Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-01-01
INFANT INDUSTRY SHOWS
SPECTACULAR PROGRESS
Domestic Radio-Telegraphic Networks
Laid to Serve Public-Progress in
TelevisiOn Augurs Success.
BY ROBERT MACK.

orous, almost reckless, youngSter
~ of industries has crashed its way
through another year of spec
tacular achievements.
Entering the homes of half the Ma
tons populace, broadcasting set out to
Guido itself. and succeeded. Hardly a
week passed without some accomplish
ment that showed its immediate prede-
cessor from the public eye. Record
broadcasts and nationwide hook-ups,
gala events even the year before, were
relegated to the commonplace. and in
ternational rebroadcasts stepped into
radios big time"
The year 1929 will be remembered
principally as broadcastings year of
rehabilitation. From the regulatory
side it was devoted largely to the re-
claiming of reception from squeals and
interferences which had engulfed it dur
ing preceding years of lax regulation.
But there was no stopping of the
record-smaShing pace in its varied other
phases. Scientifically and induStrially
there was phenomenal progress. Now
the microphone presents the greatest
show on earth every night. The royalty
of the worlds performers who long
hesitated to tread before the unseen
audience yielded to the spell of radio.
Cold figures, it is expected, will show
that radio has jumped into the select
group of world industries, with a gross
turnover in the billion-dollar region.
Radio Geographic Development.
It was on radios serious side that
the greatest development took place
In those upper reaches of the ether
known as the high frequencies invisible
lines Of communication took shape. The
year 1929 saw the beginning; 1880 will
see the finished product. Domestic ra-
0io-telegraphic networks-communica
tons roadwayS of the sky-are being
laid out to serve the public like the wire
companies. They will supplement those
existing tranSoceanic radio-telegraph
services that reach to every civilized
nation and to some not so civilized.
Television again gripped the publicS
imagination and was the primary OBJ
jective of the scientific research. 1t
still remains within the confines of the
laboratory, although progress in 1929
was material. The actual product it
self-pictureS of animate objects hurtled
through spaces coming as sure as
fate, but the process necessarily will be
slow and guarded. Too much was ex-
pected of it. 1t peeped out of the
laboratory prematurely, and a worlds
aroused fascination is doomed tempo
rarily to disappointment.
Despite the lack Of real entertainment
value in the type of pictures trans
mitted, the looking audience" grew
during the year. The number of visual
broadcasting stations increased from 10
to a score, all on an experimental basis
and under severe restriction. Tele-
vision broadcasts are conducted in the
short-wave spectrum over special chan
nels 10 times the width of broadcasting
channels. Radio amateurs or mechan-
1cally inclined fans make up the siz-
able group Of lockers" estimated at
10000.
Some Of the mist that blurred tele-
vision pictures was erased as 1925
contribution, and the visual art took on
clearer form. Just as the year closed
the Westinghouse company revealed the
development of a process whereby tele-
vision may be flashed on a motion pic
ture screen so that large audiences may
see it. as contrasted with the current
method Of looking into 'peephole" on
the televiSor.
Growing Achievement.
The GROWING scientific achievement
OF 1929 was the introduction of ship-to-
shore telephony on commercial scale,
so that every single telephone in the
United States-and there are 10000, 600
OF them-can be connected directly
with ships on the high seas equipped
for such service
The broadcast band, closest to the
hearts of the people, was turned topsy-
turvy by the sweeping reallocation eff
fected in November, 1923. Then there
was the readjustment period for broad
casting. The assignments on the air
OF "a per cent of the 600-odd stations
were juggled about to conform with the
Davis equalization law. Although
there remain troubles aplenty in broad
casting, 1t is generally conceded that
today conditions are the best they can
be under the physical limitations.
A Race for Supremacy.
Vying for the affections of the lis
teners, the two national radio chains,
National Broadcasting Co. and Column
bia Broadcasting System, staged a
spectacular race for program suprem-
acy. The result has been all in favor
OF the tickle audience, with the finest
in entertainment now featured regu-
larry. Columbia fortified its position
somewhat through financial affilia-
ton with the Paramount Famous-Las-
key Corporation, which secured a so
per cent interest In the chain.
There was a definite trend toward
higher power for broadcast stations.
AS the year ends there are eight sta
tons using the maximum power of 50,-
600 watts. as compared to half that
number the preceding year. In addi-
ton, six others were given authority to
erect super-powered transmitters, while
q dozen applications are pending.
The year saw the Inauguration of In
ternational interchange of programs,
whereby European programs were heard
by American listeners, air line, and vice
versa. International rebroadcasting on
regular schedule has been arranged by
both chains and is promised full swing
during the ensuing year.
ShOrt-Wave Spectrum.
Those inexplicable, peculiar short
waves which have the faculty Of skip
ping over broad expanses of territory
before they come down to earth and
may be received, showed the greatest
development from the economic stand
point. But they were not without legal
entangiements. Even now there are
pending in the courts half dozen ap-
peals from the commissions method of
parceling out these tremendously valu-
able channels to private companies for
the setting up Of networks for public
service.
Only recently discovered through the
experimentation Of the amateurs, the
continental spectrum lies just above the
broadcast band and embraces 500
channels of standard width. It is in
this space where television must 60
Commercial aviation, entirely de-
pendent upon radio for its communi-
cation, has been allotted blocks of these
frequencies. Ship-to-shore radio-teleg-
raphy and telephony are accommodated
in 1t. Emergency radio services anna
teurs, necessary experiments and, in
fact, all of radios overflow, must be
provided for in these bands.
Radios New Paradise.
It was scant few years ago that
the high frequencies were considered