The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-02-03

Brlt3ln, Japan anu SOutn AmeFlca. ny North American Newspaper Alliance. for The Age.Herald. All rights re- served.)
 NEW YORK. Feb. 2.-After four and a half months in successful sup plying wired wireless" programs to a portion of the residents of Staten Island through their electric light sockets. President C. W. Hough of Wired Ra- dio, incorporated. announced. today that service would be extended over the entire island and to several other cities near New York this spring. He predicts that within few years wired wireless programs will be available to many of the 12,O00,O00 homes in the United States which are' now lighted by electricity.
 .'rhe experiments in process on Staten Island.' said Mir. Hough. have demonstrated that wired radio is prac- tical under actual service conditions. Nearly every problem has been solved by our engineering staff during this extensive test of the last few months. It remains only for us to go ahead in other cities with the same kind of sery ice we are now giving Staten Island
 Experience on Staten Island, Il com munity of 125,O00 just across the bay from Manhattan, indicates that wired radio is adapted to the needs of the non mechanically inclined individuals who don't know the different between condenser and a wave-length.
 Just Like FlatirOn.
 The the Staten Island customer S viewpoint, radio programs come through small black box attached to any electric light socket the same as an electric flatiron or a washing machine. To tune in" he simply turns on his electric light switch and turns the dial until the sounds are audible. Either through headphones or loud speaker. he hears orchestra music. lectures, songs, news dispatches and all tho oth- CT features that make up complete radio program.
 Musical or vocal sounds in a central studio are projected into a regulation radio microphone, from which they are transmitted along a quarter of mile of wire to the power station of the Staten Island Edison company. the public utility which supplies Staten Island with it's electric current. Here the wire from the radio studio is tied into the network of electric wires going into thousands of homes, offices, stores and factories. Over these wires the radio waves merrily dance their ways into the light sockets, where they await only the magic of the midget receiving set to tickle the ears of subscribers.
 Subscribe By Month.
 Receiving sets are not sold. Resi- dents subscribe to wired radio service by the month. so their monthly pay ment gives them the use and mainte- nance of the instrument.
 During the last few weeks the Staten Island wired radio subscrib- CTS have had only one program, from II a. m. to II p. m.. but R. D. Dun can. Jr.. chief radio engineer of Wired Radio. Inc, is working on the ''mul- tiplexing' problem. with every pros pect of an early success.
 When the engineering staff solves all the difficulties of ''multiplexing' (meaning the transmission of several messages simultaneously over one cir. cuit) the wiredswireless subscriber will have choice of two or three pro grams simply by turning his dial.
 MT. Duncan'S most recent engineer ing accomplishment has been to cap ture broadcasting stations programs out of the air and to retransmit them oveg the wired wireless. Thus, in ad- ditioh to Wired Radios own program, the Staten Islanders are hearing programs sent out by broadcasting sta tions in Newark, Schenectady, Boston, Pittsburgh. Chicago, Atlanta and nu- merous other cities. These captured waves are used to supplement the en- tertainment presented by Wired Ra- dio's own artists.
 \ Inventor Army Officer
 No effort whatever has been made to achieve commercial success in the Staten Island endeavors of the company. Attention has been focused on the stupendous engineering factors involved. The North American com pany. one of the largest public utility holding corporation in America, which through subsidiaries and associated companies supplies nearly 1.25O. .OOO Of the nations 12.000,OOO domestic consumers. is back of the experiment. The North American, as the parent company of Wired Radio, Inc. holds exclusive rights to the patents of Major General George Owen Sauier. U. x. Army officer. who is given credit Tor inventing wired wireless.
 Many thousands of dollars have been spent in providing programs-including high-priced orchestra and high-sal- arled entertainers from Manhattan. to- gether With complete telegraphic news service-because customers ore an important necessity in an oxneri- ment under actual working ,cond;- tlons. few of the several hundred Wired Radio subscribers know thot their monthly rental payments do moi cover fraction of the cost of opero . tons; t9e service charges being S2 monthly for instruments with headsets and $o monthly for loud speakers, Not until Chief Engineer Duncan mas concluded his engineering experi. ments will the hard commercial con. slderatlons receive serious attention Just where the commercial possibilities lead to is thing that nobody knows
 Trapping the Waves
 Here are some of the wired wirc. less facts. not fancies, that we have hade sure of during the last few months, said President ITou-h todo, m his office at No. 60 Brondway. in the building orcupied by the Nortb American company.
 We know it is possible to send wire less waves into any electric light SpcEat in anu 'S''