Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-02-22
NHOUGH the business depres-
sion has hit the radio man
ufacturerS hard, a degree

u1aCCurerS narQ, a degree
of stability prevails in the
radio industries that never obtain
ed before-with optimism the key
note alike among those who fur
niSh radio programs, those who
make radio receiving equipment
and those who distribute radio
sets.
1t was out of just such a depreS-
sion as the present one that
broadcaSting and the radio pro-
ducing industry Sprang into being
10 years ago, gaining their greatest
impetus after the 1921 slump when
they began to absorb much OF the
surplus labor and capital then
available. The production Of radio
sets f1ourished most.
History repeating itself finds the
broadcaSting stations which, as
former Federal Radio Commits
Sioner H. A. Bellows has remarked,
were built largely ON faith, kept
alive by hope and operated as
charity" shaking off their infant
swaddling clothes and emerging
as full-fledged factors in the eco
nomic life Of the Nation.
Broadcasting suffers today pri-
marily from problems of taste and
morals and the uncertainties of
Federal regulation, the latter in
evitable because of the overcrowd-
ing of the limited radio channels.
But, on the whole, it is making its
own way we'll. 1t is attracting
more and better labor" what with
it's peculiar affinity with journal
ism and show business, and to 1t
Is flowing more capital every day.
Even in the face of the depression,
the broadcaSting business has in
creased and has been quite profit
able for many of the broadcaSterS.
In the manufacturing fields the
applications of the electronic tube
(kith and kin of the little vacuum
tube in your radio receiving SetSD
one Of great industrial progress.
Hardly branch of the industry
and art, including power trans
mission, automatic controls OF
mechanical and electrical devices
and even therapeutics and sur
gerry, is without it's uses of the
electronic tube in one form or an
other.
Many radio manufacturers, rec
ognizing the trend of the times,
are diversifying their production,
and we find them producing such
utilities as refrigeratorS, clocks,
home motion picture cameras and
projectors and multitude Of
other devices too numerous to
mention. Many are preparing for
the advent of television, which al
ready has limited uses, but which
still seems to be a long way of
for home use.
Though people are not buying
radios in the quantities Of a few
years ago, the Census Bureau re-
ports on the radio set popula-
tion," thus far shown, indicating
that about As per cent of Amer
ica'S homes are equipped with
radios, have been exceedingly
gratifying. 1t, is confidently ex-
pected that the sum total, which
will be known by Spring, will
reach the 13,5OOOOO estimate of
the Department of Commerce.
That leaves SIS per cent of the
homes of this country yet to be
initially equipped with radios, not
to forget the tremendous market
for requirements, tubes and &C
cessories that will always remain.
From the Radio Manufacturers
Association we learn that 1880 saw
only % failures of radio manufac-
turers, involving $4,300,000, to
compare with the Is failures, in
volving $12,O00,000 in 1929. Cut
rate and bargain stocks are about
depleted. Production has been
keyed to demand. The radio man
ufacturerS have learned their les
sons from overproduction. If only
the broadcaSterS will learn the
lessons of Observation-Disclosures
in a word, of doing offense to
the good taste and morals of the
preponderant majority of the
radio public and losing their good
will and attention-all will truly
be well in the American radio in
duStries.
I'D Ado programs picked up
n and broadcast from the
Nations Capital over the Column
bia network in 1880 would, if pre-
sented consecutively "a hours per
day, furnish entertainment, edu-