories nightly broadcasted by
the large commercial radio companies.
has been popular for some time, It Is
months that the passion for radio has
become acute, 100000 new receiving
sets, it is said, having been installed
in that time. Recent estimates show
that approximately 100000 American
homes, schools, churches, halls and Of
flee buildings are now equipped as re-
ceiving stations, while the federal gov
ernment has licensed more than $1,000
stations for transmitting messages Of
one kind and another.
Every evening at 8 o'clock, thousands
of amateur radio operators, scattered
all over New York City, New Jersey,
Long Island and up through New York
state, start twirling the curious knobs
on top of their radio boxes; adjusting
their headpieces, and listening to the
loud, clear sounds of a phonograph
record which is being played many
miles away. They continue to listen
intensely and rapturously, not because
they find the record so edifying lit
would sound much better played on
their own photography, but because it
is SO delightfully."- uncanny to hear it
from such a distance over the radio
telephone.
Static Mars the Music
"Oh," exclaimed young woman
breathlessly, the other evening, as she
sat for the first time with the re-
ceivers in her ears, s'it's quite clear,
and l can even hear the scraping
sound of the record. It's Caruso.
He's singing Ave Maria Where is
it coming from? Trenton? Think
of that-Trenton! And he's been dead
all these months, yet there is his
voice singing to US and perhaps to
thousands of others way out there in
the night. Perhaps his voice can be
heard all the way over in Italy, where
he lies buried-do you suppose sop
Yes said the owner Of the radio
box, perhaps it could, if sent from
one Of the big broadcasting stations"
x wish the sound Of the record
were not so terribly loud, though"
complained the young woman. Some
times it browns out the song"
'4That is not the sound oS the rec
mr. Dnf hno Jn1pD Dfn nd
"That is what we call sOld Man Stat
&C. Sounds like frying bacon on a
red-hot fire, doesn't it? Sometimes
it's much worse than it is tonight. but
it's always pretty bad. One Of the
mean features the radio inventors
have not succeeded in overcoming
Hes finished interrupted the
young woman. Now they're putting
something else on. A mans voice.
He is giving the letters Of his station
something can't quite hear
the last letter. He's reading some
news, all about Lloyd George in Eng
land. and now it's about a rum schoon-
er found off the coast of didn't get
that-oh, yes, he says it will be
cloudy, with easterly winds tomorrow.
Goodness, there's your friend, Static.
again-it's quite deafening, isn't it?
All. here's some more music, but now
they are playing two records at once,
and It sounds frightful. One is jazz
record, and the other is Tosti's Good
bye It's all right: the jazz has
stopped. l suppose the Goodbye song
ends this particular program, doesn't
it?"
Probably" assented the owner Of
the apparatus, taking the headpiece
from the young woman's head, "but
something else from some other quar-
ter will doubtless start up in few
minutes. The broadcasting goes on all
evening. The most interesting thing.
length where you can hear the wire
less telegraph spark signaling news
from the great Nauen station near
Berlin or from the big British plant in
the Welsh hills near Carnarvon to
Deal Beach. New Brunswick, or Arling-