The Waterbury Democrat., 1944-12-22

dOLO44lcy 4O1 h BLOup I1cdO6u Dy Wu- liam Benton, chairman of the board of Encyclopaedia Brittanica, Beard sley Ruml and Robert M. Hutchins, president of the University of Chi cago.; After the war 1t is anticipated that Chester Bowls, now head of OPA, will be associated with the group.
 Anu original application to build an experimental station to test their Idea was, made by Muzak, Inc, in 194l,, but materials shortage inter ferred
 PLAN WOULD BEGIN IN
 METROPOLITAN CENTERS
 Today Subscription Radio has plans for beginning service in New York, Chicago and possible one other metropolitan center, offering their programs as a complete family package" of entertainment, giving the subscriber 8 24-hours-a- day choice of either of two types of continuous musical programs or a variety of feature programs to be offered at the same time each day. Included in the features would be news, educational programs, chil- dren'S entertainment, cultural 1ec- lures, or programs conducted by Boy Scouts, charities or other social agencies.
 Technically, the packers of Sub scription Radio would like to have three frequencies assigned to them at one end of the F!M or Frequency Meditation range of 42,000 to 50,000 kilocycles.
 To keep their programs from be- ing sWiped or nstened-in on by non- subscribers who have not kicked in with their nickel a week, all their broadcastS would be marked" with a distinguishing shrill pig Squeal" which would spoil the program for anyone whose F.M set was not equip ped with a patented filter to elimin- ate tn noise.
 It is from this device that Sub scription Radio has been christened pig squeal radio, and 1t is from the licensed rental of the filter that the service would collect it's money to finance its breakfasts and programs. By putting the three pig squeal fre- quencies at one end of the F,M band a minimum of interference would be given to other FM broadcasts.
 The problem of rental collection and preventing home radio mechan- icS from making their own filters to eliminate the squeals have yet to be announced.
 BROADCASTERS OPPOSE
 MARKED" PROGRAMS
 Biggest stumbling block for Sub- Scription Radio to overcome is the multiple ownership rule which limits operation of broadcasting chains.
 Opposition of the National ASso- ciation of BroadcasterS to Subscrip- tion Radio as presented in the NAB brief is that all channels will be to crowded for marked" broadcasts licensed to privileged group for point-to-point transmission of IE>- terial which really should be carried by wire as on any other public ad- dress system.
 Such point o-point transmission is claimed to make radio limited common carrier, conflning service to those who can pay the price Finally. 1t is claimed that radio broadcast ing as now organized in the United States has served the public well, giving listeners what they want free.
 Countering these claims, packers of Subscription Radio say that they have no desire to limit or supplant present-day radio, but to add to it. They point to an increasing trend towards talk programs on commer- cial radio, advertisers seeming to prefer aggressiv comedy and quiz entertainment. with less good music and feature programs of the type they propose to supply. And they bank heavily for their demand on listeners who say they are fed-up on what they get out of the loud speakers today.