Old Radio Times the Official Publication of the Old-Time Radio Researchers
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The Old Radio Times The Official Publication of the Old-Time Radio Researchers March 2009 www.otrr.org [email protected] 2219 Subscribers Number 40 Early San Franciso Stations 2 Cincinnati Convention Venue Changed Please note if you’re planning on attending. Announcement 7 Curious George 8 Crystal Radio 9 Princess Pet 11 WMAQ Pt. 4 14 Treasurer’s Corner 15 News From the Community 17 New Acquisitions 19 March Contributors Jim Beshires Bob Cox Ryan Ellett Tom Gootee Donna Halper Joyce Jackson Tony Jaworowski Ned Norris John F. Schneider Edited by Ryan Ellett Distributed by Jim Beshires The Old Radio Times * March 2009 * Number 40 1 Early Broadcasting in the San At first, radio broadcasting stations operated with an experimental amateur license, and with call signs such as Francisco Bay Area: Stations that 6XAJ. They could operate over a wide range of Didn’t Survive, 1920-25 frequencies. However, new Department of Commerce regulations went into effect on December 1, 1921, which John F. Schneider required all non-government broadcasting stations to Seattle, Washington obtain a “Limited Commercial” license. These new Copyright 1997 licenses came with new three- or four-letter call signs; thus 6XAJ became KZM. This new license also required Radio broadcasting as an experimental concept had an all stations to broadcast on the single authorized frequency early start in the San Francisco Bay area with the activities of 360 meters (833 kHz). Because the stations could not of Doc Herrold in San Jose. Herrold's station which operate simultaneously on this channel without causing started broadcasting on a regular basis in 1912. This interference to each other, the owners of the stations met pioneer station eventually became KQW and later KCBS. and agreed upon a time-sharing schedule. Each station Apart from Doc Herrold and a few other pioneer efforts, would have exclusive use of the frequency for several however, regular broadcasting to the public did not hours each day. (The F.R.C. finally ended the sharing of commence until 1920. That was the year that some of the this one frequency and assigned stations individual first serious broadcast stations appeared in different parts frequencies on May 15, 1923.) of the country, including KDKA in Pittsburgh, To a listener of that time, radio was a new discovery. Pennsylvania. There was a gradual growth in the public’s Again, programs didn't matter. It was the sheer enjoyment interest in radio for the next two years, and then suddenly of listening to voices and music being pulled out of the air an explosion of interest in 1922. In that year, the number with a home-built crystal set. Within the course of two of radio broadcasters in the country grew from a few years, radio went from a means of point-to-point dozen to more than 450. The explosive and sudden growth communications for commercial purposes, plus the of radio in 1922 has parallels today in the sudden growth activities of a small group of radio "hams", to everybody's of the internet beginning about 1995. hobby, and wire antennas stretched across the back yards In that early gestation period between 1920 and 1922, of more and more households. Young boys found radio San Francisco led the country in the number of broadcast particularly exciting, and children across the country were stations. At a time when most major cities in the U.S. had winding wire around oatmeal boxes to build their own only one or two radio stations, the San Francisco area had crystal radios. The San Francisco Examiner noted the seven: 6XC (KZY), 6XG (KDN), 6XAJ (KZM), 6XAC sudden rise in radio's popularity when it reported in 1922, (KLP), 6XAG (KJJ), 6XAM (KLS), and AG1. "Radio, the virulent malady which has swept the East, is However, it’s hard to pin down the number of stations rapidly spreading to the coast. Once bitten by the germ, precisely, because that number was constantly changing, there is no cure for the delighted victim." due to the fledgling nature of the field. Small stations Radio programs during this period consisted almost would come on the air for several months, operated on a entirely of phonograph records, with only occasional news shoestring budget by young experimenters and then would reports, crop reports or live music programs. Programs did suddenly go off the air, to be replaced as quickly by other not have the polished, produced sound of later years. For short- lived stations. These radio stations stood with a foot example, KUO, the Examiner station, announced its in the new world of broadcasting and another foot programs, "Hello; hello; this is the San Francisco entrenched in the world of amateur radio. The purpose of Examiner's radio broadcasting station, KUO -- K - U - O. the station was often experimental, or to promote the Receivers will kindly give us a check. Thank you, thank activities of the business that operated it. The advertising you." revenue that provided stability for radio in its later years had yet to develop, and so there was no income to 6UV/KYY financially sustain the stations' activities. (The first Perhaps the first station to broadcast in the San recognized on-air advertisement took place on WBAY in Francisco area after Doc Herrold's KQW, was 6UV, a tiny New York on August 28, 1922). Equipment failures were station operated by the Radio Telephone Shop at 175 frequent, and the programming itself was of secondary Steuart Street, near the San Francisco waterfront. That importance - what was important was just being on the air. section of Steuart Street was known as "radio row", The Old Radio Times * March 2009 * Number 40 2 because of the large number of radio parts stores located there. 6UV, later re-licensed KYY, was operated by the store's proprietor, A. F. Pendleton. He was on the air from 8 to 9 PM every Tuesday and Friday night on 425 meters. 6UV first went on the air about March or April, 1920, and operated only for about two years. 6XW/AG1 Another of the early broadcast operations was carried on by the U. S. Army. The Army Signal Corps at the Presidio Army base operated an amateur station to communicate with local amateurs and other Army bases, 6XC/KZY but it also broadcast music and information programs to One of the most prominent early stations in the San the general public. Known first as 6XW and then later by Francisco area was 6XC, operated by the renowned radio the call letters AG1, this station was operated by Sgt. inventory Lee DeForest. DeForest had been operating a Richard C. Travers. In an article appearing in 1921 in pioneer experimental broadcast station in New York, Radio Magazine, Sgt. Travers described the purpose of the known as 2XG. However, the radio inspector there shut operation: the station down due to a technical infraction. So DeForest The experimental work of the Signal Corps had the transmitter shipped to San Francisco, and it School, Presidio of San Francisco, returned to the air in April of 1920 as 6XC. California, was commenced about August DeForest installed his thousand watt transmitter at the 1, 1920, with the idea in view of California Theater, Fourth and Market Streets, and strung determining the maximum efficiency of an antenna to a mast on top of the nearby Humboldt Bank some Signal Corps equipment ... Another Building. The equipment was located in a small concrete reason was to afford a means of educating room in the "fly galleries". The station broadcast music by new amateurs just coming into the game the theater organ, and by Hermann Heller's Symphony and at the same time advocate the C. W. Orchestra live from the stage., DeForest installed receivers transmission for the amateur with a view of in several area hospitals to pick up the concerts. lessening interference. Considerable has The most prominent recollection of those who been accomplished up to the present in remember tuning in to 6XC is that it broadcast on an both undertakings. In a recent test made by extremely low frequency. Early broadcasts were on 1450 the school, it was shown that there are 320 meters, but this was soon changed to 1260 meters (238 that are actually interested in the kHz). educational matters and concerts DeForest employed a full-time station operator to transmitted by this station. And, from the broadcast the concerts, Charles Logwood, who had been same test report it was shown than an an assistant to the early San Francisco radio experimenter audience of about 5,000 people listen to the Francis McCarty in 1905. Logwood operated the radiophone concerts. transmitter and audio equipment during the frequent AG1 broadcast a concert of phonograph records every concerts. Weekdays there would be three half-hour Sunday evening from 7 to 9 PM, and during this program concerts per day, plus the Heller Orchestra concerts every Sgt. Travers answered questions put to him by his Sunday morning. To pick up the music of the orchestra, a listeners. The Presidio continued its broadcast activities microphone was attached to the end of a large loudspeaker until mid-1923. horn, and the entire assembly was hung from the ceiling in the back of the theater. This station was notable for many reasons, in addition to the fact that it was established by DeForest. 6XC was in daily operation over six months prior to KDKA in Pittsburgh, and it broadcast regularly scheduled programs composed entirely of live music at a time when the few "radio concerts" on the air consisted entirely of The Old Radio Times * March 2009 * Number 40 3 phonograph records.