RADIO Round the World

Radio Record, Volume V, Issue 51, 1 July 1932, Unnumbered Page

RADIO Round the World

Tz is surprising the number of cars that are being equipped with. radio in the States, and the high degree to which the sets are being developed. Of. course, conditions are so much different over there. There are dozens of powerful stations within range in all the cit- . ies, and there are no license coniplica-' tions to set one thinking. It is said _ that- before long radios will be bwil¢*im as part of the standard equipment of: the higher-priced cars. % x . * Just as the typical E English citi is 5 ait. ferent from the American, so is the English set different from the .American, but with this difference, that the, radio industry is where the car thikustry was four or five years ago, To-day in the latter trade the differences, are -not.so marked and it is to be expected that the radios’ will tend‘ to- hecoite. alike, both nations: giving and, faking. The typical English set has only three ‘or four valves and wusés’ regenerations, The Americans have from five to seve, and have discarded regeneration years: ago; the Americans favour. the superheterodyne, and although FE nglish;: oriits structional journals have a great deal te say about it, manufacturers :-do: no’ seem to have incorporated the cirenit in. new models to any extent; the Ameri‘ans favour extremely small midgets, while the English still have a great deal of unused space ev en in their most recent models. ores * x * HE Soviet Press comments on the great success of the ‘introduction of wireless receivers in the trains between Moscow and -Leningrad. Within the past few weeks loudspeakers have been installed, by which travellers are kept informed of the names of the stations en route, and the time which will be spent at each. News, musical performances, and propaganda aré also transmitted. It is understood --:.that. other train services are to be similarly fitted in the near future. Every longjourney traveller on the New Zealand. railways is asking when the Railway Board intends to install radio on the expresses. * * * From a recent survey conducted ia the United States it has’ been found that radio sets are used on the average 4.04 hours daily. Thisi-irt-. formation, together with that which shows at what particulars hours receiyvers are most in use, is of utmost value to the advertising branches of the: con}mercial broadcasting stations in America. * Bg ANY hitherto undisclosed secrets of the American radio industry are expected to come to light in the replids to the new questionnaire addressed to broadcasting stations by the U.S. Federal Radio Commission in preparation

for the commission’s forthcoming -report to Congress on the feasibility of Government ownership of broadcasting _and the abolition of radio The commission first selected a "typical broadcast week" to be covered in the questionnaire, and asked stations to »designate the number of hours devoted ‘to commercial and sustaining pro--gyammes during the day and night. The commission, cautioning broadcasters to pe.""very accurate," asked how many -honrs~ were .devoted to sales talks or. deseriptions of commodities advertis"ed, ‘the terms of contest, and the like. Ltcasked, too, how’ many hours were used-to advertise the business-of the station owner, or thatof any: principal :Officer or stockholder. * % *- TE Paris tramways are causing, such interference with radio reception "Phat, Ae prominent membér of’ the Paris "City Council has lodged a complaint. It appears’ that the interference einnn‘ates’ ‘from the car trolleys, which collect ~eurrent from overhead wires. Experts Jstate that there would be much less s¢iuse for complaint if all cars were fittted with collector bows of a certain type. : airs a re * a _MAN whose throat was opened by radio waves after ordinary surgical methods had failed was reported recent"ly to the Academy of Sciences, in Paris, by the veteran experimenter in this field, Professor J. A. d’Arsonval, as 4 case treated by Dr. Bordier. The victim had drunk a strong solution of caustic potash, or "potash lye." The result was a severe corrosion of the tissues of the throat and esoph: igus so that the latter tube; connecting’ the mouth with the stomach, closed up entirely. The surgeon in charge of the case then made an opening directly into the stomach and the patient was kept alive by liquid -food supplied through this opening. In this condition, with the esophagus alto-: gether closed so that swallowing was impossible, the patient came to Dr. Bordier. For a period of twenty, minutes each day Dr. Bordier passed through ‘the chest at the spot where the esophagus had grown together powerful -cur‘yents of high-frequency electricity of -the kind used in radio and which have been applied by Professor d’Arsonval to _-many medical uses. After four days a ‘tiny passage opened through the ob_Struction caused by the caustic scar. In a few more days the esophagus opened altogether, * * * a "Broadcasting," a prominent American -radio-journel, De Lee de For-. est, the famous inventor, says: "The sad state of the industry to-day is more due to the miserable quality of radio programmes than to any other cause. The public simply isn’t listening-in-

not to a degree remotely approaching that of four years ago. More receiving sets-yes; but usually unused. We have learned that the switch-off is the best part of a radio set."’ Dr. de Forest forecasts: that this year may bring "radical changes" to meet the many protests: against: American broadcasting’s "Defiled Commercialism."

UILT like a Zeppelin and capable of being propelled by a regular air screw, an automobile has been designed in Iowa to carry radio artists on a "booster" tour. The road. Zeppelin is equipped with powerful loudspeakers and: will broadcast directly from the studio within the car. It is mounted on a standard chassis, and, in ordinary operation, is driven by the usual auto power plant. The propeller is driven by. an airplane engine, however, and will push the car at a speed of about twelve miles an hour when desired. A third engine is mounted inside o( provide power for the generators of ‘Whe broadcasting plant. The over-alllengsth. of. ‘the vehicle is 25'feet. . qt skipper of a Grimsby trawle\ i fishing in the Arctic was recently ' ablé-to. mike good use of the Canadian Goverfiment’s wireless service of medical and. surgical aid. Apparently one of. his men was washed through a scupper door, with the result that he sustained a fractured .jjaw and had half "his sealp ‘torn away. So the skipper sent. a ‘wireless message to the opera-tor-at the nearest Marine station, the message. was sent on to Ottawa, anil within an hour a reply: was received! advising the skipper what .treatment to apply, % a * beats most enlightened amateur in France" is the epithet won hy ex-President Doumergue, who delighted radio enthusiasts during his term of office by the interést he invariably displayed in wireless matters. Now, in retirement at his home at Tournefeuillees, M. Doumergue operates an ambitious receiver, and he has now accepted the honorary presidency of the Toulouse-Pyrenees Radio Society. so the ‘ex-President is still a presideht., % ue T was recently announced from a " famous English broadcasting statok "that: ‘avery orator was "t0r. broadcast . at' exactly ‘eight o’clock in a: Studio ‘which also televised «its "artists. As the speaker was conduc ed) to: his, microphone position a-few minvites" before the appointed time, Ke engineers,’ unknown to the waiting or At pened up their flying spot..-Watcl-1 ering © ‘into. their "television reivers saw the gentleman ‘sit > down) pefore the mike and arrange his papers, straighten his necktie, and prepare for his speech. ‘The watching audience saw him as he apyneared visibly rervous, waiting for the ‘signal to begin his talk. At exactly «one minute to eight they were astounded to see him reach around to his hip pocket, from which he extracted a flask, and proceeded to fortify him--self for his coming ordeal with a siz---able gulp of liquid. For the next few days the station manager was kept busy explaining, that the receptacle contained merely cough u-edicine-a statement which quite "possi may ~have: ‘Heen. true., , ,