CLEANING UP THE STATES

Radio Record, Volume I, Issue 3, 5 August 1927, Unnumbered Page

CLEANING UP THE STATES

TOO MANY STATIONS ad BROADCAST CHANGES IN AMERICA SOME SWEEPING CHANGES. The newly-appointed body to control radio in the United States has already got to work. The Federal Radio Commission, which will be in supreme charge for twelve months-after_ that it will continue as an Appeal Court, leaving the administration and control’ work to the Department of Commerce -cotisists of five members, Their first move was to hold public hearings of suggestions, offered by various bodies and persons, as.to the best method of unravelling the tangle of too many stations, Too Many Stations. During last year the number ot broadcastiug stations throughout the States increased alarmingly, and owing to an ascertained defect in the existing Federal radio laws, the ‘authorities were unable to prevent a station operating or even taking a wave-length already assigned to another station, Hence the confusion in the air became a veritable bedlam. In New York and Chicago, as many as thirty stations were operating at the same time in each city. In an area of 100 miles from the centre of New York City, there were no fewer than 80 stations, in a similar area around Chicago, 68 stations played havoc with the listeners’ sets, | Some Must Close Down. Now the commission has decided that a great many of the 700 odd stations ‘in the States must either close down, or divide time between themselves, In ‘New York City and suburbs only 20 stations will be permitted to operate. It has been decided, and a very definite "announcement has been made, that stations will be licensed and authorised to operate on a basis of usefulness. Publiz service or public convenience will be the determining factor in licensing a station and allotting a wave-length. | As there are only 89 channels or suit- | able bands of. frequencies available for the whole of the United States-after

setting aside six for Canada, it follows that many stations will use the same wave-length, This can be arranged for according to the distance between the citics in which the stations are located, and the power to be used. Thus interference will bé eliminated as stations of comparatively low power, separated by, say, 100 miles, may tse the same wave-length simultaneously. Exclusive Wave-lengths, ‘That method, of course, will not provide for hundreds of stations as some national or important high-power stations must be allotted an exciusive wave-length. The second method of allowing for four or five hundred stations is to require these to split up the operating time between them. No Wide Frequency Separation. A very important matter, of course, is the frequency separation decided upon between the stations. In New York all stations in that area will have a separation of 50 kilocycles, and the other stations outside the 100 miles from New York will be fitted in be‘tween the 50 K.C, separations. Very stringent regulations have beem made regarding the observance of its allotted frequency by a station. The deviation above or below the allotted frequency (presumably when not modu- lating) must not excecd half a kilo"cycle,