Radio Round the World

Radio Record, Volume V, Issue 28, 22 January 1932, Unnumbered Page

Radio Round the World

"A FINE gesture on thé part of American amatétit transmitters to show their eagerness to mitintain their exact wavelengths took the form of a national frequency-measuring eontest which was held toward thé end of last year. At & pre-arringed time every amateur station in América closed down with the exception of 16 transmitters specially chosen by the Radio Relay League. These transmitted for fifteen-minute periods, using special frequency contro] apparatus, and it was the aim of each contestant to attain the iighest degree of accuracy in médsuring the respec-: tive frequencies of the stations transmitting. Restlts of the contést are not yet to hind. * * * [TALIAN broadcasting authorities ave detérmined to create a school of Italian drama, and to this end famous Italian dramatists, including Pirandéllo and Marinétti, have beea asked to write for the microphone. These dramatists have promised. plays that shall be interesting and original, and thésé are to be the foundation of the new school. % Es * qf is estimated that during the first six months of last year American broadcasting companies received the tremendous sum of £2,400,000 for broadcasting advertising.

AVID SARNOFF, president of the National Broadcasting Company of America, when célébrating -his 25 years’ connection with radio at a lunchéon, remarked: "No one neéd fear that opportunities do not exist today. The next quarter-centuty will see moré happen and offer more opportunities than havé the past 25 years, Théré is much to be done iu the radio and television field." * Ca v "THE police authorities of Paris are at present conductitig experlments on wavelengths from 1200 to 1400 metrés, usifig.4 power of 2 kw. It is intended ultimately to equip all large towns in France with:a similar station,. which will be also fitted up with the necessary apparatus for the transmission of photographs aud, documents,

A REPORT recently issued by the United States census bureau gives the number of setS in opération in America on April 1, 1931, as 12,568,000, The Columbia Broadcasting System estimates that about 4,750,000 sets have been sold since that time, thus bringing the approximate grand total up to something over 17,025,000. ¥ * * HB radio telephone system linking Hawaii and the United States, which was inaugurated on January 1, will probably be extended to the Philippines and later to Japan and other

C0 4am) aa es points in the Far East. Messages from the United States to Australia, ' Jaya ans other points are transmitted now over the round-about circuit across Iurope. * s NE of the leading British radio firms has produced a short-wave transmitter capable of propagating waves which will severely burn anyone standing near the aerial. It is reported that the radiation is so power-. ful that a coil of wire of a certain length, held near thé transmitter, emits 2x long flame at each end. This effect is due to both the extremely short wayvelength used-5 metres-and the high power of 20 K.w. ixperiments are being made with this new transmitter with 2 view to employing it for the B.B.C.’s proposed scheme of localised broadcasting. s & 2 f Bee Belgian Postal authorities have copied the "pirate hunting" meth» ods adopted in England, and it is reported that in less than one month the sight of the special gendarmerie appointed to track unlicensed listeners frightened more than 120,000 into buying licenses. = 2 * STATISTICS show that, whereas in 1929 there existed in Nurope only oue 50 k.w. transmitter, by 19382 there will be 27 super-stations of even greater energy on the air, ‘The averige output will work out at 1 kw. as against 8 k.w. when the original channels were allotted to European countries. —

JPHATURES of the programmes frém Leningrad and Moscow stations are operatic and drainatic performancés, rélayed from 4 large studio | situated in the’ Central Télegraph Of fice of the Soviet capital. The gén- | éral public is: admitted free to thése broadcasts, which aré carried out in every wiy as if intended for theatriéal performances. An dudience of over one thousand pérsons can be accommiodatéd in the studio, as well as an 6rchéstra and a choir of some 450 musiclans and singers. | ® * * Now that the B.B.C. has permanéntly included telévision in its programmes, the number of television subscribéers is incredsing,rapidly. Af the present, roughly 8000 listénérs posséss télévision apparatus. John L. Baird, the inventor of the Baird system of television, recently arrivéd in America, where he will immediately set about organising the American branch of tl Baird Company. He expects gyit they. will shortly be manufactvpe sets at the rate of 20,000 a week, "or 1,000,000 a year, at a cost of approximately £7 per set, far bélow anything now- offered on the American market. Rotaet ¥* * * ADIO has so often been blamed for ‘bad weather that it comes as a pleasant change to hear of someone who believes that it can bé responsible, if necessary, fot eternal sunmer, The optimist is a Frenchman, Professor Ledarp, who, according to the Paris Press, is of the verge of a (iscovery which will show that Hertzian Waves, if properly controlled, can produce "very fine days." 4 2 2

IGHT studios, all underground, are contained in the sumptuous "Pal> ace of Broadcasting," which was opeied in Rome at the beginning of Jast month, One of these studios is the size of a large theatre and will be nsed extlusively for grand opera, which is tegularly featured in the Italian programmes. The three stories of the Palace which rise above the street contain the administrative officés and artists’ rooms. The Italian broadcasting authorities are evidently. of the opinion that the bést soutid insulating medium is the earth itsélf. % +: Fs NE of Britain’s leading tadio firms recently secured 4 contract for the supply of £500,000. worth of radio apparatus for the Roumanian Arniy. e * F At the surgical hospital attached to ; the University at Milan, Ieudspeakers are utilised fot the purse of broadcasting lectures to direct from the operating theatre, While carrying out delicate operations, surgeons and professors can in this manner provide a running commentary for the benefit of the students separated from the theatre by a glass partition. * se x UILDING permits for the first ~ three units of the Radio City ‘v be erected in the heart of Manhattan, N.Y., havé been issued, séveral rules being waived in order to speed up a project which will provide’ employment_for sevéral thousand tvorkers. ‘thé nits for which the permits have been issued are a 66-story office buildying, which forms the centre of the scheme, ‘the International Musie Hall, and a talkie picture theatre, which is to have seating accommodation for 5000.

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