The Washington herald., 1922-07-23
BODY WILL GOVERN
KINDS OF MATERIAL
FOR BROADCASTINC
Priority of Different Pro
grams Given Consider
able Attention.
USE WAVES WIDELY
Economy Of Communication
Urged as Reason for
Utilizing Phones.
USE WAVES WIDELY

BY the appointment the past
week of a representative from each
| of the ten government departments
to serve as an interdepartment ad :
visory committee on governmental
radio broadcasting. definite action
may be expected on the report pre-
pared last March snd April by the
conference on radio telephony, of
which DR.. s. w. Stratton, director
of the Bureau OF Standards. was
head.
In addition to preparing a report
on technical matters. the conference
which met last spring made rec
omme nda tions as to the essential
points required in legislation to
give the Secretary of Commerce
authority to make and enforce
regulations. The report which was
prepared at that time was very
general and inclusive in scope. 1t
provided for the ALLEGATION of wave
bands, power Limitations. consid-
erations in granting licenses, rec
concentrations relative to the ANA
teur and technical methods for the
reduction of intseference. In short
II was proposed to consider the en-
tire field of radio broadcasting as
| 1t effected government stations.
commercial concerns and individ-
ual transmitters. The Secretary Of
| Commerce was given complete
charge, and was to call the COM
mittee for conference as necessity
occurred. This committee, which
numbered fourteen members. sew
eral of whom are on the present
interdepartmental committee. care
| fully prepared its report and has
since been functioning officially.
Concerned With Material.
The new committee Is concerned
at present with the material suit
able for broadcasting at each of
the ten government departments.
Its function Is to assign schedules
to certain government broadcasting
stations and to disseminate infor-
nation. rather than to regulate ra-
dio in general or work in any way
apart from that concerned directly
with the government departments.
The first consideration of the new
committee of which DR.. Stratton is
chairman and DR.. J. II. Dellinger,
the chief Of the radio laboratory.
Bureau of Standards, is secretary,
was a preliminary classification of
the kinds of material such as
reports, market prices and educa-
tional material which each govern
ment department would have In
readiness to broadcast. Pridrity
of the types OF this material was
considered Eight stations were
listed. including NAA, Arlington,
and wwX. Washington postonice
to be known as primary stations
From these stations most all oi
which transmit on c. w. code on
tie higher wave lengths. the ma
terial would be given to local ra-
diophone stations to be rebroad'
casted on $50 dr 1.160 meters.
wide Use Of Radio.
The committee has recognized the
principle that radio must be ussd
primarily for types of service that
cannot be as satisfactorily given by
other means of communication. and
that therefore RADIO broadcasting
should not be used in general where
wire telegraphy or telephony or
printed publication would be as sat
isfactory. 1t is possible that the
scope of the committees activities
may be EXTENDED beyond the subject
of broadcasting and that the CON-
mittee will act in an advisory ca
pacity to the Secretary of Commerce
in matters of government radio
regulation and will consider all
radio questions of interdepartmen-
tai interest.
Few persons realize the wealth
of material broadcasted daily from
the many primary stations. The
! nA alma RI
invaluable TO farmers. 1t must>be
recalled that radio waves traverse
space in all directions. Compare
then. the transmission of report
by radio over a distance of 60t
miles with the transmission of the
same report by NAL. telephone oil
telegraph. The radio service is in
Ntantaneous, covers an entire area
for the same expense of getting II
to a single individual and permits
interception for redistribution al
any point. The meteorological and
weather reports are of vital impor-
tance to the farmer. shipper and to
ships at sea.
1900 Miles Leased Wire.
In 1915 nearly $4,000 miles of
leased wires and more than sixty
branch Offices were necessary. and
still continue in service. without
reaching more than a fraction OF
the persons reached by radio.
The matter of broadcasting edu-
cational material Of general inter-
est has not been touched as yet, but
offers perhaps the most profitable
field of endeavor so far entered by
the radio broadcasting station.
The new radio advisory commit
tee, therefore. has before II a prob
lem of very great Importance.
The membership of the new ad-
visory committee follows:
Agriculture-W. A. Wheeler. radio
development section.
Commercials. S. W. Stratton