Evening star., 1952-01-29
On the Air.
Can These
|. EIectronS
Be Dying?
By Hory Macarthur

First lG was tine teleVlSlon Sc
which became a sort Of electronie
psychiatric case, functioning spas.
medically and on its own terms
lit was followed by a fairly new
radio, which just stopped one
night without advance warning o.
faint symptom of Ill health. The
RADIO -phonograph followed short.
ly, the same way. It was turnec
OF one night in the best of condi-
ton, then the next day was foun6
lying there, stone cold dead in the
parlor.
The old. dusty portable phono-
graph turned out to be no helr
in this hour Of need. It is func-
tioning, after a fashion. but with
the bit, or volume control. in its
teeth. Like a primitive Diese
engine, it has two speeds-wide
open and stopped. It is better
stopped.
The sole dependable link with
the outside world is a 1882 table
model radio, which has the in
stincts of those cats you are
always reading about in the pa.
pers. It follows the family from
place to place, refusing to get lost
Its great virtue right now Is that
it picks up Washington police
calls and a radio station in Gin
cinnati, Ohio, at the same time
They're fighting again at the
Friendly Tavern" says a voice In
the radio. did you ever hear o1
such a bargain?" another inter-
rupts to ask. "One hundred baby
chicks for only $3.96!"
In its way this is almost as
dramatic as that split-screen
view Ed Murrow displayed on
television of the Atlantic and Pa
ciflc Oceans. The way the cleo
tronics devices are collapsing,
though, even this faithful radio
set must be doomed and the next
backward step is clear. Anybody
have an old crystal set lying
around the attic?
Televiewing-A man who has
taken to starting the day with
NBC-TV's To-day" reports that
the program gave him a bad time
yesterday. Couldn't concentrate
on the news or anything else. he
reports, because those two moni-
tor TV screens back of Dave Gar
roway were indulging in continual
"flovover Not only distractine
but frustrating, he says, to watch
those pictures roll without being
able to get at the knob to stop
them. No ad for television. either,
he thinks. America s Town
Meeting of the Air" @WMAL-TV
$3.50 p.m) was properly
initiated into the vagaries Of tele-
vision when it entered the new
medium this week. It was during
heated discussion of Eisenhower
or Taft - What Are Their
Chances?" The camera settled on
an innocent onlooker in the au-
dience. do you have question,
SIR" he was asked. who? Me?
he said, startled. "No, I'm for
Truman!" 1t is Jack Gould,
radio-TV editor of the New York
Times, who has come up with the
definitive examination of Referee
Ruby Goldstein's action in stopping
that televised fight" between
Johnny Saxton and Livio Minelli.
The sportswriters. says Mr.. g.. are
missing the whole point when
they discuss whether or not this
action helped the fair name of
boxing. TITS got nothing to do.
he says, with sports; for the first
time in history a boring television
show was not allowed to continue.
How much progress do you want
in one EVENING""
n \ X 4
Tut, Tut and Tut-The public
ity department of a TV-radio sta
ton here has had mimeographed
and circulated among its execu-
tives, statesmen, radio morning
men and others interested, a re-
view from Television Digest. It
reads:
We'll, it takes a lot of doing to
get us to change a 20-year habit
of listening to radios splendid
8-8:15 news roundups while shaw
ing or dressing or breakfasting-
with radios handy all around the
house. It will take still more doing
to persuade the wife that TV
should intrude upon the dining
room. And a teen-age daughter,
who says she and her school,
mates all simply love- Eddie Gall
laher's Sun Dial disc jockey show,
when we asked her to forego 1t
one morning and watch Today
had this to say: Yes, it's
very good, but who's going to dress
in the library In order to watch
TV so early in the morning."
In other words, Saturday night
will never be a good television
night, daytime television will
never go and let's all whistle just
in case that's a graveyard there
in the early morning gloom. How
sour can the grapes get, fellows? /?
i ~
Programs and People - Faye
Emerson is getting around at last
to our town, saluting Washing
ton this week on Wonderful
tWTOP-TV-Saturday, 9
p.m9 ~. Her guest list will in
clude Drucie Snyder Horton and
Senator Margaret Chase Smith
Bishop Fulton j. Sheen will
launch a new half-hour weekly
television program, "IS Life Worth