Evening star., 1927-03-28
RADIO SUPERVISION
UNDER DISCUSSION
Commission Confers With
Engineers to Improve
Broadcast Conditions.

The radio public, including broad
casters, listeners, amateurs, engineers,
technical men and manufacturers. are
appearing in Washington for the pur-
pose of discussing publicly, before the
Federal Radio Commission. certain
phases of the work about to be under
taken in their. behalf. In general II
will be an engineering discussion OF
what can and cannot be done in
practical effort to improve broadcast
conditions throughout the country
without injuring the several other eN'
listing radio services.
Among the technical men to appear
are the nine radio supervisors of the
Department of Commerce, whose duty
1t is to carry out in the field the poll
cies and regulations of the new com
mission. the inspection and licensing
of all transmitting stations in their
districts, the examination and licensing
of all operators and the actual polio
ing of the ether lanes, once they are
laid out and stations assigned routes,
time and power.
Commissioner Dillon will represent
the sixth radio district, but the other
supervisors have been called to Wash
ington. They are c.. C. holster, from
Boston, headquarters of the first dis
trict; Arthur Batcheller, New York.
second district: l.. G. Herndon, acting
supervisor at Baltimore, third district.
Walter Van Nostrand, Atlanta, fourth;
T. G. Deller. New Orleans. fifth: o. L.
Redfern, Seattle, seventh: s. W. Ed
wards, Detroit, eighth, and +. A
Beane, Chicago. the ninth district.
These men have their fingers on the
radio pulse of their districts and are
familiar with all technical problems,
so their testimony should be of eXcep-
tional value to the commissioners. Be-
sides them most of the leading radio
engineers of the country and repre-
SentativeS of the larger radio manu-
facturers and organizations will be in
attendance to present their views.
The commissioners desire to know
what in the opinion of these men, and
any other organization represented, is
desired of them and how it can be ac-
complished. They want the full CO.
operation of all radio interests of the
country, without which they would
have a very difficult time enforcing
their regulations. No specific broad
cast station cases will be discussed at
the hearings in the Commerce Build
ing which begin tomorrow, but only
such subjects as follow will be held
germane: Widening the broadcast
nels; limitation of power to prevent
interference; reducing the separation
between broadcast channels to in
crease the number of ether routes;
chain broadcast operation on the
same wave length; consolidation of
stations and services to eliminate un-
necessary stations: limiting the num-
ber of stations and services to elimi-
nate unnecessary stations: limiting
the number of stations in general and
in centers. Two sessions a day will be
held and the commissioners will pre-
side in turn.
1t will be useless for broadcasters,
active or potential, to bring up ques-
tions as to the relative merits of
broadcast stations or the situation in
certain localities: they will be ruled
out of order by the presiding officer.
Only the technical phases of the gem
eral situation viii be discussed, the
commissioners say.
Following these hearings the COM
missioners will meet, map out the
maximum number of broadcast chan
nelS available, determine the maxi
mum number of broadcast stations
that can be adequately provided for,
classify broadcasters as TO power,
range and service, and then reallo-
cate the channels equitably among
them, seeing to 1t that each commu-
nifty of the country is served. In
general this is not believed difficult
undertaking. except in localities such
as New York and Chicago, where
many more stations are now operat.
ing than can possibly be authorized
without doing an injustice to other
sections of the country, and the com.
missioners say that the country at
large comes first.
Congested centers and big cities will
have an opportunity to adjust their
own difficulties, il is said, but if they
cannot agree on the use of the wave
lengths assigned to them. by consoli-
dating their interests or sharing time,
then the commission will undertake
TO settle their problems for them,
probably after holding local hearings
Roxy" and "EIis Gang" again head.
line WRC's program tonight, but
there are several other outstanding
attractions listed. Among them are
the programs of Hires Harvesters and
the A. & y. Gypsies, and a tabloid
version Of Donizetti's "La Favorita''
which will be sung by the National
Grand Opera Co.
"Gamby," according to advices
from New York, will he the featured
artist of the Roxy" broadcast The
fiarVeSters VIII continue their musi-
cal journey with a visit 10 the New
England States. The Gypsies have
arranged a varied program. featuring
the plaintive folk melody. Songs NV
Mother Taught Me"
Listeners who diaIed for ut-of>town
stations last night had sample of
both good and poor reception condi-
tons. Utterly discouraging soon after
dark, when il was difficult 10 pick up
even the superpOwer stations with
sufficient volume for Ioud-speaker re.
production, conditions improved slowly
and between 1890 and II o'clock sig
nails from all sections came through
with fair strength and clarity.
The first station heard as the signal
absorbing cloak lifted was PWX at
Havana. Then came WOk. Home
wood, H., and WTAM. Cleveland, hut
the latter was afflicted with a severe
case of fading