Evening star., 1936-07-12

struction Of a short wave transmitter
and himself recently built and installed
all the radios in his castle.
Politics and personal opinion on
public affairs are notably absent from
British radio, except for q few speeches
permitted just before elections. Now
the French radio authorities have de-
creed against the "coloring of news"
by French announcers, who in the fu-
ture are ordered to present plain facts
in plain manner"
MOvIEDOMS monopoly of Holly
wood is being seriously chal-
lensed these days by radio, and when
the Fall season blows around the con-
test will be at its peak. BY the same
token. New York's status as the radio
hub Of the Nation is facing the Holly
wood threat.
Present bookings Of transcontinental
radio programs indicate that nearly
half the premier evening perform
ances will emanate from Hollywood
over the major networks. Added to
that is the fact that Mutual Broad
casting System, newest of the impor-
tant chains, proposes to become
cross-country enterprise before the
new year.
Hollywood's spectacular rise as
radio talent center grows out of sew
eral factors. 1t isn't so much that the
radio taps the movie ranks for talent
as it Is the fact that the movies have
raided radio ranks during the last few
years. Then there Is the element OF
speedy transportation afforded trans
continentally by airplanes and the
railroads.
Such names as those Of Bing Cros-
BY Jack Benny. Burns and Allen and
Kate Smith were first emblazoned on
the radio signboards. The movies
sought them after they had acquired
their popularity over the air.
Another reason for the remarkable
increase in the number of programs
originating on the West Coast Is
traceable to the technique which radio
engineers have developed. Only few
years ago it was quite an expensive
and cumbersome proposition to re
verse" the telephone lines which hook
up network stations. In other words,
If telephone circuit was designed for
transmission east to west, it took
several minutes to reverse the circuit
and have program begin at the oppo-
site side Of the country. Now. how
ever. it is possible to reserve circuits
instantaneously. This makes possible
a switch from New York to Chicago
to Los Angeles without any appre-
ciable time lag.
First to realize the importance OF
the West Coast. both as a program
originating point and as a talent CEN
ter, was the National Broadcasting
Co., oldest of the networks. For half
dozen years it has had a complete West
Coast organization under a vice presi-
dent in San Francisco. More than a
year ago 1t built elaborate new studios
in Los Angeles. AS a consequence,
it originated more transcontinentals
from the West than its chief competi-
tor, Columbia Broadcasting System.
Now. however, Columbia has made
plans to build its own organization in
California, in the hope of having it a
going proposition when the Fall radio
season begins. Altogether, an invest
ment of some 100000 is planned in
augmenting the studios of Station
KNX, Los Angeles 50,000- waiter,
which it is about to take over by
purchase. In San Francisco, too, ad-
ditional studio space will be taken,
along with offices and other headquar-
ters' facilities. A new vice president,
Donald Thornburgh, has been elected,
and is now in California setting up
the organization.
Mutual Broadcasting System. new.
est Of the important network projects,
has already entered contracts with the
Don Lee Broadcasting System in Cali
fornia, to begin service by January /,
1887, If not sooner. This network
comprises basically four large stations
in the East and Middle West, but
feeds programs to another half dozen.
1t plans to add the four Don Lee sta
tions in California, plus other stations
en- route from Chicago to Los Angeles,
as part of the transcontinental expan-
sion. Thus it, too, will originate trans
continental programs from Hollywood.
On both National Broadcasting Co.
and Columbia some two dozen pro-
grams already have been booked for
Fall opening, to originate in Holly
wood. The artists to appear are in the
movie colony and will do their regular
radio stints from the Hollywood stu
dios Of the networks. In some cases
these radio artists will move back to
New York or Chicago for their pro-
gram originations after picture sched-
ules are completed.
A MEXICAN radios first BLACK
Maria" powerful automobile
equipped with every modern radio-de-
tecting device. will shortly 90 into
service as a unit of the Federal Com
munications Commissions field force.
Purchase and equipped at a cast of
$4,000, the mobile radio detector will
be used particularly to trace sources of
interference on the highly vulnerable
short waves, such as radiations from
high-frequency diathermy machines
now in use in many medical institu-
tions.
These so-called fever machines"
which induce fevers in patients in
order to effect cures, have been caus-
ing such widespread interference on
the short waves that even the Ameri-
can Medical Association, through
spokesmen who appeared before the
F. c. C.'s recent short.wave confer
ence. promised to aid in curtailing
their harsh emissions. Already the
A. M. A. has called upon manufac-
turers to equip the apparatus, which
really operate as small radio stations,
with suppressing devices.
The r. c. C's BLACK Maria" will
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