Evening star., 1932-11-06
Behind the Microphone
BY THE RADIO EDITOR.

| Nation wide radio star popularity
poll sponsored by the United
American Bosch Corporation Of
Springfield, Mass.
In comparison to the number Of
feminine entertainers names re-
ceived, almost three times a.
many masculine performers ap-
pear on the ballots counted during
the first few days of the poll. All
this, despite the fact that the first
six places in the contest are held
evenly by both sexes-three male
and three female stars each!
Even at this early stage of the
voting, the popularity of certain
stars is reflected. Among the
singers, Jessica Dragonette leads
every one-male or female. Kate
Smith Is very close second.
Lawrence Tibbett holds up the
masculine end by winning third
place in popularity among radio
listeners. Ruth Etting follows In
fourth position. Arthur Tracy and
Morton DoWney come next in
number Of votes cast.
Ethel Shutta and Rudy VAlles
tie IN popular fancy.
- -
FROM an apparently idle pastime
! to an industry that, according
to estimates Just released at
the International Radio Confer
ence now in progress in Madrid,
commands the attention OF 140,-
nm nm yNnnr1n
modern broadcasting has reached
its present proportions in scant
dozen years. In America, popular
radio as we know it today observed
its 18th anniversary this week.
In England, leader among Euro
pean countries in radio develop
ment, radios 10th birthday was
celebrated last month.
1t was on the night of Novem-
Der 2, 1920, that KDKA, Pitts
burgh. went on the air to broad
cast the national elections, re-
naming on regular schedule ever
since and thus claiming the dis
tinction OF being Americas pio-
neer station. Various other expert
mental stations antedated KDKA,
including what is now WWJ, De-
troit, but the Pittsburgh broad
caster stuck to the air on daily
schedule whereas the others were
heard more or less intermittently.
Father Of the broadcasting art
is DR.. Lee DeForeSt, the noted in
ventor OF the vacuum tube, the
heart of radio, which made Gug-
llelmo Marconi'S early wireless ef-
forts adaptable to wider needs.
Sometimes c.lled the father Of
broadcasting is DR.. Frank Conrad,
the Westinghouse engineer, whose
postwar experiments in a shed
back Of his home in Pittsburgh
led to the establishment of KDKA.
According to the figures released
at Madrid. the 140,000,000 radio
listeners Of the world now have
an investment of about SI.OOo.-
100000 in the sets they use. Fully
half Of the world audience is in
the United States.
That these figures are conserva-
tive, may be seen by the fact
that the retail turnover of radios
IN the United States alone, in the
II years since modern broadcast
ing began, amounted to S3,000,-
100000 This, of course, includes
the millions of sets now obsolete
and since replaced. 1t is probably
conservative to reckon that the
100000 or more radios in use
in this country today represent
an investment of $500,000,0O0 to
S750,000,000.
In any case, there arc more
radios in use in the United States
than III all the other countries of
the world combined. Canada's
licensed radios number about
100000 with as many or more
known to be unlicensed. Next to
the United States are England and
Germany, with about 100000
each. Japan has about 100000.
Few if any other countries have
as many as 100000.