Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-03-22

A N old order OF broadcaStinf
| N is passing, giving way to
IN mechanical device en-
croachment. Soon the Ions
established and very human
custom Of waving the hands II
various gestures to convey silent
messages in the studios will have
died, after q life of great service
The noiSelesS system Of me.
chanica1 communication, installed
in several N. b. G. studios las
Fall as an experiment, has proved
50 practical that it soon win bC
extended to all studios, according
to plans Just announced. The
system is built around Specia.
noiseleSs te1autograph machines.
Color Fading Out.
This brings to an end q colorful
part Of broadcasting, a custom
that became an institution in
radio. No longer will it be neces-
sary for production men to run
into q studio, whisper to the
orchestra leader, push q soprano
closer to the microphone or wave
his hands this way and that In
efforts to convey messages.
Under the new system man IN
the control room writes orders on
the telautograph machine at his
elbow. These are recorded on an
other machine in the studio. In
turn those in the studio can re-
verse the operation.
Veteran broadcaSters shed tears
Of regret watching installation Of
mechanical devices which tend to
destroy individualism. what if
the old signals were confusing, .
they ask, and reply they were
human"
Old-timers reflect on the past
years when they resorted to
setting-up exercises, combined
with deaf and dumb language, TO
convey the message "tone down
the bass drum, move the flfe
player up q bit, make the crooner
turn her face I'm another direction
and speed up the whole show. DO
you think you are playing chess?"
Under the long established
practice q finger planted firmly
against the side Of the nose signi-
fed that the program was run
ming according to the time sched-
ule. Hands drawn slowly meant
for the singer, speaker or instru-
mentaliSt to move nearer to the
micropho11e. The signal reversed,
of course, was interpreted as
advice to move away. If the di-
rector saw the production man
waving his hands around in circles
he knew that the program must
be speeded up. Hands lowered
with palms down meant play
softer. Hands raised repeatedly
meant play louder. These will
soon become only fond memories
Of the good old days"
When broadcaSting was young
the control engineer and produce
ton man sat in the studio. Soon,
however, the engineer and his ap-
paratus were placed in separate
room, adjacent to the studio, but
separated by gound-proof glass
panels. There he could hear the
program through q speaker. The
production man divided his time
between listening in the control
room and moving about the studio
whispering instructions or giving
signals. With the new mechanical
arrangement he can devote more
time to listening, convey inStruc-
tionS with greater facility and ac-
curacy, and in short present a
finer program with a minimum Of
mistakes and no confusion.
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CYNCHRONIZED broadcasting,
- which within a few years is ex-
pected to enable the national net
works to operate a multiplicity Of
stations on the same wave length
regardless of power, was thrown
open to the scrutiny Of the radio
technicians and the appreciation
of the radio audience Of several
Eastern States last week, when
Station VITO, Hartford, began
operating simultaneously with
WEAF, New York, on the WEAF
channel, and VIDAL, Baltimore,
began operating simultaneously
with WIZ, New York, on the WIZ
channel.
All eyes in the radio world
and the attention of the audiences
of all these StationS-were focused
on this important development.
The new system Of broadcasting,
which is said to have passed the
experimental stage, was author
lied by the Federal Radio Com
mission, whose engineers will
study it closely during the next
year or more to determine exactly
what it portends for the future
structure Of radio.
Highly technical in nature, the
new system simply means that
two stations, linked by land lines
to carry the same program while
kept in Synchronis1n, and not very
widely separated geographically,
are operating without interference
on a wave length hitherto occu-
pied exclusively by one. Thus,
where they formerly shared a
clear channel, VITO and VIDAL
now enjoy full time, though each
must now use a set of two waves.
When one uses its 1000 kilo-
cycle channel, the other is syn
chronizing with its New York
mate, and vice versa, so that each
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