Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-07-12

He would be hardy prophet indeed
who would predict the end of popular
radio broadcasting by the year 1910.
Yet the man who 10 years ago should
have phophesied the present state of
the photograph industry would have
been looked upon as crazy, too.
Radio contains in its very vitals the
seeds of future dissolution, unless some
thing is done about it, The chances
are, of course. that several something's
will be done about it,
Such a great means of entertainment
and propagation of the spoken word will
not be permitted to vanish from the
earth overnight.
So one is inclined to think, in sober
moments of evaluation But so. no
doubt, men thought many years ago in
the heyday of success of the music box.
The writer here is only old enough to
dimly recall the once fashionable music
box, with the large disks cut with little
holes, which tinkled out the popular
tunes of the years gone by
The stylish music box was the fore
runner of the photograph, and for a
time gave that instrument a real run
for its money.
Today one will find one of those old
boxes only in some curtained old home
LneV were
many years ago.
The machine which talked soon gained
the aScendanCy and held it for QUAR-
ter of a century or more. The exact
state of the business today we leave to
those better informed, but if one can
judge from popular advertising. as dis
played in magazines and newspapers.
most of the photograph business is con-
fined to the making of records.
X x
The loud speaker nuisance. now re-
ceiving the serious attention of munich
pal governments everywhere, is one of
the greatest seeds of evil which may
forecast the ultimate downfall of the
radio industry as now constituted
In this matter radio is on the horns
OF dilemma. The very genius of
broadcasting requires bigger and better
loud speakers. The perfection of the
craft and art will come only when it
IS utterly impossible to distinguish the
human voice. as broadcast, from the
voice of the singer ''in person."
Only when the Marine Band. for in
stance, is as loud and full volumed over
radio as it is in the music hall will
oroadcasting and radio receiving sets
and speakers be perfect
And when that day come, God help
us all!
On the other horn, the nerves of
modern city and suburban residents are
becoming more and more touchy as the
hours go by. A New York scientist has
found out that paper bag, blown up
and suddenly popped" upon an UNI
SuSpecting person, raises his blood pres
sure more than almost any other noise
Just where neighbours loud speaker
comes in the scale of pressure-raising
instruments we do not know precisely,
but, II one may judge from his own
reactions and that of city officials. it
takes very high rank.
The curious feature is how and why
the true radio nut" wants to run his
set as loud as possible-and even loud
err II possible, and, of course, it is pos
sible. so long as one does not mind his
tone quality being bit fuzzy.
Just as the possession of a motor car
seems to cause some sort of change in
the qualities of the human mind and
neart, usually not for the better, so the
ownership of modern receiving set has
an unfortunate effect on many persons,
washington has adopted regulations
tending to restrict the use of radio sets
at night and Boston is looking into the
matter In the Hub the regulations up