World Radio News

Radio Record, Volume V, Issue 10, 18 September 1931, Unnumbered Page

World Radio News

RAPIO'S. "remarkable development" evidently has tended to whet the ‘public appetite for books rather than diminish the demand, according to the ‘results of ‘the library survey undertaken by the U.S. Office of Education. During .the past six years, in which broadcasting has steadily mounted in ‘public favour, libraries throughout Anerica have shown meteoric expansion, with a recorded increase of 33,500,000 books. * * * JN the new Earl Haig Memorial . Homes-a block of nearly 200 houses and flats in Surrey, England--each house is provided with a wireless "point," connected to a central receiving set. The homes arse reserved for disabled ex-servicemen and for war widows. * "x A RESIDENT near the Croydon aerodrome, London, was annoyed one afternoon by an aeroplane which was stunting over his house. He *phoned the aerodrome, and a few minutes later the stunting ceased. The authorities had reproved the offending pilot by wireless. BS 8 oe . "(HE B.B.C. has a novel method of gauging the popularity of its programmes. It watches very carefully the complaints about oscillators. It appears that these are intensified just before notable broadcasts, because on these occasions listeners are trying to get as much volume as they can from their receivers, x % * EVERAL prominent German radio manufacturers have decided that all electrical apparatus constructed by them will in future be designed in such a manner as not to interfere with neighbouring wireless receivers. It is reported that Continental manufacturers generally are following this good example in their endeavour to eliminate as far as possible all sources of interference. * Bd Eo "THE U.S. Department of Commerce lately prepared a separate list of the women transmitters in U.S.A., who number 84 out of a total of about 19,000 amateur transmitters. Most of them are stated to be excellent operators. Great Britain, however, can boast only of two; G2IA in Lanarkshire, and G6YL in Northumberland, New Zealand has two-one in Wellington and one in Dunedin. £ * * "THE Press in Morocco evidently have strong broadcast sympathies, for the newspapers are uniting in a campaign against the loudspeaker tax, initiated by the municipal council, According to a French contemporary, a cafe proprietor operating a loudspeaker during the normal hours of human activity must pay 25 francs a day. After 8.0 p.m., however, the rate rises rapidly to 100 francs per’ hour, thus preparing the unfortunate owner for a further jump to 225 francs per hour at 10 pm. Fortunately for him, the | Jocal transmitter closes down at midnight.

[THe German radio industry does not appear to be affected by the prevailing trade depression (states an Engs lish contemporary). According to a recent survey, Germany is exporting 50 per cent. of her output of wireless valves and accessories, and is also finding a foreign market for 20 per cent, © of her factory-built sets. * * * "(NLANDESTINE transmissions" are being relentlessly suppressed in France. A police tribunal of the Seine has recently fined or "imprisoned" three amateurs for using unlicensed traysmitting and receiving sets. One of t} was fined 50 francs and the other t @, in addition to a fine of 100 francs, werz condemned to eight days’ imprisonment with "sursis."’ However, the sentence is not so severe as it appears, for imprisonment with "sursis" (reprieve) is common in France, and the period in gaol is served only on the paper in which the sentence is recorded. . : % * z TN Great Britain there is only one long-distance express equipped with radio apparatus enabling passengers to listen-in en route. This train is on the L.N.E. Railway, and runs daily between London and Leeds. A charge of one shilling is made for the hire of headphones, which the traveller receives in a sealed sterilised wrapping. Recently the Great Western Railway Company, which connects London with the west of England, has been conducting tests with a view to equipping all its expresses with radio. On these tests, a four-valve receiver, operating from’the train’s lighting system, gave quite satisfactory headphone reception. a . * % * . yy the midst of the transmission of ‘one of the dramatic works of the. present poet, Johan Fkjoldborg, Danish radio listeners were respectively shocked and amused to hear distinctly a voice remarking, "What awful rot we are sending to-night." An inquiry was held the-following day, but the truth was never told to the public. To hide the facts, a carefully and most diplomatically-phrased statement . was issued in which it was admitted that the startling remark really might have come from the studio itself, but the identity of the person responsible was not revealed. The statement concludetl _ with references to some technical ey ror, with a promise to have it remedied. The true explanation is more amusing. The announcer, who spends his time in a sound-proof room where visitors are strictly prohibited, had a visitor in his office that night with whom he was discussing the quality of the programme. The microphone in the announcer’s. office is by automatie arrangement cut off whenever broadcasting is going on in the studio, but Fate would have it that the microphone ‘should become re- ° connected just as thé announcer was making his drastic comment on the programme. And the man who switched it on was no-less a person than the chief of the Radio Corporation!