Evening star., 1924-04-16
BROADCAST AUDITORS
ARGUE WITH SPEAKER
Vile, Who Talks From WRC on
Political Issues, Tells or Get
ting Letters by Hundreds.
PRAISED AND ASSAILED
Tells Ohio Society Spoken Word
Has Great Appeal.

The Adventure of a Broadcaster"
was the title of an address before the
Ohio Society's monthly meeting, at
Fauscher's this week, by Frederic
William Vile. Since November, 1928,
Mr.. Wile's voice has become familiar
I" tens of thousands of liSteners-in in,
who have heard his weekly analyses
Of the Political Situation at Wash
ington, from station WRC.
\ large audience of Ohioans, as
seinbled under the presidency of
Chief Justice William Howard Taft,
listened intently to Mr. wile's narra-
tive of his experiences on the air. 1t
consisted mainly of the impressions
he has gathered from voluminous
correspondence, amounting to hun
dreds of letters a week from the four
quarters of the United States.
NRCs radius extends 1900 miles in
all directions.
"yox Popu,i~ Busy.
Mr.. Wile's "choir invisible" as he
terms it, has members throughout
that wide latitude. "Signor Marconi.
Or Herr Hertz. or Mr.. De Forest" ex-
planned the speaker. "or whoever is
rcsponsible for the propagation of
inns new race Of 'radiacs,' probably
thought he had devised a system az
cnHghtening the world which did
aWay with back-talk. He was mis-
,ahen. The listener-in isn't talking
pack, but he is writing back. He is
c!ogging the mails with his opinions
pro and con. on nearly everything he
pears on the air. The broadcaster
mas to watch his step as carefully
, rs the writer of newspaper article"
Mr. Vile said his "radiac" corre-
Spondence demonstrates to him that
the public yearRs for terseness, non
craftsmanship and plain-Speaking in an
analysis or Interpretation of public
events. Nearly all of the letters stress
one or all OF those points.
Accused of Everything.
The speaker declared that he de-
rlVes the greatest amusement OF all
rom the bewilderment of his inyis-
ihie audience over his politics. creed
ana personal inclinations generally
That proves to me-" said Mr.. Vile.
mat I'm accomplishing my purpose
course in what l have to say on the
air have been accused OF nearly
everything short of offenses cata-
.oSued in the criminal code. / have
been charged, successfully, with being
Republican. a Democrat, a La Fol-
letteite, Bolshevist, Farm -Laborite
and a general all-around political
nondescript. l have been accused of
beng a klansman, 4 tool OF the
Church OF Rome, an atheist, a Budd-
hist, a league of nations fanatic,
an idolator OF Woodrow Wilson, a
-Horshiper OF Calvin Coolidge. a
French propagandist. a treasury
raider and German. 1 have been
asked TO support nearly every cause,
good or bad, now before Congress.
That was the result of my advocacy,
on successive evenings, of pay-in-
;rease for our overworked postal en-
ployes, our underpaid Washington
school teachers and our efficient Dis
trict police force.
News Keeps Youngsters Home.
"Unappreciated and therefore un-
published poets have bespoken my
good offices in securing the printing
OF their masterpieces. Some address
me in verse, some in blank verse.
Non-poets occasionally write to me
in very blank verse. / enjoy my let
Lers from shut-inS'-invalids, old
people generally, who tell OF the new
interest that has come into their
drab existencss through radio talks
on politics. From the inmates of
blind asylum I have a round-robin
saying that radio has brought the
light into our lives People who
were shut off from the outside world
during last winters blizZards wrote
rom the Adirondacks and the Berk-
shires telling how radio, breaking
through all ordinary barriers raised
by the elements, was Keeping them
IN touch with events at washington
Parents say, IN terms of manifest
gratitude, that news of public events
On the Potomac is so absorbing that
is keeping the young people at
home more and inducing them TO
-o-Sake the jazz emporiuTnS ana the
movies once in a. while.
Appeal in Spoken Word.
Mr.. Vile said he is forced to con-
dude, from his Mount Everest of
correspondence" that there is some
hing in the spoken word that ap-
peals to the average man or woman
rrore than the printed word. In
quarter Of a century'S pursuit of the
elusive truth in many lands he said,
II have never experienced approxl-
nately the response to what l have
written that L have experienced in
four brief months to what l have
oeen saying on the air. What does
L portend? Does it presaSe revo-
iution in modes of transmitting hu-
man intelligence? L do not pretend
TO answer the question. All / know
is that il has given me, as a pro-
fessional writer, furiously to think"
Mr.. Vile observed. humorously, that
lie has begun to believe that although
there are only 100000 Inhabitants in
washington 100000 of them are
most as many aerials and antenna flung
TO the breeze in our beautiful capital"
nc observed, ''as there are presidential
lightning rods"
Enjoyed by Disabled.
The speaker told of a visit last Sun
,lsy to the United States Veterans Hos
pitaI at Mount Alto. Col Donald PEN
hallow, q. S. NJ c., conlmandant. "over
the bed of nearly every fellow at that
Splendid1y conducted institution" Mr..
Vile said, there hangs today pair of
rhe magic 'earmuffs,' by means of which
s,ll the world is today listening in. Some
Of the incapacitated service men have
1,uilt their own receiving apparatus.
They assured me, one and all, that radio
mas brought joy and happiness and
knowledge into their saddened existences,
Ind made life for them not only more
nearabIe, but even exceedingly interest
ing, despite their condition.
Feature WBBR Program.