Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1926-02-02
RADIO IN 1926
Nv C. 3. Smith, President Stewart
Warner Seeedometer Corporation

s
1t has been said that any INDUSTRY
may be recognized as sucn ny its
audits, alibis, and advance hotices
Judged by such standards radio -
easiIv identifiable as an industry anu
thus is settled the old argument as
to whether this new and popular
nhenomenon should be considered IN
the field of the manufacturer or the
patnologist.
Radio is an industry. 1t has nao
;ts audits-sometimes assisted by the
fire insurance companies ana .he
referees in bankruptcy 1t is true Dut
none the. less audits. Ana on Inc
whole it has come to, put out a. PAL
ance sheet that justifies Its contlhus :.
ing existence from the standpoint OF
the industrialist. 1t has nao IT'S
aIihis which in this as in other IN
dustries have been so frequently ana
indissolubly linked with the audlts'
And # has had it's advance notices.
Radio stands almost without peer
in this respect. No other industry
has been so careless in making or 80
indifferent in keeping it's promises.
1t is chiefly with promises lns' IN
broadcast listener is concerned JUS
at this juncture. Each year at TINS
time he has become accustomed 10 a
review of what has happened anu
guess at what may happen. ny ne
lived SO long in the atinosppeo
A,;ca in Wonderland that he would
he disannointed if no teller or ped
time stories arose right after the
,rIad New Year and told him OF the
I,arvels that will come with the GRO
cuses and violets-or maybe Garner
The rumors of the past year nav :
haen more colorful than ever DeIore
Although this Improvement IN the
conversational side of Radio was npt
accomplished without a severe stid.i.
~, the oracles of Newark and points
East But they have been compfe-
bansively absorbed by a popuiace
still dazed by reports that MOURN
nictrres had been transmitted Dy
| t,.iraIass. that New Zealand had peeh
board night after night on forty
,oters and that re-broadcasting Oh
E,uropean concerts had been accom-
nlished SO regularly and with so 'lttie
effort that it could be advertised III
In view of what had already hap
pened it was not hard to peHeEe
that the laboratories of the Wofio
we're about to release new mafVeis
and that tomorrow or next DAY an
existing receiving sets would be
iunIled in favor of a compact and
beautiful but easily controlled instru-
ment that would pick up any station
in the country when, as and II
wanted,
Repeated disappointment has new
err cured the vast radio public of its
hope for a miracle. Just because
last years promisers failed to devel-
ope a single new circuit or just be-
cause the 1925 gadgets were no more
efficient than those that they had
/ been expected to supersede was no
reason for doubling that some day
Santa Claus might prove to be as
real as the grocer's bill or other
, staples of our American civilization.
And this year is no exception. The
great and expectant populace is once
more listening to the voice of the
siren and waiting starry eyed for the
! long expected miracle.
Well, just in the way of amateur
prophesy, here's a forecast from this
section of the fortune tellers' union:
There isn't going to be any miracle
this year. In most respects, 1926 is
going to be Chinese copy of 1925.
We are going to have efficient sets,
undoubtedly. Many of them will be
much more efficient than the models
from which they developed But we
need not hope for radical departures
that will make one tube do the work
OF eight or enable a good sensitive
receiving set to compensate for the
deficiencies of the broadcast media.
We cannot hope for some genii
In black box that will deliver more
than is given to it. We cannot build
apparatus that in one case will is-
| more the fundamental yagaries of
electricity and in another RELY upou
! them as an agency for performance.
1t Is significant that since the de-
Velopment of broadcasting, five years
ago, there has been little or no
change In the basic circuits. With
the exception of oscillation controls
some of which have been errone-
ousIy called circuits-there is moth
ing in radio today that wasn't here
when the principles of the so-called
art were salvaged from the surplus
stocks of the war. Nearly all of the
/ most popular circuits, are tuned r.
f. OF some sort or another-differing
only in the method of control and
the design of the coils. They are
popular because they are simple and
efficient.
! In the language of business they
deliver a good dollar-value. They
are not popular because they are
startlingly new. They are not new.
| Tuned radio Frequency was ono of