Radio Broadcast - 1925, February - 113 Pages ... - VacuumTubeEra

732
Radio
Broadcast
they should have some station which should
transmit to them regularly. More than forty
thousand people petitioned. Well, the Postmaster
General graciously permitted that
such a station should be erected and operated
for a quarter of an hour once a week !
Strangely
enough, was put in charge of this colossal
1
undertaking, and broadcasting in _
England
started in that way, in the year 1922. During
that year we broadcast for a quarter of an
hour a week, using
Victrola records, and
so on ;
while the transmissions,
which were
later treated in a less
serious manner, because
I was in charge
of them, might have
raised the enthusiasm
of the amateur to a
fever pitch they did
not quite fulfill the
more cultivated tastes
of the high-brows of
the radio profession,
and as far back as
that year, 1922, people
began to realize
that something must
be done in England to
put broadcasting on a
firm basis. What
they did was to have
a conference which
lasted exactly six
months; and they
finally came to a decision which was really a
rather wise one, considering the nature of the
problem.
HVtRYONE IN ENGLAND WANTED TO BROADCAST
^PHEY said they
Where the Crystal Set Rules
the Radio Waves
Britannia may rule the waves if one believe
the anthem, but in English radio, it is the
modest crystal set which marshals the radio
wavelengths. The United States led the
world in broadcasting, but England was
really the second nation to follow. It is especially
interesting to see along what lines
British broadcasting has developed, because
the two nations have a common bond of culture.
Their method of payment for broadcasting
is totally different from the American.
And from some of the things Captain Eckersley
says, in his decidedly humorous fashion,
the English listener is quite different from
our listener who uses "tubes" instead of
"valves." This story is taken from an address
made by Captain Eckersley at the Department
of Commerce Radio Conference in
Washington, early last October. THE EDI-
TOR.
all wanted to broadcast.
* The first idea was each one wanted to
broadcast newspapers, etc., and twentyfive
applications came in to broadcast in
London alone; and it was felt that would not
work. So finally the scheme arrived at was
that the six big manufacturers we have over
there, who are called "the big six," all came
together and said, "We will put ten thousand
pounds into the capitalization of the company,
and this company will be responsible for nothing
but the broadcasting. It will not be a
profit-making concern in any sense whatsoever.
It is simply and solely to send out the best
programs possible." They put in that money
and they said, "If this thing makes a profit,
we will limit our profit to seven and one-half
per cent, on our original investment. Nobody
can take any shares in the company unless
he is a bona fide British manufacturer."
Then, of course, the question was The
capital was sixty thousand pounds to start.
Where would the revenue come from The
idea was that every person who made, bought,
borrowed, stole, or otherwise got a receiver,
would take out a license, because it was the
rule of the country that he had to take out a
license. And of course
everyone obeyed the
law. In this lawabiding
nation you
all know about that!
This- license would
cost ten shillings, of
which the Government
would have five
shillings, and the company
five shillings.
And so we should
have our revenue.
I will not tell of our
various vicissitudes,
or the troubles that
resulted, or of the few
licenses taken out,
first of all, and the
total inadequacy of
the service, according
to the press. At any
rate, at the present
day the scheme has
worked out very well.
The first achievement
was, we got 7/6 (about $1.75) from the Government,
and they only took 2/6 (about S.6o)
The second achievement was that the original
rather hide-bound regulations were done
away with, and one uniform license was issued,
of which we got 7/6. In 1922 there were
ten thousand licenses. When I left Eng-'
land we were getting up a special program
to commemorate the buying of the millionth
license. So the progress has been extraordinary,
and our income about two million
dollars a year. At any rate, we are spending
every penny on the service, and we hope that,
being able to spend all that money on theservice,
the programs can be made excellent,
because you can afford to buy the
very best talent, and you can afford to paypeople
just as if they were performing on
a concert platform, and you are also able
with this money to put up a tine technical
scheme, having regard for the English temperament.