Evening star., 1926-02-01
ADVENTURES OF
A BROADCASTER
By FREDERIC WILLIAM VILE.
Raaioseribe.
The Cradle of Broadcastinc.

| saturday evening. January 30. will
always he red-letter night in nv
radio career. i made my debut before
! the microphone of kDkA, Pittsburgh.
: the worlds pioneer broadca sting sta.
| ton. kDkA considers itself quite a
veteran. seeing that it's all of hve
years old. 1t took the air for the first
time on the night Of November >, 1920.
/ TO broadcast the tidinGs OF Harding
and CColidge'S election to the the n
| punN universe of listeners-in. What
glSa antic progress has been made in the
intervening half-decade. What il
| limitable advance il presaSes for the
| future. and probably in the immediate
| future. for radio engineers today crap
! pie with new problems almost over
! night:
Far more Interesting than merely
| facing q historic microphone was the
! privilege Of talking before the West
inEhouse veteran employees" among
| whom were the men who fashioned
| the first broadCastinc apparatus. The
occa sion was the annual banquet of
| all men and women who've been in
! the conpanv's service for 20 years or
more. They number nearly 900. One
has been on the pay roll for 80 years.
| Forty or fifty Of them are women.
the foundation of the great Pittsburgh
/ works was the air brake. one speaker
suggested that the next invention
that's called for is a ''hot-air brake. y
When my turn 10 talk came ] said
wanted an option on that invention for
he District Of Columbia. And now I'm
entirely prepared to hear that nobody
needs the application Of hot-air brakes
more than this radioscribe.
Had an amusing and somewhat
amazing adventure at Pittsburgh. l
was calling on the works manager
in connection with the evenings pro-
gram. had no idea what his name
Was He was receiving a grievance
delegation from the plant. and | had
to wait till he was at leisure AS !
surveyed him | soliloquized how much
he reSembled Woodrow Wilson In
; locks. Imagine my CONSERVATION
few minutes iauer when his secretary
said: Mr. Wilson can talk with you
now
Herbert Hoover. President Cool
dge's secretary Of air and lot OF
other things besides. insists that the
Department of Commerce give scru-
pulous attention, to the veal and woe
wrote Hoover the other day that for
some reason or other the former S
superheterodyne. although easily ca
pable Of getting long distances. reGu.
larlv is interfered with when he wants
relatively nearby places like Cleveland
or New York. He expressed the opin.
ion that somebody with "regenera
tive set'--whatever that means-is
doing the mischief. The Department
of Commerce replied instantly, volun-
teered to probe the mystery to the
filled out. and directed the supervisor
of radio who seems to be stationed
at the United States Customs House
in Baltimore. to get on the joh with
out delay. Service, eh?
John w. Farquhar. Easton. Pa
, that's where Lafayette College Is, and
he writes well enough to be a profes.
sor-is disturbed by a recent perform.
ance Of mine on the air. He writes:
Is it your policy to turn loose
/ upon your audience stump
speeches. such as the one | have
| just heard, which range at will in
| hohnails over delicate public auex-
| tions, to the irritation Of many who
| fel deeply upon them? You he
| tray in every sentence abysmal in
competence to form or express an
. opinion upon their merits. Who
! pays for this?
! William r. JThler. vice president and
| plant superintendent OF the F. A.
i Ferris Co, 262.272 Mott street. New
York City. evidently doesn't see eye
TO eve with Mr.. Farquhar. He writes
! Your address last night was re-
freshinS and voiced. ! believe, the
| sentiments Of the majorit~ ~ The
citizens of this countr". rray for
that ouiet-thinkinc President of
ours In the White House. who has
the best interests Of the country
at heart. while having to put UP
with a lot Of second.rate politicians
4 who are opposing him all the time.
! We will listen in at your next ad-
dress with increased interest.
Miss Marie Frsncoise. who sounds
Frenchy but writes excellent English
| quoth:
/, We think the gentleman from the
Hotel Driscoll who "bawled you
| out" the other night was most un-
| kind. We all enjoy your talks over
the radio very much. They are al
most the only radio talks that the
| younger generation can enjoy, for
they are brief and interesting. DR..
Walsh is the only speaker ! can
/ listen to in peace for more than 20
minutes. 1t gets monotonous. But
don't cut of light music like the
Record BOYS give us. One needs
after hearing the gloomy outlook
on Capitol Hill.
Yours for a fair deal for every