Browning chief., 1944-06-09

III "lIululB llle
Barrow Lyons war by helping to
keep our radio
and radar development one jump
ahead of the enemy.
The man was John v. L. Hogan,
special assistant to the WPB office
of scientific research and develop
ment, and president of the New
York radio station WQXR, which
has presented exceptional pro-
grams. Commercial radio, he said,
stands on the threshold of tremen-
dous expansion and improvement.
During the war great technical
progress for military purposes has
been made in radar and television,
but also important advances have
been effected in sound transmission
by ether waves.
When the war ends this technical
progress will be transferred to COM
mercial broadcasting by freeing our
vastly expanded manufacturing IA
cilities and releasing thousands of
technicians.
Mr.. Hogan believes this will mean
not only improvement in the pro-
grams offered to owners of radio
and television sets in and near the
large cities, but that daylight broad
casting of better programs to the
most remote sections of the country
will become a reality.
1t is not generally known that at
present about one-eighth of the peo-
pie who live in the country areas
get no radio service whatever in
daylight hours, even from the most
powerful broadcasting stations. Dur
ing the daytime only the ground
waves" can be transmitted by the
ordinary radio station, and these
have an effective sending radius Of
only 100 to $50 miles. When the
"heavyside layer" is formed in the
upper atmosphere after darkness,
radio impulses are reflected from
the larger sending stations for about
$50 miles.
Powerful Stations in Cities
Even then, not all parts of the
country are well served by the big,
clear-channel stations, because these
are located mostly in big cities.
Today there is controversy as to
whether the number of high-powered
stations should be increased, with a
consequent decrease in the number
of small stations, or whether there
should be more small stations to
emphasize local news and advertise
local commercial interests. At pres
ent, more than 500 of the more than
900 commercial radio stations in the
United States are in metropolitan
areas with populations over $4,000,
while only II stations are in towns
of under 5000 people.
Federal Communication commits
sion officials are deeply concerned
with this situation. They point out
that the rapid growth of radio in the
last decade has meant more varied
and additional service to city listen
ers, with little improvement in
Small-community and rural radio
service. Yet the economic and So
cial interests of the farm and small
town business are enormous. Viewed
from the political standpoint, the
country areas send to congress al
most two-thirds of the representa-
tiveS.
Nevertheless, the improbable eco
nomics of small-station operation
have been demonstrated repeatedly.
Of the 300 stations which were Just
about breaking even, or were oper-
ating at a loss, in 1912 the majority
were small, independent outlets,
most of them located in communi-
ties with no other radio station.
The books of 1874 of these 300 border
line stations show them to be actu.
ally operating Sin the red"
Break for Small Communities
The FEC in April, 1912, relaxed
its wartime freeze policy on the use
of critical materials for civilian ra-
dio construction to encourage expan-
sion of radio service to small COM
munities. 1t also reduced telephone
line charges to broadcasting sta
tions, which made it easier to obtain
network affiliation.
In August, 1943, the FEC adopted
an order permitting the use of idle
equipment to construct new local
channel stations of 100 to $50 watts
power in communities where no sta
tion was located, or in communities
which did not have good service
from nearby metropolitan center.
A partial solution probably will be
found in the development of fire.
quency-modulation (FM) stations for
local areas, while some of the local
channels may be cleared and given
to high-powered stations. FM gives
considerably improved reception.
Some half-million sets are now