Evening star., 1927-03-25

open lmousines, or messed arounC
with side curtains. We froze, in the
name of style. and patted ourselves
| for being so up-to-date,
y a:*
| Announcers. in radio, are open tc
suspicion, to put it mildly. They are
the side curtains on the great car oi
| radio, the lap robes on the wheel oi
progress,
Why announcerS, anyway
l have yet to hear the voice of
fan raised in defense of the an
nouncer. And this applies to all an
nouncers. whether the earnest younl
gentlemen who have been pitchforke6
into cigarette advertisements, or u
the kind souls who bore us in put
ting over" their regular features.
One ian" cannot see. he says, why
so-andso is allowed ION the air. An
other kicks against the very man tha'
the other fellow likes. Now where
there is so much smoke there must
be some fire of boredom.
The millions who listen steadily tc
radio programs have never been con
sidered. to date. and it is in theii
defense that I speak in this letter.
Have you ever read an unchanged
advertisement 100 times, and WisheC
the company would put something
new in it? Have you ever passed
your favorite shop window, beer
forced to look at the same old line
year after year, and wished that they
would put something new in the
window, for heavens sake?
Have you hoped that some day
when YOU bought another cake OF
your favorite toilet soap, the manu-
facturers would take pity on you and
rewrite the instructions"
SO it is with radio broadcasting.
| We, the fans are terribly FED
up on the announcers. the kindly
gentlemen who head the features,
the covered ads" for various forms
of foodstuffs, and so on.
| The broadcaster themselves, not
| ably through the work of Station
| WEAF, have given us IA taste of the
better things that may await us, il
the open car" stage of radio gives
way to the snappy landeau model.
X x \ u
The very term unseen audience
shows very we'll where the mistake
| In my opinion, has been made.
The audience is only unseen from
| the standpoint of the studio. 1t is
very much seen in the homes.
To date broadcasting has been re
garded almost solely from the view
point of the broadcaster. The time is
now at hand when the only viewpoint
will be that of the ultimate consumer
In that happy day there will be a
| 24-hour service without announce
ments sandwiched in between every
number. Perhaps there will be whole
periods when no announcements will
be made whatever. Did you ever hear
an announcement at a symphony con
cert?
| The interminable chatter of those
who like the sound of their own
| voices (need / name themO will then
| be a thing of the past. as funny, In
retrospect, as the 1904 model of our
| fayorite car.
Please accept, gentlemen, the felici'
| tatiOns of one of the millions of radio
fans" Your opportunity to bring
order out of chaos is only equaled by
your opportunity to put radio on the
right track of real service.
| It's progress has been stupendous
| both in an electrical and an artistic
sense. That it may go tremendously
much farther along both roads. how
ever, there is little doubt. That it
will do SO, If it considers the Ameri-
can people first, there is less doubt
| With best wishes. / remain,
Respectfully,
TEMPLEToN JONES.