America's Needs

Radio Record, Volume I, Issue 49, 22 June 1928, Page 3

America's Needs

HIGH POWER AND NETWORKS. BETTER ECONOMY IN 100,000 WATTS ae HiiGH-PpownRr broadcasting is an absolute necessity for efficient public service to the radio public, said Dr. A. N. Goldsmith, president of the United States Institute of Radio Engineers, recently, in commenting on his remarks on the radio situation quoted in "The New York Times.’ He said he feared "any erroneous impression that I am an advocate of low-power broadcasting, while I firmly believe in high power." "The plan for the reallocation of waves as submitted to the Federal Radio Commission by the ‘Institute of Radio Engineers does not advocate low power but is in favour of highpower broadcasters," Dr, Goldsmith continued. "The plan is the result of an unbiased and technically sound ana lysis of current broadcasting needs and possibilities, "Network broadcasting is also necessary, because no single station can cover the country or any considerable fraction of it. All the great nations are planning their radio service along the same forward-looking linesnamely, the establishment of national programme service to all the people through extensive networks of as many high-power transmitters as is feasible, each on a cleared channel." "HE public interest demands that radio stations occupying exclus ive waves be required to have high power, instead of medium power, which "ruins a whole channel with interference and yet cannot be heard for meny miles," Government Radio Commissioner O. H. Caldwell, of New York, said recently, on an application to the Radio Board by one of the New England stations to have its power raised to 2500 watts, Economy in Size. "Ja this respect," the Commissioner continued, "a 50,000-watt station is far more efficient in utilising this public resource than is a 5000-watt. A 100,000-watt station would give even better economy and public service, as experiments in New York State last summer clearly showed," ye CALDWELL said that the Government authorities in the public interest "should actually require these high powers, were it not for the tremendous expense and invesiment involved, which prevents many stations from using such power." The Commissioner said that when station owners are willing to make the investment for the service of the public high power should not be refused, "nor millions of listeners denied the service and satisfaction which it brings." . "To limit or cut the wattage of a broadcaster on a clear channel," said Mr. Caldwell, "is clearly as outrageous a waste of a precious public resource as it would be to permit only waterwheels capable of utilising ten feet or (wenty feet out of the total drop of a 200ft. waterfall, while the remaining iSO or 190 feet of fall thundered away, Wasted and unusable by anyone else."

Cleared Channels Necessary. | He emphasised the need of a nunber of clear or exclusive chanuels: to bring radio programmes to the 50,000,000 of populaiion who live more than 100 miles from any broadcasting station, on the farms, the plains, the mountains, and in the villages, "Without cleared channels," he said, "these remote listeners will be deprived of hearing anything but a spectrum of squeals and howls, as they have mostly had for the past two years,"