Evening star., 1933-03-26
MEXICAN broadcasters and

the steps being taken by the re-
Gently formed Radio BroadcaSting
Commission at Ottawa toward a
Contamination" of Dominion
broadcasting programs.
On this side Of the border that
separates the two great SOW
ereign nations of North America
though it hardly keeps their re-
spective radio audiences from
hearing one another's programs
concern is particularly felt about
the proposed new regulations
which the Canadian Commission
has indicated it will promulgate
around April /. These regulations
may place in force the per cent
limitation on the advertising con-
tent of radio programs.
If reports of the recent debates
on the radio subject in Parlia-
ment are any indication, the new
regulations may possibly also
limit sponsored programs to those
of companies whose products are
actually manufactured in Canada.
Besides spot announcements,
which usually come at the Is
minute station breaks" and
which are usually entirely of an
advertising nature, the percent
age limitation is expected to cur
tail very considerably the Amer
lean network and transcription
programs that can lawfully be
placed on Canadian stations.
There are few network or re-
corded programs in which the ad-
vertiSing content is as little as 5
per cent, or three minutes in an
hours broadcast.
Shorter programs run even
higher in commercialiSm. and all
of these may be ruled of the Ca
madam air if the Canadians ad-
here rigidly to the 5 per cent limi-
tation. To the privately owned
Canadian stations this may mean
considerable loss in revenues.
Like American broadcasters, the
Canadians have been hard hit by
the depression, and their survival
may depend directly upon the de-
gree of rigidity of the new regu-
lationS. American broadcaSting
interests-or some of them-have
been brutally frank in expressing
a selfish hope that the Canadian
regulations may be tight enough
so that advertising revenues that
otherwise might go to Canadian
stations will henceforth be con-
centrated on American broadcast
ing, particularly on the high
power stations which are known
to enjoy considerable audience IN
Canada
While the radio bill passed by
Parliament last Autumn directs a
naturalization of c a n
broadcasting, with all stations
controlled and operated by the
Radio Commission, this accom-
plishment is seen some years
away. The commissions 1884
budget of ST 600, 900, plus revenues
of perhaps $1,500,000 to be de-
rived from the 81 radio set taxes,
are hardly sufficient to compen-
! safe the present owners OF sta
tionS for their properties. Expro-
priation without compensation Is
far from the minds Of the Cana
dian lawmakers.
At first it was expected the Ca
madam Commission would conflne
itself wholly to the regulation oil
technical and program operations.
itself staging national network
programs from time to time. But
the commission on March l &C
tually took over three stations
from the government-owned Ca
madam National Railways at a
price reported to be $50.000, pay
able over a period of time. The
stations are CNRO, Ottawa:
CNRA. Moncton, New Brunswick,
and CNRV, Vancouver, all 500
waters.
These stations. it is believed
here, will be the "test group" of a
possible complete naturalization
scheme that may be ordered into
effect when sufficient funds are
available. They will be units Ct
the nationwide network which
the commission has already
hooked up several times for band
and symphony orchestra concerts
and other national" non-com-
mercial programs. Other inde-
pendently owned stations join the
network at will. the commission
paying the wire connecting
/ charges and the stations paying
or receiving no compensation for
carrying the programs.
Hector Charlesworth, chairman
of the commission, has indicated
clearly that the commission has
no intention of paying stations
for accepting its programs.
7 AND as we'll as sea disasters
IL produce their heroes of the
wireless. During the recent Cali
fornia earthquake broadcasting
and amateur radio operators
stood by their posts, despite the
fact that the earth was trembling
beneath them and the walls of
their transmitter houses were
swaying, and in some cases &C
tually giving way.
Hardest hit of all radio stations
was KFOX, Long Beach. in the
heart of the stricken area, where
Chief Engineer Leslie MacDowell
and Chief Announcer Ted Bliss
stood by their apparatus to relay
news to XIII, Los Angeles. and
thence to a Nation wide network
as soon as the first temblors oc-
Cured. KFOX'S trans m t t e r
house was a shambles after the
earthquake, but quick repairs
kept the tranSmitter from top
pling over while a fortunate cir
cumstance kept the power supply
from being cut of.
At XIII the first shocks para
lyzed the transmitter, but this was
quickly repaired by Engineers
Bruce PierSall and Ernest Under
wood, who with Chief Engineer
Harold G. Peery kept the station
| ON the dir almost continuallV