Evening star., 1928-11-08
RADIO MEN EXPECT
MUCH HOOVER HELP
Hope He Will Lift Industry
From Administrative
MoraSS."
BY MARTIN CODEL.

Herbert Hoover at the helm of state
should bring radio out of the adminis-
| trative morass into which it has sunk
| This is view widely held in the radio
| industry, where Mr. Hoover's engineer
| ing understanding and previous admin
! istration of radio are we'll known and
highly regarded.
The view grows out of observation
of the viciSsitudes through which radio
control has passed during these last
few years. and from which neither Con-
gress nor the Federal Radio Commits
sion has yet rescued this vital new in
strumentality in the life of the average
American
Government regulation is the key
stone of the radio art but 1t Is generally
| conceded that it has been an inept
effort so far.
Political fate has willed that the man
| who, as Secretary of Commerce, was
! deprived of radio control by a legal
quirk and then shorn of temporary au-
thority over radio by distrustful Con-
gress, should now have more power over
this means of communication than he
ever could have had otherwise.
Mr.. Hoover as President will recon-
mend radio legislation to the Seventy
| first Congress, for it Is not to be ex-
pected that the radio problem will be
seriously attacked in the lame duck
session that opens next month and lasts
only until March a. Even If legisla
ton is enacted in the short session it
is almost certainty that the influence
OF Mr.. Hoover will be felt.
Short Session Matters.
Before Mr.. Hoover assumes office.
however, there are two major radio mat
ters which will probably come up II
the short session.
One is the question of renewing the
administrative life of the Federal Radio
Commission, which under the present
law becomes quasi judicial body hear
ing appeals over the Secretary of Com
merce, to whom radio control is sched-
uled to be returned after next March 4.
The other is the appointment of a
new commission, the terms of all the
present commissioners expiring next
February %.
President Coolidge, who has never
evinced more than perfunctory
interest In radio, is expected to consult
with his successor on these subjects in
asmuch as the bigger radio problems
will undoubtedly be heritage to the
next administration. 1t is a safe as
sumption that Mr.. Coolidges recon-
mendations to Congress will accord with
Mr.. Hoover's ideas, and that he will
accept or reject congressional enact
ments in harmony with a Hoover policy
1t is more than likely also that thu
makeup of the next commission will
be Hoover selections.
The first big legislative problem III
radio will be whether to make the Fed
eral Commission permanent and possibly
give 1t power over other interstate
means of communication, such as the
telephone and telegraph.
Understood by Hoover.
The praise or criticism that may be
heaped upon the present struggling
commission during the short session are
of relatively Slight consequence. excep.
in that they may serve to decide the
fate of several of the commissioners
who may want reappointments. or turn
new attention to the whole radio situ-
atom and insure more intelligent con-
sideration in Congress.
The technical aspects of radio that
palpably have stumped SO many Con-