Evening star., 1926-10-10
Youthful Head of Radio Cor
porati0n of America Has
Bright Outlook.
Started Career as PenniIesS
Russian immigrant and Has
Accomplished Wonders.
BY NJ. S. RUKEYSER.

voice across a continent, may. before
long. enable Americans who stay at
home to watch their relatives tour
through Europe. These seemingly
fantastic expectations are based not
on the vague dreams of an impracti-
cal visionary, but on the anticipations
Of the active general manager of the
Radio Corporation of America.
asked the youthful David Sarnoff,
who is one Of the main sources of
energy behind the giant of baby age
of the radio industry, whether sight
by radio Is scientifically possible. I
sought his views as a successful busi-
ness man, not as q second Jules Verne
Or a craracter who had stepped out
of the pages of Aladdin and his won.
derful lamp.
"Television," answered Mr.. Sarnoff
without hesitation, has been defined
rs the instantaneous transmission of
views of moving objects from one
point to another distantly remote" 1t
Is quite a different problem from the
of photographs Of still
objects by radio.
Television Is Possible.
THAT television by radio is scien
possible already has been in
dicated in laboratory experiments.
both on this side and across the
ocean, during which shadowgraphs of
moving objects were transmitted by
radio over short distances.
But there is a vast gulf between
the results thus far achieved and the
perfection necessary to bring about
the day when an American family,
sitting by it's hearthside, may see by
radio, upon a silver screen in the
home. the moving picture of an event
taking place a thousand miles away.
Research. science and mechanical
skill must unite before then to con-
quer multitude of physical and
difficulties.
But man has ever reached the goal
by his capacity, and we al
ready know enough about the prob.
lens Of television to believe that dis
tant seeing by radio Is not only pos
sible, but probable"
Mr.. Sarnoff was born in the town of
LILLIAN, South Russia, five years be-
fore the principles Of radio transmits
sion were discovered by Marconi. and
at IS Mr.. Sarnoff Is charged with the
of the leading radio en-.
terprise in the world. At Is, after
working as a newsboy for five years.
Mr.. Sarnoff found employment at the
Herald Square branch Of the Postal
and Commercial Cable Co.
as messenger boy at IS per week. He
was not of the stamp that regards
carving messages as q life work.
Within six months he had learned the
Morse code and was able to operate
a telegraph instrument. When he
heard Of an opening in the old Marconi
Wireless Telegraph Co., which has
since formed a part of the Radio Cor
poration of America, Mr.. SarnoH ap-
piled for the job as assistant operator,
but was taken on only as an ONCE
boy. Soon after the company was
short of operators and tried out Mr..
Sarnoff in an emergency. He became
a regular operator and rose swiftly to
his present post.
Radio first seized the imagination OF
the American people when it reported
the disaster of the S. S. Titanic, April
IA, 1912 Mr.. Sarnoff was then a wire
less operator at the Wanamaker re-
ceiving station in New York. For "
hours he sat at his post
with receivers clamped on his ears
awaiting further details after the first
brief fash that the liner had crashed
into a submerged iceberg and had
sunk four hours later. with an appall-
ing toll of life. Finally list of the
rescued began to come over. Not un-
Ill he had given the world the name
of the last survivor did Mr.. Sarnoff
,ta gger home to bed.
Stimulates Public Imagination.
Radio broadcasting in the last five
years has stimulated public magma
lion as nothing has done before. On
the business side, it encouraged a
growth of amateur manu-
acturers of radio instruments. Over
and incompetence brought
.haos into the new industry. Recently
here has been a readjustment, with
usiness drifting to the strong and
Efficient.
asked MIR. Sarnoff whether the
of radio instruments has
oeen stabilized.
"If by stabilization of the radio in
iustry," he said, lis meant that stage
If progress where the basic princi-
oles of the radio art are thoroughly
understood, where large-scale produc-
ion has been developed, and where
efficient channels of distribution to
he public have been perfected, radio
may be said to be well on the way
oward stabilization. Sterilization be-
yond this point may readily mean
,tagnation. When the day comes that
.adio will have nothing more to hope
rom science, from research, or from
organization It will be retrograding
art.
interpreted from the standpoint
If the best achievements in the indus
try, radio as an art may be said to
nave passed from the theoretical to
he practical stage: as service 1t is
nf
American life, and as an industry 1t
has already attained sufficient volume
and position to make it comparable
o some of the leading industries of
he country"
l next asked concerning the imme.
iiate business outlook for the radio
industry.
Radio. it can be confidently pre-
licted, will reach a higher efficiency
n industry, a greater development in
art and a larger public usefulness
Turing the 1926.1927 period than in
any previous year of it's progress.
THE radio season this Fall will re-
iect the highest achievements of the
radio art as developed by the great
electrical laboratories of the country.
Main Factors Of Improvement.
THE main factors of improvement
hat will be evident, believe. will be:
"ta) Improved quality Of reproduc.
ion, due to acoustical perfection at
.ained through recent loud speaker
"(b) Increased volume, attained with
out distortion, by the use of new pow
er tubes now on the market.
tc) Simplicity of operation, includ-
ng operation directly from the light
ng circuit, featured in the best type
Of radio sets offered to the public this
Fall"
AS l listened while Mr. Sarnoff de.
scribed the mechanical difficulties in