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

A N5rit8ble avalanche of letters is
pouring in upon the Federal Radio
Commission as 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
hcckoned their listeners TO write to
Washington to urge against the pos
sible shifting of their wave lengths
under the commissions new allOCa
ti0n plan.
some 5000 letters are coming in
each day. as against a normal aver
ace of 500 per day since the com
mission began To function. these
cmanating 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" II seems that one station
got wind" OF 4 possible change in
its frequency and asked its listeners
10 send Il 000 GOO letters to Washing
ton" 70 protest. the RIVAL station then
made a like appeal
Direct Appeals Boomerang.
Not n few of the recommendations
that have come to Washington have
been exactly 10 the contrary although
the stations in question are reputed
10 he 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 favorable, 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
uon after June l is made public Tues
day. But the commission does make
1t plain that it will not he guided in
any Of its decisions by direct appeal"
letters from fans requested by the
broadcaSters.
An unimposing but somewhat sig
nlncant move has just been made by
the Federal Radio Commission in open-
ing another wave channel for the use
or program stations, making 80 in
all now available TO United States sta
lions, while six are left exclusively to
canadian stations. which also share
IL of those used in this country. The
channel is 1899 meters, which is p
frequency of 1900 kilocycles, and sew
eraI stations have been placed upon it.
Being at the extreme lower end of
the broadcast band. it is not a nar
tlcularly favorable chanlle. but it was
deemed desirable to open it for plac
ing certain stations. Few of the
amateurs or eXperimenters working in
the band below 200 meters are OK.
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 continuation of the series on THE
Parables of Jesus"
WMAL will be on the air contin.
uously tonight from $50 to IL o'clock
with 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 it's chief at
fractions. There also will be concert
by the Blue and Gray Troubadors and
a recital by Mrs. Walter Z. 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
a result, was restricted to the super
power stations and a few of the lesser
lights of the radio waves. Moreover,
1t 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 We're 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 We're not interfered
with seriously by he static Cutbursts
and the fans WEI enabled to follow
the account Of II brief battle with
out straining an ear
WGHP in Detroit was one of the
weaker stations watch made its pres
once known hut IL 4 SipnalS yHara faahIa