Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-04-13
CESSATION SHIFT
MAY NOT Be MADE
Plan of Engineers to End
CroSS-TaIk Interference
Not Adhered 70.

The valiant gesture Of the Federal
| Radio Commission to end cross-talk
interference between high-powered sta
tons on cleared channels by shifting
the assignments of 26 stations may not
materialize fully.
The only announced purpose Of the
changes, which are scheduled to be-
come effective May !, was that 1t would
eliminate interchannel interference
caused by insufficient frequency, or
either" separation instead Of geographic
cal separation between the stations. It
is now said, however, that the COM
mission did not adhere to the recon-
mendations Of its engineering division
with the result that engineering
| principles have been disregarded and
that the objective of reducing inter-
| ference on each Of the 10 cleared
channels involved will not be achieved
Moreover, the inter-zone scramble be-
tween the EaSt-Central or second and
Middle Western or fourth radio zones,
cropped up anew when the commits
sion's engineering division tried to ad-
Just this difficulty: Station KYW, at
Chicago, operated by the Westinghouse
Electric & Manufacturing Co., again
/ is the center of this contest, and al
ready Is In the courts about its former
! troubles.
Using Borrowed Channels.
When 1t promulgated this revision,
the commission announced it had
| adopted, with only routine" changes.
the engineering recommendations made
last February. But actual changes, it
Is charged, show that the commission
has so arranged those engineering
recommendations so that station KYW
Is still left holding the bag" with a
cleared channel borrowed from the
second radio zone, and which, under
the law, 1t may lose If adequate showing
Is made by . qualified second zone
interest with 1t.
Moreover, two adjacent channels
LAO and 1850 kilocycles, are assigned
to the second zone. This Is incon-
sistent with the purpose of the shift,
as announced, which sought greater
separation between channels in the
same zones.
The engineers recommend that sta
ton KYW be shifted from the 1,120
k1locycle channel, at present borrowed
from the second zone, to LAO kilo-
cycles. which would be made fourth
zone channel. This would permit KYW
to operate on a channel within its own
zone and remove the threat"
Station WOWO, at Fort Wayne, Ind,
and station VIVA at Wheeling, W.
Va, which operate on 1,l6O, are
: shifted to 1880 under the realign-
ment, with the engineers recommend
ing that the latter channel be made
a second zone channel Thus the al
| locations rs between zones would have
! been equalized, but station WOWO
would have been assigned one-half time
on second zone borrowed channel,
when 1t Is located in the fourth zone.
It protested, and the commission, again
without consulting. the engineers,
switched the l, 180 channel to a fourth
zone assignment in place Of LAO, leav-
ing the situation as to borrowed"
channels exactly as it is today.
WOWO Is Satisfied.
Station WOWO. it is understood is
now satisfied KYW is not Station
| VIVA, which is using one-half time
! on fourth zone borrowed channel.
! but which would have been operating
! on q second zone channel had the en-
| cheering plan been adopted, Is non
committal thus far.
The Louisville Courier-Journal, OPP
Grating station WHAS, is far from
| pleased with the Zeal it has received,
~ 90 SAAAAICA AAOA4A OGO A4OIyClCo W
1920 kilocycles, a channel much in
| ferior. The commission has assigned
to station WCAU, in Philadelphia, the
select 800 kilocycle frequency, remov-
ing it from LILO in the upper reaches
of the band.
The new complicating element in the
! interZone shift Is that second zone sta
tons again are on the heels Of station
KYW. -Four stations in that zone had
applied for the borrowed 1920 kilocycle
! channel, seeking to wrest it from the
Westinghouse station. The commission
had designated q hearing for April 16.
But now, since KYW has been shifted
to 1,140-Stin borrowed channel-sta-
| ton WWJ at Detroit has applied for
| that channel. The commission, con-
Sequently has postponed the hearing
until May 6, because it has received in
timations that stations WLBW at Oil
City, Pa; WAS at Pittsburgh and pos
sibly WCAU might desire to amend
their applications for the 1,140-kilocycle
channel