Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-15
OPERA BROADCAST
MAY OPEN SERIES
First Nationwide PreSenta.
ton From Stage to Be
Made Friday.

Another great event in the forward
march Of broadcast entertainment will
be recorded Friday night when the
National Broadcasting Co. will pre-
sent the third act from Gounod' s
opera, Faust, direct from the stage
of the Auditorium in Chicago to the
radio listeners of % or more stations
of the blue" and red" networks.
which will be linked together for the
occasion.
The broadcast will he the first ma
tion-wide transmission of grand opera
direct from any stage, and 1t Is eH-
pected that it will be the first of a
series of similar programs which will
be broadcast on regular schedule.
The initial broadcast will bring to
the radio audience the famous garden
scene, one of the most beautiful and
colorful in all opera. including the
glorious Flower Song" lie Roi de
Thulse" the Jewel Song" the "InNo-
cation the DAMMIT Ancor. the
"Eternelle" and Marguerite'S song at
the window as the act closes. The
principal roles will be sung by Edith
Mason. Irene Pavloska, Maria ClaeS-
sens. Charles Hackett, Richard Bonelli
and Nanni-MercouX.
The music of the entire third act
including the work of the cast. viii
he carried by special telephone cir
cults TO New York, from which point
it will be relayed by connecting cir
cults TO the stations in the hook-up
Washington's WRC is among the sta
tions in the chain.
This great event has been made
possible only through the development
of radio apparatus to u high degree Of
perfection and the progress which has
been achieved in chain hroadcastlng
The transmission of grand opera -di-
rect from the stage has been carried
on before only on a local scale, and
has been purely experimental in ma
ture. The Chicago Civic Opera Co.
eXperimented with broadcasting dur
ing the 1928 and 1924 seasons, and
similar work was carried on in Call
fornia and Havana, but 1t was found
that the apparatus which was used
was incapable of reproducing true
tonal effects. The scientific achieve
ments attained in the radio field since
that time have eliminated all possible
objections to broadcasting on the
grounds of destroying either the pres
tige or material success attained by
the Chicago Civic Opera.
One year ago WMAL introduced
itself to the radio fans of Washington,
as weak as 50-watt stations were at
that time. and handicapped as well
by a low wave band. Mobile improve
ments have been recorded since that
time-the sttion's power has been
increased, it's wave band raised and
the quality and the length OF It's pro.
grams brought up to the standard Oh
a first class broadcaster.
Tonight WMAL will celebrate the
first anniversary of its birth. No Spe-
cial features have been arranged FOR
the event, but the station has sched-
uled a continuous four-hour program
of varied attractions.
WRC's chief offering will be the
concluding dramatic piano-lectu:e re
cital of Wagner's "Gotterdammeyung.
The first two acts already have been
broadcast.
The station also will broadcast the
first of q series of daily dinner con-
certs by the Waldorf-Astoria Orches-
ira. The concerts will be heard from
6 to o'clock, the hour suggested for
dinner music in this column several
weeks ago.
Another feature of WRC's program
will be "FIits and Bits" from various
musical comedies by the WEAF'
Musical Comedy Troupe. The late
dance program will be provided by
Roger Wolf Kahn's Orchestra in New
York and the Carlton Club Orchestra
of Washington.
The chilly blasts from the North
west cleared the wave lengths for
good reception last night Signals
came in from all sections sharply and
with good volume. Except for occa-
sional static blasts, which were inn
pressed particularly on the transmits
sions from the South and Southwest,
the night would have been an ideal
one for the DIX hunters.
1t was difficult to avoid the nu-
nerous Chicago stations during the
dialing activities, and the Southern
broadcasters, too, seemed anxious for
recognition WSM, Nashville; KNOX,
st. Louis: WAX, Jacksonville, and
WMBF, Miami Beach, were much in
evidence throughout the evening,
while in the North and Midwest WICK,
Detroit; WLW, Cincinnati: WABC and
WGBS, New York; WAAM, Newark;
WAAT, Jersey City, and WBZA, Bos-
ton, came through with programs of
interest.