Evening star., 1925-05-12
PROBLEM IN RADIO
HELD IMPORTANT
Theatrical Producer Notes
Broadcasting Which Makes
Copyrights Meaningless.
BY WILLIAM A. BRADY.

L am for the radio. j am in the
fan" class. too. In my New York
home / have the very latest in receiv-
ing apparatus, and no boy of IL, pick
ing up his first clear message through
the medium of homemade set, could
get more of kick out of it than j do.
But | am a theatrical producer also,
and it is one thing to admire frankly
the strides made by radio and another
to sit by complacently while radio
steadily undermines the foundations
of a structure which has been a cen
tury in the rearing-the building of
legitimate theatrical enterprises in
the United States.
The coming of the radio presents a
problem somewhat similar to the COM
ing of the motion picture.
Thirty years ago the motion pic
ture business was struggling for a
place in American commerce. At that
time il would have been easy for the
theatrical people to have absorbed ii
entirely or to have worked out a
scheme of cooperation which would
have given them at least an even
break. But they only laughed at the
idea of motion pictures having any
serious effect upon an institution so
firmly established as the drama,
First Class Theaters Eliminated.
In the following cities there is not
one first-claSS theater producing legit-
innate plays: Lynn, Lowell, Lawrence,
Brockton. Taunton. Fall River South
Bend, Erie, Terre Haute, Evansville
Sioux City, Duluth and a lot of others
of almost equal Importance In the
old days we could take a Broadway
success and clear hundreds of thou
sands of dollars in these very cities
Now they are dead-their first class
theaters given over exclusively to pic
lures,
That is my answer to those VINO
criticized me for being an alarm
clock" on the movie question.
Now the radio people are broad
casting the lines and music of plays
lines and music on which we hold
copyrights and which we have made
popular by expensive explorations
For the privilege they pay nothing
Our copyrights are meaningless. Ac.
tors under contract blithely do their
stuff for the radio While we advertise
them and pay them ample salaries
for their services.
The radio folk insist that their right
to use our material lies in the fact
that they are not broadcasting for
protit-that there is no box office
Which is pure rot. If they cannot
not sell their equipment.
What would happen il various radio
patents were appropriated by any
one who chose to do so and applied
to a competitive business? ! fancy
there would be somewhat of a howl
from the very people who are now
appropriating the copyrighted prop
erty of theatrical producers. But |
cannot see why the procedure would
not be quite as fair.
l want to see radio developed In
stead of fighting it, we should work
out plans of mutually advantageous
cooperation. The men who are making
radio history are fair and decent
and would welcome an equitable ad-
justment. They have. their problems
too. We theatrical producers are
willing to meet them halfway. to give
them certain things which they re-
quire, provided that we are justly
compensated.
But until we do, radio is hurting
the theater and will continue to hurt
it.
Copyright, 1925. by Popular Radio Inc }