Evening star., 1925-05-24
RADIO GOSSIP AND NEWS

| tant from Brazil. Ordinarily to con-
serve his power in the field Mr.. Swan
son relayed his messages through his
base station WIS. On one occasion
a relayed message to his wife via
2BR, operated by A. c. Lopez of New
liYork City, and 2AG of c. r. Runyon,
was acknowledged within 20 minutes.
These station owners are accorded the
sincere thanks for the aid rendered
the radio explorer, as well as many
other amateurs and the Radio Club
! of America. Even in daylight Mr..
Swanson received many 5-meter anna
| teur stations on his mankeshift set;
among them We're 2ACO, New Jersey;
2ABX, New York; 3APV, District of
| Columbia, and 5NW, Texas. At night
reception was of course better, and
one night he logged 68 stations. Some
of the exchanges of messages with
/ Runyon occurred when it was zero
weather in the North, with snow in
the air. whereas Swanson was oper-
ating in light field costume, with the
hot air filled with pestiferous insects.
! Radio aided in many ways and
saved life in several instances; one
| warning transmitted to Lieut.. Wal
| ter Hinton and Capt. A. w. Stevens.
the flyers, probably saved a crash.
when the river was too shallow for a
/ safe landing. Although it was plan
ned to carry radio in the flying boat.
| it was necessary to eliminate it due
to the weight and the fact that
among other equipment, a large and
heavy aerial camera had TO be carried
constantly. If the plane had carried
a radio transmitter when il was lost
for over a week. DIR. Rice. and, III fact
the world, would not proba bly, have
worried fearing the flyers were Killed
or injured.
The field equipment proved SO val
liable, that when Mr.. Swanson was
| flown back to the base en- route to
| New York, he had the station WIS
shut down and sent McCabe back
with Hinton TO operate the field
equipment, until DIR. Rice and the
rest of the party returned to Manaos.
| Announcers, Dignity and Diction.
/ The announcer of a station is iii 4
way the official voice of his commun-
ity, and as such should maintain a
certain amount of dignity and pre-
serve the English language. Murder
| ing Uncle Sans speech may be for
given within the confines of a GER
| tain community, but it is not always
| understood or appreciated in other
sections of this country or abroad.
Even in England some of our broad
| cast jokes and slang have to be in
! terpreted.
This criticism may seem like a stab
| in the back to some of our overworl-
ed station spokesmen, who strive so
hard to put over foreign names and
titles, they have, perhaps, become
careless in their native speech
Now that so many American broad
| stations hai ord
| our sea and land borders, some of our
| radio neighborS are surprised and even
/ concerned at the English of certain
| announcers as well as their too fire.
quent comedy and persihage. Om
own nationals living abroad also lend
| their voices in reproach.
A Government official recently re-
turned from trip to central and
northern South America, reports that
many people there who are regular
radio fans and listen in to stations in
| the States, complain of that bad gram
| mar, mlSpronouncing, and slang emf
mating from certain American stations
| Most of them are familiar with good
English, but, unfortunately, others are
studyingN it from radio broadcasts.
They also regret and deprecate the
unnecessary "horseplay" and kid
| ding which seems to take place be-
tween the announcers of a number
OF Southern stations. This official in.
| slsts that our great broadcasting in
| dustry, If 1t may be called that, is
missing an excellent opportunity of
extending the knowledge of the Eng.
lish language across our borders
| where 1t can be used practically In
! both commerce and social life. He
! points out that station owners should
require better grammar and enunci
alton in the announcements intro.
| ducing and concluding numbers of the
programs. The Latins, he says, would
appreciate it greatly. for they want to
use English as well as Spanish.
These Southern neighbors are re.
ported to be greatly interested in our
/ music, expressing surprise and pleas.
ure over our home talent and their
| selections, many having believed we
| possessed little, if any, musical culture.
| Several fans commented on the dual.
| ity of the programs, which are eyi-
| IDENTIFY furnished by residents of the
| community around the station heard.
They have no complaint as to the
| programs, but suggest modestly that
we request our announcerS to render
] English as it is written in the gram
mars and text books.