Evening star., 1937-05-12
RADIO FANS HEAR
CORONATION RITES
Most Elaborate Set-Up in
History Brings Pro-
qram Here.
BY CHRIS MATHISEN.

with the dawn to turn on their radios
were greeted by deep-throated voice
from the British House of Parliament
and when the reverberations had died
away broadcasting began the most
ambitious Job it had ever essayed-
translation of the almost incompara-
bic pomp and pageantry Of an en-
pire's greatest show" into sound.
Through the most extensive CO.
ordination Of air facilities in history,
the British Empire, to its farthest
reaches, heard the ceremonies at
tendant on the crowning of its King,
and many other nations were per-
mitted to hear of London's joyous
hour.
The voices of commentators and
the atmosphere" sounds were hurled
across the Atlantic to bring the story
to American listeners, with approxi-
mately six hours being consumed In
the telling-but to complete the mar
rative required the services of hun
dreds of men-men who watched flick
ering indicators, turned switches and
dias, sat with earphones glued to
their heads, and, of course, those who
were obviously part of the task, the
corps of British and foreign observers
who manned microphones.
A unique angle for the competitive
commercialized broadcastng of this
country found all three major chains
carrying almost identical programs.
For the most part, the same voices
and sounds were heard through N. B.
c.. Columbia and Mutual. There was
little room for individualism among
the networks this time; it was Great
Britain's show, and the government
controlled British Broadcasting Corp.
handled all technical arrangements in
London. cooperating with foreign
companies in the matter cf overseas
transmission and arranging schedules
to permit opportunity for foreign
commentators to cut in from the
scene.
How Control" Works.
The B. B. C. concentrated tons of
equipment and miles of wire at West
minister Abbey and along the route
OF the procession, with more than so
engineers on hand to care for the
intricate 'cut-ins' required as the
scene of principal interest shifted
from Buckingham Palace to the ab-
bey and later retraced its steps. A
master control" was established to
care for the foreign companies alone,
and Is engineers were engaged in
this phase of coverage. Into West
minister Guildhall came 80 circuits,
while at the home" nerve center in
the abbey the circuits numbered 54.
The B. B. c. augmented its vocal
eoverage with television for benefit of
those fortunate enough to possess sets
In London, the first attempt to
achieve visual transmission Of an
important outdoor public event-only
the procession was televised-as q
regular program of television sta
ton.
The most elaborate short-wave
transmission set-up ever arranged
served listeners in this country, with
all of the % directional antenna ar
rays OF B. B. C.'s powerful empire
station at Daventry, outside Of Lon
don, in simultaneous operation, being
linked to the five empire transmit
ters, three of which send at $4,000
watts power, by 6 miles of open
feeder lines. The so-called empire
transmitters operate, with the aid of
directional antennas, for the benefit
of outlying British possessions. The
N. B. C. and Columbia short-Wave
receivers on this side of the ocean
picked up the Daventry signal for
rebroadcast over their regular net
work facilities. Mutual utilized the
services OF the Canadian Radio Com
mission.
Although the American companies
were freed from worry about the point
of origination, from the technical
standpoint, at least, even getting the
precious verbiage safely across the
water was not the whole story. En-
gineers facing the huge network mas
ter control panels trained to maintain
steady nerves and steady hands, rode
the gain" as it is known, manipulate
ing volume controls in an effort to
send out an even broadcast, remaining
ready always to cut-in waiting talent
In the chain studios should there be
break in the program or in the event
that electrical interference made
speech unintelligible.
Regular Performers Ready.
Since such an event as q coronation
does not move on a rigid schedule,
the New York studios held many air
performers waiting to take the micro
phone should an emergency arise, and
to resume the regular broadcast sched-
ule Immediately on conclusion Of the
ceremonies.
The British Broadcasting Corp. has
taken particular pride in the EN-
pire's Homage" program. which was
to have begun at lis this afternoon.
presenting the heads of all dominion
governments and citizens of these out
lying portions Of the empire. Far
more significant to the British than
the description Of the ceremonies is
this climactic broadcast, with King
acknowledging the greeting Of his
subjects and extending his own-the
first British sovereign to address all
the peoples Of the empire on the day
OF his coronation. B. B. c. considers
this real, albeit spectacular, demon
stration of the bond of empire-an
engineer in Broadcasting House, B. B.
G. headquarters in London, flicking
switches and bringing together Eng
lShmen, premiers and men in the
street" from all over the world. {.
The coronation was, indeed,
Britain's show from the radio angle,
but the United States received as
complete ooverage as any OF the do
minions, and Washington as much as
any other city which boasted network
radio stations. The local angle"
didn't amount to much. Engineers
and announcers were obliged to be at
the studios two or three hours earlier
than usual, but they merely had to
open the station and put 1t on the
air-New York and London did the
rest.