Evening star., 1931-12-27
,sion Of wave lenRths available 10 tha

gested solution has been the invasion
Of the long waves lying just below $50
kilocycles for broadcasting, % that the
Mexican and Canadian demands for
facilities might be met.
Radio receivers that tour the world"
We'd with television receivers at the
radio shows held during the year.
Combination sets, which tune the
broadcast band, and, by the flick Of
quencies, bringing in programs from
other nations, were exhibited for the
first time at these shows. For those
who did not wish to purchase an "all-
wave" receiver, q short-wave converter
was introduced to connect up with the
conventional broadcast receiver.
These all-wave receivers are ex-
pected to revive interest in this ultra
modern method of "DX-ing," that art
of fishing for distant stations which
became more or less passe with the
steady development OF chain broad
casting.
Science Continues Advance.
As whole, radio science continued
It's forward march. The far-flung in
ternational radio-telephone and tele-
graph services were expanded so that
about 80 per cent of the worlds tele-
phones can be interconnected ~ radio.
Direct lines of radio code communica-
ton were Stretcfel across the Pacific
and to the antipodeS. Almost every
country In the world, no matter how
remote, now can be contacted from the
United States by commercial radio. al
though in some instances the deStina-
ton must be reached through wire
relay.
Synchronization. looked upon in some
quarters as the cure-all of broadcast
ing's ills by making possible the opera
ton of a multiplicity Of stations on the
same wave length without interference
year. While 1t has not been despaired
Of as the solution of the congestion
problem, it did not perform In the man
ner hoped for by engineers.
The Federal Radio Commission Is not
at all satisfied with the results. 1t re-
fused to permit Columbia to erect a
booster" station in Washington TO be
operated on the clear channel of its
key station WABC in New York and
repeat the programs OF the latter sta
tion in Washington on full-time basis.
1t now threatens to curtail other expert
ments in progress along that line during
regular program hours, but, Of course,
will not disturb development in the
! laboratory or during early morning
hours over the air.
| Now only one high-power station may
operate on q channel without ruinouS
interference. Synchronization presaged
developments which would see entire
networks Of stations operating on a
solitary channel by means of boosters
strung throughout the country and CO.
ordinated with the key station either
| by wire or ether controls.
| Operate on Large Scale.
Large scale operations in the broad
casting station market" took place in
/ 1881, portending significant future
changes Both networks acquired con-
/ troll or ownership of more stations,
mainly in the clear-channel category,
to strengthen their positions in the ma
tion-wide distribution of programs All
| told, each network now has approx
mately 80 stations subscribing to its
programs.
After more than a year Of considera-
ton the Federal commission disposed
| Of the turbulent high-power issue in
broadcasting, only to have it carried to
the court by half-dozen enraged
broadcasters as the year closed Two
dozen stations in the Fall of 1880 ap-
piled for authority to use the maximum
/
channels to enable them to send pro-
grams crashing through space and over
riding static and other elemental dis
turbanceS. The commission. however,
had ruled that only one-half of the 40
clear channels would be permitted to
accommodate the highest power and
that only nine of the applicants would
be given the maximum to fill the then
existing vacancies.
| The case went through days Of hear
lngS in which thousands of pages Of
testimony were taken and then hung
fire before the commission for a solid
year. Finally the commission author
lied nine stations to increase to so 900
watts and permitted seven others to
! boost their output to $4,000 watts.
"Misfits" Weeded Out.
During 1891 the commission en-
barked upon a campaign of death and
destruction to those it viewed as the
misfits of broadcasting. A dozen sta
tons were deleted during the year, and
while several obtained respites through
lnJunctions from the courts, the commits
slon's orders stuck in most instances
The last Of these was KGEF, Los An
geles, presided over by the Rev. Robert
P. Shuler, who was accused of melting
religious strife. He now is endeavoring
to get hearing before the Supreme
Court on the issue of freedom Of speech
and religion over the air.
Quack medicine men, fortune tellers.
! lotteries and broadcasters guilty of pro-
family or obscenity were ruled off the
wave lengths by the Commission. Where
stations were owned by the alleged
charlatans, the Commission deleted
them.
AS the year ended the Commission
promulgated new rules and regulations,
TO become effective February /. Cow
ering the whole radio spectrum, these
changes affect broadcasting In several
respects. Call letter announcements.
now required at 15-minute intervals.
under the revised rules may be made
each half-hour during regular pro-
| grams. In a spoken" program even
the half-hour requirement is waived. so
that the continuity will not be inter-
rupted with the station-break an
nouncement
The Commission also relaxed provis-
ions having to do with the description
Of electrical transcriptions, or other re-
corded programs. They will not have
to be described with the specific word
ing heretofore required, but any clear"
description will suffice.
Short Wave Band Wider.
In the short waves the Commission,
by the stroke of pen, changes the
whole ALLEGATION. The size of the band
is broadened from $4,000 to 2S, 900 kilo-
cycles, and the separation between
channels is reduced from two-tenths
to one-tenth per cent, which virtually
doubles the number of frequencies
available.
This was affected during the year by
the Commission with the various COM
mercial companies engaged in COM
munications activities-aviation Ship
ping. transoceanic and continental
radiotelegraph communication. radio
telephone communication, coastal SER
vice. police radio service, and a score
Of other activities concerning which the
public hears little. 1t was all brought
about by cooperative effort, and with
out the fuss and fanfare that usually
accompanies change in broadcasting
alignment.
Police radio Is spreading like wildfre.