Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-07-26
Behind the Microphone
BY THE RADIO EDITOR.
. LOWLY but surely the FEEDER
al Government is establish
ing its claim to ownership of

LOVELY but surely the FEEDER
~ al Government is establish
ing its claim to ownership OF
the ether, as against the
counter claims Of radio stations.
Practically since the beginning
of radio the question who owns
the ether?" has been in doubt
despite the admitted fact that 1t
is the most important legal point
in. this new electric art. Nobody
knows what the ether is, but it is
known that there are invisible
roadways in the sky over which
all radio waves travel, and which
have become of tremendous value.
Another legal ruling in favor of
the theory that Uncle Sam owns
the ether, in trust for the Ameri-
can people, has been written on
the statute books. The question
cannot be settled finally until it
reaches the Supreme Court of the
United States, and several at
tempts to have that tribunal pass
on 1t have proved futile.
Broadly, the question involved
is whether radio stations, because
of their previous service to the
public, and by virtue of their
capital investments in equipment,
actually have a vested right to the
channels they occupy. Congress,
when it wrote the radio law In
1927, said they had not, and com
manded the Federal Radio Com
mission to do what it thought
necessary in the way of reducing
stations or their broadcaSting
power and assignments, to give
the people good radio.
The new decision was that of
the Circuit Court of Appeals in
Chicago, which upheld the prev
ious decision of Judge J. H. Will
kerson Of Chicago in the case in
volving Station WMBB, at Chi
cago. This station was removed
from the air by the commission
in 1928 to reduce interference, and
it appealed on the ground Of prop
erty rights, challenging the con-
Stitutionality of the radio law.
Once before the case went to the
Supreme Court, but was sent back
for a decision on clearly defined
issues.
Judge Evan A. Evan of the Cir
cult Court wrote radio law when
he said, in upholding the lower
courts opinion, that the commits
sion's action in reducing the num-
Der of stations was for the good
OF the public" This same case
may come up to the Supreme
Court again, and with two opin-
ions of the lower courts affirming
the judgment of Congress that no
property rights exist as against
the right of Congress to regulate
interstate commerce, the view is
held that the Nations highest tri-
bunal will sustain this judgment.
DON'T always blame the radio
~ announcer If he happens to
pronounce a foreign word or a
word of foreign derivation incor-
rectly. Very often he knows bet
ter, but radio makes some rather
peculiar demands. Consider the
fact that, while you may happen
to know the correct pronunciation,
the vast majority Of the radio
audience may not.
British and American radio an
nouncerS, speaking the same Ian
guage II not the same accent, are
confronted with much the same
word problems, so that the follow
ing observations by A. Lloyd
James, secretary of the British
BroadcaSting Corporations Ad-
visory Committee on Spoken Eng
lish. are apropoS:
"a question that is certain to
remain contentious for a very long