Broadcasting Its New Day

BROADCASTING ITS NEW DAY BY SAMUEL L. ROTHAFEL DIRECTOR OF THE CAPITOL THEATER, NEW YORK CITY AND RAYMOND FRANCIS YATES CO- AUTHOR WITH L. G. PACENT OF "THE COMPLETE RADIO BOOK'' THE CENTURY CO. New York London www.americanradiohistory.com SAMUEL L. IZOTH:IFEL CIiOX] ') www.americanradiohistory.com Copyright, 1925, by THE CENTURY C.O. Printed in U. S. A. www.americanradiohistory.com To THE CAPITOL "GANG" AS THE AUTHORS' APPRECIATION OF ASSISTANCE CHEERFULLY GIVEN AND OF PUBLIC SERVICE WELL DONE www.americanradiohistory.com FOREWORD IN this work the authors have tried to present the bigger and more vital issues of broadcasting and commercial radio in as practical a manner as possible. No attempt has been made to embellish the treatment with fanciful prognostications or dreamy out- lines of the future. Where the future has been men- tioned, the forecast has been based on the trend of engineering developments of the present time. Nothing that does not stand in the shadow of technical achievement or scientific possibility has been included. The critical matter pertaining to studio operation and to the problem of program arrangement and presentation quite naturally lacks the dignity of authority, for broadcasting, as an art, is so nebulous that it would be folly even to attempt to set up a standard technique at this time. Only time, experi- ence, and thoughtful application to details will bring broadcasting to a point of artistic development where it can take its place beside the motion -picture and the drama. If the present treatment will hasten the evolution, no greater reward for the time and thought spent in its preparation can be asked. vii www.americanradiohistory.com viii FOREWORD It is desired to extend hearty thanks for coöpera- tion to the following persons: Mr. Pierre Boucheron and Mr. Bernard of the Radio Corporation of Amer- ica, Miss Bertha Brainard and Mr. Stuart H. Haw- kins, of the staff of WJZ and WJY, Mr. W. T. Meenan of WGY, Mr. Kendall Banning, editor of "Popular Radio," Mr. L. M. Cockaday, technical editor of "Popular Radio," and Mr. Winfield Secor, editor of "Science and Invention." The manage- ment of the following publications is also thanked for the privilege of using excerpts from articles bear- ing on the subject- matter of the present treatment : "New York Times" (interview with Dr. Cadman), "New York World" (interview with Herbert Hoo- ver), "New York American" (article on "Esperanto and Radio" by Upton Sinclair), "Wireless Age" (interviews with Secretaries Work and Wallace), "Popular Radio" (Armstrong Perry, "Religion's Raid on Radio "), and "Telephone Quarterly" ( "The Telephone and Radio "). New York City, February 12, 1925. www.americanradiohistory.com CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I BROADCASTING: ART OR EPIDEMIC? 3 II PROGRAMS AND THE IMPRESARIO 28 III THE BROADCAST DRAMA: A NEW ART 49 IV THE HUMAN SIDE OF BROADCASTING 66 V THE NEW FORCE IN POLITICS 78 VI THE INTERNATIONAL ASPECTS OF BROADCASTING 89 VII WHAT RADIO CAN Do FOR EDUCATION loo VIII RADIO AND NATIONAL SPORT 107 IX RADIO, THE INVISIBLE CRUSADER 117 X WHAT CAN BE DONE ABOUT INTERFERENCE 137 XI THE WAYWARD CHILD OF COMMERCE 148 XII THE FUTURE OF BROADCASTING 163 XIII RADIO AND THE FUTURE OF AMERICA'S COM- MERCE 204 XIV THE RADIO RECEIVER OF THE FUTURE 215 XV RADIO VISION 227 XVI RADIO'S LONG ARM 242 XVII POWER THROUGH THE SKY 267 XVIII NEW JOBS FOR RADIO 278 XIX THE HIGH -FREQUENCY AGE 285 XX RADIO AND THE WIRE TELEPHONE 293 XXI CAN WE TALK TO MARS? 311 ix www.americanradiohistory.com ILLUSTRATIONS Samuel L. Rothafel ( "Roxy ") Frontispiece rea& A tragic moment in an invisible drama ( "Pierre of the Plains "). Pierre has been fired upon and falls in what is supposed to be dried leaves. The ear -illusion for the crushing of the dried leaves is supplied by the crumpled paper. As the story goes, Pierre has been feigning, and he grapples with his assailant. The noise produced by the paper is picked up by a special microphone on the floor 32 A rehearsal of the radio drama by the WGY Student Players conducted before the microphone. The voice is carried to an adjoining room where the director, Edward H. Smith, with head -phones on head, listens to the lines. The loud speaker in the foreground en- ables him to direct the players from the room, making suggestions as to increasing the volume of the voice, standing closer or farther from the microphone . 32 Part of the properties of an invisible theater. This shows the various bells and alarms as well as the dummy door used in WGY dramas 33 WGY's dramatic director, Mr. Smith, at the telephone. At the left are two stages of amplification, one stage to amplify the voices from the studio for reception on the 'phones and the second stage to amplify the voice of the director which reaches the players through the loud -speaker 64 Two photographs after they had been transmitted a dis- tance of eighteen miles by the Jenkins television apparatus 65 xi www.americanradiohistory.com xii ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE The human side of radio in a hospital where the inmates call their radios their "Roxys" 65 An instructor in adding- machine manipulation address- ing pupils in the public schools of New York through a broadcasting station 104 A scholar in a New York public school receiving instruc- tion in the manipulation of an adding-machine by radio. The loud -speakers will be noticed over the blackboard 104 The luxurious reception -room of a well -known New York studio. A great deal of money had been put into the decoration of broadcasting studios while the finer details of artistic program presentation had been permitted to go unnoticed 105 How WHB, the broadcasting station of Kansas City, ar- ranged the seats in its invisible theater as part of a plan for financial support from its invisible audience . 151 A visible ticket purchased for visible money for the invisible theater; this is part of a very cleverly worked - out plan for the support, by contribution, of a broadcasting station in the Middle West 152 The transmitter of the Marconi short-wave device which has been used to demonstrate the practicability of communication on wave lengths a small fraction of the lengths now employed. The mechanism is being demonstrated by Mr. Bernard of the Radio Corpora- tion of America 168 A special reflector constructed by Mr. Marconi for the reflection and transmission of very short waves. The waves can be guided by this device so that practically straight lines may be followed . 168 The oscillator and paraffin lens used in the Nicholas -Tear short wave experiments 169 www.americanradiohistory.com ILLUSTRATIONS xiii PAGE Dr. Ernest Fox Nichols (right) with Dr. Tear, working with a device that generates radio waves 1 /100 of an inch long. "0" is the oscillator or generator proper while "L" is the paraffin lens. "R" is an instrument used for detection while Dr. Nichols is adjusting an interferometer "I" 169 A chart showing the spaces occupied by all of the visible and invisible radiations of the spectrum, including the larger waves used in radio; the shaded region shows the part recently explored by the famous Nichols - Tear experiments 191 How the tiny waves generated by Nichols and Tear are focused through a paraffin lens; the lens is marked L, while the small gap is marked H and H, 193 A diagram showing the operation of the Hoxie sound recorder. At right will be seen a small section of the sound film after it has been developed 196 This diagram shows how the film carrying the sound im- pressions produced by the Hoxie sound recorder are reproduced for radio transmission 197 The present English plan for a world -wide radio system 207 The American radio plan for transoceanic communication 211 A wired -radio receiver of the amplifying type. This receiver is especially designed for this new service and cannot be employed for ordinary space reception . 224 Light, heat, motive power, "cold," and music all from the same electric light connection. Reception by wired - wireless in no way interferes with the electric service, for the waves are made to follow the wires; they do not travel in them 224 The wired -wireless transmitter. This equipment produces radio waves that are made to follow the light wires reaching out from an electric power plant. The enter- www.americanradiohistory.com xiv ILLUSTRATIONS tainment is made available to electric power consumers by a simple receiver rented by the month at a nominal figure 225 The Pallophotophone developed in the laboratories of the General Electric. With it sound is faithfully recorded on standard moving picture film. When speech is reproduced before a broadcasting microphone, it is im- possible to distinguish it from a human voice . 225 A diagram of the transmitting and receiving apparatus used in the Belin system 233 The diagram, Fig. 1, shows how the transmitter operates. Fig. 2 shows how the disk, rotated in front of a screen, is perforated so as to permit beam of light to cover the whole length of the screen at every revolution. Fig. 3 illustrates modulation of the radio waves produced by the radiophone transmitted every time the ray of light passes through the screen from black to white. Fig. 4 is a detail of the construction of the photo- electric cell which modulates the oscillating current of the radiophone transmitter. The diagram of the receiver clearly shows how a beam of light produced by a lamp and concentrated upon the mirror of the oscillograph repro- duces, upon a white screen, the shaded screen which varies in colors from black to white, passing through all grades of gray interposed between .

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