The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-04-22
RADI0P Hone HAS
EVERYONE HELD
by The EARS
field Of Application for Future Is
6reat-Sets Increasing In
Huge Numbers.

Radio telegraphy is more thar
twenty years old, but radio tele-
phony, in its present form, is a
very recent product of inventive
genius.
A year ago there were hardly
10000 radio receiving sets in the
United States. According to a re-
cent estimate there are now more
than half million, and there are
sending stations of sufficient power
TO cover the entire area under
favorable conditions. The aggre-
gate number of those who listen
in" TO the evening programs of the
broadcasting stations probably APP
breaches a million, and the audi
ence reached by a single station
may be 10000 or more. A quarter
of the population of the United
States is within the area reached
by "WGY," and under favorable
conditions the broadcasting from
this station in Schenectady, n. Y,
might extend much farther. When
all the people have access to re-
ceiving outfits, a speaker at pow
erful broadcasting station might
address the entire population OF he
United States at one time.
New Publicity Agent.
The radio phone is therefore a
new publicity agent which literally
has everybody "by the ears" 1t
Immediately takes its place with
the telegraph, telephone, postof-
fee. press, pulpit, school and the
atre as a means of reaching the
public; and its possibilities are. oo-
yiously so great that it cannot be
regarded as a plaything or a pass
ing fad.
What is likely to be its field of
application in the immediate fu-
ture? In suggesting an answer to
this question we need not draw
heavily on our imaginations. Radio
has already spurned the limited
creations of imaginative writer's
and has again proved that fact is
stranger than fiction.
The telephone has not supplanted
the telegraph, and radio is not like
~ to supplant either. 1t is already
in general use for trans-oceanic
communication, and this applica-
ton will be extended, but radio
will not under present conditions
supersede the telegraph or tele-
phone for obvious reasons Broad
casting the morning order for gro
ceries or a chat with an intimate
friend might be more entertaining
than practicable.
To Reach Large Numbers.
The great publicity field for radio
is the broadcasting of information
or entertainment designed to reach
large numbers. If the matter is o.
universal interest and Importance,
it would be radiated from few
suitably located stations Of great
power. Matter of more local inter :
est would be broadcasted from less
powerful stations which would be
installed at suitable intervals
throughout the land.
Nationl news would be broad
casted from the few powerful sta
tons, and local news from the num-
erous local stations. The presi-
dent of the United States might ad-
dress the entire population from a
high-powered central station; the
governor of the state of New YORK
might address the people OF -
state through a local station Toe
message in either case would reach
instantly localities not reached by
telephone, telegraph, postoffice, or
newspaper.
The distribution of music and
other forms of entertainment, and
the broadcasting of educational and
religious programs will undoubt7
eddy develop along similar lines.
Radio broadcasting, which is
now being done largely by manu-
facturers as an experimental acces-
sorry to the development of the art,
will undoubtedly be undertaken as
a public service, the details u
which will have to be worked out.
Ten thousand individuals could
probably not be found who would
be willing to read consecutively
every page OF the same newspaper
or magazine, and it is not reason
able to suppose that the radio au-
dience will all want the same pro-
gram at the same time. Therefore,
an assortment of wave lengths W 4
be provided; one for market and
weather reports; one for financial
reports; and others for local news,
Tor advertising, for concert music,
Tor dancing, for educational pro-
grams. for church services, and fl
theatrical productions.
Powerful Influence.
Radio will exert a powerful in
nuence on the press, the pulpit, the
schools, and the theatre, but it will
not supplant them. Public taste
will be educated and it will be more
critical. 1t will demand higher
standards. There will be bene-
heial evolution of press, pulpit,
school and theatre in which the
Inferior and the mediocre will be
eliminated.
Radio broadcasting carries with
II responsibility. 1t is to be hoped
and expected that the power to say
something loud enough to be heard
ny thousands win give rise to ie-
sire to say something worth while
and to say il we'll.