Evening star., 1932-09-18
WIRED RADIO" TALK.
PUZZLES STATIONS
Broadcasters Kept Guessing
by Renewal of RumorS of
New Competition.
BY MARTIN CODEL.


~ EvIVAL of reports that wired
radio" will soon be introduced
II to the American public, max
i ing available new program
service via electrical power
lines. for which subscribers will pay
monthly instrument and service rentals.
just as they pay their telephone bills,
has the space" broadcasters guessing.
Long threatened as competitor for
radio listener interest, the wired radio"
project has been developing in this
country for more than 10 years. Wlreo
Radio, Inc, with headquarters in New
York and with laboratory in Ampere,
N. j., is its sponsor. This corporation
is a subsidiary Of the North American
Co., giant public utility holding COM
pany, with power subsidiaries in Wash
ington and many of the leading cities
of the United States.
Previous Rumors premature"
It is possible that the development of
wired radio" in several European coun-
tries in the last year or two gave rise
to the reports that Wired Radio, Inc,
Is about to launch its new enterprise
Until a few years ago statements were
regularly forthcoming from that COM
pany about what it intended to do. But
each time a statement was mace 1t
was later denied or dismissed as pre-
mature" until in recent years ofhclals
of Wired Radio, Inc, and its parent
company have maintained a complete
silence about their intentions.
Those interested in broadcasting via
the ether lanes were inclined to dis
miss the latest reports as mere rumor,
but it is known that Wired Radio, Inc,
Is still buying ups patents and muslcal
copyrights against the day when 1t Is
decided to launch the project. Radio
ofncials say they do not fear the advent
of wired radio" inaSmuch as pracu-
cally every other home in the country
is already equipped with space" radio
receivers, rendering it unlikely that ex-
isting set owners would be willing to
pay the 81 to IS per month for wired
radio" service, even II it is free OF ad-
vertising
Another deterrent to the introduction
of wired radio" is the fact that its
sponsor is great power concern, al
ready under considerable fire in the
power trust" investigations and clamor:
The fact remains, however, that Wired
Radio, Inc, still exists. that it is con-
stantly fortifying itself with patents
and musical rights and that 1t has
practically overcome technical OBJ
stacles to the successful operation OF its
system.
If and when wired radio" is intro
duced, it is reported, it will of1er at
least three classes OF programs from
New York studios, relayed by telephone
wires to various power substations
throughout the country and then car
rio n l.
stalled in homes on a rental basis. The
inventor Of the original wired radio
receiver is Mai. Gen. George o. Squier,
former chief Of the Army Signal Corps,
who calls his set the 'monophone.
Subscribers will need only to turn
switches and dials to select different
classes of programs, which, tentatively,
have been planned as educational, clas-
sical musical and light musical.
Test Made in Cleveland.
That the project is entirely feasible
technically, though it may not be able
to catch up with the tremendous strides
space" radio has made in the last 10
years and though 1t may meet the re-
sistance of seeking rental fees where
space" radio programs are furnished
without cost to the listener, is said to
have been proved by Wired Radio, Inc
in experiments 1t has conducted In
Cleveland since 1929. There sub
station of the utility company controlled
by the North American Co. has been
supplying test programs over its power
outlets to homes Of officials OF the sub
sidiary company. These officials, how
ever, have been under the injunction OF
silence almost since the beginning OF
the experiments.
In Switzerland, Holland and Belgium
systems of this kind have been in opera
ton for some time, with the advantage
claimed that they do away with the
necessity of antennas and the owner
ship of radio sets and are not bothered
by static, interference and fading. In
those countries, however, the publicly
owned telephone systems are used as
the wire carriers Of the programs. Also
instead of sending out special programs
by wire transmission only, central re-
ceiving stations pick up the broadcasts
of nearby space" radio stations and
then feed them by wire to the rented
receiving sets. Switzerland reports
about 1000 subscribers to the service
Holland about 10000 and Belgium re-
Gently started it at Client with some
$500.
A company that rents out receivers
and furnishes regular radio programs
from broadcasting stations via wires
from its radio central" receiving sta
tions to homes, started similar project
in England about year ago, with 1,50C
subscribers, who paid IS cents q week
for the service in addition to the regular
government radio license fee Of $2.5C
per anPum.
Il