Evening star., 1928-12-10
FANS NEAR CHICAGO.
GET BETTER RADIO.
Outside Cities Report I'M
proved Reception City
Not So Well Pleased.
BY MARTIN CODEL.

is one of the most 'radio-wise" cities
In the United States. Yet it is not at
all excited over the broadcaSting reallo-
cation of about month ago. Listeners
in the loop and residential districts
will tell you that reception conditions
are about the same as they were before
the reallocation.
Chicago's suburban listeners, and
those in the small towns and rural
communities for hundreds OF miles
surrounding, however tell a different
tale. There is a spirit of elatlon IN
most of the reports received by the
Federal radio supervisors ana Dy the
newspapers from observers IN the OUT
side territory. They are Immensely
pleased. mainly because reception from
the Chicago stations is so much better
but that is not to say that every one
in and out of Chicago is happy about
the Federal Radio Commissions effort
of last November IL.
Chicago never lacked service from its
local stations. For there are some 20
within a radius of about 80 miles that
almost invariably cover the city. Even
with conditions at their worst, Chicago
and suburban listeners always coulo
tune in a wide variety Of splendid pro-
grams from among these, and they
still can.
There have been letters of COM
plaint in about as great amount as
letters of commendation. But the COM
plants, like those received from all
parts of the country by the Federal
Radio Commission at Washington, have
to do mostly with specific assignments
under the reallocation and not With
the reallocation itself.
Regular Service Cut.
Many of the complaints of the Chi
cago radio supervisors Office have con-
cerned the Iowa and st. Louis sltua-
tions. where station time divisions, ne
cessitated by the more or less mathe-
NAUTICAL quota allotmentS of radio facll1-
ties. have deprived nearby listeners OF
accustomed service from fayorlte sta
tions.
This proponderance of complaints
from centralized sources, and the pre-
sumption that satisfied listeners are not
inclined to bother to write letters, IeaoS
some highly competent observers, VINO
were interviewed here, to the genera
conclusion that the reallocation Is prov
ing itself success.
Heterodvne whistles there still are
a-plenty, but few are noticeable on the
channels used by the local stations.
They are heard on the waves of out
side stations. Wave measurements by
the radio supervisor, H. d. Hayes, re-
veal most of Chicago'S stations faith
fully on frequency, day by day, the
others in the ninth district, checked by
his assistants, are becoming better ad-
iusted to their wave lengths, MI.
Hayes reports.
At an ordinary three-stage tuned
radio frequency receiver on standard
make in the Office of the radio super
visor in a tall building downtown, 1T
was possible during the daytime to tune
in from 20 to 80 stations. These m
cIuded WTMJ, Milwaukee; WLW, Gin
cinnati, and KSD, st. Louis. These sta
tions come into Chicago virtually ike
locals. :,
The locals tune in consistently well
at night, although WGN is complaining
that it cannot reach parts OF the metro
politan area with its 25,000-watt trans
mitter down in Joliet.
It has applied to the Federal RADIO
Commission for authorization to build
a reueater station of about 500 watts
to be located in Chicago proper. TINS
station would be SynchroniZed through
a wire connection with the station at
Joliet so that it would emit the iden-
tical program on the same wave. just
as WBZ and WBZA in MASSACHUSETTS
now do.
WMAQ Is Satisfied.
Station wdAQ, one of the most
popular here, reports that 1t is quite
satisfied with the way Its 5,OOO-Wad
transmitter at ElmhurSt 13 miles to the
west of Chicago, is covering the metro
nolitan area. Station KYW Is said 10
be suffering absorption of much OF its
5000 watts of power by downtown
buildings. It is located atop the Con-
gress Hotel.
Distance reception is relatively good
here in Chicago even while the locals
are on. Listeners with well adjusted
and fairly modern sets can tune sta
tions in from all directions. The DA
Club" maintained by one OF the local
newspapers, has about 1000 members
who have proved, its director says, that
a silent night" with the locals on the
air is not needed for distance reception.
In general, it may be concluded from
interviews and actual observations with
average but well adjusted equipment,
that average listeners in the immediate
Chicago area had nothing much 10
gain from the reallocation because they
were being well served by a sutnclent
number of local stations even before the
Teallocatlon.
TO the west of Chicago over the corn
belt, and to the northwest up into Wis
consin, Minnesota and the Dakotas, the
gain has been in better reception largely
from this center of entertainment talent
and focal point of middle western
broadcasting.
AS for distance reception, the ok"
fans are relatively few, but they are In
their heydey. Even with the whistles
and cross talk that still prevail on many
of the channels supposed to be cleared
or regional. they are able to tune in
more stations than ever 1t is very
common for the Bugs" to tune in
stations on both coasts, and station
CKGW, near Toronto, is almost a
nightly visitor in these parts.
Copyright. 1928. by North American News
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