Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-02-20
zoo ENGINEERS AID
BIG RADIO HOOK-UP
Elaborate Preparations for
Address by President
Coolidge on tuesday.


will combine their efforts with those OF
like number of radio techniclans
Tuesday to enable chain broadcastlns
TO hang up new record. On that day
the National BrcadcaSting Co. VIII INK
together 3S stations extending from
the Atlantic to the Pacific Tor sim
utaneouS transmission of an address
by President Coolidge involving the
use of special circuits covering l000O
miles and making necessary the serv
ices of 400 telephone and radio speclai
lists.
For the first time, the seven sta
tons of the National Broadcastlng
Co.'S new Pacific Coast network VIII
be linked with the East. forming
huge nationwide chain bounded by
Portland, Me-; Atlanta, Ga; Los
Angeles, Calf, and Seattle, Wash.
Moreover, the distribuation of the IS
stations is such that practically every
+ radio listener in the United States
should be able to hear the President S
words.
This fact is important. since the sub
iect of Mr.. Coolidge's speech is one
which should be of special interest to
every citizen--the 200th anniversary OF
the birth of George Washington, which
will be observed with an immense Ma
tional celebration in 1892. Looking
toward this end a law has been en-
acted creating the United States Com
mission for the Celebration of the
200th Anniversary of the Birth OF
George Washington, and appointing
the President chairman of the Com
mission.
Delivered Before Congress.
A section of the law requires that
the President address Congress in 1927
on the. subject of the coming celebra-
tion and it is in response to the IN
yitation of the Commission that the
National Broadcasting Co. is lending
its facilities to enable as many as
possible of the country's radio listeners
to hear the address, which will be de-
livered before a joint session of the
Senate and the House of Representa-
tives.
The simultaneous transmission by
the 80 stations will begin at 1890 pm.
eastern standard time, when Vice
President Dawes will introduce Sen
ator Fess of Ohio, vice chairman of the
Commission, who will in turn introduce
President Coolidge. as chairman.
It is impossible to estimate the size
Of the audience which will hear the
speeches, but glance at map will
reveal that the stations in the chain
are concentrated in the areas of
densest population throughout the
country. Outside of these areas, it is
common for radio listeners to obtain
good reception from stations up to 500
miles distant, which should insure that
every receiver which is tuned to the
nearest station in the special chain
will be able to reproduce the broadcast.
Boy Scouts to Listen.
Among the millions of other listen
ers will be 100000 Boy Scouts who
have been requested by the national
organization of the Boy Set 1T move
ment in America, through their local
Scout masters, to hear the Presidents
address.
The possibility of the ceremonies
being heard in foreign countries
throughout the world is made a factor
through broadcasting of the event by.
the short wave tranSmitterS located
at WGY. Schenectady; KDKA, Pitts
burgh, and xxx, Hastings, Nebr.
Hooking up the special circuits.
testing them and making sure that
they are kept free from noise and in
constant connection with each other
will occupy the attention of the tele-
phone engineers. The term special
circuit" should not be confused with
the ordinary telephone circuit. True,
these special circuits which are
used for the linking of .broadcasting
stations are telephone circuits, but
they have been cleared of all other
traffic and specially prepared to carry
the wide range of freQuencies in.
volved in broadcasting.
The ordinary long distance tele-
phone circuit may carry at the same
time four or five telephone messag es,
besides numerous telephone messages.
Each of these is transmitted on a
special frequency so that it can not
interfere with any of the others. But
special circuit between broadcasting
stations can carry only the broadcast,
and it must be equipped with special
reporters or vacuum tube amplifiers,
since the ordinary repeaters used in
telephone communication are not de-
signed to cover at one time such a
wide range of frequencies.
Plan of Big Hook.Up.
The microphone installed in the
House of Representatives will be con-
nected by special circuits with the
Bell System Long Distance Head
quarters Building at "a Walker street,
New York City. and from this point
other special circuits will carry the
ceremonies to the following 38 sta
tons: WEAF and WIZ, New York;
VITO, Hartford: WTAG, Worcester.
Mass; WAR, Providence; WEEP,
Boston; WBZ, Springfield, Mass;
WCSH, Portland, Me-; WGY, Schen-
Philadelphia; tWRC. Washington;
WCAE and KDKA, Pittsburgh:
WSAI, Cincinnati; WHAS, Louisville;
WSM. Nashville; VINO, Memphis;
WSB, Atlanta; WTAM, Cleveland;
WWJ. Detroit: WGN, WEBB, W,MAO
and KYW, Chicago; woo. Davenport,
Iowa; WCCO, Minneapolis-St. Paul;
kSD, St. Louis; WDAF, Kansas City.
Mo-; KOA, Denver; KSL, Salt Lake
City; kPO, San Francisco; KGO, Oak
land, Calf; XII, Los Angeles; KGW,
Portland, Ore; KOMO and KFOA,
Seattle, and KHQ, Spokane.
The detailed routing of the cere.
monies from "a Walker street to the
stations in the special chain starts
with six special circuits which leave
New York in different directions
New England stations are supplied
through two circuits, one travelling
direct to WBZ at Springfield, Mass.
the other passing through Hartford
Conn, where VITO is located, and
Boston, where WEEP is supplied. tc
Portland, Me-, where the program is
fed to WCSH. Taps at Hartford con
meet with WHAG at Worcester, Mass.
and WAR at Providence.
The third main circuit from New
York supplies WGY in Schenectady
and the fourth feeds WGR at Buffalo
passing through Scranton, Pa, anC
Elmira. n. Y. Still another circui1
parallels the incoming line from
Washington, passing through Phila
delphia, where 1t supplies either WIZ
or WILT, to Washington, where il
feeds WRC.
Sixth Circuit Routing.