Evening star., 1927-05-21
LETTER AVALANCHE
FLOODS RADIO BODY.
Rival Stations in Iowa Get
/ Fans TO Write to Avoid
Shifting.

A veritable avalanche of letters is
pouring in upon the Federal Radio
Commission a the result of an anus
ing situation existing in Shenandoah,
Iowa. where two broadcasting sta
tions, operated by rival seed concerns
for direct advertising purposes. have
beckoned their listeners to write to
Washington to urge against the pos
sible shifting of their wave lengths
under the commissions new allOca-
ton plan.
Some 5000 let's are coming in
each day, as against a normal aver
age of 500 per day since the COM
mission began to function, these
emanating largely from fans and oft
times cranks. The amusing thing
about the Iowa situation. as one
commissioner laconically observed is
that 'some people squeal before they
are hurt" 1t seems that one station
got wind" Of a possible change in
its frequency and asked its listeners
30 send Il 900 900 letters to Washing
ton" to protest: the rival station then
made like appeal.
Direct Appeals Boomerang.
Not few of the recommenda tions
that have come to Washington have
been exactly to the contrary, although
the stations in question are reputed
to be furnishing a certain degree Of
desirable service. In fact, direct ap-
peals to fans are seldom to the broad
casters advantage, except in cases of
stations which are generally conceded
par excellent in their services and
these seldom make such appeals. said
this member of the commission. Often
as many as half of the letters are
adverse rather than favora BILE, he
added
The commission has not made
known whether these particular sta
tions will be shifted to less desirable
channels, and the facts will not be
announced until the full new list of
stations and their conditions Of opera
tton after June is made public Tues.
day. But the commission does make
1t plain that it will not be guided in
any of its decisions by direct appeal"
letters from fans requested by the
broadcasters.
An unimposing but somewhat sig
nificant move has Just been made bv
the Federal Radio Commission in omen
ing another wave channel for the Use
OF program stations. making 80 in
all now available to United States sta.
lions, while six are left exclusively to
canadian stations, which also share
~ or those used in this country. The
channel IS 1899 meters, which is
frequency of 1,500 llilocycles, and sev-
erai stations have been placed upon If
Being at the extreme lower end of
the broadcast hand, it is not nar.
tlcularly favorable chanlle, but it was
deemed desirable to open it for plac.
:1ng certain stations. Few of the
amateurs or experinoenters working in
the band below 200 meters are ex
pected to object
Hits and Bits from current Broad
way musical shows and a concert by
the Harmonic Jubileers are the prin-
cipal offerings tonight of WRC. Other
musical attractions include a dinner
concert by the Burlington Orchestra
and DANCE program by Eddie Elkins
and his orchestra.
Page NICK. Etchison, religious work
director of the Y. NJ. c.. A, will give
WRC's weekly Bible talk. which will
be a continuation of the series on THE
Parallels of Jesus"
WMAL will be on the air contin-
uously tonight from $50 to IL o'clock
with a varied program of music and
talks. Phil Hayden and Les Colvin,
popular radio entertainers, and the
final Saturday night dance of the sea
SON at the City Club are its chief at
fractions There also will be concert
by the Blue and GRAY Troubadors and
a recital by Mrs. Walter e. Hilton,
soprano.
Two talks are on WMAL's schedule,
one prepared by Science Service and
the other by VIII p. Kennedy, politi-
cal writer for The Star.
Conditions not at all conducive to
good radio reception prevailed on the
wave lengths last night. Dialing, as
D result, was restricted to the super
power stations and few of the lesser
lights of the radio waves. Moreover,
II required a finesse of dial adjust
ments to bring them in.
Fading and static were the chief
contributing factors to the unfavOr-
able conditions. However, most of the
signals that could. be tuned in spite of
them were lacking in volume.
Fortunately for the fight fans, WIZ
and KDKA, two of the superpowers,
were handling the blow-by-blow de-
scription of the Sharkey-Maloney bat
tie. The signals were not interfered
with seriously by the static outbursts
The account of the brief battle with
out straining an ear.
WGHP in Detroit was one of the
weaker stations which made it's pres
1nce known, but it's signals were feeble
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