Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-07-27
PIRATES Of AIR"
FACE PUNISHMENT
Radio Commission Prepares
to Discipline 100 0perat-
ing in U. S.
BY MARTIN CODEL.

~ NAHASA AN SODASA~
PIRATES of the air" to the number Of
about 100 have been reported to the
Federal Radio Commission, which Is
preparing to ferret them out and mete
them justice.
Sometimes called bootleg broadcast
ers," these radio stations are operating
without Federal licenses and in direct
violation of the law. Many of them
broadcast clandestinely, but some make
so bold as to print their programs lo-
cally and offer their time for sale to
advertisers.
Surprised that so many unlicensed
stations should be on the air, especially
in view of the recent conviction of one
pirate in st. Louis, the commission has
turned over the records in about rs
cases to the Department of Justice for
action. The others need further inveS-
tigation, which will be carried out by
the commissions own men and by the
radio supervisors of the Department Of
Commerce.
These pirate operators are located in
various parts of the country. Most of
their stations are low-powered affairs
In rural communities, where their OPP
| orators evidently fear there is little
chance Of detection. Often the trans
mitters are nothing more than ordinary
regenerative radio receiving sets which
have been converted into low-powered
broadcasting sets by the simple expedi-
ent of connecting microphone to their
| grounds.
Call Letters Are Faxed.
Such broadcasters are usually de-
tected by properly qualified broadcast
ers licensed to operate on the wave
! lengths that have been usurped. OBJ
serving new, sources of interference, the
| licensed stations report to the district
1 supervisors of the Department of Com
merce. who forward the reports to the
| commission. Even the cali letters of the
bootleg stations are faxed. Their pow
ers range from to Is watts, scarcely
ever higher
Only one prosecution of q pirate
broadcaster has taken place since the
Federal Radio Commission was organ
ICED. Several months ago one George
w. Fellowes, operating pirate station
| in st. Louis, was hailed before the Fed
eral District Court, convicted and SEN
fenced to one year in prison. Being an
alien, Fellowes was given the alterna-
| tive OF deportation, and chose that
course rather than the Jail term. The
| prosecutions that may be expected in
the next few months will be handled
| by the Department of Justice in CO.
| operation with attorneys Of the Federal
Radio Commission.
Is television a fact or fancy?
Neither, says the Federal Radio Com
| mission. AS that body views the status
OF television today, 1t is simply ''in a
| nightly experimental stage of develop
ment." While discouraging neither pre-
| diction nor experiment, the Govern
| ment's Radio Control Board refuses to
recognize television as having arrived. u
Its official attitude toward television
was revealed in the case of the Short
Wave 81 Television Laboratory, Inc, OF
Boston, which, having experimental on
| the television wave band, asked for an
| additional channel in the broadcastine
band in order to synchronize voice with
the pictures it>transmits.
Request Is Refused.
| This meant the erection of a new
! broadcaSting station in an already
greatly overcrowded spectrum. The
| commission denied the request, where
| upon appeal was taken by the Boston
experimenters to the Court of Appeals
| Of the District Of Columbia. In the
| course Of its reply to the appellants
the commission makes the following
statement:
t Due to the experimental nature OF
| visual broadcasting, and due to the
fact that the manufacture of radio
| VISUAL receiving sets is highly expert
| mental, and due, further, to the fact that
| only limited number of such receiv-
lngs sets are on the market, and few
II any, OF them are of any commercial
worth. other than as a curiosity or nov
city. the public interest at this time
| does not require the adoption of regu-
lations providing for sound accompani.
ment for visual broadcasting.
| Ielevision is not yet ready to offer
| to the public as a whole. It is not VET
possible to foresee exactly or with anv
degree OF certainty just what engineer
ing developments will take place in this
nlgnly techqical field of radio activity .
THESE avowals may be taken as the
omclaI attitude Of the commission to-