The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-06-24
By DAVID SARNOFF,
General manager of the Radio
Corporation of America.)
BrOadcaS ting.

| General manager of the Radio
| Corporation of American
BrOadcasting.
! In some measure, the same con-
siderations apply to the future
prospects of radio telephony over
! land In the mobile services, in
connecting up isolated communi-
ties, and the shore with the sea,
there is a rich field for develop
ment. That radio will supplant the
wire telephone is not TO be cOntem-
plated.
Wire telephone communication,
as we know it today, has the great
est utility for the type of service
rendered. 1t is a wonderfully de-
veloped and complete system for
! seeking out for the user, though
a wire network and the central ex-
change personnel, the particular in
dividual wanted. This entire sys-
! TEN, this entire service, would have
! to be duplicated to establish radio
telephony On a parity in useful
ness; and even ii this were techni-
cally practicable with radio tele-
phony-which it is not-there is no
economic Justification for such du-
plication.
The radio telephone, on the 9TH
er hand, has a large sphere reserv-
ed for it in reaching locations
where wires cannot be placed or
maintained, in spanning inland
waters or connecting up islands OF
the coast. AS a supplement to wire
telephony alone, radio is assured
of a great future-which again di-
reefs me to the subject of broad
casting, a field that distinctly be-
longs to radio.
To those of US who watched ey-
cry step in the onward march of
radio, who saw scientific princi
pies shaping themselves into bust
ness facts, who sensed the trend
of research in the development OF
wireless, the instantaneous success
of radiophone broaGcasting does
not come as a surprise. In 1915,
from the possibilities that could be
foreseen | had worked out a plan
for radio broadcasting in CONNER
cial detail, and submitted it for
consideration by my company.
The time was not ripe, however,
for action on this project; we
were in the midst of war activities
and the devices for radiophone
transmission and reception had not
been perfected to the point they
have been brought TO at the present
day. Broadcasting is a reality now,
and it has been made possible only
by fine coordinated effort within
the industry, a large part OF the
credit being due to the Westing-
house Electric and Manufacturing
company for being first in estab-
fishing it on an organized basis. !
Radio telephone broadcasting is
not in itself an invention; it is the
of principles previously
established.
The hearth-side circle is only a
small part OF the unmeasured
sphere of its influence, however. :
Country schools cannot afford TO
employ the best teachers or the
most able lecturers. Think OF .
system of rural education, aug
meuted through the setting up of /
q broadcasting station with a range /
Of several hundred miles, and con-
Meeting up within that radius a /
thousand country schools.
Appraise the benefit of having
0ne skilled lecturer in history or
or hygiene, or whatever
the subject may be, deliver his les
son as the children listen in their
school rooms, possibly with the in
OF appropriate items OF
and music to hold
he children's interest.
And what may We expect wher
he telephone reaches across the
ocean? Up to the present time
here has been no way for trans
oceanic transmission of the human
Toice. because the cables lying On
he bottom of the ocean are not
for speech transmission
They can carry feeble currents Cor
Biography, but not tor telephony.