Evening star., 1936-01-12
Recommends Engineering
ALLEGATION of FrequencieS
Commission Holds Channel Widths of at
Least 20 Kilocycles Are Required
for Good Reception.

on the regular broadcast frequencies
$3.50 to 1,500 kilocycleS which have
a moderate primary service area but
the signals continue for hundreds of
miles SO that their interference range
is enormous compared with the pri-
mary service area.
due to this characteristic OF the
very high frequencies, it has been
considered that they offer q means
of supplying strictly local service to
any number of centers Of population
with frequency assignments duplicated
at relatively low mileage separations.
The individual stations would serve
only a few miles, probably in the
order of 2 to 10 miles, depending
upon the power, location of the trans
mitter, its efficiency. and the radio
propagation characteristics OF the sur
rounding terrain"
COME interesting facts about the
- Major Bowes Amateur Hour, which
almost every survey shows to be the
most popular program on the air, as
reported by Morris Markey in the
magazine New Yorker:
Ten thousand applications for audi
tions are received each week from all
parts of the country, with Maj. Bowes
and his staff auditioning about 600
every week. Out of these he picks
20 acts, with the expectation that IS
will get on the air, while the others
are held in reserve against last
minute illness, fainting or scares.
Applicants from outside New York
are discouraged from coming to the
big city for additions, since Maj. Bowes
and his sponsor do not want to take
the responsibility for travel expenses
and possible encouragement. Many
come to New York anyhow by every
means possible. including borrowed
funds, hitch-hiking, etc. Many of
the hopefuls, young and oldy are on
relief rolls.
Each performer is told he will not
be paid for his services, but each
gets $40 bill after the show. The
three or four top performers get en-
gagements with Maj. Bowes' vaude-
vile units, 10 of which are now on
the road, getting salaries of $50 to
$3.50 per week, plus transportation.
The pay roll for each Of the road
units, to which professional masters
of ceremonies are assigned to initiate
Mai. Bowes and his gong, runs about
$4,000 week.
THE dedication of the program to
different city each week is
localized build-up which creates in
tense local interest, the local station
sometimes sending it's best amateur
find" to New York for the show.
Forty telephone operators are in a
special room in Radio City each
week to receive votes, which run into
the tens of thousands during the pres
entation of the program and for nearly
two hours afterward. Each club vote
is counted as rs, unless the club re-
ports a smaller number. In each
dedicated city there Is also special
battery of telephone operators en-
gagged to receive and count votes.
"Stooges" are not used, nor Is any
of the dialogue rehearsed, although
Maj. Bowes always has before him a
memorandum giving the pertinent
data about each performer as he Is
called to the microphone. The COL
loquy is extemporaneous, but both
Maj. Bowes and the performer knows
just about what to ask and reply.
1T is pretty well known beforehand
who will get the gong because, as
Maj. Bowes asserts, lone out of every
is amateur acts is going to be terrible
anyway" But sometimes a performer
may sound fine at additions and then,
before an audience and a mike, will
lose control and sound awful.
Thus far no one has been able to
give voice to his resentment against
getting the gong. Maj. Bowes uses
the simple device of having a good
strong ARM" who hustles the per
former to the mike and then away
from the platform. II always signal
him." said Maj. Bowes, before letting
the bell go, and he is always ready to
grab the poor boob before he can say
vile into the mike
The sponsors pay Maj Bowes about
$4,000 week for his hour, but he must
maintain big staff and has to con-
duct additions throughout the week
Trade circles have estimated that, with
the cost of the Nationwide hookup,
the sponsor spends at least $4,000 a
week on the show. Maj. Bowes him
self owns all rights to the theatrical
unit, and it is estimated within the
trade that he probably cleared for
himself and his personal organization
moro than S1 nm nm d,,ripo 1oas