Evening star., 1925-04-02

''rhcre are 500. .O00. 900 people In
! the world II they could get togeth-
ar and shout AZ one voice, the voice
pow er thus produced would fall short
of the strength of the single radio
voice as II goes out every evening
over the air from the modern broad
casting station. 1t would take -
times as many people as are now
on the earth to equal the voice power
| of the average station. For voice is
| Increased so billion times. Truly the
radio broadcastinS station can be
called "the voice of the world"
The words were spoken by Gen.
J. q. Harbord, president of the Radio
Corporation of America, the worlds
largest corporation dealing in radio
activity.
Gen Harbord, what about the fu-
ture of broadcasting?" 1 asked.
Cites Marked Growth.
I'VE began five years ago." declared
the general. Now look at 1T. In
1920 less than s2,0Oo,000 worth of
radio receiving sets were sold: In
1924 it was $30O,0 900. In America
a quarter. of million persons are
directly or indirectly connected with
the radio industry. Three thousand
manufacturers m ke apparatus,
which reaches the public through
| 900 wholesalers, serving $4,000 re-
tail dealers. And all that in five
years. But that is not the whole
picture.
more than 1000 newspapers print
radio programs and 80 periodicals are
devoted exclusively to radio. Two
hundred and fifty books, popular and
technical, have been published. And
almost 500 broadcasting stations in
the United States furnish daily and
even hourly entertainment to 16,00O,-
600 Americans, listening through ap-
proximately 100000 receiving in
Tstruments.
boundaries Are Forgotten.
"Broadcasting is still in swaddling
clothes Some day, not far away, IN
ternational broadcasting Will be an
every minute occurrence with Eu-
rome, South America and the Asiatic
shores of the Pacific. National
boundaries will be forgotten, the
people of the earth will become uni
fed interdependent, sensitive.
what effect will radio have in de-
veloping an international language!
he was asked.
"a universal world language is
coming, l believe. 1t may be Eng
lish. for America leads the world on
broadcasting and the British Empire
synthetic language like Esperanto or
lido. But of this we are sure-a uni
yersal language will necessarily tol-
low international broadcasting.
The United States has $40 broadcast
ing stations in operation, of which about
GO are in class B. The cost of maintain
ing one of these class B stations is from
81 90 900 to 100000 a year. Most OF
these stations are owned and operated
by large business organizations. Gen.
Harbord was asked how the future ex-
pense of these stations could be met.
Expense Question Battles.
'"The question of how to pay for up
keep including programs, is hard to
answer" he said. Il do not favor any
tax on the owner of receiving set.
Eventually some satisfactory solution
must be found. although l do not think
the time has come for such solution.
Many students of radio development,
especially in the field of broadcasting,
believe that when interconnection of
powerful stations by radio or wire is so
organized that any local station can de-
liver national events with regularity
this problem of broadcasting expense
will necessarily be much less, and thus
be much nearer solution. For President
Cooidge's inaugural address the listen
ing public was estimated at 22,8OO,OOO