The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1926-04-30

prepared by the United States Department
of Agriculture.)
There are nearly 100000 radio sets
on farms in the United States, the De-
partment of Agriculture estimates in
a report on the growth of farm radio
during the past five years.
In some states, the department says,
there are radio sets on % to 40 per
cent of all farms. Estimates made by
the department in 1923 showed $4,000
sets in use on farms at that time
365,000 sets in 1924, and 5000 sets
early in 1925.
Increased power and improved
broadcasting, together with better re-
ceiving sets, the department believes,
twill do much to aid in establishing
the permanency of the use of radio
for the benefit of agriculture.
Interference among stations may
gradually be eliminated, the depart
ment believes, as many of the less ac-
tive stations are being discontinued,
and technical improvements are being
made in both broadcasting and receiv-
ing equipment. OF 1,458 radio sta
tons of all sizes licensed to, broadcast
since broadcasting began, only $50
were active on January 1 this year.
Cooperative Arrangements.
The department has made co-opera-
tive arrangements with more than 100
stations for broadcasting official mar
ket news gathered by department rep
resentatives in leading shipping and
consuming areas. Since the first of
the year the department has made ar
rangements with about 60 stations to
broadcast on regular schedule four
additional services dealing with gen.
eral agricultural information.
Literally hundreds of stations have
requested the privilege of handling the
government reports, but many of the
requests have had to be refused the
department says, because the stations
are remote from the departments mar
ket news branch offices.
when the experimental radio mar
ket news service was announced on
December 81, 1920" the report states,
"those in the Department of Agricul-
ture who were directing the new ac-
tivitiy hardly anticipated the wonder
full possibilities of radio broadcasting
as we now know it. A laboratory
transmitter at the United States bu-
reau of standards on 400-meter wave
length, a few enthusiastic amateurs
within hundred miles of Washington,
and p. m. schedule of about 500
words by radio telegraph, composing
what was called the radio market
gram constituted the elements of the
experiment.
Amateurs Were Enlisted.
Assuming an effective radius of au-
dibility of 300 miles about each sta
ton, licensed amateurs in the areas
covered were enlisted to copy the re-
ports and to furnish them to shippers
associations, county agents, state bu-
reaus of markets, farm bureaus and
other agricultural agencies, banks,
newspapers and. local telephone ex-
changes. A number Of licensed oper-
ators offered to copy the reports. BY
January /, 1922, the market reports
were being relayed and broadcast by
radio telegraph from seven post Office
stations in q chain across the coun-
try.
During 1921, reports were furnished
to three Of the then very few radio
telephone broadcasting stations. Since
then, the service has grown by leaps
and bounds until now there is prac-
tically no agricultural community in
the country that is without official
market reports on agricultural COM
modities. Well-established schedules
of weather, crop and market reports