Evening star., 1927-02-04
STATE RADIO BILL
ADDS TOPROBLEMS
Right of New York to Set
Wave Lengths May Con-
fIict With Government.

An indication of how State regula-
tion and censorship some day may
face a showdown with the Federal
control authority is given in a radio
bill that has been proposed in the
New York Assembly. -.
1t would require a State certificate
of necessity and convenience" for
privately owned broadcasting stations.
It also would levy a State license fee
lengths they might use, regulate their
service charges and effect other
methods of State control.
Now licensing and wave length as
signments are part of the Federal
function prescribed in the new radio
bill before Congress, though the rates
70 be charged by commercial stations
do not come within the scope of the
radio commission. Licensing and
wave length assignments, as well as
power and broadcast hour allocations,
are presumed by the bill to be part
of the Federal autonomy under it's
interstate commerce powers.
The question the New York act sug-
gests is whether q State may claim
either separate or concurrent control
jurisdiction over a broadcasting sta
tion located within its boundaries
which emits radio waves that at once
N11S lIldlG All IIlS EoLdLGt SIlN pei 20
rradiate all over 1t to its farthest cor
ners, but are no respectors of man
made territorial limits.
Does the State have the same power
over radio it has over railroads and
other common carriers which operate
in and out of It as part of interstate
commerce? viii State radio commits
sions have to be organized, like State
railroad commissions, to protect the
State interests as distinguished from
the Federal interest protected by the
newly established Federal Radio Com
mission?
Limitless conjecture, is prompted by
the possibilities of a necessary division
or alignment Of power over radio as
between the State and Federal gov
ernments. Sooner or later, 1t is to be
expected, a showdown on this general
proposition and on its rarnifications
may come in the courts as well as in
the legislative chambers of both the
State and Nation,
There is so much talk of radio vision
and it's future these days that even
skeptics are beginning to view with
alarm the day when "an all-Seeing
radio eye" may pry into our private
affairs. If the present limitations of
the system are overcome, SO that any
one who seeks to look through the
ether could do so without cooperation
at the other end of the wireless cir
cult, it would be diSconcerting indeed,
Some of us might be called into court
for making wine, failing to report the
correct income, etc, but as 1t takes
some one ito send radio pictures be-
fore they can be received, and since
the radio receivers cannot detect what
is not sent, we are probably safe for
a. few years.
WRC will draw only one of. its at
fractions tonight from WEAF, in
New York-the weekly program of
the Anglo Persiarls.s To those who
have travelled abroad and there are
hundreds in every radio audience, the
concerts of the Anglo Persians bring
many memories. The program to-
night will begin with I'm the Sudan -
warriors, sheiks and blistering desert
/, sands. Wagner's Song OF the Eve.
ming Star" the third selection in the
series, will take the listeners to Ger
many. From there, in fancy, the radio
audience will fit to Russia and
Journey down the great waterway to
the strains of the Song OF the Volga
Boatmer.''
WHICH, VIM VIII UTOdACdSlb lDCAuuS
the weekly concert of the Lord Cal
vert Ensemble, a program by the
Honolulans and concerts by the
Hamilton and Burlington orchestras.
George E. Anderson. tenor, will ap-
pear as soloist with the latter.
Weak signals, fading and Just
enough static to create disturbing
element in the ether characterized
tadin rarnnfi0n nfuhf The wa q
lengths were crowded, as usual. with
signals galore, but only In rare in
stances could they be brought in with
sufficient volume and clarity for good
reception. And then, very often, fad
ing would tend to mar the programs.
Despite these conditions, CNRO,
Ottawa; WCCO, Minneapolis-St. Paul,
and few OF the New York and
Chicago stations were heard with some
degree of satisfaction. WHO'D, Miami
Beach, Fla, also was tunable.