Show ILADIO continued from last page essary to mahri maintain tain a wide kilocycle mp separation between stations so clos closel together otherwise they will des deb troy each other such multiplication as aa has baa already occurred in these centers gives no letter service to the public and if further division in time i Is forced it will decrease the value and efficiency of the established stations neither under the present 1 law nor under tho the provisions of anu ani white bill was there any limitation of 0 the number of broadcasting stations it ii Is highly important chati that those who contemplate entering una broadcasting field should clearly un that there Is no assurance assurance that they can allot a class B kayu length and maintained mannti dined to radio listeners the department can call not give what it got one reason soa tor for delay in legislation has been the hope of determining whether or not atwould it lt would be necessary neo such limitations I 1 there Is eo ao little interference be tween broadcasting stations thero Is a considerable once from telegraphic code I 1 it does not destroy the listeners reception from nearby stations tile the I 1 code transmission la Is a problem of harmonics harmonica from telegraphing in high big er wave lengths and Is also a pron lern lem of foreign shipping A good deal of such Anter interference ference has already idy been removed and exhaustive los las are under way tor for its further elimination alimi Imin imi nation atlon the great body of radio listeners in tho country have good practical reception of three or four dlf dif terent forent programs simultaneously anti and with the gradual advance in powe in different parts of the country the I 1 number of effective altor alternative native pro grama grains should shortly increase to 3 or 10 the interconnection of stations haa bas enado distinct ilia progress in tile the last las six months month programs Pro grania ard are being simultaneously broadcast fairly fairl y regularly over the northeastern states thoro there ii h evidence that regular th interconnection t er into tho the middle west will colfo in the near future I 1 believe that nationally organized intersection tor for important national events la is nn an development nt and aind id ono of the most serious missions of tho the raldo it does not follow as somi havo have as assumed that this would displace local programs for such auch events evento do not tako take place at the same time each lay day nor do we usually expect them except political conventional to last more than an hour the payment of artists for broadcasting has aready begun and it Is my pre preheat seAt anticipation that it isi is only a question of time almo until stations will join together in groups and bear mutually tho the cost of interconnection for ma ina lional programs and events of importance thus effecting somewhat uio game organization which our newspapers papers mainwal maintal n through the presa associations A misapprehension which I 1 would 1 ke at this time to correct la Is that suggestion lias has been made by me or tho department of commerce that th tharo ro should be a tax on tho the sale ot of ra radio dio material for tho the provision of a I 1 national program such proposals were discussed at the recenia radio conference but were abandoned and at tho the present moment it seems evident that from the vast increase au u broadcasting stations there Is no need for a direct or indirect charge upon listeners in order to secure service j tho the broadcasting stations deserio the appreciation of the public tor for their efforts to servo serve the listo eurs tor for tho the constantly improving charade charac tee of their programs and tho the maintenance of every high moral standards there Is no monopoly in radio broadcasting or any sign of it there are only 4 or 5 concerns in the entire united states which own or op orata crat more than one station and ot t the total station in action no aoi diore more than tour four belong to any one of them somo misunderstanding seems seema to have arisen duo due to failure of many to read tile the white billand the ille recommendation which I 1 made to congress for or the postponement of leg isolation islat lon for tho the control co of radio un air til next sos session slon the law of 1912 secures to tho the government the fundamental control of radio for it re taina in its possession the channels through the air just as as it dos doss the channels annela ch of lavaga tion don upon our rivers there can be no monopoly unless the government deliberately gives monopoly and that would be parallel to the giving of exclusive right of navigation nava gation up ct n i ono one of our rivers the tha proposed legislation heretofore formulated was based upon our knowledge of the development of the are now nearly two years old that legal aaion proposed to give very extensive authorities to the secretary ot commerce com marce hw discretion being practically unlimited and very much broader than anything which I 1 pr pre pared as a temporary measure now there are some things such as the assignment of wave lengths and the imitation of power use which aro are absolutely necessary tor for the external conduct ofra of radio ato my aly recommend I 1 alon tor for immediate legislation wa narrowed down dowin to this field leaving beaving the bigger issues of regulation until we have enlarged knowledge of 0 the art and of the problems with which we are now confronted these milder proposals were in the direction of reducing departmental authority not increasing it nor has the department ever proposed tho the control of programs as has been said but ou the contrary has consistently opposed it tho character of the matter sent out must be left to the stations eions t themselves and they in turn must be ba gover ened by the wishes of ther listeners the public will unquestionably turn to the station from which it gets the most worth v 1 l ho mater al and in any event ahn government in the chai cha actor of programs would inevitably me moan mein in censorship it would benine be bc nine the negation of the fundamentals of re i bech and tree free tic 2 of information the whole art both from tho the point of view of its ita expansion the numbe of stations character of the rus ms purposes of the broaden broadcasters the scientific development goiner ori on in n increased use of power and in improved instruments and therefore j better and wider radius of reception to the listeners listener together with the opi plex kocial and legal problems involved ved Is in a state or of complete flux ond and it js Is my feeling that our ideas as to th the 3 character of legisla tive regulation should be clarified within another year in the meantime the fine cooperation of the industry Is preventing any infraction of public interest and the free row coni development of the art tn in bringing alne result in public service SECRETARY HOOVER REVIEWS BEVI VI E VS RADIO SITUATION in view of the very rapid cha in radio radic technology within the last sl of and to give greater charity to departmental policies it seems booms to me desirable to review the situation there can be but one point of view it in the cons consideration Aeration of radio regulation and d development that Is to assure increasing service to the li listener stenen the radio la Is steadily enriching our homos homes more particularly to our farmer aimer folks it la Is bringing more of those contacts that the town population have alone enjoyed up to this time the rond rod of progress la Is to stimulate the development of the art to prevent interference with and between broadcasting stations through maintained competition to secure greater perfection of reception increase in ili the number of alternative ter native programs and better programs there are today broadcasting stations either cither in operation or under construction of these are class A of GOO watts power or less and are class B over watts it t Is generally believed belt eved that class at A stations have a radius of good practical reception of riot not more than 26 25 or 60 50 mil s while class 13 stations with their larger and power have a much wider radius by practical reception I 1 do not in elude the reception which radio listeners are able to secure by playing golf but the effective serviceable reliable reception of programs ramn which must be the real purpose of radio the recent policy of the department of allowing the increase in power toward a possible maximum of att wilamean will mean that the radius of serviceable reception will be greatly increased and the reception itself within the present will become very much more reliable this Is of particular importance to our agricultural people especially in summer slimmer and during daytime thy present plan in this particular Is tu to permit advance in power use in the stage of watts at each stage to determine what interference with other stations res luts probably 20 or 30 class B 13 stations are now increasing or planning to increase their power it Is quite possible that rood serviceable reception will be obtained tor for a radius of dred miles from such stations thus increasing the alternative programs to listeners this advance toward watt stations has no relation to the so called super power watt stations the most difficult problem in radio regulation and development Is tho the distribution of wave length use so as aa to interference between stations there are in all 86 different wave lengths available it if we keep th the stations ten on kilocycle kilo cycles apart and stagger the assignment of wave lengths geographically so as to prevent overlap in the area of offee tive reception the recent experiment of the department la Is attempting to increase the number of aavo lengths by decreasing the difference to seven killo cycles proved unsuccessful with the present development of instruments I 1 class A stations watts oe 0 les less power were av assigned signed the wave length of meters and below by recommendation of the radio conference and there are in ili this area 39 po possible wave lengths owing to the limited radius and the irregular institutions etc class A stations have not presented so many difficulties in wave length assignment and interference at class B stations although there are of themi them class B stations present a tar far more serious situations because of their wider radius and their regular performance there aro are 47 wave lengths length to be divided over a total of stations now operating or under construction that Is there is now nn an average of less than one wave length kongth tor for each two stations which mecina that they them must divide their time of operation the class B stations are the ones which furnished furnish eQ most of the regular programs and f from rom which the public receives im most effective elTe cUvo service most of them atheni naturally desire and need to operate continuously as aa the cost of overhead la Is much increased by dividing tama the department has asked tor for ap with which to carry ou an investigation to determine acau bately the effective service area of different stations and different degrees of power such an investigation may disclose possibilities ot of a better basla basis of wave length distribution buti tion one of the great difficulties antho in tho distribution of wave lengths arlsey from the tendency ot of stations to congest in large centers of ton don the worst conditions are at chicago and new york at chicago five wave lengths are available for 10 operating class D B stations and there aro are several others othera ln in course of construction for new york thero cheru are six wave wava lengths available tor for 8 B stations and moro more are arc under construction st it Is practically impossible to increase crea va tha aber number of wave lengths available to these cities because they are all in use in other communities and because it is absolutely nee continued on page four |