Evening star., 1926-05-02
LAW FOR RADIO CONTROL
URGED BY GOVERNMENT
Legislation Similar to That Passed by
House and Now Pending in
Senate Demanded.

! w nateNef congress does WIFI fiulo
| legislation, there is no question that
among the administrative officers OF
the Commerce Department there is
grave alarm that some broadcasters.
! backed by the Chicago decision. may
! go off on a tangent and start bread
casting indiScriminately on any wave
length they may choose. Even though
| they have all been good boys" TO
date since the Chicago verdict, OBJ
servers in the department are fearful
lest some one or several broadcasters
| jump over the traces and start some
, thing akin to war of wave lengths.
| WJAZ, the station owned and op-
Grated by the Zenith Radio Corpora
ton. headed by Eugene F. Macdonald.
early in February jumped its assign
| ed wave length of 322 meters ana
usurped the ether channel of 329 me-
ters assigned by international agree
ment to six Canadian stations. Op-
Grating on 322 meters, WJAZ shared
its time with kOA, the Rocky Noun
| tain station of the Radio Corporation
at Denver, Colo. 1naSmuch as chi
cago had some o6 broadcaSting sta
tions at the time and Denver but
3. , of them small. the radio super
visors and administrative officers or
the Commerce Department saw mt to
assign WJAZ but two hours week,
leaving kOA all the balance Of the
time.
The Borah bill. introduced in the
Senate by the Idaho Senator, would
set up an independent establishment
for radio control with several highly
paid commissioners, a technical staff
of highly paid men and other we'll
paid executives. This is what the
President is said to believe to be of
the essence of bureaucracy and is
what he is represented as specifically
opposing.
Legislation i'm Passive State.
Radio legislation has been in very
Sauch of d passive state since 1872.
whsn the existing act to fegulate
radio communication was passed and
approved by President Wilson. Few
then visualized the immense develop
ment of the new art-a development
that has been most rapid in the past
four years, when radio sales have
Jumped from a few million dollars a
year to more than 100000, 900 last
year. BroadcastinG stations have
grown up in great numbers until to-
day literally hundreds of applications
are pending before the Commerce De-
partment for opening up of new
channels or splitting up Of time and
wave lengths for new broadcasterS
who would alternate with the present
broadcaSters. The situation has be-
come so urgent that one radio manu-
facturer has charged that owners OF
small broadcasting stations are hold
ing their licenses for price-that is,
they operate their stations only often
enough to keep within the law and
place them on the market at a price
many times in excess of their intrinsic
value to some prospective broadcaSter
who must have an air channel and
is willing to pay for the privilege.
Original Radio Act.
The heart of the original radio act
reads as follows: THAT a person. COM
pany or corporation within the JurlS-
diction of the United States shall not
use or operate any apparatus for
radio communication as a means OF
commercial intercourse among the
several States or with foreign nations
or upon any vessel of the United
States engaged in interstate or for
eisn commerce, or for the transmits
sion of radiograms or signals. the
effect of which extends beyond the
jurisdiction of the State or Territory
in which the same are made or where
interference would be caused thereby
with the receipt of said messages or
signals from beyond the jurisdiction
of the said State or Territory. except
under and in accordance with
license. revocable for cause. in that
behalf granted by the Secretary of
Commerce upon application there
for"
Every 80 days the stations are re
l,nt cd
careful check is kept on them as TO
wave length adherence. quality of
program broadcast and public desire
for the station II they do not meet
the rigid requirements OF the radio
inspectors they are wiped off the list.
and scores of others make applica-
ton for the vacated air channel.
Designations of stations are made
almost every day, and still the appli-
cations pour in in neverending
stream. The legislation favored by
the administration will put consider
alton of new applications on an en-
tirely new basis.