Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-03-23
n ANHATTAN ticket specu-
lators are talking to them
selves thoSa davS A Yooxv

serves CneSe days. A new
4 n show place has opened on
Broadway and the ticket specu-
lators can't figure where it will do
them any good.
In taking over the New AmSter-
dam Roof Theater in New York
for a broadcaSting studio the Ma
tional BroadcaSting Co. has done
something contrary to all Broad
way traditions. It is putting on
here performances with the high
est priced talent in the world of
entertainment, and the admission
to these performances is free.
To convert the theater for
broadcasting purposes cost SIS, 900.
What was once the stage is now
the studio. In place of the ia
miliar drop curtain is what ap-
pears to be a giant window, in
reality sound-proof glass cur
tain weighing six tons, which may
be raised or lowered to isolate the
studio proper from the audience.
The curtain cuts of sound but
not vision, for every movement in
the studio can be seen from any
part of the auditorium. Six hun
dred can be seated in the audi
forum.
F. Richard Anderson, executive
for the Erlanger theatrical enter
priseS and veteran Snowman,
worked with N. B. G. engineers
and designers on many of the i'm
portant details of the trans
formation of the theater into
broadcaSting studio. Twenty-Five
microphone outlets, so situated
that voices and sounds may be
picked up not only from the stage
but from ar part of the audito-
rum, have been provided.
Thirty-two miles of wire have
been installed. The booth in the
rear that formerly housed the
SpotlightS and motion picture
projectors was converted into a
control booth for studio engineers.
Here the technical experts, with
a full view # the artists and mu-
SicianS on the stage, control the
sounds flowing into the micro
phone.
From eight to ten engineers are
on duty at all times for rehearSals
and broadcastS. Production men
in the studio and engineers in the
booth are able to communicate
over special telephone circuits.
Dressing rooms for artists and
musicians have been provided,
and there is radio green room"
done in Chinese red. Velvet
Grapes, designed to take the col
ors of lights played upon them,
have replaced the usual scenery,
although provision has been made
to handle the conventional stage
settings If they are required for
special broadcaStS. The theater
auditorium was not materially al
tered.
Several things made necessary
the acquisition of the new studio.
One was the increasing conges-
ton in the main N. B. C.. studios
at I'll Fifth avenue. Others were
the need for a new development
in studio design for experimental
purposes, the desire for more seat
ing space for spectators and the
need for a pickup point near
most of Broadway'S theaters.
X y X 4
WASHINGTON'S radio circles
were stirred last week by re-
ports that the National Broad
casting Co. had in contemplation
the erection of a new broadcast
ing station in the vicinity of
Laurel, Md. But the reports were
most vehemently denied by N. B..
C. officials both in Washington
and New York, who attributed
them to efforts of the Radio
Trade Association of Baltimore to
link that city with the so-called
red" network which supplies
WRC with a major portion Of its
programs.
1t Is known, however, that the
N. B. C. for several years had
under consideration plan to
move WRC's transmitter to some
strategic location in Maryland
where it would serve both Wash
ington and Baltimore. The new
plan, it was reported, involved the
erection of another transmitting
station, which would be synchro-
nized with WIZ, the "blue" net
work key station in New York, so
that Washington and Baltimore
would get both the "red" and
"blue" network programs-the
red" through WRC and the