February 1931

There was more television to watch if you lived near New York City in February 1931.

That’s when W2XCD, the TV station in Passaic, New Jersey, decided to expand its programming. And some of it was live. The news was deemed important enough to be planted above the fold on the front page of a number of newspapers, most of them in regions that would never see the station, such as Bellingham, Washington.

The De Forest Radio Company’s station was doing better than NBC. The future peacock network's W2XBS was still not presenting any live entertainment, unless you find a Felix the Cat doll on a turntable entertaining, but it evidently got its public relations department on the case as two New York papers gave the telecast (or is that "tele-cat"?) publicity that month. Still, De Forest’s W2XCD had an actual schedule, which was published in newspapers in several states.

There was little other television news that month. There are lots of "prediction" stories about television's future. No one could agree. We've avoided publishing all but two. One of the wire services printed a feature story DXing TV in the East.

John Hogan’s W2XR on Long Island carried on, as did the station in Boston (though it dropped its noon-hour studio show) and the pair operating in Chicago. The listings give you an excellent idea of how developed television was to that point, though Chicago's are inconsistent as newspaper sources couldn't agree on what was airing. The first week of the New York stations is unavailable (the New York Sun with the schedule is not on-line).

This concludes our look at 1931. We posted TV developments for the other months earlier in the blog. March through June 1931 can be found starting in this post.

Monday, February 2, 1931
W1XAV-WNAC, Boston, video on 141m, audio on 1230kc.
12:15 to 1:00—From Television Studios: Noon Day Revue.
3:30 to 4:00—From Television Studios: Women’s Federation, conducted by Eleanore Geer.
W9XAP-WMAQ, Chicago, 2800kc.
7:00 to 7:30—Cartoons, 8:00 to 8:45—Variety.
W9XAO-WIBO, Chicago, 2000kc.
7:30 to 8:00—Variety.

Tuesday, February 3, 1931
W1XAV-WNAC, Boston, video on 141m, audio on 1230kc.
12:15 to 1:00—From Television Studios: Noon Day Revue.
3:30 to 4:00—From Television Studios: Women’s Federation, conducted by Eleanore Geer.
W9XAP-WMAQ, Chicago, 2800kc.
7:00 to 7:30—Cartoons, 8:00—Sound, 8:30 to 9:00—Variety.
W9XAO-WIBO, Chicago, 2000kc.
7:30 to 8:00—Variety.

Joyce, daughter of E. L. “Doc” Bennett, has become a star of television programs at Chicago station W9XAO, according to announcements in the Chicago Evening American.
The American states that Joyce is “a pleasant sight for sore eyes and also for unaffected optics.” Joyce, who is studying dancer at the Weyburn school, does clog and tap steps for her visible radio audiences. Mrs. Bennett is in Chicago with the young artist. (McCook [Neb.] Daily Gazette, Feb. 3)

NEW YORK, Feb. 3 (AP)—In a darkened Riverside drive apartment, seventeen floors above the street sat a little group of people, intently watching the unfolding of electrically-delivered drama.
Except for the faint hum of motors, and voice and music from a loudspeaker, the audience was hushed.
Present were an engineer who has pioneered in television, two newspapermen, a broadcast chain representative and two others.
It was one of the few television audiences that occasionally assemble these nights to see what’s on the air.
In the room was a bank of four television receivers and a couple of sound sets. Pictures came in from Washington, from Boston, from Passaic, N. J., and from New York City. Some were good, some bad, some terrible.
Despite occasional code interference, fading and static all except the engineer were thrilled.
The engineer naturally was not expected to get the same reaction as the others, for this idea of “looking-in” was not new to him. It’s part of his job.
The Apparatus
Let’s take a better peep through the door. The television receivers and their short wave tuners like up the entire end of the room. There are a couple of reproducers assembled from kits.
The picture these machines turn out is about two inches square.
Then there is a larger receiver, automatically synchronized whose “screen” is about five inches square. The biggest set produces a “show” nearly eight inches square. The pictures are enlarged by lenses.
A broadcast outfit which would go below 200 meters was used to get vocal and musical accompaniment for one visual program.
First a look was taken at the NBC experimental transmission coming from New York.
There was a set of three cards, interchanged occasionally. One had the letters, NBC, with an elaborate background. Another contained the station’s call letters, W3XBS [sic]. The third was a variation of the others.
The lookers expressed surprise that NBC with all its available talent for the reproduction of live images was sending out only cards.
These pictures were the best of any received, due to the fact they contained sixty lines, twelve more lines than used by the other stations.
Next a switch to Washington. From there came a fading signal, with some static, which produced an effect like a snowstorm.
For a while the picture would be sharp and clear, then slip almost away, Another time a dozen pictures of the same thing would flash past the screen, because a power supply at the receiver, separate from that at the transmitter, made synchronization difficult.
Dancing Girl
Here’s what came in: Pictures of a dancing girl, of Dr. Lee De Forest, and of a girl bouncing a ball, the signature of station W3XK of the Jenkins laboratories. The transmission was from a movie film.
Back to New York for W2XR of Radio Pictures, Inc. Another film transmission, Reproduction was somewhat spotty.
Every time something new was to be shown, a sign would appear, such as “wheel” when a four-spoke device rolled into the picture, and “dancing elephant,” to announce that a pachyderm was due. Call letters also flashed into view occasionally.
After that the climax. It was another Jenkins station, located at Passaic, N. J., but this was a sound-sight program, the production of which was reminiscent of early days of broadcasting. Putting on the vision was W2XCR, while the sound came over W2XCD.
At that it was pretty good, despite periods when the screen would go blank and the announcer would say, “Stand by for a moment, please, while we make a shift in the scene”—just like the old movie days and their “three minutes to change reels.”
When announcement was to be made the speaker could be seen coming on between solos by a banjoist and a pianist. There was a beauty contest in which five young women flashed on the screen, one at a time.
Welcoming Grasp
The feature was a “hand shake.” The announcer had been told who was present in the New York audience, and after a greeting, offered to “shake” with each one. He did it too, for on the screen appeared a pair of hands in a welcoming grasp.
The reception was somewhat marred by interference, which necessitated a slight detuning of the receiver to bring in the picture without a lot of peculiar lines and streaks.
That program finished, an attempt was made for W1XAV of the Short Wave and Television laboratories at Boston. The station came in, but was fading so badly only a glimpse could be had now and then of the man’s face.
All the transmissions were experimental, but the guests departed with the avowal that television was far enough advanced to satisfy them it was ready for introduction into their own homes.
Net result: One newspaperman and one broadcast representative are building their own radio movie outfits.

Wednesday, February 4, 1931
W1XAV-WNAC, Boston, video on 141m, audio on 1230kc.
12:15 to 1:00—From Television Studios: Noon Day Revue.
W9XAP-WMAQ, Chicago, 2800kc.
7:00—Cartoons, 8:00—Xylophone, 8:45—With Sound.
W9XAO-WIBO, Chicago, 2000kc.
7:30 to 8:00—Variety.

Thursday, February 5, 1931
W1XAV-WNAC, Boston, video on 141m, audio on 1230kc.
12:15 to 1:00—From Television Studios: Noon Day Revue.
3:30 to 4:00—From Television Studios: Women’s Federation, conducted by Eleanore Geer.
W9XAP-WMAQ, Chicago, 2800kc.
12:15 to 1, 3:00 to 3:30, 4:30, 6:15—Studio and Television Stars, 7:00 to 7:30, 8:00 to 9:00.
[AP: 7:00—Cartoons, 8:00—Dr. Herman Bundesen, 8:15—With Sound, 8:30—With Sound, 8:45 to 9:00—Variety.]
W9XAO-WIBO, Chicago, 2000kc.
1:45 to 2:05, 7:30 to 8:00—Variety.

Friday, February 6, 1931
W1XAV-WNAC, Boston, video on 141m, audio on 1230kc.
12:15 to 1:00—From Television Studios: Noon Day Revue.
3:30 to 4:00—From Television Studios: Women’s Federation, conducted by Eleanore P. Geer.
W9XAP-WMAQ, Chicago, 2800kc.
3:00 to 3:30, 4:00 to 4:30, 7:00 to 7:30, 8:00 to 9:00.
[AP: 7:00—Cartoons, 8:00 to 9:00—Variety.]
W9XAO-WIBO, Chicago, 2000kc.
4:30 to 5:00, 7:30 to 8:00.
[AP: 8:00 to 9:00—Variety.]

Saturday, February 7, 1931
W1XAV-WNAC, Boston, video on 141m, audio on 1230kc.
12:15 to 1:00—From Television Studios: Noon Day Revue.
3:30 to 4:00—From Television Studios: Women’s Federation, conducted by Eleanore P. Geer.
W9XAP-WMAQ, Chicago, 2800kc.
6:45—Sports, 8:00—Variety, 8:30—Sound.
W9XAO-WIBO, Chicago, 2000kc.
7:30 to 8:00—Variety.

Monday, February 9, 1931
W1XAV-WNAC, Boston, video on 141m, audio on 1230kc.
3:30 to 4:00—From Television Studios: Women’s Federation, conducted by Eleanore Geer.
W9XAP-WMAQ, Chicago, 2800kc.
7:00 to 7:30—Cartoons, 8:00 to 8:45—Variety.
W9XAO-WIBO, Chicago, 2000kc.
7:30 to 8:00—Variety.

M147.4—W2XCD—2035K W2XCD, the experimental television station of the De Forest Radio Company in Passaic, N. J., will be on the air with test programs of film and direct pickup beginning Monday, February 9, from 10 A. M. to noon and from 3:30 to 5 P. M. Two thousand and thirty-five kilocycles will be used as the picture wave and 1,604 kilocycles as the voice wave. From 9 to 10 P. M. the following synchronized picture and voice programs will be broadcast, using 48 line pictures:
Monday. [9]
Movie Film—“The Great Trunk Mystery," reel No. 1.
Direct Pickup—Banjo selections by K. Bucklin.
Movie Film Prominent people.
Tuesday. [10]
Movie Film—"The Great Trunk Mystery," reel No. 2.
Direct Pickup—J. Harkness, tenor.
Movie Film—Talk by Dr. Lee De Forest.
Wednesday. [11]
Movie Film—“The Great Trunk Mystery." reel No. 3.
Direct Pickup—Introduction to television course by C. Huffman.
Movie Film—Vaudevile sketch.
Thursday. [12]
Direct Pick-up—“Early Radio Experiences," by H. Gawler, formerly radio inspector.
Movie Film—"The Great Trunk Mystery," reel No. 4.
Direct Pickup—Comedy sketch by C. Rathjen.
Friday. [13]
Movie Film—"The Great Trunk Mystery," reel No. 5.
Direct Pickup—Selections by De Forest Little Symphony Orchestra.
Movie Film—Television song by June Blaine and Arthur Campbell.
Saturday. [14]
Direct Pickup—Studio party.
Direct Pickup—Beauty contest.

Tuesday, February 10, 1931
W1XAV-WNAC, Boston, video on 141m, audio on 1230kc.
3:30 to 4:00—From Television Studios: Women’s Federation, conducted by Eleanore Geer.
W9XAP-WMAQ, Chicago, 2800kc.
7:00 to 7:30—Cartoons, 8:00—Sound, 8:30 to 9:00—Variety.
W9XAO-WIBO, Chicago, 2000kc.
7:30 to 8:00—Variety.

CHCAGO, Feb. 9—(AP)—Old timers of the stage and screen become new timers when they appear on W9XAP’s 15-minute stage stars feature Tuesday evenings.
They must employ an entirely different make-up from the kind they have known and their technique must be subdued and more deliberate.
The sound part of the stage and star feature, at 8:15 p. m. every Tuesday, is broadcast from WMAQ.

Wednesday, February 11, 1931
W1XAV-WNAC, Boston, video on 141m, audio on 1230kc.
3:30 to 4:00—From Television Studios: Women’s Federation, conducted by Eleanore Geer.
W9XAP-WMAQ, Chicago, 2800kc.
7:00—Cartoons, 8:00—Xylophone, 8:45—With Sound.
W9XAO-WIBO, Chicago, 2000kc.
7:30 to 8:00—Variety.

Thursday, February 12, 1931
W1XAV-WNAC, Boston, video on 141m, audio on 1230kc.
3:30 to 4:00—From Television Studios: Women’s Federation, conducted by Eleanore Geer.
W9XAP-WMAQ, Chicago, 2800kc.
6:15—Studio and television stars [Times].
7:00—Cartoons, 8:00—Dr. Herman Bundesen, 8:15—With Sound, 8:30—With Sound, 8:45 to 9:00—Variety.
W9XAO-WIBO, Chicago, 2000kc.
7:30 to 8:00—Variety.

TRANS-ATLANTIC TELEVISION ACHIEVED BY GENERAL ELECTRIC
SCHENECTADY, N. Y., Feb. 12 (AP)—Experts of the General Electric Co. said today that television from Schenectady had been received successfully in London, Berlin and Leipsig and that a motion picture film had been made of television from one part of the laboratories to another.
Trans-Atlantic television, the company said, had been achieved in connection with wave length study and experimental work. Experts resorted to use of television in studying wave lengths because inaccuracies in signals, occasioned principally by atmosphere conditions, could be noted more readily by the eye than by the ear.
In one instance the company was informed by cable that a gathering in Germany had recognized Prof. Karolus, of the University of Leipsig, as he stood before the televisor in Schenectady, and even commented on the fact that Prof. Karolus, himself a radio and television expert, was wearing his glasses.
The company said its experts had not attempted to envision future uses of motion picture films of television, but that their initial use might be in connection with news reels. The television film was likened to the early “movies” in that it was somewhat blurry and streaky. But, the company said, it was as clear, if not clearer, than the image in the television receiving set.

The Jenkins television station—call W3XK—operating on 2,065 kilocycles, is on the air five evenings each week, from 7 to 9 o’clock. (Robert D. Heinl, Washington Post)

Friday, February 13, 1931
W1XAV-WNAC, Boston, video on 141m, audio on 1230kc.
3:30 to 4:00—From Television Studios: Women’s Federation, conducted by Eleanore Geer.
W9XAP-WMAQ, Chicago, 2800kc.
12:00 to 1:00, 3:00 to 3:20, 4:00 to 4:30, 7:00 to 7:30, 8:00 to 9:00.
[AP says 7:00—Cartoons, 8:00 to 9:00—Variety.]
W9XAO-WIBO, Chicago, 2000kc.
1:45 to 2:00, 4:30 to 5:00, 7:30 to 8:00.
[AP says 7:30 to 8:00—Variety.]

Saturday, February 14, 1931
W1XAV-WNAC, Boston, video on 141m, audio on 1230kc.
3:30 to 4:00—From Television Studios: Women’s Federation, conducted by Eleanore Geer.
W9XAP-WMAQ, Chicago, 2800kc.
6:45—Sports (Sound), 8:00—Variety, 8:30—Sound.
W9XAO-WIBO, Chicago, 2000kc.
7:30 to 8:00—Variety.

SCHENECTADY, Feb. 14.—First successful pictures ever taken of active television images were made here last week in the laboratory of Dr. E. F. W. Alexanderson. The filming of the images was made possible through a new process developed in the General Electric laboratories.
Past attempts to record televised images on film negatives have not been very successful, engineers explained, and in only a few instances has it been possible to secure still photographs of television pictures. In the tests conducted last week, twenty pictures a second (the speed of motion pictures necessary to give the illusion of motion, were made. When projected on a screen the pictures were even more accurate in detail than the original televised image projected for the motion picture camera.
In making the motion picture of the television images, the subject is placed before a light source and scanning device such as used in most television systems. The light energy is converted into electrical impulses by means of photo-electric cells which record different light intensities proportionally in electrical impulses. This energy is then passed to a Kerr cell amplifier, thence to the Kerr cell or light valve and then impinged on sensitive film, which pass a tiny aperture on the rate of twenty frames a second. The film is then developed and may be produced on the screen or may be used to produce a television picture, through the television projecture to the screen.
In filming the television image, it is necessary that the film negative pass before the Kerr cell in synchronism with the number of images projected. This was made possible through the development of intricate mechanical apparatus which controlled the speed of the film simultaneously with the projection of the television image. (Herald Tribune, Feb. 14)

Monday, February 16, 1931
W1XAV-WNAC, Boston, video on 141m, audio on 1230kc.
3:30 to 4:00—From Television Studios: Women’s Federation, conducted by Eleanore Geer.
W9XAP-WMAQ, Chicago, 2800kc.
7:00 to 7:30, 7:30 to 8:15, 8:00 to 9:00 [sic]
[AP says 7:00 to 7:30—Cartoons, 8:00 to 8:45—Variety.]
W9XAO-WIBO, Chicago, 2000kc.
4:30 to 5.
[AP says 8:15 to 8:30—Mystery.]
W2XCD, the experimental television station of the De Forrest Radio Company in Passaic, N. J., will be on the air with test programs of films and direct pickups, beginning Monday, February 16. 2,035 kilocycles will be used, as the picture wave, with 1,604 kilocycles used for the synchronized sound. From 9 to 10 P. M. the following programs will be broadcast, using 48 line pictures:
MONDAY. [16]
Direct Pickup—"Early Days of Broadcasting," by A. E. Sonn.
Direct Pickup—Piano selection, by D. Short.
Movie Film—"The Cop.”
TUESDAY. [17]
Direct Pickup—"Police Radio," by R. Kent.
Movie Film—"Zonga," Reel No. 1.
Movie Film—"Seeing Stars."
WEDNESDAY. [18]
Direct Pickup Talk by Mayor John J. Roegner of Passaic.
Direct Pickup—Talk by Commissioner Benjamin F. Turner of Passaic.
Movie Film—"People of the Day."
THURSDAY. [19]
Movie Film "Zonga," Reel No. 2.
Direct Pickup-Lesson 1 "Fundamentals of Television," by C. Huffman.
Movie Film—"The Lady Bug."
FRIDAY. [20]
Movie Film—"Zonga," Reel No. 8.
Direct Pickup—Illustrated lecture on vacuum tubes, by Allen B. Du Mont.
Movie Film—"The Chase."
SATURDAY. [21]
Direct Pickup—Studio party.
Movie Film-"Venetian Love."

TELEVISION IS FAR IN FUTURE, DEALERS TOLD
Never Will Replace Sound Broadcasts, WMAQ Head Says.
Radio fans who have been sitting on the edge of their chair, waiting for the long heralded “television set” are due for a great disappointment.
Eugene R. Farny, president of the All-American Mohawk Corporation, attending the fifth annual convention of radio federations at the Lincoln, said today that “the less said about television, the better for all concerned, manufacturer and radio listener alike.”
Television, according to Farny, is a long way from being the practical household device the radio set has become, it will be years, in his estimation, before the combined radio and television set will be practical for the home. Another wet blanket to the hopes of the would-be television fan was brought out Monday [16] in a convention address by William S. Hedges, president of WMAQ, Inc., Chicago broadcasting station, and first president of National Broadcasters.
Television, said Hedges, never will supplant sound radio. Television requires the undivided attention of the onlooker. No bridge games or any other form of entertainment is possible when paying attention to the device. With sound, music and voice the whole idea changes. Turn on the radio and then do what you please. If something catches your ear, all you have to do is listen, without holding up the play, provided you are a bridge addict, he said.
Arguments for radio programs divorced from advertising received a severe blow in Hedge’s [sic] talk.
American broadcast programs require an annual expenditure of $20,000,000, he said. If this sum can not be raised by levies on advertisers sponsoring the programs, Hedges said, it must come out of the pockets of the listeners, which means a tax of apprqx1matcy $5 for each radio set.
Warning that the supremacy of the United States as the world’s greatest broadcasting nation rapidly is being cha1lnged by Soviet Russia was made Monday by O. H. Caldwell, New York, former federal radio commissioner. (Indianapolis Times, Feb. 17)

Tuesday, February 17, 1931
W1XAV-WNAC, Boston, video on 141m, audio on 1230kc.
3:30 to 4:00—From Television Studios: Women’s Federation, conducted by Eleanore Geer.
W9XAP-WMAQ, Chicago, 2800kc.
7:00 to 7:30—Cartoons, 8:00—Sound, 8:30 to 9:00—Variety.
W9XAO-WIBO, Chicago, 2000kc.
8:15 to 8:30—Mystery.

Television Broadcasting Predicted in Three Years
Should Begin With Opening of Radio City, Says Aylesworth
The technique of radio television will be nearly as well developed within three years as that of sound broadcasting is now, it was predicted yesterday [17] by M. H. Aylesworth, president of the National Broadcasting Company, who pointed out that the date will coincide with the opening of the Radio City, which is to be built in the area between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, Forty-eighth and fifty-first Streets.
Construction of the Radio city will begin in the spring, Mr. Aylesworth said, and when the buildings are occupied in 1934, television should be ready to be incorporated as a part of the entertainment project. Besides sound broadcasting and television, motion pictures, the theater and music in all its branches would find places in the Radio City, and television should carry the colors and movements of all the spectacles throughout the country.
It is possible, according to Mr. Aylesworth, that a new Metropolitan Opera House will be included in the project.
“We are still awaiting a definite understanding with the Metropolitan before making final plans.” he added.
“I think three more years will be required before we can have pictures by radio that will approximate the quality now obtained with sound.” Mr, Aylesworth said. Television will mean a different type of program presentation, of course, inasmuch as our audiences will see as well as hear the programs of the near future.” (Herald Tribune Feb. 18)

Wednesday, February 18, 1931
W1XAV-WNAC, Boston, video on 141m, audio on 1230kc.
3:30 to 4:00—From Television Studios: Women’s Federation, conducted by Eleanore Geer.
W9XAP-WMAQ, Chicago, 2800kc.
7:00—Cartoons, 8:00—Xylophone, 8:45—With Sound.
W9XAO-WIBO, Chicago, 2000kc.
8:15 to 8:30—Mystery.

Thursday, February 19, 1931
W1XAV-WNAC, Boston, video on 141m, audio on 1230kc.
not available.
W9XAP-WMAQ, Chicago, 2800kc.
12:15 to 1:00, 3:00 to 3:30, 4:00 to 4:30, 6:15—Studio and television stars, 8:00 to 9:00
[AP says 7:00—Cartoons, 8:00—Dr. Bundesen, 8:15—With Sound, 8:30—With Sound, 8:45-9:00—Variety.
W9XAO-WIBO, Chicago, 2000kc.
1:45 to 2:05, 7:00 to 7:30.
[AP says 8:15 to 8:30—Mystery Sketch.]

Another successful public demonstration of television was given in the city last night [18] when a gathering of police officers heard and saw Mayor John J. Roegner and Commissioner Benjamin F. Turner at headquarters. The broadcast was made from the laboratories of the De Forest Radio Station, W2XCD, in Factory Street.
The demonstration was similar to the one before the Executives Club in the Y.M.C.A. several weeks ago.
Director Turner, in his address, again repeated his interest in radio facilities for use in the department to war against criminals. He told of the success of radio in other cities.
“If it were not for the present economic condition, I feel that the great majority of people in Passaic would favor the installation of a system of this nature at police headquarters,” he said. (Bergen County Daily News, Feb. 19)

Friday, February 20, 1931
W1XAV-WNAC, Boston, video on 141m, audio on 1230kc.
3:30 to 4:00—From Television Studios: Women’s Federation, conducted by Eleanore Geer.
W9XAP-WMAQ, Chicago, 2800kc.
12:15 to 1:00, 3:00 to 3:20, 4:00 to 4:30, 7:00 to 7;30, 8:00 to 9:00
[AP says 7:00—Cartoons, 8:00 to 9:00—Variety Program.
W9XAO-WIBO, Chicago, 2000kc.
1:45 to 2:00, 4:30 to 5:00, 7:30 to 8:00.
[AP says 7:30 to 8:00—Cartoons.]

Saturday, February 21, 1931
W1XAV-WNAC, Boston, video on 141m, audio on 1230kc.
3:30 to 4:00—From Television Studios: Women’s Federation, conducted by Eleanore Geer.
W9XAP-WMAQ, Chicago, 2800kc.
6:45—Sports (Sound), 8:00—Variety, 8:30--Sound.
W9XAO-WIBO, Chicago, 2000kc.
7:30 to 8:00—Cartoons.

Sunday, February 22, 1931
RADIO IMAGES AND ‘GHOSTS’ ARE DANCING
TELEVISION images are playing tag around Manhattan’s skyscrapers. For more than a year engineers with sensitive receivers have followed them to watch their antics.
Atop the New Amsterdam Theatre roof is a General Electric television transmitter manned by engineers associated with WEAF-WJZ. They have been trying to discover what wave lengths are best for dodging the tall buildings.
Some of the images have returned to the television screen as “ghosts.” The main image flashes into view and in a second or two the same face reappears in a faint, shadow form. There may be three or four of these “ghosts.” They are caused by reflections of the wave which take a bit longer to reach the receiver than the main wave. The “ghost” might be reflected hack from the “radio mirror” high up in the sky or it might travel out as far as the Alleghanies to be reflected back as a sort of a visible echo.
When Static Bombards Faces.
The engineers have observed many strange effects. They have discovered that unless definite wave lengths are employed the images become hopelessly tangled up, mangled or freckled. Some of the images when plucked from space are shot full of holes. A face may be missing an eye, both ears or the top of the head, probably shot off by a heavy bombardment or static or by passing through a skyscraper.
A new transmitter is to be installed, and the engineers will continue their observations in hopes that television will be ready to parade through the gates of the Radio City when it is opened three or four years from now. The men whose job it is to look in on the ether lanes around New York will continue to pursue the elusive “ghosts.” They will use their antenna wires as nets above the roof tops to capture the images so that nil the strange actions can be catalogued.
The engineers are looking forward to the day when listeners will become lookers. They make it clear however, that much work remains to be done before that day dawns in the scientific firmament when motion pictures by radio become a real and established fact, comparable in general interest to sound broadcasting.
Wave Lengths Used.
The images travel on the 2,100-2,200 kilocycle channel (139.5 meters) daily between 2 and 5 P. M., and between 7 and 10 P. M., Eastern standard Time, with the exception of Sundays and holidays.
The pictures are of the “sixty-line” type, flashed at the rate of twenty a second to form the moving picture. Reports have been received from numerous outposts telling of clear reception by experimenters equipped with “broad-band” receivers. This type of set is necessary for good reception because television requires a channel or pathway in the sky many times wider than that utilized by the program broadcaster, which requires a channel or pathway in the sky many times wider than that utilized by the program broadcaster, which requires only ten kilocycles The W2XBS image needs a path eighty-six kilocycles wide. The television receiver must cover this width of path at any setting of the dial before all details of the images are visible. The most distant cities from which clear and satisfactory reception has hen reported are Providence, R. T., and Detroit, Mich.
The Most Pressing Problem.
Inter-city television problems are not the chief concern of the engineers. They believe that if images are to be sent, for instance, from New York to Chicago, probably it can he more satisfactorily accomplished by land wires. One of the most pressing problems in television today is how to send the images over the metropolitan area, without encountering detrimental interference and absorption of the broadcast energy.
Waves of a certain length play hide-and-seek around the steel buildings. Waves of other lengths go upward to the Heaviside layer, or “radio roof,” and return to form the “multiple images.” which overlap and mar the pictures. Part of a wave may ‘trail along the earth while another portion is shot skyward. When these sections meet they may be “out of step” with each other for a few seconds. The two branches of the television signal may become so far out of phase that one blots out the other and no image appears. This prevails until the waves fall into step again.
The engineers hope to discover the secret of sending clear images under all weather conditions. They believe that eventually the science of sending and receiving short wave images will, under all conditions of weather and despite the man-made reflectors such as steel buildings, be as accurate as the shots made around a billiard table by a champion cueist. The day is foreseen when those tuning in both sight and sound waves will see the entertainer as they hear him sing or play.
A power of 1,000 watts releases the images into space over Times Square. It is after the faces leave the antenna of the television studio that engineers are most concerned about them. Looking-in posts are maintained in various sections of the city to observe their behavior. The engineers have a radio-equipped automobile in which they travel up and down the streets and alleys, under passageways and across bridges. It has been said that radio television is a problem hundreds of times more difficult of achievement than sound broadcasting. Nevertheless, the engineers expect its complete solution. They confidently believe that, the day will come when eight will be as easy to broadcast and receive through the air as sound is today. (New York Times, Feb. 22)

N.B.C. Operates Television Set At Times Square
In a little dark room less than twenty feet square atop of the New Amsterdam Theater in the heart of the Times Square district, there is a medium-powered television broadcasting station operated by the National Broadcasting Company, and transmitting images to a limited number of listeners daily.
The station is operated experimentally for the purpose of keeping the engineers of the broadcasting company posted with the developments made in the science of image transmission. Although the station has been known to exist, definite knowledge that it was transmitting television was not confirmed until this reporter gained entrance to the station last week.
Station Operates on 21,000 Kc.
It was learned that the station is operating daily on frequencies between 21,000 and 22,000 kilocycles, using the call letters W2XBS, and transmitting with a power of approximately one kilowatt in the antenna. The scanning apparatus and transmitting equipment are all contained in one room.
Harold A. Kennedy, engineer in charge, explained that transmission is being made with a sixty-hole scanning disk revolving at 1,200 revolutions a minute, giving twenty pictures a second. The station is on the air daily excepting Sundays between the hours of 2 to 5 p. m. and 7 to 10 p. m. While reports have been received from all parts of the country on the successful reception of the station, few in the metropolitan area knew of the transmitter’s whereabouts.
It was confirmed last week that the transmitter was formerly operated by the Radio Corporation of America in the offices of the Photophone Company at 411 Fourth Avenue. Through an agreement reached last year between the National Broadcasting Company and the Radio Corporation of America, parent company for the former organization, all experimental television activities were transferred to the broadcasting company. Since that date the Times Square television station has been on the air on a more or less regular schedule, adopting the daily transmissions more recently.
Subjects of Transmission
Transmissions consist mostly of sending call letters and images of black and white objects, and occasionally a member of the staff sits before the television scanning device. Call letters or the station are painted on large white cards and are placed before the scanning disk w1en other material is not being broadcast. At regular intervals the announcer Interrupts the visual broadcasting with an aural station announcement.
In a small corner of the transmitting room is a television receiving set, which is used to monitor the transmissions. During the test conducted last week, transmission was distinct as most television transmission goes. A small Felix doll was placed before the television camera on an ingenious revolving platform consisting of an old phonograph machine turntable. As the black-and-white doll revolved its features were easily recognizable in the small aperature [sic] of the monitoring receiver.
Tests With Photographs
Further tests were attempted with photographs of well known radio entertainers. These were indistinguishable when the televisor was adjusted to the proper focus. However, with certain glossy photographs, difficulty in transmission was exper1nced due to reflection from the shiny surface of the photograph print.
Later, each one of the small group of three present posed before the televisor. Changes in facial expression were easily discernable. In the case of one subject, who was smoking a cigarette, the smoke could be seen as it arose.
It was explained by officials of the broadcasting company that the station has been erected for the purpose of carrying on television development and follow achievement made in the science. But no definite plans are being formulated for the transmission of television In conjunction with the aural broadcast of the National Broadcasting Company.
During the daily broadcasts, which are regarded mostly as experimental, the images are picked up in the development laboratory of the N. B. C. at 711 Fifth Avenue. Occasionally tests are made with Dr. Alfred N. Goldsmith, chief engineer of the Radio Corporation of America, who has a television receiver installed in his home. While the Times Square television station is not equipped for the sending of voice simultaneously with the visual broadcasts. It was learned that Dr. Goldsmith and the engineers of the station frequently sit before television transmitter and converse over the land line telephone.
Scaning Appartus
Scanning at the station is done by means of a huge arc light which throws a beam of light through each of the sixty holes in the scanning disk as it revolves before it. The room, which is virtually dark, is illuminated almost entirely by the arc light. The light passing the holes in the disk literally paint lines of light across the subject being televised. This light in turn is picked up by a bank of four photo-electric cells mounted before the subject. These cells convert the variation in light intensity into electrical impulses which may be transmitted in for the form of a signal.
The electrical impulses from the photo-electric cells are amplified, and are fed to a modulation circuit which in turn is occupied with the transmitting or osculating circuit.
The station at Times Square has a two-kilowatt modulation circuit, which is coupled with the final one-kilowatt stage of the transmitter. The transmitter, itself, is crystal controlled, passing through three stages of power amplification before the energy is placed in the antenna circuit. First and second stages of amplification employ screen-grid power transfusion tubes, exciting a final one-kilowatt transmitting tube. The energy radiated in the antenna is approximately one kilowatt.
In order to receive the signals from the Times Square experimental television station it is necessary to have a short wave receiving set which tunes to the frequency of the transmitting station, which is 21,000 kilocycles, or approximately 14.3 meters. The output of the receiver, which should have a good quality audio amplifier, feeds directly to a neon tub. In front of this neon tube, a scanning disk with sixty holes, revolving in synchronism with the transmitting disk (which is 1,200 r. p. m.) will virtually reconstruct the transmitted image on the dark side of the disk. (Herald Tribune, Feb. 22)

Monday, February 23, 1931
W1XAV-WNAC, Boston, video on 141m, audio on 1230kc.
3:30 to 4:00—From Television Studios: Women’s Federation, conducted by Eleanore Geer.
W9XAP-WMAQ, Chicago, 2800kc.
12:00 to 1:00, 3:00 to 3:20, 7:00 to 7:30, 7:30 to 8:15, 8:00 to 9:00.
[AP: 7:00 to 7:30—Cartoons, 8:00 to 8:45—Variety Program.]
W9XAO-WIBO, Chicago, 2000kc.
1:45 to 2:00, 4:30 to 5:00.
[AP: 8:15 to 8:30—Speaker.]

Girl, 20, Jumps to Job As Television Star
NEW YORK, Feb. 23 (AP)—Out of college less than a year, Natalie Towers, 20-year-old New York miss, is to be one of first “stars.”
She has been engaged by the Columbia Broadcasting system to participate in experimental programs which the chain plans to begin televising as soon as its transmitting equipment is in operation.
Miss Towers was selected as the ideal type to face the television camera. She was chosen at an “audition” in which 103 other girls participated.
Particular Type Needed
While the CBS transmissions are to be only of a test nature in an effort to determine what will be possible with picture via radio, it was felt that a particular type of beauty should be singled out for preliminary trials.
Miss Towers fits the bill in all respects. Besides photographic tests, she had to undergo actual radio auditions to see if her speaking and singing voice would be suitable for the microphone. Her voice was said to have remarkable clarity via a loudspeaker.
She was graduated from Wellesley college only last spring. She starred in college dramatics and also has had some theatrical experience in stock. Last March she won a radio contest in an appearance at WABC.
Installation to Start March 1
When CBS gets on the air with its television experiments depends upon how soon the apparatus to ready. Installation is expected to get under way by March 1, with the transmissions to start within a month or so after that. While no announcement has been made as to the type of pictures to be sent out, it is understood they are to have 60 lines, at the rate of 20 per minute. Experimenters who have watched such transmissions have commented on their clarity and good detail. The apparatus is being loaned to CBS by the RCA-Victor laboratories.

Tuesday, February 24, 1931
W1XAV-WNAC, Boston, video on 141m, audio on 1230kc.
3:30 to 4:00—From Television Studios: Women’s Federation, conducted by Eleanore Geer.
W9XAP-WMAQ, Chicago, 2800kc.
12:00 to 1:00, 3:00 to 3:20, 4:00 to 4:30, 7:00 to 7:30, 8:00 to 8:45.
[AP: 7:00 to 7:30—Cartoons, 8:00—Sound, 8:30 to 9:00—Variety.]
W9XAO-WIBO, Chicago, 2000kc.
2:00 to 2:15, 4;30 to 5:00.
[AP: 4:30 to 4:40—Varieties.]

Daily Television From Broadcast From W2XCD Begun
Technical advances and a steadily increasing audience has led the De Forest Radio Company to put its television broadcasts on a definite daily schedule, which began yesterday [23] from the De Forest station, W2XCD, at Passaic, N. J.
In a recent study of television progress the company found programs could be received on more than 10,000 television instruments in states from the Atlantic to the Rockies. Heretofore the De Forest programs have been seen and heard frequently, for long periods almost daily, but the schedule was haphazard, and not until now has the broadcasting been made a feature for each week day.
The programs are sent out three times daily, with the most interesting subjects reserved for a ninety-minute broadcast beginning each night at 9 o’clock. A third of the evening broadcast us reserved for direct pickup subjects and for the remaining hour motion picture films are used, the visual portion of the program coming through on W2XCD, operating on 2,050 kilocycles, while the sound accompaniment is sent out through the regular De Forest radio station, W2XCR, on a wave length of 187 meters.
Last night’s program opened with a talk on George Washington by Charles Rachjen, whose departure from the scanning disk made way for a Biblical drama, “The Unwelcome Guest,” at which the Saviour was not accorded the same honors as otter guests at a feast in Simon’s house. To keep the mood after the ancient story ended M. Forkus brought on his violin for another fifteen minutes.
The rest of the program was spirited. A view of mountain climbers in the Canadian Rockies was followed by a pictorial demonstration of “Progress In the “Navy” and, possibly to placate listeners with pacifist tendencies, the broadcast came to a close with a comedy, “Just for Fun.” which the De Forest program writer described as concerning “a boy who plays war ‘just for fun’ and finds the consequences not at all funny. A television addition to the great mass of modern literature proving war not to be glorious.”
Other “direct pick-up subjects” for this week’s programs will include the De Forest Little Symphony Orchestra and a mandolin concert for tonight, a boxing match and a piano concert tomorrow night, tenor solos and a television lesson on Thursday, piano music, a song recital and a talk on vacuum tubes for Thursday, and a studio party on Saturday.
The motion picture presentations during the week will take television enthusiasts around the world in an armchair. Tonight, a picture of life in a desert will yield to another Navy film, and the program will conclude with a camera record of hunting grizzly bears in Alaska. During the rest of the week hunting and adventure pictures will alternate with films concerning Theodore Roosevelt and Benjamin Franklin. Saturday’s program coming to a smash close when sight and sound combine to give listeners an exciting fifteen minutes in the cab of a Twentieth Century Limited locomotive on its way to Albany.
The programs for today and the remainder of the week follow:
P.M. TODAY [24]
9:00—De Forest Little Symphony Orchestra.
9:15—People Who Live in the Desert.
9:30—Mandolin solo, M. Binorick.
9:45—Over the Bounding Main.
10:15—Hunting Grizzlies in Alaska.
WEDNESDAY [25]
9:00—Boxing Bout, Beal vs. Wend.
9:15—The Diary of a Boy Scout.
9:30—Plano selections, M. Bacon.
9:45—Hunting Mallards on Long Island.
10:00—T. R. Himself.
l0:45—The Engineer.
THURSDAY [26]
9:00—Tenor selections, J. Harkness.
9:15—Benjamin Franklin.
9:30—Lesson, “Fundamentals of Television,” C. Huffman.
9:45—Ride ‘Em, Cowboy.
10:00—Speeding Up Our Cables.
FRIDAY [27]
9:00—Songs, M. Gabrielson, soprano; E. Hespe, accompanist.
9:15—Around the Clock With a Gift Scout.
9:30—Lesion 1, “Vacuum Tubes,” Allen Du Mont.
9:45—Anchors Aweigh.
10:15—Immigration.
SATURDAY [28]
9:00—Studio Party.
9:15—How Salmon Are Caught.
9:30—Studio Party.
9:45—The Doctor.
10:00—The Man at the Throttle.
10:15—Lumbering in British Columbia. (Herald Tribune and Bergen County Daily News, Feb. 24)

“Dumb” Acts Solve Television Talent Problem—And Cheaper; 2 ½ Hours Daily on W9XAO
Chicago, Feb. 24.
Dumb acts are now riding high at least for the time being, on the flickering waves of television.
With about 1,000 of its receiving sets distributed in the Chicago area, the Western Television Corp., laboratory, nursemaid to an electrical offspring of his own conception, has gone in heavy for freak ether entertainment to keep its customers satisfied and at the same time effect the building on prospects.
Outlet for corporation’s daily peekshow on the air is own experimental station W9XAO, housed adjacent to WIBO studios, with programs running from two and a half to three hours a day.
Until recently the Western outfit had been sending out programs similar in entertainment coming from radio stations, its talent bill running as high as $1,000 a month. Not a nickel of this is coming back by way of commercial hookups, because of the federal Radio Commission’s ban against the use of television as an advertising medium.
Somebody in the local television organization got the idea there was a flock of the non-singing and non-gagging variety lying around Chicago that could be picked up for about coffee and cake.
Magic N. G.
Word sped around that W9XAO was in the field for dumb and freak acts. In quick time the studio was besieged by a daily run of vaudeville and outdoor show layoffs.
Station started off its new line of entertainment with a magic and illusion turn. Fan mail reaction showed this type of air peekshow turn not so good, letters kidding prestidigitator’s efforts to kid spectators when obviously gimmicks were concealed easily about studios. A ventriloquist turn next got the merry pooh-pooh.
Since the Western Television apparatus is able to broadcast images almost in full figure and so clearly caught on the receiving sets, contortionists, jugglers, circus clowns, fire-eaters, sword swallowers, hand—to-hand balancing acts and similar dumb and freak turns were paraded nightly in succession before the twirling mirror and flickering eon lights in the W9XAO studio.
Boxers
Studio almost put on one evening a boxing bout, but with faintly impressive results, since the mitt—men too frequently got outside range of reflector light bean and eon lamps.
Custom of television studios turning on broadcast before specified program hour has incurred some embarrassing moments for those being televisioned. A recent instance is that connected with television station W9XAP, equipped by Western and operated by the Chicago Daily News. Sheet during advance exploitation of its Pershing serial had got a nationally known ex-military chief to broadcast his experiences with the A.E.F. leader in Europe.
Retired officer took his seat before the television photo lamps a few moments before the scheduled time of broadcast and prepared to get himself set just as the engineers turned on the transmitter, Subject for broadcast took a squint at the clock, straightened his coat and tie, wiped his forehead and then after a furtive look behind him pulled out a flask from an inside pocket out gurgled a healthy drink. Resulting flood of fan mail kidding the incident had the News explaining the stuff was merely cough medicine.
Chicago News, only other television broadcaster in Chicago area, spending about $40,000 a year on operation, this including talent. (Variety, Feb. 25)

Felix the Cat Struts Stuff on Television
NEW YORK, Feb. 24 (U.P.)—Felix the cat is playing hide and seek with you any day between 2 and 5 p.m.
That is when Felix struts his stuff—only you don’t know about it unless you have a short wave television radio set.
Felix is the subject chosen for television experiments by the development engineers of the National Broadcasting company, working under the direction of Harold Kennedy in a 20-foot square room on top of the New Amsterdam theater building.
Each day they place this cat doll on a revolving table of an old gramophone and his likeness and antics whirl through the ether.
His television picture is picked up with regularity by television fans in and around New York.

Wednesday, February 25, 1931
W1XAV-WNAC, Boston, video on 141m, audio on 1230kc.
3:30 to 4:00—From Television Studios: Women’s Federation, conducted by Eleanore Geer.
W9XAP-WMAQ, Chicago, 2800kc.
7:00—Cartoons, 8:00—Xylophone, 8:45—With Sound.
W9XAO-WIBO, Chicago, 2000kc.
8:15 to 8:25—Lucchetti.


Thursday, February 26, 1931
W1XAV-WNAC, Boston, video on 141m, audio on 1230kc.
3:30 to 4:00—From Television Studios: Women’s Federation, conducted by Eleanore Geer.
W9XAP-WMAQ, Chicago, 2800kc.
7:00—Cartoons, 8:00—Dr Bundesen, 8:15—With Sound, 8:30—With Sound, 8:45 to 9:00—Variety.
W9XAO-WIBO, Chicago, 2000kc.
4:30 to 5:00—Varieties.


Friday, February 27, 1931
W1XAV-WNAC, Boston, video on 141m, audio on 1230kc.
3:30 to 4:00—From Television Studios: Women’s Federation, conducted by Eleanore Geer.
W9XAP-WMAQ, Chicago, 2800kc.
7:00—Cartoons, 8:00—Variety.
W9XAO-WIBO, Chicago, 2000kc.
4:45 to 5:00—Don York.


R. G. Carpenter, 814 McPherson, announced today his experiment at reception of television had been successful Friday night [27]. He saw and heard a stage performance broadcast by the NBC chain [W9XAL]. Several times he got the picture of the performers, but could not hold it. Several such tests are required before the motor can be synchronized to get perfect reception, Carpenter said. The test was his first with the scanning disk recently set up.
Reception was on a short wave of 100 to 156 meters.
Carpenter said he is willing to assist anyone wishing to experiment with television. (Alton Evening Telegraph, Feb. 28)

Saturday, February 28, 1931
W9XAP-WMAQ, Chicago, 2800kc.
6:45—Sports (Sound), 8:00—Variety, 8:30—Sound.
W9XAO-WIBO, Chicago, 2000kc.
4:45 to 5:00—Varieties.

W2XCD, the experimental television station of the Deforest Radio Company in Passaic, N. J., will continue next week its daily schedule of television broadcasts. Programs will be given each evening for an hour and a half, beginning at 9 o'clock. One hour is devoted to "talkies" and a half hour to direct pickup of "artists in the flesh."
The pictures will be broadcast over W2XCD on 2035 kilocycles (147 meters) using a 48-line scanner, with sound accompaniment on 1604 kilocycles (187 meters) transmitted over W2CXR. The sound alone will be available to all owners of short wave sets.
Travel and educational films will predominate in this week's program with the additional feature of a direct pickup of a studio party on Saturday night.
Radio Pictures, Inc., through its experimental television station W2XR in Long Island City, will broadcast motion pictures daily except Sundays and holidays from 4 to 10 P. M., on 2010 kilocycles, and in addition from 5 to 7 P. M. on 2150 kilocycles. The usual 48 lines, 15 frames per second at 900 r. p. m. will be employed.(New York Sun, Feb 26)

January 1931

As 1931 began, the interesting television developments came out of Chicago. Los Angeles didn’t have a station. In New York, CBS wasn’t on the air and NBC was broadcasting title cards and dolls on a turntable. The Jenkins station in Jersey City was getting ready to move to New York. In Washington, Jenkins was content with repeating the same silhouettes and photos ad nauseum.

But there was national publicity out of Chicago as the two stations on the air presented live programming, including a dramatic play, a musical comedy and purportedly the first stock market report.

In January 1931, Bostonians were seeing some limited live programming, still in conjunction with radio station WNAC. But outside of Chicago, it seems television was more for the hobbyist and curious than for anyone wanting real entertainment.

Below are some of the highlights of television for the first month of 1931.. Interesting, one article discussed Bill Schudt, who would become the first head of television at CBS.

The New York Sun published one schedule for the De Forest and Jenkins stations. Other schedules found in the papers are maddeningly conflicting. The Boston schedules come from a newspaper in Portland, Maine, and rarely change. Chicago is a problem. The Associated Press published a version that didn’t change in the first two weeks. The Munster, Indiana Times occasionally printed a different schedule, one where one station overlapped with itself in what must be a typo. Then there are conflicts with what was listed on the radio stations which would have aired the sound portion of the telecast. And the three programmes I mentioned above weren’t even on the published schedule.

On top of that, some radio listings say “Television.” But they weren’t broadcasting visually. They were airing a transcribed musical programme from the Radio and Television Institute. And KNX had a “Television Orchestra,” even though Los Angeles didn’t have a TV station (what eventually became KNXT, now KCBS-TV, started out at the end of 1931 as W6XAO). I’ve done the best I could.

Thursday, January 1, 1931
W1XAV-WNAC, Boston, video on 141m, audio on 1230kc.
12:15 to 1:00—From Television Studios: Noon Day Revue.
3:30 to 4:00—From Television Studios: Women’s Federation, conducted by Eleanore Geer.
W9XAP-WMAQ, Chicago, 2800kc.
6:30—With Sound.
6:45 to 7:00—Novelty.
9:00 to 9:30—Novelty.
W9XAO-WIBO, Chicago, 2000kc.
7:30 to 8:00—Variety.

Friday, January 2, 1931
W1XAV-WNAC, Boston, video on 141m, audio on 1230kc.
3:30 to 4:00—From Television Studios: Women’s Federation, conducted by Eleanore Geer.
W9XAP-WMAQ, Chicago, 2800kc.
6:30—With Sound.
6:45 to 7:00—Novelty.
9:00 to 9:30—Novelty.
W9XAO-WIBO, Chicago, 2000kc.
7:30 to 8:00—Variety.

Saturday, January 3, 1931
W1XAV-WNAC, Boston, video on 141m, audio on 1230kc.
12:15 to 1:00—From Television Studios: Noon Day Revue.
3:30 to 4:00—From Television Studios: Women’s Federation, conducted by Eleanore Geer.
W9XAP-WMAQ, Chicago, 2800kc.
12:30 to 1:00, 6:15 to 7:00 [Times]
6:30—With Sound.
6:45 to 7:00—Novelty.
9:00 to 9:30—Novelty.
W9XAO-WIBO, Chicago, 2000kc.
1:45 to 2:00, 4:30 to 5:00 [Times]
7:30 to 8:00—Variety.

Commencing at once the two television transmitters of the De Forest Radio Company at Passaic will be on the air daily except Sunday with a variety program designed to aid both amateur experimenter and casual television enthusiast. The transmitters send out a 48 line picture at the rate of 15 images a second.
M146.5—W2XCD—2050K [De Forest Radio, Passaic]
10 to 12 Noon—Film features.
3:30 to 6— Films.
9 to 11—Films.
M146.5—W2XCR—2050K [Jenkins Television, Jersey City]
2 to 3:30—Direct pickup.
7 to 9—Direct pickup.
M103—W2XR–2900K [Radio Pictures, Long Island City]
Radio Pictures, Inc., an experimental television station located in Long Island City, broadcasts motion pictures and half-tone films daily except Sundays and holidays, from 4 to 10 P. M. The transmitter is synchronized with the public lighting service in Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx, Westchester (as far north as Peekskill), Queens and Nassau counties. The usual 48 lines 15 frames per second at 900 r. p. m. are employed. (N.Y. Sun, Jan. 3)

PLAN TELEVISION TESTS
Washington. Jan. 3.—Authority to experiment with television in the ultra-high frequencies has been granted by the radio commission to the Journal company, which operates WTMJ, at Milwaukee, Wis.
The license is for a channel band 1,000 kilocycles wide, ten times that of other visual broadcasting stations and 500 watts. (Muncie Sunday Star)

TELEVISION'S FIRST PLAY
Chicago Station Test Proves Drama Is Adaptable.
USED SPECIAL MAKEUP
'Maker of Dreams' Seen and Heard by Owners of Televisors.
Special Correspondence to THE SUN.
CHICAGO, Jan. 10. — The simultaneous sight and sound broadcast of a playlet, "The Maker of Dreams, by Oliphant Downs, through the Chicago stations W9XAP and WMAQ last Wednesday night is seen as another step forward in the advancement of the art of television. The presentation represented the first attempt to put on such a program in the mid-West and demonstrated that television drama was not only feasible but practical, according to reports gathered from owners of television receivers in the Chicago area.
Borrowing Film Technic.
The studio arrangement at W9XAP is such that Immediate changes can he made from the long shots or full lengths to semi-close-ups or close-ups. The feat is accomplished through the use of a double installation of scanning mechanisms, one of which takes care of the close-ups, the other the long shots and the semi-close-ups, The change from the long shots to the semi-close-ups is made through a system of lenses installed on one of the scanners, by which the size of the lighted area in the studio is changed and the amount of light reflected upon the photocells is intensified.
Remote control devices that permitted the changing of the light fields from three different positions were installed in the W9XAP studios last week. At one time during the enacting of the play the switching was controlled by one of the participants seated before the close-up position, while that artist carried on a conversation with another located in a distant portion of the room within the semi-close-up area.
Required Special Make-Up.
Experiments had been conducted to determine the importance of the materials and colors for costumes, so that the participants in "The Maker of Dreams" were costumed and made up in accordance with the findings during the last few months. Especially prepared makeup developed by Max Factor for television purposes was used.
The production of a television drama differs radically from the practices employed in talking movies in the movie world the long shots are made at one setting, the close-ups at another and so on, with the film cut and assembled to give the proper sequence in the editorial department. Not so with television. There is no opportunity for editing. What goes out on the air is done, and the close-ups must follow the long shots or vice versa without break in the continuity and with as little intervening time as possible between the break-overs.
Continuity Reported Perfect.
Not a single report of a catch in the continuity of the first presentation of a television drama was received at the station, which further demonstrates that with the exercising of care a television drama can be synchronized with sound with the same accuracy to which the radio listening public has become accustomed. The program did more than demonstrate, however, for it fully convinced the owners and operators of W9XAP and WMAQ that television is a reality, ready for the public. (New York Sun, Jan. 10)

Monday, January 5, 1931
W1XAV-WNAC. Boston, video on 141m, audio on 1230kc.
3:30 to 4:00—From Television Studios: Women’s Federation, conducted by Eleanore Geer.
W9XAP-WMAQ, Chicago, 2800kc.
6:30—With Sound.
6:45 to 7:00—Novelty.
9:00 to 9:30—Novelty.
W9XAO-WIBO, Chicago, 2000kc.
7:30 to 8:00—Variety.

Television Receiving Set At State University Gets Pictures Radiocast From Eastern Centers
It isn’t “listen in” any more, it’s “look in” now.
Maybe you cannot go to your home tonight, tune your set to a certain wave length and sit in on a performance of the latest stage success on Broadway. Nor can you be a fireside spectator at the world series, or follow your favorites through an exciting grid season no matter how far they roam in quest of further honors. You cannot do these things; at least, not yet. But you will be doing them before long.
It does not require an individual of unusual foresight to realize that these achievements are imminent features of our universe. Television is here, revolutionizing the world as did the invention of radio, and promising even more drastic changes in our modes of living.
Lexington has its television. It is operating, too. On three different occasions, pictures broadcast from studios in eastern states have been received on a set belonging to the department of physics at the University of Kentucky. The most recent operation of this apparatus was Monday night 5], its performance was remarkable.
In a darkened laboratory on the top floor of the civil engineering and physics building at the University, seven persons were grouped around a table, intently watching a whirling disk through a magnifying glass. The group included three members of the physics department staff, the 10-year- old son of one of them, two senior engineering students and a staring Leader reporter.
Machine Takes Life
Promptly at 7 o’clock, under minor adjustments by the operator, the machine began to take life. In the small focal stage of the disk, flickering specks began to take form, the blurred mass was beginning to mean something. Suddenly, having given not the slightest warning, a figure appeared on the screen. It was a little girl bouncing a ball, a series of repetitions. Her actions were identical for the space of several minutes.
This, we were told, was a moving picture silhouette being transmitted from Wheaton, Md. The broadcasting station, W3XK, is only five miles from the nation’s capital, and, because of the ease of synchronization uses this film as a “theme song” to open each of its programs. Unfavorable atmospheric conditions Monday night made reception difficult but the static disturbances were not sufficient to make the actions of the little girl indiscernible.
In a moment the announcer spoke, giving details of the program to be broadcast. Then followed a series of silhouette films. First shown were scenes at a baseball game, the crowd filing through the turnstiles, players warming up, the bleacherites in some typical antics, and of course the “cold drinks man.” Then pictures were shown of a stunting aviator, followed by a Wall Street stock market episode, all in silhouette.
The first hour’s program was devoted to this type of films. The observers next watched a series of half-tone portraits. A moment later and the machine, responding to the operator’s knowing touch, presented pictures in black and white. There on the flying disk was a moving picture of Dr. Lee DeForest, often termed the father of radio.” This picture was followed by the appearance of others of the studio staff. Then came a group of prominent Americans, including Henry Ford, Thomas Edison and others. But, another surprise, we were informed that this was the DeForest station, W2XCD, located in Passaic, N. J., now broadcasting. Both stations were operating on the same wave length and the reception had been equally good.
Television is yet in its infancy, there can be no doubt of that. But improvements are rapidly being developed; in time, the prodigy will have reached its maturity, its perfection.
20 Licensed Studios
At present, there are about 20 licensed television studios broadcasting regular programs. One corporation is already offering to the public a complete set, fully equipped and ready to plug in a convenient socket anywhere. Others have equipment kits for sale for those who wish to construct their own sets and join in the experimental stages of this great invention.
The set owned by the physics department is operated by a short-wave receiving set, on which broadcasts of the Detroit police force and other short-wave messages have been received.
The principals of television operation briefly, and from a layman’s point of view, are these: The set consists of a thin metal disk, approximately 12 inches in diameter, and around the outer rim of which are 48 minute holes. From the rear of this disk, a neon light is shining through a half-inch square. This light is affected by impressions of a picture acting on the broadcast power in the transmitting studio. The receiving disk, when operating, whirls at a high speed. The impressions given to the human eye by the flickering light flashing through these minute apertures re-forms the original picture. A magnifying glass, afixed as part of the set, enlarges this impression for the observers and makes it clearly visible across the room.
All television broadcasting stations do not use a disk with the same number of holes. Attempts are being made to have the federal radio commission adopt 48 as the standard number, but its decision la still pending. The first attempts to broadcast both pictures and sound accompaniment in synchronization will be made about Feb. 1. (Lexington Va. Leader, Jan. 7)

Tuesday, January 6, 1931
W1XAV-WNAC, Boston, video on 141m, audio on 1230kc.
12:15 to 1:00—From Television Studios: Noon Day Revue.
3:30 to 4:00—From Television Studios: Women’s Federation, conducted by Eleanore Geer.
W9XAP-WMAQ, Chicago, 2800kc.
6:30—With Sound.
6:45 to 7:00—Novelty.
9:00 to 9:30—Novelty.
W9XAO-WIBO, Chicago, 2000kc.
2:00—Studio artists program. [Munster Times]
4:30—Studio artists program. [Times]
7:30 to 8:00—Variety.

Wednesday, January 7, 1931
W1XAV-WNAC, Boston, video on 141m, audio on 1230kc.
12:15 to 1:00—From Television Studios: Noon Day Revue.
3:30 to 4:00—From Television Studios: Women’s Federation, conducted by Eleanore Geer.
W9XAP-WMAQ, Chicago, 2800kc.
6:30—With Sound.
6:45 to 7:00—Novelty.
9:00 to 9:30—Novelty.
W9XAO-WIBO, Chicago, 2000kc.
7:30 to 8:00—Variety.

Television History Made By Chicago Sight-Sound Production
By RUTH BALDWIN COWAN
Chicago, Jan. 8 — (Associated Press) — Side-stepping sinister looking equipment, a small audience squeezed in between humming machinery in the control room of Station W9XAP last night [7, 8:30 CST] and watched from behind the scenes what is believed to have been the world premier broadcast of a synchronized sight-sound dramatic production.
The nerves of Broadway stars nearing a first night were not more taut than those of the trio, Irene Wicker, Vinton Haworth and Douglas Hope, who last night made television history in their appearances in "The Maker of Dreams." The play, a delightful fantasy, portrayed Pierrot and Pierrette about to drift apart when the manufacturer of dreams finds them.
Written by Samuel French, it was produced by special permission of the copyright owners and adapted to television by Mr. Haworth. The special musical score was composed by Sal Stocco.
The Play Goes On.
The cue, "Hey, you guys, ready," marked the arrival of the important moment. Outsiders were ushered out with little ceremony. Chief Engineer William N. Parker of Western Television corporation began throwing switches as did C. P. Lonie in the control room. Lights blazed, machinery hummed.
"The Maker of Dreams" went on the air to be received by those with a television and radio combination set, the effect being a close relative to a small talkie, but not without many flaws as yet. The most disturbing is perhaps the horizontal bars across the image. But the experts say "give science time."
The shades of pioneers in motion picture production might have hovered in an eerie background of receivers and suspended microphones in the small, windowless room watching a new dramatic procedure take its toddling steps in technique and make-up.
Noise Outlawed.
Everything possible was done to outlaw noise. The strings of the piano were muffled with felt pads.
Wrist watches were taboo. The microphone, suspended overhead to keep it out of the picture, was pitched at such a high degree that a lady-like sneeze would have recorded like a dynamite plant heavenward-bound.
Because the creak of shoe-leather would have given the impression of artillery in action, the men played in stocking feet. The girls wore soft sandals. Their costumes were of starchier cotton. The soft rustle of silk would sound like a hen farm on the cackle.
The make-up presents a problem with its individual difficulties. Davis Factor, son of Max Factor, Hollywood cosmetician and make-up artist, and Haworth tussled with it in rehearsal. Much has yet to be done along this line. Experiments to date showed that the best effects were obtained with a thick coating of grease paint with the eye-brows and mouth outlined in a brownish-red. The result seen in person gave the notion of a Halloween ghost gone pale.

Thursday, January 8, 1931
W1XAV-WNAC, Boston, video on 141m, audio on 1230kc.
12:15 to 1:00—From Television Studios: Noon Day Revue.
3:30 to 4:00—From Television Studios: Women’s Federation, conducted by Eleanore Geer.
W9XAP-WMAQ, Chicago, 2800kc.
6:30—With Sound.
6:45 to 7:00—Novelty. [also Times]
9:00 to 9:30—Novelty.
W9XAO-WIBO, Chicago, 2000kc.
7:30 to 8:00—Variety.

2,000 TUNE IN ON TELEVISION PLAY PROGRAM
CHICAGO, Jan. 8. (AP)—Basing his estimates on communications by letter, telephone and telegraph, K. A. Hathaway, technician at WMAQ and W9XAP, said today 2,000 persons heard and saw what was believed to have been the premier synchronized sight-sound broadcast of a dramatic production sent out last night over W9XAP.
The play, "The Maker of Dreams," was broadcast on a short wave length, 2,150 kilocycles. Hathaway said it would have been possible to have picked up the program a thousand miles away, provided the receiving set was of the same manufacture as the broadcasting set.
500 Receiving Sets About Chicago
The production was sent out over a Western Television corporation set and according to Hathaway, it is not believed, with few exceptions, any of the company's sets have been placed outside Chicago territory. There are 500 receiving sets in and around Chicago, and from their owners, Hathaway said, it was learned that reception had been good.
The technician said at the same time last night "The Maker of Dreams" was being sent out here, another television station, presumably in the East, was broadcasting in the same channel. He explained the peculiarity of television at its present development that requires a receiving set of the same manufacture as the broadcasting set kept the images from the other broadcast from being superimposed.
Interference Causes Diagonal Blurs
He said he detected another television station was on the air because of diagonal blurs across the picture. The untrained eye probably saw he explained, only the horizontal bars that crossed the image and which resulted from W9XAF’s broadcast. Hathaway said many radio technicians believed television would be principally local in value for some time due to the peculiarities of the short waves on which the broadcast is made. The territory that could be well served now would range from 250 to 3,000 miles.

Television was demonstrated to the Chicago police recently when images were broadcast by Station W9XAP, which is associated with the regular sound broadcaster WMAQ.
It was pointed out by Clem P. Wade, president of the Western Television Corporation, that with a police television broadcasting station and a television receiver installed in every police station and In every police motor car crime fighters would be provided with the most speedy and effective means of visual communication known to science.
“A habitual criminal’s name may mean little to the policeman on the beat,” said Mr. Wade. “But when that name is visualized for him on the television screen that policeman becomes a vital force in that criminal’s apprehension. Not only does the individual policeman thus become a man hunter in every sense of the word, but the entire police force, as a result, would have an added efficiency which might easily amount to an increase of 100 per cent. “With the aid of clear-cut television pictures it is actually possible for every patrolman, no matter how far removed his station house from headquarters, to attend a daily show-up by looking into a television receiver before he goes out on his beat,” Mr. Wade explained.
“Were this procedure repeated day after day the policeman would be far better equipped to combat the gangsters and habitual criminals because he would be able to recognize them.
“Here is another example of the aid television could give in the capture of criminals. Say a job looks to the investigators, first on the case, like the work of criminal X or Y, whose picture is contained in the identification bureau. The man in charge telephones his superior and immediately the proper photograph is placed before the television camera at headquarters and in a split second every man in a police, auto cruising about the streets and the entire personnel of all station houses knows exactly what the man who is wanted looks like.
“It is this instantaneousness of television that will give the police their big advantage, the instantaneousness of picture transmission. Television would also prove invaluable to the police in the location of missing persons,” said Mr. Wade. (Gibson City [Ill.] Courier, Jan. 8)

Friday, January 9, 1931
W1XAV-WNAC, Boston, video on 141m, audio on 1230kc.
12:30 to 1:00—From Television Studios.
3:30 to 4:00—From Television Studios: Women’s Federation.
W9XAP-WMAQ, Chicago, 135m., 2800kc.
12:15 to 1:00, 3:00 to 3:45, 4:00 to 4:30. 6:00 to 6:45
9:00 to 9:30—Novelty.
W9XAO-WIBO, Chicago, 147m., 2000kc.
1:45 to 2:00, 4:30 to 5:00—Variety, 7:30 to 8:00.

Saturday, January 10, 1931
W1XAV-WNAC, Boston, video on 141m, audio on 1230kc.
W9XAP-WMAQ, Chicago, 2800kc.
6:30—With Sound.
6:45 to 7:00—Novelty. [also Times]
9:00 to 9:30—Novelty.
W9XAO-WIBO, Chicago, 2000kc.
7:30 to 8:00—Variety.

Monday, January 12, 1931
W1XAV-WNAC, Boston, video on 141m, audio on 1230kc.
12:15 to 1:00—From Television Studios: Noon Day Revue.
3:30 to 4:00—From Television Studios: Women’s Federation, conducted by Eleanore Geer.
W9XAP-WMAQ, Chicago, 135m., 2800kc.
12:00 to 1:00, 3:00 to 3:20, 4:00 to 4:30. 7:30 to 8:15 [sic, likely W9XAO], 8:00-9:00
W9XAO-WIBO, Chicago, 147m., 2000kc.
1:45 to 2:00, 4:30 to 5:00—Variety, 7:30 to 8:00.

CHICAGO, Jan. 13—Achievement of another milestone in the advance of television was witnessed by the middle West yesterday [12], when a musical comedy, said to be the first presentation or its kind to utilize all the facilities of the latest television technique, was presented by the Chicago station W9XAO, run in connection with the sound station WIBO.
The station was equipped and is operated by the Western Television Corporation, which also operates W9XAP in connection with the Sound station WMAQ.
The production, which was written and produced by George Gruskin, co-director of the corporation’s program service and managing editor of Radio Industries, was entitled “Their Television Honeymoon,” and lasted for 30 minutes, beginning at 7:45 p. m. central standard time.
About 1000 owners of television receiving sets in the Midwest made up the audience to which this program is available. Only the central section of Chicago, whore television reception is not satisfactory because of a condition which corresponds to static in sound reception, it was anticipated, would be prevented from receiving the program.
“With present-day television facilities,” Mr. Gruskin said, “It is now possible to build presentations combining both stage and moving picture techniques. Though the sets are limited, as in the theater, we are able to switch instantaneously from close-ups to long shots and various perspectives of the players.
“The resultant variety of pictures gives s television production the appearance of a stage play photographed by a moving picture camera, except that it is additionally possible to fade various scenes into one another—movie fashion—without making use of curtains or black-outs. The voice accompaniment, which goes over the regular sound broadcast station, is synchronized more perfectly with the television artist’s lip motions than are the sound and sight effects in the talkies.”
Because of the diminutive size of the screen with which the receiving sets are equipped—approximately four by six inches—the number of figures projected is limited to four when they are shown full length, or to two close-ups. “In the studio demonstration set, however, which is two feet square,” Mr. Gruskin said, “these close-ups are bitter than moving picture close-ups, while on the screens of commercial sets they are better than newspaper half-tones.” (Christian Science Monitor)

Radio Listeners Glimpse Future in Television Broadcast of Play
By FREDERICK C. OTHMAN
Chicago, Jan. 13—(United Press)—An eerie glimpse into the future was afforded last night [12] to guests of L. P. Garner, who watched the first successful attempt to broadcast a musical comedy by television.
The play, “Their Television Honeymoon,” in which the bride was willing to see her husband only by television until a mouse got into her room, was broadcast from Station W9XAO, which is part of radio station WIBO.
In Mr. Garner’s home, several miles away from the studio, the guests saw the play produced upon a tiny screen two feet square, saw clearly the images of the actors and heard every sound, even to the final kiss of the “television honeymooners.”
Garner and his guests sat in a darkened room, in a corner was the television set. A tiny hole in the front of the cabinet gleamed brilliantly. When a switch was turned the light started to race across a screen...Then moved faster and faster until finally it covered the screen with light.
The light merged into shadows and faces appeared. Garner adjusted the dials. The pictures became almost as plain as those projected by the home movie machines. In addition the figures talked and the voices synchronized with the lip movements as perfectly as if the actors had been in the room instead of miles away.
“Their Television Honeymoon” concerned the tribulations of a young man whose bride insisted they live apart and see each other by means of a television set.
The idea worked beautifully until a mouse entered the bride’s apartment. Whereupon Jane called for Fred to appear in person, which made Fred so happy he burst into song.
The show ended in a typical movie clinch with a long, drawn-out kiss which the audience in Engineer Garner’s home could see as well as hear.
The successful broadcast was made possible by new inventions of U. A. Sanabria, 24, an engineer. These inventions make it possible, Garner explained, for the transmitting operator to retouch the images as they go on the air, and do away with the grotesque green make-up hitherto considered necessary for television performers to dab on their faces.
Previously, Mr. Garner said, television broadcasters have used single spirals, but, with the new inventions they use triple spirals in their scanning disks.
The difference, he explained in non-engineer language, is merely the difference between one and three eyes—the operator can see three times as well.

Tuesday, January 13, 1931
W1XAV-WNAC, Boston, video on 141m, audio on 1230kc.
12:15 to 1:00—From Television Studios: Noon Day Revue.
3:30 to 4:00—From Television Studios: Women’s Federation, conducted by Eleanore Geer.
W9XAO-WIBO, Chicago, 147m., 2000kc.
1:45 to 2:00, 4:30 to 5:00—Variety, 7:30 to 8:00.
[Times has 4:30—Studio artists in television program.]

TELEVISION WILL BE SHOWN HERE TONIGHT
Executives’ Group to See First County Demonstration.
Members of the Bergen County Executives and Foremen’s club will have the unusual and exclusive opportunity tonight of being the first gathering in the county ever to witness a practical demonstration of “television,” the new radio innovation.
The demonstration is to be given at a meeting of the club being held in the Hackensack Y. M. C. A., Main and Passaic streets, and will be presented through the co-operation of A. B. DuMont, vice-president of the De Forest Radio Corporation.
The occasion will mark the first attempt to give a demonstration of the radio investion in Bergen county. It will be received through a commercial televisor set manufactured by the Jenkins Television company, of Passaic, a subsidiary of the De Forest Corporation.
The program will be broadcast through stations W2XCD of Passaic, and W2XCR of Jersey City. The programs will be in the nature of music and speaking and by a special arrangement a telephone will be installed on the stage of the “Y” building to enable the audience to ask the speaker questions. The audience will be able to see the speaker and hear their questions answered from Passaic. An orchestra at Passaic will also play musical numbers as requested. In addition to the television program there will be a talk on “Twenty Minutes Interview With A Big Executive” by B. Spencer Newman and musical selections by the Corn Products Refining company orchestra. (Bergen Evening Record)

Wednesday, January 14, 1931
W1XAV-WNAC, Boston, video on 141m, audio on 1230kc.
12:15 to 1:00—From Television Studios: Noon Day Revue.
3:30 to 4:00—From Television Studios: Women’s Federation.
W9XAP-WMAQ, Chicago, 2800kc.
6:30—With Sound.
6:45 to 7:00—Novelty.
9:00 to 9:30—Novelty.
W9XAO-WIBO, Chicago, 2000kc.
7:30 to 8:00—Variety.

Thursday, January 15, 1931
W1XAV-WNAC, Boston, video on 141m, audio on 1230kc.
12:15 to 1:00—From Television Studios: Noon Day Revue.
3:30 to 4:00—From Television Studios: Women’s Federation conducted by Eleanore Geer.
W9XAP-WMAQ, Chicago, 135m., 2800kc.
3:00 to 3:20, 4:00 to 4:30, 6:15—Studio and television stars, 7:00 to 7:30, 8:00-9:00
W9XAO-WIBO, Chicago, 147m., 2000kc.
7:30 to 8:00.

Friday, January 16, 1931
W1XAV-WNAC, Boston, video on 141m, audio on 1230kc.
schedule not available
W9XAP-WMAQ, Chicago, 135m., 2800kc.
3:00 to 3:20, 4:00 to 4:30, 7:00 to 9:00
W9XAO-WIBO, Chicago, 147m., 2000kc.
4:30 to 5:00, 7:30 to 8:00.

NEW YORK, Jan. 17 (AP)—Pictures, transmitted by radio from Washington, are being picked up nightly by a New York enthusiast. The air line distance is approximately 250 miles.
This fan, also closely identified with radio broadcasting, is Bill Schudt, who conducts the Going to Press period on WABC and stations each Wednesday night.
Becoming intensely interested in television, he has progressed far enough to feel considerably elated over the results he has obtained with the simplest of apparatus.
In giving a report of his reception last night [16], he told of picking up W3XK, the station of the Jenkins laboratories in Washington, and seeing a girl dancing; a photograph of Dr. Lee DeForest and the signature picture of the station a film of a girl bouncing a ball.
Although considerable fading was experienced, the pictures came in clearly enough at times to determine what was being televised, he said.
The receiver Schudt used was a regenerative short wave set that he has had for five years. The two stage audio amplifier was transformer coupled, and his picture reproducer consisted of a simple scanning disc of 48 holes, a motor, a small magnifying glass to enlarge the picture slightly and a Neon tube. The output was a 171A having 180 volts on the plate.
The received picture was an inch and a half square. (C.E. Butterfield column, Jan. 17)

Saturday, January 17, 1931
W1XAV-WNAC, Boston, video on 141m, audio on 1230kc.
12:15 to 1:00—From Television Studios: Noon Day Revue.
3:30 to 4:00—From Television Studios: Women’s Federation conducted by Eleanore Geer.
W9XAP-WMAQ, Chicago, 2800kc.
6:30—With Sound.
6:45 to 7:00—Novelty.
9:00 to 9:30—Novelty.
W9XAO-WIBO, Chicago, 2000kc.
7:30 to 8:00—Variety.

Sunday, January 18, 1931
A television transmitter associated with WABC and the Columbia System is expected to begin image broadcasts on an experimental basis in March or April, according to a representative of the station. The new 50,000 watt WABC broadcast transmitter is scheduled to go on the air late in the Autumn. (Orrin E. Dunlap, New York Times, Jan. 18)

Monday, January 19, 1931
W1XAV-WNAC, Boston, video on 141m, audio on 1230kc.
12:15 to 1:00—From Television Studios: Noon Day Revue.
3:30 to 4:00—From Television Studios: Women’s Federation conducted by Eleanore Geer.
W9XAP-WMAQ, Chicago, 135m., 2800kc.
3:00 to 3:20, 7:00 to 7:30, 7:30-8:15 [sic], 8:00-9:00
[AP says 6:00—Cartoons; 6:15—Recital with Sound, 6:30—Cartoons (15 mins.)
W9XAO-WIBO, Chicago, 147m., 2000kc.
4:30 to 5:00.—Variety.
[AP says 7:30 to 8:00—Variety]

New York.—Paramount and RCA are understood to be negotiating with Philo T. Farnsworth for the rights to his patented television tube which is reputed to be the simplest and most nearly perfected, scientifically, for television and reception. The inventor, who is 25 years old, lives in Los Angeles and is not anxious to dispose of any of his rights. Paramount, which owns half of Columbia Broadcasting system, and RCA, which owns National Broadcasting, both companies, through subsidiaries, controlling theatres, are anxious to get the rights for television. However, attempts at getting commercial broadcasting rights from the Federal Radio Commission have been unavailing up to now. (Hollywood Reporter, Jan. 19)

Tuesday, January 20, 1931
W1XAV-WNAC, Boston, video on 141m, audio on 1230kc.
12:15 to 1:00—From Television Studios: Noon Day Revue.
3:30 to 4:00—From Television Studios: Women’s Federation conducted by Eleanore P. Geer.
W9XAP-WMAQ, Chicago, 135m., 2800kc.
[AP says 6:00—Cartoons; 6:15—Recital with Sound, 6:30—Cartoons (15 mins.)
W9XAO-WIBO, Chicago, 147m., 2000kc.
2:00—Studio artists and television program.
[AP says 7:30 to 8:00—Variety]

Chicago is planning another television demonstration. This one is to be visual transmission of New York and Chicago stock exchange ticker tape quotations, the first on Jan. 26. Thereafter it is planned to make the transmission a regular feature of WXAP [W9XAP], the television station of WMAQ. (C.E. Butterfield, AP Radio Day By Day column)

Wednesday, January 21, 1931
W1XAV-WNAC, Boston, video on 141m, audio on 1230kc.
12:15 to 1:00—From Television Studios: Noon Day Revue.
3:30 to 4:00—From Television Studios: Women’s Federation conducted by Eleanore P. Geer.
W9XAP-WMAQ, Chicago, 135m., 2800kc.
[AP says 6:00—Handicraft; 6:15—Cartoons (15 mins.)
W9XAO-WIBO, Chicago, 147m., 2000kc.
[AP says 7:30 to 8:00—Variety]

TELEVISION IS GETTING ALONG
More Programs Coming and Sets Will Cost Less.
Back of the scenes where their labors are not realized by the great body of experimenters engineers are concentrating on television plans for 1931 and 1932. The one objective appears to be the establishment of satisfactory serviee for that portion of the public awaiting the call to look-in on televisors.
At any other time during the last decade if television development had been in its present condition, these pioneers insist that the acceptance by the public would have been instantaneous, but business conditions in general have had their effect in retarding the promotion of this new industry.
Better Service For N Y.
According to the announcement of D. E. Replogle of the Jenkins Television Corporation, a new location is being sought for station W2XCR, heretofore located at Jersey City, N. J., in order to provide better service to the lookers-in of the New York metropolitan area. The station may be transferred to the heart of New York city, thereby securing maximum program material quite as well as proper coverage of the territory.
At Passaic, N. J., the DeForest Radio Company is building an elaborate studio and laboratory for its experimental radio television station, W2XCD. This station, which includes a radio telephone feature and operates on a choice of wave lengths, is to become the testing ground for new television equipment, thereby leaving the regular radiovision program service to W2XCR.
Covers Most of Country.
The Jenkins transmitter near Washington, D. C., W3XK, has had its effective transmitting power materially increased by several changes in the equipment. The W3XK programs are now being received practically throughout the United States under favorable conditions. The programs are being carefully selected from available films, suitable direct pickup means are being developed and plans are under way for a tie-up with a voice channel. Also, the power of W3XK is to be further increased for a greater service range.
A reduction in the cost of television equipment announced this past week by the only firm in the New York area equipped to supply the material is expected to create additional sales. A complete televisor can now be had, it is pointed out, for not more than the cost of a good broadcast receiver. As the demand for the machines increases it is natural to expect that the unit cost will be further reduced. (New York Sun, Jan. 24)

Thursday, January 22, 1931
W1XAV-WNAC, Boston, video on 141m, audio on 1230kc.
12:15 to 1:00—From Television Studios: Noon Day Revue.
3:30 to 4:00—From Television Studios: Women’s Federation conducted by Eleanore P. Geer.
W9XAP-WMAQ, Chicago, 135m., 2800kc.
12:15 to 1:00; 3:00 to 3:20, 4:00 to 4:30, 7:00 to 7:30, 8:00 to 9:00.
[AP says 6:00—Cartoons; 6:15—Songs; 6:30 to 6:45—Cartoons]
W9XAO-WIBO, Chicago, 147m., 2000kc.
1:45 to 2:05, 7:30 to 8:00.
[AP says 7:30 to 8:00—Variety]

Friday, January 23, 1931
W1XAV-WNAC, Boston, video on 141m, audio on 1230kc.
12:15 to 1:00—From Television Studios: Noon Day Revue.
3:30 to 4:00—From Television Studios: Women’s Federation conducted by Eleanore P. Geer.
W9XAP-WMAQ, Chicago, 135m., 2800kc.
[AP says 6:15—Cartoons; 6:15 to 6:30—Sports ]
W9XAO-WIBO, Chicago, 147m., 2000kc.
[AP says 7:30 to 8:00—Variety]

Saturday, January 24, 1931
W1XAV-WNAC, Boston, video on 141m, audio on 1230kc.
12:35 to 1:00—From Television Studios: Noon Day Revue.
4:00 to 4:30—From Television Studios: Women’s Federation conducted by Eleanore P. Geer.
W9XAP-WMAQ, Chicago, 135m., 2800kc.
[AP says 6:15—Cartoons; 6:15 to 6:30—Sports ]
W9XAO-WIBO, Chicago, 147m., 2000kc.
[AP says 7:30 to 8:00—Variety]

Monday, January 26, 1931
W1XAV-WNAC, Boston, video on 141m, audio on 1230kc.
12:15 to 1:00—From Television Studios: Noon Day Revue.
3:30 to 4:00—From Television Studios: Women’s Federation conducted by Eleanore P. Geer.
W9XAP-WMAQ, Chicago, 135m., 2800kc.
3:00 to 3:20, 7:00 to 7:20, 7:30 to 8:15, 8:00 to 9:00
[AP says 7:00-7:30—Variety; 8:00-9:00—Studio]
W9XAO-WIBO, Chicago, 147m., 2000kc.
4:30 to 5:00.
[AP says 7:30 to 8:00—Variety]

Television Flashes Prices Of Stocks in Chicago Test
W9XAP Broadcasts Ticker Tape, Covering 150 Mile Radius
CHICAGO, Jan. 26 (AP).—A few blocks from the financial hum of La Salle Street, men who make the wheels of Chicago’s markets rotate attentively watched an experiment today to simplify things for those who dabble in stocks.
These brokers attended the first television broadcast of stock quotations over television station W9XAP in a test conducted by the Chicago Daily News under the direction or Clem F. Wade, president of the Western Television Company.
Quotations Screened
An announcer was flashed on the slide, and he spoke to the audience, preparing them for the joy or sorrow to come.
The ticker tape was broadcast in silence by means of special apparatus rigged up in the control room. In its reception, the tape resembled that which runs across the top of bulletin boards in brokers’ offices and stock exchanges. The words were black against a reddish-brown background, and could be seen from a distance of twenty-five feet.
Fred Hathaway, radio technician, in explaining the procedure, said he believed that today’s broadcast could be received within a radius of 150 miles by those having television reception sets.
At the present state of development, he said, a broker could sit comfortably in his office, smoke a stogie, and watch the tape flicker across a television set at his elbow.
Residents in outlying districts and guests at hotels could get the quotations in the same manner.
Markets in Auto
Then Hathaway began to visualize:
He saw small television reception sets installed in automobiles and brokers watching the quotations as they drove to lunch, home or the office.
But he qualified: “Of course, they would have to have chauffeurs, or the accident rate—and perhaps the suicide rate—would come up.

Television Transmission May Become Daily Feature Through Chicago Station
CHICAGO—Broadcasting of stock market quotations through television apparatus, which was tested successfully January 26 through radio station WMAQ, subsidiary of Chicago Daily News, may be made a daily feature of about 15 minutes duration if minor technical difficulties are satisfactorily ironed out and status of such news dissemination is established by the radio station as falling within the restrictions imposed by stock exchanges in their contracts with Western Union Telegraph Co.
However, in view of the fact that broadcasting would not be in the nature of continuous quotations, there is little likelihood of such broadcasting coming ‘under restrictions which are set up as a safeguard against bucket shops or other illegal users of the information.
Apparatus used by WMAQ is manufactured by Western Television Corp., Chicago, which has been one of the early makers and marketers of television sending and receiving apparatus for home use. WMAQ is one of the first commercial radio stations to equip its plant for “televising” its programs and is currently offering limited visual broadcasts as part of its daily programs.
Principal backer of Western Television Corp. is Clem F. Wade, president, who was originator of the “Eskimo Pie,” a frozen confection. The corporation has authorized capitalization of 100,000 no-par shares, of which 50,000 are now outstanding. Western Television is currently offering at public sale through its own offices 20,000 additional shares at price of $12.50 each. It employs no broker. Application to list on Chicago Curb Exchange is contemplated in the future, according to officials. (Wall Street Journal, Jan. 29)

Tuesday, January 27, 1931
W1XAV-WNAC, Boston, video on 141m, audio on 1230kc.
12:15 to 1:00—From Television Studios: Noon Day Revue.
3:30 to 4:00—From Television Studios: Women’s Federation conducted by Eleanore P. Geer.
W9XAP-WMAQ, Chicago, 135m., 2800kc.
8:15 to 8:30—Frank Conville, Sunny Dale, Helen Yorke, Virginia Johnson and other stage stars in combined radio and television program.
[AP says 7:00-7:30—Cartoons; 8:00—Sound, 8:30--9:00—Studio]
W9XAO-WIBO, Chicago, 147m., 2000kc.
2:00-Studio artists and television program.
[AP says 7:30 to 8:00—Variety]

New York, Jan. 27.—(AP)—Television on a commercial basis has made its appearance in Boston.
Announcement from that city says that a local television company has made available simple apparatus for home use through a chain store group. It is in kit form and consists of a receiver and a radiovisor for reproducing electrical impulses as pictures. (C.E. Butterfield column)

Chicago. Jan. 27. Radio talent appearing at the R-K-O Palace here will shortly go on the air over W9XAP, Chicago’s one television broadcast station, owned and operated by the “Daily News,” also operating WMAQ.
This marks the first time R-K-O talent has appeared on the regular look-and-hear air programs. George Brown, of R-K-O, closed the deal here which calls for a broadcast once weekly.
WGN broadcasts for the Chicago “Tribune” will be continued.

Wednesday, January 28, 1931
W1XAV-WNAC, Boston, video on 141m, audio on 1230kc.
12:15 to 1:00—From Television Studios: Noon Day Revue.
3:30 to 4:00—From Television Studios: Women’s Federation conducted by Eleanore P. Geer.
W9XAP-WMAQ, Chicago, 135m., 2800kc.
8:15 to 8:30—Frank Conville, Sunny Dale, Helen Yorke, Virginia Johnson and other stage stars in combined radio and television program.
[AP says 6:00—Handcraft; 6:30—Cartoons; 7:00—Variety, 8:00—With Sound, 8:30--9:00—Studio]
W9XAO-WIBO, Chicago, 147m., 2000kc.
2:00-Studio artists and television program.
[AP says 7:30 to 8:00—Variety, 8:15—to be announced]

Thursday, January 29, 1931
W1XAV-WNAC, Boston, video on 141m, audio on 1230kc.
12:15 to 1:00—From Television Studios: Noon Day Revue.
3:30 to 4:00—From Television Studios: Women’s Federation conducted by Eleanore P. Geer.
W9XAP-WMAQ, Chicago, 135m., 2800kc.
12:15-1:00, 3:00-3:330, 4:00-4:30, 6:15-Studio and television stars. 7:00-7:30, 8:00-9:00.
[AP says 7:00—Variety, 8:00—With Sound, 8:30--Cartoons]
W9XAO-WIBO, Chicago, 147m., 2000kc.
1:45-2:05, 7:30 to 8:00
[AP says 7:30 to 8:00—Variety]

Friday, January 30, 1931
W1XAV-WNAC, Boston, video on 141m, audio on 1230kc.
12:15 to 1:00—From Television Studios: Noon Day Revue.
3:30 to 4:00—From Television Studios: Women’s Federation conducted by Eleanore P. Geer.
W9XAP-WMAQ, Chicago, 135m., 2800kc.
[AP says 7:00—Cartoons. 8:00 to 9:00—Variety]
W9XAO-WIBO, Chicago, 147m., 2000kc.
[AP says 7:30 to 8:00—Variety]

Saturday, January 31, 1931
W1XAV-WNAC, Boston, video on 141m, audio on 1230kc.
12:36 to 1:00—From Television Studios: Noon Day Revue.
W9XAP-WMAQ, Chicago, 135m., 2800kc.
[AP says 6:45—Sports. 8:00—Variety, 8:30--Sound]
W9XAO-WIBO, Chicago, 147m., 2000kc.
[AP says 7:30 to 8:00—Variety]

Boston Crowd Sees Television In Chain Store
4,000 Enthusiasts File in Line Before Small Kit Receiver Tuned to W1XAV Programs
Televisor Parts for $90
Station Uses 48-Hole Scanner and Has 50-Mile Range
BOSTON, Mass., Jan. 31.—Television crashed the gates of Boston, not only figuratively but literally, last week when 4,000 people crowded and swarmed through the basement of a local chain department store to get a peep at television. Employees strove to keep the mob in a line which wound back and forth among counters, up a flight of stairs and thence out on to the sidewalk where the line continued.
News men came, then photographers, then sound news trucks and then the police. The mob was orderly but determined. They were going to see some television.
No Radical Improvement
From such a demonstration one might think that something radical in television improvement had arrived. But this was not so. What had happened had been the old story of early radio days, something to tune in on and something to make to receive it which could be afforded by the average person. Thus did common sense planning succeed where spectacular claims and exaggerations had failed in the past.
Without broadcasting stations no one would ever have tried to hear radio. Something on the air all the time was stimulus for the early years of that art. Next came the opportunity of getting a good set for listening, at a reasonable price if one built it himself.
Set building entranced the tinkerer, the results gave him a use for his device after he had built it and the broadcasting stations gave him the programs that made it useful. Thus did sound broadcasting succeed and thus does history seem to be repeating itself in television.
Distributing Parts
One single change, however, has been overlooked by the television promoters up to date which the Short Wave and Television Laboratory has carefully worked out, and that is the method of parts distribution. In radio the chain department stores are about the only places that are selling parts. Their prices are low enough to attract people away from complete receivers.
Such television receivers as now exist in complete form are very expensive, too much so for the amount of entertainment one can get at this period in the development of the art. Building your own from parts properly priced makes the limited material now available worth while. The public in Boston does not seem to expect too much in the way of fine definition. They are willing to take what they can get, as in the early day5 of sound broadcasting, if they are not misled by exaggerated claims.
Receiver for $90
The Short Wave and Television Laboratory, after several years of work, has completed a receiver for television which can be marketed in kit form through the chain department stores at around $90. The public seems to accept this price as fair enough for such a new art. But this outfit has not stopped there. It guarantees the purchaser something to look at by a television signal on the air day and night, with some one sitting in front of the television all the time, talking, singing and doing anything else which will lend movement to a countenance.
This combination, plus the opportunity of passers-by to see television as given at the store, seems to be the answer to starting television popularity, at least in Boston.
Stat1on W1XAV is operated by the Short Wave and Television Laboratory on about 140 meters with 500 watts. The equipment is of the best design and generously proportioned, and decorated studios feature this station.
New Scanning System
The television system used is the forty-eight-hole plan in common use, except that this concern has worked out a different scanning arrangement making for compactness and good subject analysis. Instead of the usual disk, a so-called scanning spider revolves in a plane at right angles to the scanning light beam. Around the edge of this spider, fastened along one edge in an upright position, is a steel strip in which are punched the scanning holes. The whole thing looks like an inverted enlarged coffee can cover, the spider being the circular flat area and sides the scanning strip.
With this method of scanning the subject is analyzed in a series of absolutely straight lines rather than the slight curve obtained with the usual scanning disk arrangement. The holes are square to get the maximum amount of light and definition.
This scanning spider is only about ten inches in diameter, permitting the whole television end of the receiver to be kept in a very small space. Station W1XAV uses a scanning spider for the broadcasting as well.
The receiver used with the system has a single stage of radio frequency followed by a detector. The audio amplifier consists of three stages of resistance coupled heater type tubes, since the whole set is A. C. operated.
The signals from W1XAV have been heard over 1,000 miles away and pcitures actually seen at that distance. A good, steady signal gets out for about fifty miles day and night. The Short Wave and Television Laboratory has just received a license for a 190-meter experimental voice station to accompany its picture transmissions, which will insure its offering the listener and see-er-in a complete combination.
The programs other than the steady pictures of various people offered so far have consisted of different popular Boston radio entertainers. The high spot was the arrival in the studios of none other than Rudy Vallee last week who was televised as well as forty-eight holes could do it.
The scanning system used permits the quick change to a sixty-hole system by the substitution of a sixty hole strip around the edge of the spider in place of the regular forty-eight-hole affair. Alternate programs with forty-eight and sixty holes are planned for the future, which will give the experimenters at home something to tinker with, the thing television needs most of all at this stage of the game.
During the store tests last week, since the sound station was then available, the voice part of the demonstration was carried by telephone lines from the broadcasting station to the store. The television came over the air from W1XAV.
Some reports have been about that this station was to go into paid advertising television, but this distinctly denied by the owners, since an experimental license does not permit sales of time. This station will be operated on the basis of aiding in television development. (Herald Tribune, Feb. 1)