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

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The Decision in the
Who is to Pay for Broadcasting"
Contest
A Prize of $500 Was Awarded to H. D. Kellogg, Jr.,
of Haverford, Pa.
three months since the close of the contest "\Yho Is to Pay for
Broadcasting"
FOR
the judges have been going over the great number
of manuscripts submitted for the prize. Suggestions there were of all
kinds, and the problem of deciding which one of all the group was the best
was not found at all easy. The judges were carefully chosen to represent
all branches of thought which could possibly be concerned with the broadcasting
problem. They were, Professor J. H. Morecroft, president of the
Institute of Radio Engineers (1923-4); Major J. Andrew White, former editor
of the Wireless Age and well-known descriptive broadcaster; Harry Chandler,
publisher of the Los Angeles Times and owner of KHJ Frank Reichmann, a
;
Chicago radio manufacturer and an old-timer in the field; Dr. Royal S. Copeland,
United States Senator from New York, representing the public point
of view; A. S. Lindstrom, chairman of the Pacific Radio Trade Association;
Zeh Bouck, one of the best known radio authors in America; and Charles H.
Porter, Chicago, secretary of the Radio Manufacturers' Association.
In the May, 1924, RADIO BROADCAST, the purpose and rules of the contest
were announced. It was then said that "a workable plan which shall take
into account the problems in present radio broadcasting and propose a solution"
was desired. A plan was wanted which should propose a practicable
and workable solution of the present complex radio situation. Very
nearly one thousand manuscripts were submitted to the judges.
The complete prize-winning plan will appear in the March RADIO BROAD-
CAST. In brief, it calls for the public to shoulder the cost of broadcasting by
means of a stamp tax on each vacuum tube and crystal bought by the consumer
for his radio set. Radio broadcasting, avers the author of the plan,
should be placed on a sound economic basis and to be so, should pay its way,
precisely as other forms of entertainment. In order that radio secure the
best possible available entertainment, broadcasting should be put on a paid
contract basis. Tubes have a life commensurate with the service they render,
the prize-winner claims, which makes them an " index of broadcast consumption."
The number of tubes was considered to be an excellent index of
the cost of the set and the distance over which it would receive. It was
finally proposed that a newly created Bureau of Broadcasting administer
the fund to be collected from this tax. Stamps purchased by the tube manufacturers
from the Bureau of Broadcasting would be affixed by the manufacturer
of the tubes, and the amount of tax to be paid would be determined
from statistics compiled by the Bureau.
Neither the American Radio Association, under whose auspices the ccntest
was conducted, nor RADIO BROADCAST which offered the $500 as a prize necessarily
concur in the suggestions offered by the winner, Mr. H. D. Kellogg, Jr.,
of Haverford, Pennsylvania.
Later numbers of this magazine will contain some interesting comments
on this entire question of who is to pay for broadcasting.