Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-05-18

| II Jlldb OuB11clIIlO MAR
conf, whose experiments resulted in
i sending the first wireless signal
across the Atlantic, believes it will
be possible come day for speakers on
opposite sides Of the ocean to see each
other as they converse casually over
the Transatlantic RADIO circuits. His
remark came, of course, during q
broadcast when Marconi, in the chart
room of his yacht, lying at anchor in
an italian harbor, conversed with men
before a microphone in our New York
studios.
This was by no means the first two
way conversation across the ocean by
radio. The telephone company handles
a good many of these every day And
then there was the broadcast CONVERSE
ton between men in Schenectady and
Admiral Byrd in New Zealand.
The telephone company, however, is
concerned only with whether the voice
is easily understandable, but the broad
casting engineers are really looking for
| results that will make 1t possible to
! transmit music without losing any of
the quality. Aside from the fact that
almost everything Marconi said could
be easily understood on this side of the
ocean, I suppose the most significant
thing about that program was the fact
| that the italian end of 1t came from
a yacht, and was put on the air with
out the elaborate equipment that would
be possible ashore.
Those who took part In the New
York end were seated around q table in
one of our studios. A single micro
phone was on the table, and each man
wore a pair of headphones, through
which he heard, not only Marconis
words. but those of the other men in
New York. This was to prevent any
echo that might have been caused by
using a loud speaker in the same room
with the microphone. Marconi did
just this, however, for before the pro-
gram went on the air we "piped" him
the regular studio program which pre-
ceded the experiment, and we could
hear it coming back to us through his
microphone. In other words, music
that was being played a few feet down
the hall, came back to us after crossing
the Atlantic twice, and travelling about
eighty-flve hundred miles.
might add that by the time 1t got
back to US It wasn't 20 hot, but you
could recognize the tune. Our engi-
neers were quite casual about 1t,
though. One Of them predicted that
in q year or 30 it vii! be possible to
have music pass two or three times
J around the globe and return to its
starting point without serious damage.
l
has gone on the air. Almost every
other star in the country-concert,
stage, opera and movie-has been
before the microphone, and Rinny's
appearance was inevitable. The occa-
sion for his microphone debut was ap-
propriate, inasmuch as 1t was, In a
manner of speaking, a dramatiZation of
episodes from his own life, as dramatic
in their way, as matter Of fact, as
] he Hfn ~ kASsv,a
being. The dog was taken into the
studio. and he kept perfectly silent
until 1t came his turn to speak" His
master took him to the mike, held him
UP by his forepaws, and upon COM
mand the dog star barked for the radio
audience.
Rin-Tin-Tin, by the way, Is distinct
| ly q one-man dog. He will pay no at
tention to any one but his master, and
his commands he obeys implicitly At
| the end Of the program he was all set,
on word of command, to knock the
orchestra leader from his perch and pin
him to the floor. He'd have done 1t,
too, If his owner hadn't caught him by
the collar. Because of his training, he
probably wouldn't have really hurt the
f, conductor, but he surely would have
messed up his dignity.
Rin-Tin-Tin isn't the only animal
who has taken q prominent part in
broadcast although he Is certainly the
: most famous. Two honest-to-goodnes
canary birds take part in Cherries
program every morning, and about
year ago q seal, who answered readily
| to the name Of Charlie, took part in
an R-K-O program. Charlie sang"
talked" gave his trainer the famous
Bronx cheer, and clspped his fiippers
| in self-applause. Lions and tigers In
more than one zoo throughout the
country have Snarled at intruding
microphones, and on one occasion q
mule took an unexpected part In Q
broadcast.
It was an Army foot ball game, and
happened to be at the microphone.
The Army always has q mule along as
mascot, and the one they picked on this
occasion was a pretty lively cuss. A
couple Of cadets were leading him
around, and on that occasion my box
was pretty close to the field. That
mule insisted on stopping when he was
about in front Of the box. and he
wcSldn't bulge. Just as the cadets
were getting little impatient, old man
mule turned his head directly toward
the mike, opened his mouth, and let
risive bray I have ever heard. The
mike got it beautifully, but I have never
been sure whether that mule was ask
ing me to join in his laugh ct the
| cadets or was expressing muliSh de-
rision at my own efforts.
Now that Curt Peterson has assumed
executive duties in addition to his an
nouncing, he is rather bemoaning the
thing that got him his FIRST Job IN
broadcaSting. It's his terrible hand
writing. He doesn't dare write out any
| i've hA kVanuR thAU
probably be misinterpreted, and the I'M
initiated never can decipher his sigma
ture. But when he first tried to get
into radio it proved an asset. He
applied for q job as an announcer at
old WIZ. and he was told to write q
letter Of application to Bertha Brainard,
then manager Of the station. Peterson
followed instructions, but when Miss
Brainard received the letter she couldn't
make out the first name, and decided
1t must be Mary"
Her reply was something like this:
Dear Miss Peterson-At present we
have no place for woman announcers
on the air" Curt was little annoyed
when he received her letter, but he
hurried to telephone and called up
Miss Brainard. Dropping his regular
baritone speaking voice to bass, he said:
Miss Brainard, this Is Miss Peterson
speaking" Whats this?" she said.
II am the Miss Peterson to whom you
wrote yesterday, saying you could not
use women rs announcers," Peterson
went on. And then he explained that
| 1t didn't bother him at all to have his
signature mistaken; 1t had happened so
often.
The situation aroused Miss Brainard's
sense Of humor, and abe decided she
liked the quality Of the voice coming
over the telephone wire. She invited
him to come down to the studies some
time and she'd see that he got an
addition before n microphona Peter