Evening star., 1935-03-31
Bv the Radio Editor.

A REFORM wave appears to be
"A gathering momentum in Ameri-
can radio, with the newly reor-
sanized broadcast division of the Fed
eral Communications Commission as
Its focal point. Prime mover in the
new effort to clean up broadcasting,
not only technically, but also with re-
spect to its Objectionable programs, is
the F. c. C.'s new chairman, Aiming
s. Prall, who until last year was a
member Of Congress from New York
City.
Prall is not the crusading type, nor
are his colleagues Of the commission,
whose task it Is to regulate broad
casting, as distinguished from wire or
wireless telegraphy and telephony.
But they believe that certain phases
of radio have fallen into sorry state
and they propose to lend their offices
to doing something about it. They do
not intend to engulf radio in any
damaging food tide of reform; rather,
they want the radio people to conduct
the purge themselves.
AS an initial step the F. G. c. has
Get about to put its own house in
beset the old Federal Radio Commis-
sion, which 1t displaced, was as re-
sponsible for the disrepute Of some
aspects of radio as the medical quack-
cry that may still hold forth on the
wave lengths.
Three of the seven communications
commissioners constitute the broad
cast division. In addition to Chair
man Prall, who sits as ex-oft1cio mem
Der of each F. c. c. division, the
regulators of broadcasting now are
Judge Eugene o. Sykes, former
Supreme Court justice of Mississippi
and an original member of the old
Radio Commission, and Norman S.
Case, former Governor of Rhode
Island. Judge Sykes is chairman OF
the broadcast division.
All three are essentially conservative
men, but they confess that their dam
der has been rising of late as they
contemplate some of the medical and
children's programs and other more
blatant outpourings of the ether.
They have made it plain that they
do not intend to go along with the
reformers who want radio nationalized
or perhaps turned over to educational
and religious institutions. They be-
lieve that the enforcement of existing
regulations, plus the application of
moral suasion," can impel the pri-
vate operators of networks and sta
tions to consider the public taste as
well as public interest more diligently.
It is well known that radio, since
the Government began to regulate it
back in 1927, has been a foot ball Of
politics, with favors going to the IL
cense holders commanding the strong
est congressional support. All that
is a thing of the past, asserts Prall,
who should know how to deal with
Senators and Representatives after
his long experience on Capitol Hill.
To all radio stations last week he
ordered the commissions secretary,
Herbert l.. Pettey, to send a letter
admitting the fact that there has
been a general laxity' in the observ-
ance Of the radio rules and regula-
tions, but asserting that "henceforth
all stations will be required to OBJ
serve these rules and regulations in
their strictest form"
AS for dubious advertising over the
air Of cure-all specifics, some of them
already branded as dangerous or spu-
rious by the health authorities or the
Federal Trade Commission, the F. c.
G. has made it plain that they must
60. Already it has placed various
stations on notice that the continued
advertising Of certain medical prod
ucts and claims over their wave
lengths will be weighed against them
when the time comes for the COM
mission to consider the renewals of
their six-month licenses. One such
case was ordered set for hearing by
the commission at its meeting last
week.
A N ATMOSPHERE teeming with the
"A programs that 600 broadcasting
stations provide, long a source of
entertainment for airplane pilots seek
ing relief from the monotony of flight,
now is about to offer a network of
skyways that will take nearly all the
guesswork cut of flying and greatly
increase the safety factor. =,
With development of the almost
human Kreusi radio compass, now un-
dergoing extensive Commerce Depart
ment tests, pilots of planes equipped
with the device will be able to steer