March-April 1932

New York lost one of its major television stations in April 1932.

Quite suddenly, W2XCR went off the air. It was one of two stations that were broadcasting studio programming; the others aired either pictures or films.

Jenkins Television had been working on new technical developments and insisted it was going to return. It never did. The company was dealing with receivership and its assets were bought in 1933 by RCA.

The station turned off the camera four days after its license was renewed by the Federal Radio Commission.

This left CBS’ W2XAB as the only station in New York broadcasting live from a studio. John V.L. Hogan’s W2XR was airing films with sound.

(At this time, WCDA 1350 in New York was airing “The Television Hour” on Tuesday nights, but there’s nothing I’ve found to show this was connected with a TV station. Despite its name, the show was 15 minutes).

There had been warnings for months in the papers about stock scams involving television promoters. The FRC decided to act in the case of the owners of W1XAV in Boston.

Below is a selection of stories for March and April 1932. No newspapers available on line provide schedules for the New York stations. W2XAB seems to have operated from 8 to 11 p.m. on weekdays, and 8 to 10 p.m. on weekends. As of Saturday, March 11, it added an extra hour of programming on Saturday (until 11 p.m.). W2XCR was on the air daily from 6 to 7:45 with shows from WINS radio, and then silent pictures after that until 9 p.m. As of Monday, March 21, it added a half hour from WINS, broadcasting from 6 to 8:15 p.m. then silent pictures for the next 45 minutes. But, as a story below relates, the station hadn’t been airing live shows for some time before it closed.

There are a couple of items indicating what kind of programming was available from W6XAO in Los Angeles (lines) and W9XCI, the Purdue University station (actual film).

Thursday, March 3, 1932
Appeals for the kidnapers of the Lindbergh baby to give the child his proper diet and to communicate with the parents immediately were broadcast repeatedly last night [3] and are being repeated today.
Charles Francis Coe, criminologist, of the National Broadcasting Co., appealed to the kidnapers, “If there is a spark of decency in you, care for that baby.” Announcers read, at frequent intervals the following statement, authorised by Lindbergh.
“Colonel and Mrs. Lindbergh not only wish but hope that whoever is in possession of the child will make every effort to communicate with them.”
Every 15 minute, the Columbia Broadcasting Co.’s television station, W2XAB, broadcast a picture of the kidnaped child.
WOR, which claimed to have been first on the air Tuesday night [1], with news of the kidnaping, last night presented programs recalling incidents in Lindbergh’s life.
For the second successive night radio stations were manned all night, ready to inform the world instantly in the event the baby is found.
Newspapers in the East have been co-operating by printing descriptions of little Charles Augustus Lindbergh, jr., daily, also listing his diet. (Brooklyn Times, Mar. 4)

CBS reports that Joseph Rezac, 632 North Lincoln street, West Point, Neb., has been able to pick up and receive with good clarity the television programs broadcast by W2XAB, the CBS television transmitter . . . This is the greatest distance every [sic] received by television, CBS claims . . . It is probably the first time any television has been received in Nebraska. (Bill Wiseman column, Omaha Bee-News, March 3, 1932)

That television has become more than just a dream is told by the story of the two Rezac twins, John and Joseph, Sons of Frank Rezac of North Lincoln street in this city. These two boys have rigged up a television receiver out of parts that they bought and are now receiving picture programs from stations in New York, Maryland and New Jersey.
Strictly speaking the television outfit is a result of Joe’s efforts while John has taken a greater interest in operating his own short wave broadcasting station. These boys came deeply involved in radio about 2 years ago, when they started to play with a small one-tube outfit that was given to them.
They got hold of some old radios and a lot of old parts which they built and rebuilt into various radio sets until they became quite expert in this line.
About the middle of last February Joe put his television apparatus together from the parts which he ordered separately out of a radio catalogue. With nothing to go by, no one to instruct him, except a few brief directions that came with the parts, he experimented and tried various things until finally he was successful in receiving pictures.
It is rather difficult to tune in the station, and get a clear picture. The alternating current with which he operates the apparatus is not steady and therefore causes much interference. Static, local interference and the great distance from the broadcasting station are the most serious hindrances to uninterrupted television reception, but on some nights Joe has been successful in getting programs very clearly.
After his first few successful at attempts to tune in the pictures, he reported to the New York station, W2XAB, a part of a program and was credited with having been the most distant receiver of television pictures from that station. Joe can bring in most any of the stations in this country which broadcast in a range that his set will cover. Singing, talking, dancing and dancing lessons, piano lessons and a host of other things have been brought in. Although, the sound does not come in simultaneously with the picture, it could easily be made to do so. All that is required is the picture of the person talking or singing as in the silent movies. The sound is broadcast on another wave length and would require another receiver to pick it up.
In the few weeks that Joe has had his television outfit in operation he has noticed much improvement in the broadcasting. Pictures come in much clearer now than they used to. W3XK at Silver Springs, Maryland and W2XAP at Passaic, N. J., as well as the New York Station, are tuned in every night. Several other stations have been received, but their identity has not been verified. (West Point News, Mar. 10)

Sunday, March 6, 1932
The bureau of home economics at the New York Edison Co., in collaboration with the May Radio & Television Corp. of New York and New Jersey, presented three very novel programs of short television broadcasts at the Electrical Institute of the Electrical Association of New York, Grand Central palace, Manhattan, on Feb. 25 and 26.
Using Station WINS, the engineers of the May Radio & Television Corp. delighted three enthusiastic audiences with this novel presentation. Thursday, the television broadcast feature was an address by Ralph Neumiller, managing director of the Electrical Association of New York; while on Friday, Clarence L. Law, president of the association, spoke. Popular radio artists supplemented the program with songs and music.
The auditorium was crowded on all three occasions and it was necessary, at the final broadcast, for the doors to be closed long before the scheduled time for the television demonstration, so rapidly had the word been passed around concerning the success the May concern had achieved its demonstration. (Brooklyn Daily Times, Mar. 6)

A new method of radiovision which operates like a motion picture will be announced by Dr. Charles F. Jenkins, physicist, in “The Yale Scientific Magazine” to be published tomorrow. Dr. Jenkins has received the medal of the Franklin Institute, and is an authority in radio-photography and television. This system of radiovision, he says, is similar in erect to motion pictures, but instead of film moving to give motion, the pictures change on a stationary frame In response to radio signals. By the use of this system, any size screen can be used; while a small incandescent lamp, like an automobile headlight lamp, is sufficient for home television sets, synchronized with present home reproducers.
“In my laboratory we refer to distant revision as radiovision where radio is the carrier, and as television where wire is the carrier, just as we speak of a telephone as a wire instrument and a radiophone as a radio instrument,” Dr. Jenkins says. “However, the public has now accustomed itself to television and is not, at all likely to change.
“The mechanism, whether scanning disk or cathode ray, involves a rapid traversing of the picture area by a single spot of light in adjacent successive lines; we will assume sixty lines, with the spot diameter equal to one-sixtieth of the length of a line.
“Now, as this single spot-source supplies all the light for the entire picture area, obviously this illumination appears to the eye 3,600 times less bright than the intensity of the spot itself where the source is a crater, or 12,000,000 odd times less where the source is a plate glow.
“Obviously then, when a perforated scanning disk, or its equivalent, is employed, a well-lighted picture can be only small, for the illumination falls off as the square of the projection distance, when an enlargement of the picture is attempted.
“However, as each perforation of the disk is equivalent to a pinhole camera, it rather naturally occurred to me to substitute a lens-disk for a scanning disk, for the same reason that a lens was substituted for the pinhole in early cameras—namely, to gather more light for a brighter picture. So, with an intensely bright crater lamp and this lens-disk a rather acceptable size picture can be projected onto a suitable screen, for obviously, by this combination, the size of the picture and the brilliance have both benefited.
“Broadly, the new method consists in using the incoming radio signals to build up a picture in the path of a beam of light projected on a screen; that is, a picture slide in a magic lantern, the picture on the slide being formed thereon by electrical means instead of photographic means.
“This is the problem I put up to my laboratory staff. We soon found that one way to do it was to build up a picture on a gelatine-coated glass lantern plate with an extremely fine wire mesh imbedded therein, the gelatine being sensitized with a suitable electro-sensitive substance, potassium iodide.
“That did very well for a ‘still,’ and the picture could be made in the necessary one-fifteenth of a second. But if we are to receive radiomovies and television, obviously, the image must fade out quickly and be replaced by a like image arranged In a slightly different way, with the cycle repeated every fifteenth of a second.
“To do this we divided the picture area of the lantern slide into sixty Imaginary lines of sixty imaginary dots in each line. The chemicals coating the plate were also changed to attain the necessarily quick fading effect. This prepared lantern slide was put into a projecting lantern having a light source sufficiently Intense to brilliantly light the theater screen, which is the usual method.
“The projected picture on the screen is, therefore, exactly like the usual lantern slide picture except that it bas motion, or like a motion picture except that it is made up of changing picture elements instead of changing picture frames on a film. Incidentally, the elementary picture dots are so blended that they are as inconspicuous, on the theater screen as are the picture dots of a newspaper illustration.” (Herald Tribune, Mar. 6)

Monday, March 7, 1932
New York, March 7—(AP)—Parrot won’t talk when they’re being televised. Neither will “singing” dogs sing.
Bill Schudt, who runs the picture programs of W2XAB, New York, discovered that the minute he tried to put some animals before the flying spot of the television camera.
Apparently the animals get a real fright when they are forced into fairly immense beam of light, the only illumination in a darkened studio. (C.E. Butterfield column, Mar. 7)

Tuesday, March 8, 1932
NEW YORK, Mar. 8 (AP)—A New York hotel has decided to supply some of its guests with television entertainment.
Selecting about 15 of the suites in the 2,000 room holstelry, the management is making ready to install receivers which reproduce radio images on screens about eight inches square. Results of this experiment may determine whether a more elaborate installation is to be carried out.
The receivers are to be operated from a master antenna, picking up signals from the three stations in the downtown area.
As only direct current is available in the hotel, the problem of synchronization must be overcome.
Ousting the Ghosts
Because serious fading with accompanying ghost images is encountered in the local areas of television stations operating on 105 and 150 meters, the need for automatic volume control in the receiver to overcome at least some of the difficulty has long been felt by engineers.
Research workers of the Freed laboratories have attacked the problem by designing a 10-tube super heterodyne for television which incorporates automatic volume control.
The control, obtained through an extra tube in the detector circuit, tends to hold the signal level constant during fading swings if they are not too great.
It was necessary to use an intermediate amplifier which would not eliminate any of the picture signal and produce bad effects on the screen.
Better In Daytime
Television fading manifests itself in a way just the opposite to that in the broadcast wavelengths. There the signal always is better at night than in the daytime.
In the experimental picture channels, the day periods seem to produce a steadier signal with only slight fading, hardly serious enough, to give ghost images.
But about sunset the picture begins to break up and often reception remains poor throughout the evening. The poor reception also has been noticed 24 hours in advance of a change in weather conditions.
Peculiar effects sometimes are noticeable, such as a fleeting glimpse of a negative picture, with whites in place of blacks, blurred and indistinct images and ghosts that occasionally reproduce as many as six faint outlines.

Wednesday, March 9, 1932
LOS ANGELES, Mar. 9 (AP)—The first regular schedule of experimental broadcasting of television by electrical scanning has been inaugurated here.
It is being accompanied by a systemic attempt to map an area approximately 40 miles in diameter to determine the most advantageous points in which amateurs can participate in the tests.
The broadcast is as yet limited to checking the field as to receptibility through the results achieved by amateur experiments aided by information supplied by W6XAO, the Don Lee television station.
Intervening hills and tall buildings near the sending station have been found to weaken reception in certain localities.
Broadcasts Daily
The broadcasts consist only of vertical lines rather than an image. The wavelength is 6.75 meters or 44,500 kilocycles.
The system employed is that developed by Harry R. Lubcke, engineer formerly associated with the Farnsworth laboratories in San Francisco.
Synchronization is automatic and comes from the image pulse itself. The picture contains 80 lines and the receivers operate from a 110 volt alternating current. Fifteen pictures per second are transmitted.
The signals are sent out between 6 p. m. and 7 p. m. daily, coast time, with voice announcements every 15 minutes.
Reception is said to be possible on receivers using either scanning discs or cathode ray tubes.

Mrs. Virginia Chandler Hall will direct a television broadcast from Station W2XAB of the Columbia system at 9 o’clock tonight. The program will deal with fashion, and more specifically will touch on millinery and neck treatments.
The broadcast will be for the benefit of executives of the studio. Explanation was made that the program has a potential audience of about 1,000 persons.
Merchandise from a number of wholesalers will figure in the program. Hats have been supplied by G. Howard Hodge, Inc., and the Serge Hat Co., while Jean Adams, Inc., have provided the fabric scarfs and Zimmerman, the furs. (Women’s Wear Daily, Mar. 9)

Sunday, March 13, 1932
OBSERVERS who have visited the WMAL studios in Washington, D. C., report that the television demonstration of the newly added W2XAP was in every way as good as some of the widely discussed New York try-outs. The images were clear and recognizable. One performer received a telegram saying that his likeness had been picked up in New York.
Broadcasting of sight as well as sound caused a noticeable dressing up of the participants in the program. Men wore dinner coats, women evening dresses, and two performers, a man and a woman, appeared in bright-colored gypsy costumes. A curious effect was that all men televised looked as 1f they needed a shave and appeared to have sideburn whiskers.
The new televisor is said to have attracted more distinguished visitors to the studios of WMAL in one week than had visited the station in a year. Members of Congress were numerous, since this station afforded the first opportunity many of them have had to witness a television demonstration. (New York Times, March 13)

Monday, March 21, 1932
The Federal Radio Commission has denied the application of the Knickerbocker Broadcasting Company for permission to construct a television transmitter at Hoboken. Radio Pictures, Inc., of Long Island City, operating W2XR, a television experimental station, claimed that if the Commission had granted the Knickerbocker’s application it would have interfered with their (W2XR) programs. W2XR also charged that an English television corporation was behind the Knickerbocker move. (Brooklyn Daily Eagle, March 21)

Chicago, March 21. Television demonstration that RCA had slated for its radio licensees last week was suddenly and indefinitely postponed.
Set manufacturers had been invited to attend an exhibition of the latest progress made in the development of sight broadcasting and reception, but at the last minute everybody got word that the show, because of unforeseen reasons, had to be called off. Revised date was not given. (Variety, Mar. 21)

Tuesday, March 22, 1932
Clarence A. Chamberlin, the transatlantic flier, will be interviewed by H. Burt McElfresh of The Eagle over Columbia’s television station W2XAB tonight at 10:30. The sound portion of the program will be heard over W2XE.
In this, the 42d of a series of interviews with noted figures arranged by McElfresh, Chamberlin will be asked to tell more of his recent aeronautical enterprises.
Walter A. Fallon will offer several piano selections. (Eagle, Mar. 22, Jo Ranson column)

Wednesday, March 23, 1932
Another of the television “Fashion Flashes” was presented through station W2X[A]B of the Columbia Broadcasting System last evening [23]. These television broadcasts, under the direction of Virginia Chandler Hall, are now a regular Wednesday evening feature of this station, and last evening the program included shoes from A. Garside & Sons and from Bergdorf & Goodman Co., Inc.; hats from Vera Beresford: bags from Nat Lewis, and scarfs from Glensder Textiles and Best & Co.
Styles for active and spectator sportswear were selected as well as town accessories. Gay stripes in scarfs, a flexible braided silk for the straw beret, and color relation between the hat and the accessories were accented. Two felt hats were shown and the “ever increasing” interest in cotton was illustrated through a bag of cotton mesh lined in pique. Brown cotton mesh combined with kid was featured in an opera pump, while the ghillie type shoe was also shown in a mesh combination.
The detail of design and trimming is not clear in the television reproduction but with the running description the silhouette and general style aspect of the various fashion subjects displayed were discernible. (Women’s Wear Daily, Mar. 24)

Thursday, March 24, 1932
WASHINGTON, March 24 (A. P.)—The application of the Shortwave & Television Corporation, Boston, for renewal of experimental licenses for its four stations today was ordered set for hearing before the Radio Commission to determine whether the corporation has capitalized the licenses issued for the promotion of the sale of its stock.”
The commission, in announcing its action, said it also would seek to determine if the corporation was financially able to conduct experiments required by the radio regulations, if statements made in the application for constructtion permits, licenses and renewals were true in fact, and if stations W1XAV and W1XG were operated in public interest, convenience and necessity.
The commission said it also would seek to determine whether the transfer if stock of the Shortwave and Television Laboratories was a bona fide transaction or an evasion of the regulation to deny responsibility. It also said it would seek to determine if visual broadcasting station W1XAV was operated in public interest, convenience and necessity and if officers of the Shortwave Broadcasting Company had entered into a conspiracy with officers of the Shortwave and Television Corporation to capitalize licenses issued by the Radio Commission for stock-selling purposes and determine whether the operation of experimental station W1XAL, by the Shortwave and Television Corporation for the Shortwave Broadcasting Company was in public interest, convenience and necessity and if the Shortwave Broadcasting Company was financially able to conduct experiments as required by commission regulations.

Saturday, March 26, 1932
WASHINGTON, D. C., March 26. – Introduction of the Baird system of television, developed by John Logie Baird, British Inventor, has been barred from the United States by a decision of the Federal Radio Commission. Reversing the recommendation of Examiner Ralph L. Walker, the commission has denied the application of Station WMCA, New York, to erect a 1,000-watt visual broadcasting station, proposing to use the Baird system and to operate in the 2,850 to 2,950 kilocycle band.
The commission held that, though the application was in the name of WMCA, an American company, the proposed station would be operated jointly with Baird Television Corporation, Ltd., a British concern. Mr. Baird himself was one of the witnesses at the hearing on the application, and it is understood that practically all of the equipment has already been delivered to WMCA in the confident expectation that the station would be authorized.
According to the commission, the granting of the license would in effect be the granting of authority to the British company, which has affiliations with the British Broadcasting Corporation, In violation of the section of the radio law prohibiting alien ownership or directorates of companies holding wave length privileges in the United States. The commission’s contention is that the entire project is really intended to exploit the Baird system in this country “rather than a bona fide program of research and experimentation in the visual broadcasting field.”
Relatively few television applications remain pending before the Radio Commission now, though nine stations are in process of erection which have been authorized by the commission. Twenty-three stations are in actual operation. The latest application for television is the U. S. Radio & Television Corp., of Marion, Ind., seeking authority to use the ultra-high frequencies with a 1,000-watt station. (Atlanta Journal, Mar. 27)

Sunday, March 27, 1932
The newest television stations on the log, which now lists 27 visual broadcasters in this country, are to be known as W8XAF, which will operate in conjunction with WJR, Detroit, and W8XL, which will operate with WGAR, Cleveland. The former will use intermediate as well as ultra-high frequencies, and the latter will operate with the Detroit station in a synchronized ultra-high wave set-up. (Washington Evening Star, Mar. 27)

Tuesday, March 29, 1932
New York, March 29—(A.P.)— Plans to circumvent the fading and double images encountered in nearby reception areas of the visual station, W2XAB, are to be put into effect this spring. This station, which puts on a nightly sight and sound experimental transmission in conjunction with W2XE, both operated by the CBS network under the supervision of Ed Cohan, technical director, and Edgar Wallace, television engineer, has received numerous reports of poor images.
These reports, in most instances, come from a radius of ten to twenty miles of the station, indicating that the wave pattern is considerably altered either by reflection or by other causes. At the receiving end the effect either makes itself evident through double images or slight to serious fading.
Plan Field Strength Test
Engineers believe that antenna design has a great deal to do with the type of signal that is delivered. In an effort to learn exactly what is taking place and to determine what can be done, Cohan is preparing to conduct a field strength test of W2XAB.
Information obtained, he said, will prove of value in ascertaining whether a change in the antenna system now used will alter the wave pattern enough to warrant redesign of the aerial. The situation that has developed in connection with W2XAE has strengthened the opinion that the wavelength used, approximately 107 meters, is not at all ideal for picture transmission. Particularly is this so in areas close to the station.
To Try Short Waves
Investigation of transmission of both sound and sight on the ultra waves also is to be made, Cohan reported. Channels in the band from three to seven meters are to be used, with the transmitter operating as W2XDV. (C.E. Butterfield column, Mar. 29)

Television receivers have been placed in the Deaf Institute of New York, and Alexander Pack of the institute, will appear before the flying spot at W2XAB on April 4 to broadcast a “talk” in sign language. Just an idea of how television may be used in educating deaf mutes. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Mar 29).

The Eagle’s editor, Cleveland Rogers, will face a Columbia microphone next Wednesday, April 6, at 5:15 p.m.
His subject, “Newspapers and Government,” will be broadcast over a nation-wide network and will also be projected to television observers from W2XAB.
Mr. Rodgers will speak on “Bill Schudt’s Going to Press” hour. (Brooklyn Eagle, Mar. 29).

Saturday, April 2, 1932
NEW YORK, April 2 (AP)—Television has decided to try its hand at an exhibition of paintings.
The society of independent artists will present five leading artists and an equal number of paintings in a Tuesday night [5] telecast on W2XAB, with the sound on W2XE. Each artist will explain his work as it is held before the television camera. (C.E. Butterfield column)

Sunday, April 3, 1932
Television dramatic experiments have their thrills on and off the air at Columbia headquarters in New York City.
During a recent melodrama which was bring enacted before the flying spot of W2XAR one of the actresses was supposed to fall dead and when below the line of vision creep over to the other side of the studio, put on the makeup of an elderly lady and reappear as the mother in the scene.
Hilda Cole, who played the part of the heroine, properly died and fell out of the picture, but when she attempted to crawl out of focus and get into her other costume, she was met in the dark studio by one of the actors, new to te1evis1on who collided with her, and both out of balance struggled for an instant within the line of vision. Lookers-in, however, reported the acting “swell.” never for a moment realizing that dead heroine came to life to struggle. They saw only the back of her head and everything went on as usual.
The Shadow has a competitor. Visitors who wander about the Columbia corridors are just as liable as not to run into either the heavy cloaked Shadow or the white sheeted Television Ghost [singer Artells Dickson]. Both take keen delight in passing by studio windows and past darkened yet much frequented passageways just to give the visitors a thrill.
Believe it or not, here is how Henry Grossman, chief audio engineer of the Columbia Broadcasting System, contracted a severe cold last week:
Grossman was at his hotel watching a television show and that was all. He got the cold. The explanation which followed was unique in the annals of radio history. It seems that the draft coming from beneath the televisor and caused by the twirling electric scanning disk was sufficient to give Henry a very, very bad cold. Indeed!
Not that it matters, but did you know that:
Announcer Louis Dean described his first fight last week when he gave television fans a description of the Madio-Butler affair from New York by sight and sound? (Eagle, Bill Schudt, Jr. column, Apr. 3)

Tuesday, April 5, 1932
NEW YORK, April 5.—(AP)—The first authoritative statement that the ultra short waves are to be the field of active future television experiments has come to light.
It is contained in a report made by the television committee of Radio Manufacturers’ association and says:
“With the development of the new short wave channels at frequencies higher than 35,000 kilocycles, reliable transmission of television can be predicted.”
This statement bears out the contention of engineers and experimenters that the wave band between five and seven meters has offered the most favorable ether territory yet found for radio picture transmission.
While no great distance of emitted signals la believed possible there, the engineers point out that they prefer the so-called local service that these waves provide with present equipment.
The engineers go further by explaining that it la their desire to be able to deliver a good reliable signal within a comparatively small area, says 80 miles from the transmitter in all directions, rather than do as sound broadcasting has done—send out a signal that often is picked up thousand3 of miles away. This condition heightens the chances of interstation interference something that it is hoped to avoid with television.
Now that the laboratory men are pretty well satisfied that they can handle the high frequencies or short waves without too much difficulty, they see no reason why these channels will not become as practical as the higher wavelengths.
At the present time the number of transmitters operating with test programs of the ultra waves is comparatively few, the most prominent of which are those in New York and Los Angeles.
The former is reported to be using 120 lines, 24 pictures per second, while the Los Angeles station sends 80 lines at 15 pictures per second.
Experiments on other wave lengths, in most instances, consist of 60 lines, 20 pictures per second.
The generally accepted waves for picture transmission lie close to seven meters. And where sound accompaniment is used, this is placed in the vicinity of five meters, the two companion stations being spread about 17,000 kilocycles apart in the wave spectrum. (C.E. Butterfield column)

Wednesday, April 6, 1932
Lafayette, Ind., April 13—Tune in your television set, settle down in your favorite easy chair, and get the latest world news in pictures!
Purdue university’s experimental television station, W9XG after several successful months of preliminary broadcasting, has established a regular bi–weekly broadcast of pictorial programs that will include the regular news releases of Universal Films, making it possible for the owners of televL1ou sets to watch the development of world events in their own homes.
The regular broadcasts were launched on Tuesday, March 29, and already reports of successful reception have been received from Montreal, Canada, and Brooklyn, N. Y.
Until further notice, W9XG will continue the regular broadcasts on Tuesday and Thursday of each week. The program will be broadcast three times each day, from 2:00 to 2:45, from 7:00 to 7:45, and from 10:00 to 10:45. Each program will consist of standard motion picture film, with voice announcements of the subjects covered.
The station broadcasts on a frequency of 2800 kilocycles, with a maximum of 1500 watts power. Purdue’s broadcasting equipment sends 60 lines to a picture and 20 pictures are completed per second.
Under the direction of R. H. George, chief engineer, the Purdue station, which is conducted in co-oeration [sic] with the Grigsby-Grunow Co., of Chicago, has been conducting intensive experiments in the development of a cathode ray vaccuum [sic] tube type of receiver that will make it possible to automatically synchronize settings and receiving equipment. Judging from early experiments, the Purdue engineers seem to be near the solution of the problem.
W9XCI is emphasizing experimental programs, rather than entertainment, and all who tune in on the pictures are requested to report on the quality of the visual reception. (Rushville Republican, from the Lafayette Journal and Courier, Apr. 6)

Saturday, April 9, 1932
JACKSON [Mich], April 9—Application has been made by the Sparks Withington Co. of this City to the Federal Radio Commission for a permit for an experimental television broadcasting station, it was learned today. Capt. William Sparks, head of the company, said company engineers had been conducting television experiments for some time and if the station is permitted, practical tests will be made. Mr. Sparks declined to go into what had been accomplished in the tests, but said the company would not undertake to manufacture television equipment at least until the completion of tests. (Detroit Free Press)

NEW YORK, April 9. (AP)—Television recently has settled itself into two camps, one comprising the group favoring mechanical scanning and the other advocating electrical or cathode ray scanning. Each side is able to put forth strong arguments in support of the favorite system, with the other contending that its method is the better.
Engineers favoring mechanical scanning point to the simplicity and low expense of their system as its most important assets. Mechanical scanning depends upon a neon lamp, either with a flat plate or a concentrated source of light, whose rays either are passed through a lens disk or an open hole disk so that they will be broken up in the proper sequence to reproduce a picture.
A means of turning the disk at a speed of 1,200 revolutions per minute for a 60-line picture usually is provided through the use of a synchronous motor.
System Has Limitations.
While this system enables the construction of apparatus at a comparatively low cost, it has numerous limitations from the standpoint of use in the average home.
In television detail is limited by the number of lines that can be used. Up to the present engineers have not felt that more than 60 lines can be employed with mechanical scanning outside of the laboratory, although they have increased the number to 72 for use in one two-way expert mental television system.
The electrical scanning group, which depends upon a special constructed cathode ray tube that moves a beam of light back and forth and up and down by the aid of coils and condensers and attendant equipment, hold that their method is more practical in that it provides noiseless operation without any more attention than would be required for the average broadcast receiver.
Lines Unlimited.
Electrical scanning lends itself to the use of an almost unlimited number of lines, one experimenter having tried out 400 to reproduce a picture of lifelike detail.
By employing a uniform synchronization system it is passable to increase the number of lines at the transmitter without the necessity of making changes in the receiver. (C.E. Butterfield column)

WASHINGTON, April 9.—Stock promotion enterprises, attempting to capitalize upon the present nebulous foundations of television while holding out lurid pictures of the future of the visual art, are coming under the rigid scrutiny of the Federal Radio commission.
EXPERIMENTAL LICENSES
Still holding to its policy of issuing television wave length licenses only upon an experimental basis, the Commission is looking askance upon effeorts to persuade the public to invest in television companies simply because they hold such experimental licenses. In this view the Commission is putting new teeth in the campaign of the National Better Business bureau, started last year, urge the public to step warily into considering the purchase of television stock.
One Boston company has already been cited for a hearing before the Commission on “the questionable use of the licenses” issued to it to experiment with television. While no formal charges are made against the company, the Commission wants to know whether it has “capitalized the licence issued by the Federal Radio Commission for the promotion of the sale of its stock,” whether it is financially responsible to conduct experiments as required and whether its corporate setup is proper.
Someone has to foot the bill for the development of television, and it is not the Commission’s intention to curb the activities, technical and otherwise, of bona fide experimenters. It does, however, intend to stop companies from making exaggerated claims about the present or future of television on the basis of the franchise the companies may hold from the government.
GOOD FUTURE
That television will some day be practicable, the commission and the leading authorities in radio agree. But it has innumerable technical obstacles to overcome, and its economic status can only be determined with time. Investments in the future of this art cannot be stopped by the Commission or anyone else; what the Commission intends to stop are the sometimes fantastic and exaggerated claims made about the present status or future prospects of television.
In its determination to inquire into stock-selling schemes involving television, the Commission is revealing again its Intention of being “hard boiled” toward those who in one way or another misuse the radio franchises it gives them. In broadcasting, for example, the commission last year ordered a dozen stations off the air for failure to meet requirements of “public interest, convenience or necessity. It is the Commission’s policy, under the leadership of Chairman Charles McK. Saltzman, a hardened ex-Army general, to see that wave length licenses are held only by reputable and financially able citizens.
Carrying out this policy, the Commission has established an investigation bureau. With the citation of the Boston television company, there stepped into the picture, its new Sherlock Holmes. In the person of W. J. Clearman, chief investigator, it was on the basis of documentary evidence secured by Clearman that the Commission ordered the company to appear for a hearing. In the case of the Boaton company, as in other cases, the Commission issued the wave length l1cense only after satisfying itself that the applicant was financially and technically able to carry out its claims.
THIRTY TELEVISION STATIONS
Some 30 experimental television stations have been authorized by the Commission, of which more than 30 are operating. Nearly a dozen are adjuncts of regular broadcasting stations. For the most part, the experiments are conducted by bona fide companies. Some derive their funds from public stock offerings; others represent investments by individuals in the future toward which they themselves are technically and financially contributing.
But most of the more lurid stock offerings are being made by companies which do not even hold experimental licenses from the government. According to the Better Business Bureau, some stock is being sold by methods typical of those used by tipsters a few years ago in extracting millions of dollars from inexperienced investors.
“This,” the Better Business Bureau states, “involves the distribution of a printed publication with the general appearance of a newspaper or of a bulletin purporting to be impartial investment advice followed by long distance telephone and telegraph solicitation.” The Better Business Bureau makes no effort to define acceptable television or to predict when television will arrive but points out:
TUBE TRANSMISSION
“To estimate the approximate time when television will arrive requires an understanding of what is popularly understood as ‘television.’ It it [sic] is the transmitting by radio of pictures of people or objects in motion and capturing them by some equipment that will in turn reproduce them without great detail so that they can be seen on a small careen or through a peephole, then it has been an accomplished fact for some years. If the popular conception of television is the broadcasting of elaborate outdoor events such as ball games, so that continuous images can be observed at distant points in satisfactory detail and large size simultaneously with the action, then, judging from the problems which science must surmount before this is accomplished, television is years away.”
The Bureau urges all prospective investors in television to insist upon demonstrations, to marshal all salient facts regarding the known progress of television to date and to consider seriously just what it likely to be acceptable as popular and lasting television entertainment in the future. (Marin Codel, Honolulu Advertiser)

Saturday, April 16, 1932
NEW YORK, April 16 (AP)—Because its equipment has become antiquated, a pioneer New York television station suspends activities tonight [16] “to install new apparatus so that television program development can continue.” The station, W2XCR, began operation last April 26 in conjunction with the sound programs of WGBS, which later became WINS. (C.E. Butterfield column)

Wednesday, April 20, 1932
WASHINGTON, April 20.—The federal radio commission today denied the application of the First National Television Company of Kansas City for a permit to construct an experimental visual broadcasting station.
“The evidence relative to the character of the First National Tetevision Corporation is indefinite,” the radio commissioner’s report stated. “The company appears to be making a sufficient income to carry on so long as the organizers maintain their personal interests in the affairs of the company, but it still must be considered in the promotion stage.”
The application lists Sam Pickard, vice-president of the Columbia Broadcasting Company: Arthur B. Church, manager of station KMBC, Kansas City; S. Q. Noel and Gerald L. Taylor as promoters of the corporation.
S. Q. Noel, president of the corporation, said last night he had not heard of the denial of the application. The corporation had planned to operate the station in conjunction with the First National Television school, at Fairfax Airport.
The school has been in operation since September 1. There are thirty students and some have been graduated and are ready to operate television stations, Mr. Noel said.
The plan was to place the station at the top of the Power and Light building and to move the school into the building. he said. A 500-watt station was planned.
“In our experimental work, we would have broadcast programs which could have been picked up by anybody in Kansas City with a television set or attachment.” Mr. Noel said. “We will endeavor to convince the commission of the worth of our intentions.” (Kansas City Times, Apr. 21)

Friday, April 22, 1932
New York, April 22—(AP)—Red neckties are now taboo in W2XAB’s television studio.
The other night Harry Fries wearing a white shirt and flaming Cravat, was playing his musical saw before the television apparatus.
The phone rang. A spectator at the other end suggested radio artists would look better if they wore ties. Astonished, the announcer took a peep at Fries. The tie was in its correct position.
Photoelectric cells reproduce red a white, and naturally blended the red tie into the white shirt.
Plans being formulated by the networks for broadcasts of the Republican and Democratic conventions in Chicago call for several hours of transmission a day. (C.E. Butterfield column)

WASHINGTON, April 22. (Universal Press)—Nearly $15,000 will be invested in a new television station in Shreveport if the federal radio commission puts the stamp of its approval on the application of the Shreveport Broadcast Co., owned by P. L. and M. A. Carriger in partnership.
The comm1sion has scheduled a public hearing on the application of the Carrigers, to be held Friday morning. At that time testimony of representatives of the company, as well as of engineers in the employ of the radio commission, will be heard. The decision of the commissioners will be made in a few weeks, it is expected.
In applying for authority to erect the television station, the Carrigers state that they plan to spend $5,000 on the transmitter, $7,000 on the laboratory of the station and $2,000 on television receiving equipment. Work on the construction job would begin within 15 days and the station would be ready for us within 90 days from the start, it is claimed.
“The proposed station,” the application says, “will experiment and perfect the science and art of television, studying the various angles, and will provide interest for local fans who desire to experiment with this new type of radio transmission. This will contribute materially to the science and art of radio in this field.”
The station would be located within one mile of the general experimental station, W5XA. No operator has yet been engaged, so far as the radio commission is aware, but the chief engineer would be J. L. Miller. P. L. Carriger, who would manage the television station, also owns station W5CRU. E. D. and A. E. Stewart each own one-fourth interests in the Shreveport Broadcast Co., the same shares being held by the two Carrigers. (Shreveport Journal, Apr. 22)

Sunday, April 24, 1932
Television broadcasting, which with only a few exceptions has hitherto been confined to the East, gains one more outlet west of the Mississippi with the decision of Federal Radio Commission granting the Kansas State Agricultural College, Manhattan, Kans., authority to erect a 125-watt transmitter to operate on 2,100-2,200 kilocycles. This makes the thirty-fourth television station authorized by the commission, which reversed its examiners recommendation against the college grant on the ground that it had no definite television research program.
The only other college experimenting with television is Iowa State University, which holds a permit to build a 100-watt station to be known as W9XK, which will operate in the 2,000-2,100 kilocycle band in conjunction with the university’s broadcasting station. WSUI, Iowa City. (Washington Star, Apr. 24)

Tuesday, April 26, 1932
NEW YORK, Apr. 26 (AP)—Apparently forecasting a possible change that may come to general television experimentation before another year is out, W2XCR, first New York station to broadcast sight in conjunction with sound programs, has left the air.
Announcement of the closing said that program activities were being suspended to permit installation of new apparatus to replace that used since April 26, 1931. Although no reopening date was made public, it is expected to be in the fall.
This station has been operating on 147.5 meters, transmitting 60-line pictures at 20 frames a second. Checkups on reception made by experts and others indicated that while this wavelength is suitable for areas 100 miles or more from the station, it did not provide reliable coverage within the metropolitan area.
Fading and double images encountered within eight to 20 miles of the transmitter, while at greater distances reception was about all that could be expected.
Test Ultra Waves
Television-conditions prevailing on wavelengths from 100 meters upward caused engineers to probe the ultra short waves in the hope that they could find channels that would permit them to cover a given area with a good signal and without fading and double images.
This, they now believe, has been realized in a result of tests conducted in the vicinity of seven meters with antennae located on tall buildings.
Thus, most of the experimental television seems to be turning rather seriously toward the tiny wavelengths, where it is possible to obtain channels 2,000 kilocycles wide, compared with only 100 kilocycles allotted for the higher waves.
In television the wider the transmission channel the more detail that can be sent out per picture.
Hope For Greater Detail
Station W2XCR first started to televise the sound programs of WGBS on a regular schedule in the afternoon and evening. When the station changed ownership and became WINS this policy was continued.
However, within recent weeks most of the television transmission has been without sound and was mainly of a test nature with more attention being paid to its engineering than to its entertainment possibilities.
Upon reopening, the Jenkins laboratory, owner of the station, hopes to have equipment ready that make television program production more practicable from the studio standpoint. At the same time it hopes to have completed experiments which will make possible greater picture detail. (C.E. Butterfield column)