Radio Broadcast - 1927, May - 61 Pages, 4.9 MB ... - VacuumTubeEra

MAY, 1927 A SURVEY OF RADIO CONDITIONS 19Pope, but this item is written by a non-Catholic who resents, as do all liberals, thebesmirching of any religious belief, his ownor some one else's. Let us have no more ofA New Term for "A. C. Supply"UnitsNational Better Business Bureauhas endorsed the use of the termTHE"socket power unit" to describe devicesfor the purpose of furnishing A or Bpower for radio sets. The term "A eliminator"or "B eliminator" is declared as obsoleteas the term "horseless carriage,"which was at first applied to the motor car."Socket power" may be applied to describedevices employing combined storage batteriesand chargers, thus powering the setindirectly rather than directly from thelight socket. It thereby covers the numeroustrickle charging storage battery combinationunits now being so widelyWe sold.suggest the general acceptance of aterm such as "electric set" in order thatone may differentiate between receiversusing trickle charger storage battery devicesand those powered directly from thelight socket through filtering devices withoutthe aid of a secondary battery.Our attention has been called to advertising,having wide publication, describingA battery devices which "banish the storagebattery forever," "eliminate A batterytroubles," and similar claims. Investigationhas proved that these devices frequentlycomprise storage batteries combined withtrickle chargers. The implication of theseminimum but we believe the declarationthat they completely eliminate it is bothexaggerated and misleading.There Are No Radio EngineersFROMphrases in advertisingis that the deviceeliminates the storage battery. Combinationtrickle chargers and A batteries reducemaintenance attention to a very desirableD. A. Johnston of New Britain,Connecticut, we receive a commenton our item in a previous issue, urgingthat the education of radio engineersbe better balanced with respect to economicand commercial phases of their work:"Insofar as radio engineers are concerned, Iam not quite convinced that there isany suchthing. Engineering is very nearly an exact scienceand an engineer should be able to tell on paperwhat his product will do so that another engineercan tell exactly whether his productis better ornot. Did you ever see any firm producing radioapparatus who would give you information comparingto that which you would expect in buyingan electric motor? For example, how many engineersworking on sets know what the curves oftheir particular set look like? I doubt if manyof those producing simple articles like batterychargers do know what actual efficiency is. Thefew who do know these things are not sufficientlysatisfied with the product to be willing to saymuch about them."This comment is often made by engineersin fields better established than radio. TheEDWARD E.New YorkSHUMAKERPresident of the Victor Talking MachineCompany:" The question as to who is to pay for radiobroadcasting appears to have been temporarilysolved. The bills are being met by those whobenefit directly fromit. While I do not believethat the broadcasting of radio entertainmentcan be made to take the place of otherestablished forms of advertising, it is an additionalmedium for creating demands forsome products, and a good-will builder whenproperly used. We have found that the broadcastingof Victor recording artists results inan immediate and traceable demand for theirrecords. We are convinced, also, that anythingwe may do to raise the standards of radioprograms will be reflected in a healthier conditionin our business and in other branchesof the music industry."Radio and the talking machine may atlimes appear to overlap somewhat. In actualpractice they do not overlap. Each has its ownplace as an instrument for home entertainment.This is borne out by the experience ofmore than 6000 Victor dealers in the UnitedStales. It is also a fact that thousands of newtalking machines which are not equipped withradio receiving sets are being sold annuallyin homes which also contain radio sets." In 11)24, ""d the early part of 1925, whenthe talking machine industry was at a lowebb due to its failure to improve its products,the general impression was that recordedmusic was being replaced by radio broadcasting.Subsequent developments have demonstratedclearly that such was not the case."fact is that we have no standardized methodof rating the efficiency or selectivity of receivingsets, which nets down to a figure ofmerit of standardized valuation.A Survey of Radio ConditionsT\ADIO RETAILING has issued a/Y report on the broadcasting situa-"tion based upon telegraphic summariesfrom 21 cities, scattered throughoutthe United States and Canada. Washington,District of Columbia, and Portland,Oregon, were the only two districts reportingsatisfactory conditions, but it wasnoted that almost every center of populationhas one or two high-grade stationswhich are not being interfered with seriously.The most enterprising leadership inhandling the situation was demonstratedon the Pacific Coast, where the PacificRadio Trade Association not only securedpledges from broadcasting stations thatthey would abide by the district radioinspector's decisions as to changes in wavelengths,but exerted strong influence inhaving them observed. Twenty-five percent, of the midwest stations conflict withlocal wavelengths in San Francisco on setsof average sensitiveness. From this reportand other sources, we learn that among theimportant stations seriously heterodynedare KOA, wcco, WOR, WEAF, WTAM, WHN,WEEI, WNAC, CKCL, and KFKX. Radio Retailingis to be congratulated upon theexcellence and thoroughness of its survey.The Month In RadioTHE sales of combination radio and talkingmachine instruments made by the VictorCompany during 1926 had a retail value ofsomething over seventeen million dollars andamounted to one sixth of the total business of thecompany.FROMMr. C. R. Cuchins, Vice Prlsident ofthe First National Bank of Bessemer, Alabama,we learn that the Birmingham News decided,upon suggestion from broadcast listenerswho forwarded copies of RADIO BROADCAST'Seditorial on the subject, to resume running radioprograms in its columns in a manner whichmakes them intelligible to the listener.PORTLAND, Oregon, has passedan ordinance1making it unlawful to operate without a permitany apparatus generating high-frequencyoscillations which interfere with broadcast reception.Violet ray machines, quenched sparkdevices, and X-ray machines must be licensed andmay not be used, except in emergencies, betweenthe hours of seven and eleven. Power interference,being a local matter, appears to be suitedto local regulation.ANEWtransmitter for WEAF will be erectedat Bellmore, Long Island. Bellmore is on thesouth shore of Long Island, the nearest townsbeing Freeport, Hempstead, and Farmingdale.An advantage of this location is the relativelysmall population which suffers from proximityto the station and the fact that the new stationwill impress the strongest signal where ship interferenceis most likely to mar its programs.Plans for the new station have been drawn byDr. Alfred N. Goldsmith, Chief Research Engineerof the Radio Corporation of America,Dr. E. F. W. Alexanderson, of the General ElectricCompany, and Frank Conrad, AssistantChief Engineer of the Westinghouse Company.This station may be in operation by October,1927.beacons have been installed atRADIO McCook Field, Dayton, and at the DetroitFord airport for the guidance of the Stout-Fordcommercial airplane between those two points.