Evening star., 1924-09-14
RADIO GOSSIP AND NEWS

Apparently many fans and owners
Of broadcasting and amateur stations
believe that Herbert Hoover can do
anything, judging from the curious
requests reaching the head of the
Commerce Department or the desk of
his aide, Chief Supervisor OF Radio
w. d, Terrell.
Almost every day some unusual let
ter comes to radio headquarters at
washington or 10 forwarded FROM a
district supervisor The last ques-
tion, which caused considerable COM
motion, came over the telephone. 1t
was: What kind of a detector
should be used on a crystal set?"
Here Is another: I'm building a
blank set should the capacity of my
condenser be one or two quarts?"
Technical questions, when practical,
are answered, but the Commerce off,
cials are supposed to handle adminis-
trative matters only and are kept
busy at that.
Many broadcasteFs want their inf-
tials AZ the call letters for their sta
tioRs, not realizing that this country
is assigned only three initial letters,
w X and by the international
Bern bureau. Even then, we do not
get all the calls beginning with these
letters; part OF the n calls are as
signed abroad. II ones first name
begins with one of the three letters
there is one chance in a million that
the other letters can be found among
the unused national calls. There are
4,Siz calls In use today out of a pos
sible $4,000 combinations.
some OF the broadcasters were
lucky and got call letters which were
stgnihcent of their names. 1t be-
nfR iol
call letters assigned KOP as the call
or the Detroit police station. Then
came the Radio Corporation station
In Washington, which selected the
abandoned ship call wRC, indicative
or Washington Radio Corporation
MRCA was not available. The
Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone
Company succeeded in getting
WCAP, equally significant of its loca-
tion and name. WNP-Wireless North
Poie-was given Macmillan for his
polar cruise. Later on, WGN was
assigned to the Chicago Tribune,
which advertises itself as the Worlds 9
Greatest Newspaper, and, finally,
WNYC, supposed to signify Wireless
New YORK City. was granted as the
official call of the new municipal sta
ton. 1t can't go much farther: as
the call man says. There is a limit"
he can't possibly please everybody
nor shift calls around until they fit
stations.
Some brdadcasters also desire ex-
elusive wave lengths, regardless OF
whether or not they can qualify as
high powered class B station. or
whether the wave lengths in their
zones are already assigned on a time
basis between two or three stations
A number of amateurs who own
powerful transmitters want iRterna-
tional call letters, so that they can be
identified abroad, and this question
will soon have to be taken up inter-
nationally. Our 16,545 amateur calls,
all prefaced by a figure significant of
the district are similar to those of
other amateurs. This is sure to cause
confusion IL long distance work con-
tinues to extend beyond the bound
aries of country. Owners of receiv-
ing sets often ask that notices of lost
relatives and even pets be broadcast
The first has been done with success.
The only lost pet reported as found
by radio broadcast, however, was the
White House cat. although perhaps
Commissioner Carson's mules, which
were returned soon after their de-
scription was broadcast, also come in
this category.
Correspondents of the radio section
have asked for special codes and lam
guages, one individual Offering to
show Secretary Hoover an entirely
new method of international commu- :
nication by a universal code.
Although broadcasters have agreed
unanimously to refrain from broad
casting pure advertising, some sta
tions seem bit uncertain as to Just
where to draw the line, so this ques-
ton arises again. Fortunately, the
department was not forced to forbid
the broadcasting of criminal trials
and such proceedings, due to the fact
that learned judge was fit to keep
such matters off the air.
1t is seen that not all the questions
are foolish, however, and, with the
marvellous expansion of radio and its
new applications the officials have
to consider all requests carefully.
Should licenses be granted for the
transmission Of radio pictures, still
and moving? Why not? And yet,