Evening star., 1933-04-16
.HE radio battle Of tie Po-
tomac," with Columbia's
WJSV pitted against the
y Mouxf,e Rasaarc Iah0ra.

tomac," with Columbia's
WJSV pitted against the
! 4 Navy's Research Labora-
tory, has been won by the Gov
ernment forces.
As the oficial arbiter, the
Federal Radio Commission has
ruled that Station WJSV is caus-
ing undue interference with the
highly secret radio experiments
of the research laboratory, across
the river about a mile away. Ef-
fective May /, WJSV must cease
broadcasting from its present 10
cation, unless the blanketing Is
corrected by some technical means
to the satisfaction of the Navy.
In q final effort to eliminate
the trouble without being forced
to move the station, installed only
last Fall at a cost Of nearly
$tce 500, Columbia has a corps OF
its ace engineers working on a
directional antenna. This appa-
ratus, one Of the newest contri-
buttons to radio science, is de-
signed to cut of the stations
signals in the direction of the
laboratory and to throw the
energy in the direction Of the
Capital City.
Working from midnight until
dawn, this crew Of engineers is
doing its utmost to perfect the
installation to the Navy's satisfac-
ton prior to May l. Tests thus
far have been highly encourag-
ing to them, but what the Navy's
answer will be, naturally, is not
known until the installation is
completed. A. B. Chamberlain,
Colurnbia's chief engineer; Frank
Falknor, chief engineer of WBBM,
Chicago, and a recognized author
ity on antennaS, and Lester Bow
man, chief engineer of WJSV, are
supervising the work.
Columbia has suffered almost
endless dif1lculty in attempting to
get q full time station in Wash
ington. Until last Fall Station
WMAL was its Washington out
let, but 1t declined to carry a full
network schedule because of local
programs it desired to broadcast.
First, Columbia attempted to get
booster" station into Washing
ton directly synchronized with its
key station, WABC, New York, but
was turned down by the commits
sion. Then it attempted to nego-
tiate a lease with WMAL, but
failed in that effort. Finally, it
leased WJSV, in Mount Vernon
Hills, Va. After it had installed
a new transmitter at a point
closer to Washington, on the Vir-
ginia side of the Potomac, the
Navy raised protests about inter-
ference with its experiments.
A few weeks ago a hearing was
held before the commission be-
hind closed doors. The Navy
asked for secrecy because of the
highly confidential nature of the
experiments it carried on at the
laboratory, where it claimed
literally millions of dollars had
been spent in precision apparatus
which was being rendered useless
by interference from WJSV.
&UtFER1NG q second drastic
- slash in it's appropriation and
faced also with possible transfer
OF its powers to another agency,
the destiny of the Federal Radio
Commission still hangs in the
balance.
BY a quirk Of political fate, two
veterans of radio regulation who
had more or less faded from the
radio picture, have been asked
by the new administration to
work out a reorganization and
consolidation plan that may see
the commission abolished and its
functions transferred to the De-
partment Of Commerce. They are
Maj. Gen. Charles NICK. Saltzman,
former chief signal officer of the
Army and until last year the COM
MISSIONS chairman, and Judge
Ewin L. Davis, who retired in
March as a member of Congress
and chairman Of the House Mer-
chant Marine Radio and Fisheries
Committee. Judge Davis was q
co-author of the radio act of 1927,
which created the commission.
These men are members of the
Confidential Committee created
by Secretary Of Commerce Roper
to work out a consolidation plan
covering the whole broad field of
transportation and communica-
ton. While they are experts on
radio, they also are acquainted
with all aspects of the problems
entrusted to the committee. For