May-June 1930

There wasn’t an awful lot of television in New York City in June 1930 when John D. Rockefeller announced the purchase of a chunk of land that would be the New York home of broadcasting for NBC—Radio City.

During the 1930s and 1940s, there were plenty of radio studios. Television started out with a small one on the third floor of 30 Rockefeller Centre, but as it took over the family living rooms and network radio programming became emaciated, it took over the building as well.

But that was far in the future. In mid-1930, there wasn’t an awful lot of television in New York. Perhaps the biggest story was an interactive broadcast from General Electric’s station in Schenectady, W2XCW, with a theatre a mile away.

Meanwhile, Jenkins Television put W2XCR on the air from Jersey City at 139 meters. A newspaper in Plainfield, N.J. excitedly announced it would list the station’s schedule. That lasted about two weeks. The New York Sun, which had schematic diagrams to build your own TV set in its Saturday editions, began to sporadically provide listings as well.

In Chicago, WMAQ was readying a TV station. The city was being served by W9XAO, which aired live programming as part of a Northwestern University circus. Purdue University got permission to set up a station, as did an Atlanta CBS radio affiliate (now WGKA at 920).

As for CBS, it still had not applied for an experimental television licence. It had inherited a shortwave licence that re-broadcast radio shows from WABC, but it appears that W2XE was used to televise at least one show in June 1930.

Inventors were working on electronic technology which eventually made all stations on the air at the time obsolete. And the owners of W1XWV in Boston were testing colour.

Below are a number of stories for May and June 1930 along with listings for W2XCR where we could find them. One of the papers in Maine mentioned a television studio in connection with Bob Emery's Big Brother Club, but only for a couple of weeks (twice weekly). By the way, Leo A. Carroll on the station is not to be confused with Leo G. Carroll of Topper and The Man From U.N.C.L.E. fame.

FRIDAY, MAY 1, 1930
W1XAV, Boston (pictures on 137 meters/2180 kcs.; sound on WEEI, 508.2 meters/590 kcs.)
6:00 to 6:30—Big Brother Club, with Bob Emery.

WASHINGTON, May 1.—Allen B. Du Mont, chief engineer of the Deforest Radio Company, told the Federal Radio Commission today that the Deforest Company and the Jenkins Television Company of New Jersey, of which De forest owns more than half of the stock, proposed to pool their patents, numbering more than 500. Mr. Du Mont was heard in support of an application for a construction permit for a television station at Passaic, N. J.
The company now has an experimental station at Passaic, but is seriously handicapped in making television tests because of no license. Mr. Du Mont was especially anxious to erect the station, he said, in order to make some tests in television which were “quite radical.” These tests may develop a way to operate four stations on a regular television wave, whereas now only two are used. He expressed the opinion that great strides would be made in television within the next few months.
Purdue University also was heard on an application for a television construction permit, with A. L. Mecklenburger, engineer, telling of research work which promises a “novel method” of transmitting photos. This was pronounced by the Grigsby-Grunow Radio Company, with which the university’s research department has a working agreement, as a long step toward solving the television problem. (Herald Tribune, May 2)

NORWAY, Iowa, May 1 (AP)—Lawrence Becker sits by his farm fireside and sees movies in Washington, D. C., 1500 miles away. He does it with a television receiver he made himself.
Becker has had his apparatus, crude but serviceable, functioning since January 6. Each evening he tunes in W3KX [sic], the short wave television transmitter of the Jenkins laboratories in Washington, and watches intently the experimental broadcasts of special moving picture films.
Although static causes snow storms to appear in the televisor on occasions, Becker reports that the pictures he receives are unusually clear. The images are small and only a few persons can see them at a time by crowding around the viewing lens which is a reading glass.
Despite the handicaps of reception, there generally is a crowd at home each night from 7 to 9 o’clock while the broadcasts are under way.
Becker experimented a year before his apparatus worked satisfactorily.

CHICAGO—(AP)—Television has been hearing about this "experimental stage” for so long it has decided to see if it can't bring about a change or two.
So, with the help of some young engineers it has attired itself in coming-out clothes that give it a more dignified appearance as far as cabinets are concerned. At the same time, it has ironed out a few of the many kinks to which it is subject, although there remain a large number yet.
To show just what has been done, three types of receivers were used for demonstration purposes. Head and shoulder signals of entertainers coming from W9XOA [W9XAO], 42.9 meters, companion short wave transmitter of WIBO, were picked up in a hotel 40 miles away with considerable success.
Could Be Enlarged
Very apparent was the fact that with two of the receivers pictures were thrown upon small screens mounted on pedestals placed in front of the television windows. The pictures could be enlarged up to the maximum of the screens, 8x12 inches, merely by moving back the stands.
One model contained only the television reproducer, consisting of scanning disk, neon lamp and motor. Another housed also a short wave receiver for television, while the third had a receiver for broadcast reception as well as the television set and reproducer. To see with the small model, called a "visionet," it was necessary to look into a window in the front.
Inventor Was Teacher
The sets are the results of research work by Lloyd Garner, formerly of the faculty of the University of Illinois, who perfected the glow or neon lamp used for reception; by U. L. Sanabria, whose scanning disk and transmitter design was an important factor; by Richard Wagner, who perfected the optical system, and by William Parker, in charge of the broadcasting phase of the work.
Back of the laboratory efforts is Clem F. Wade, president of the Western Television corporation. With him are his two brothers, Martin and Hugh, also lawyers and also from Des Moines, Ia.
The Sanabria transmission system enables radiation of pictures with a minimum of flicker and wave band space. The photoelectric cells, which correspond to the microphone for sound, the design of Garner, are four times the size of other types.
Can ‘Shift Scenery’
The photocells are arranged in conjunction with amplifier mixing equipment making possible shifting of studio scenes without interrupting continuity. Flicker reduction, it was stated, is due to Sanabria's triple scanning system, which might be compared to the three-blade shutter for a moving picture projector.
The glow or neon lamp in the receiver is eight times more efficient than the average, it is asserted, making possible the use of a screen. "This higher efficiency is necessary," Sanabria said, "because the apparent brilliancy of a television picture at the present time is about one five-millionth of the apparent brilliancy of the source of light."
Besides WIBO, which has been conducting tests for some time, WMAQ here and WKRC, Cincinnati, are installing television transmitters. WENR and WCFL, Chicago, are experimenting with television broadcasts. (C.E. Butterfield, May 1)

SATURDAY, MAY 2, 1930
WASHINGTON, May 2 (CPA)—With an eye to the future, the Grigsby-Grunow Company, of Chicago, has invaded the experimental television field. It has joined forces with Purdue University in television research.
H. E. Kronz, chief engineer of Grigsby-Grunow Company of Chicago, said that today commercial production of televisors for home use is not feasible. His company, he explained, is trying to hasten the day when television will be practicable for the commercial field.
All of the engineering skill at Purdue is being concentrated in the efforts to develop television, the commission was told, and authorities predict its commercial practicability soon. (Allentown Morning Call, May 2)

The first night of the two night presentation of Northwestern’s student circus last evening [2] was marked by a demonstration of television. Through cooperation with the Western Television company, 6312 Broadway, an audience at Dearborn observatory on the Evanston campus saw and heard speeches by Mayor Charles H. Bartlett of Evanston, Walter Dill Scott, president of the university; David Forgan, and Bryant Washburn, stage and screen star, who were at the company’s studio. The demonstration will be repeated tonight and a “Miss Television” will be named in connection with the circus. The main performances of the circus are given in Patten gymnasium. (Chicago Tribune, May 3).

SUNDAY, MAY 3, 1930
WASHINGTON, May 3.—Authority was granted last week by the Federal Radio Commission to the Jenkins Television Corporation, of Jersey City, to construct a new television transmitter. The station will be used for regular broadcasting of television on a wave length of 139 meters.
The construction permit calls for a transmitter having a power of 250 watts, with unlimited time operation. The permit is for visual broadcasting experiments on the 2,800-kilocycle channel, since no regular visual broadcasting licenses, which embrace the field of television are issued. (Herald Tribune, May 4)

MONDAY, MAY 4, 1930
There are, at present, limitations as to what may be broadcast by television according to Clem F. Wade, of Chicago, where unusual developments of television are being made. It is not yet possible to broadcast a baseball game or a football game. Apparatus to make this possible has not yet been perfected. Generally speaking, it is present practice to locate the television pick-up apparatus within the radio studio, although this will not be the case with the installation at WMAQ, Chicago.
This station has just completed a special television studio from which it is planned to broadcast all of their synchronized sight and sound productions. The microphone is the only reminder of radio in the studio.
A three-quarter length picture is ordinarily to be expected in television, but larger pictures can and will be produced regularly. For experimental purposes the engineers, on several occasions, have utilized laboratory space as a large studio, and broadcast, exceedingly well, a boxing match between two youngsters of the neighborhood, a ballet dancer in full length, and an instrumental trio.
While, according to Mr. Wade, no claim is made that perfection has been attained in television receivers now being manufactured, he declares that a high state of initial development in the new art has been attained. A finished piece of apparatus at a reasonable price he said has been the aim of the engineers and he predicts such a television set will be on the market within the next month or two.
“A de luxe console will contain the entire equipment for the reception of sight and sound broadcasting,” Mr. Wade said.
“This includes the ordinary radio receiver and loud speaker, a short wave receiver for television, and the televisor. A second console model will contain only the televisor and short wave receiver, A smaller model contains only the televisor, housed in a cabinet. In this instrument the picture, instead of being projected on a screen placed in front of the televisor as in the case of the two console models, is seen by looking directly into a larger aperture located in front.” (Washington Post, May 4)

TUESDAY, MAY 5, 1930
W1XAV, Boston (pictures on 137 meters/2180 kcs.; sound on WEEI, 508.2 meters/590 kcs.)
6:00 to 6:30—Big Brother Club, with Bob Emery.

SATURDAY, MAY 9, 1930
That television may soon be an established fact in the realm of production, with pictures shown in private homes, and with the Warner Brothers controlling the television market, is apparently well on the way to fulfillment.
It became known yesterday [9] that the Warners have bought the Nakken patents for television production and projection, and for production of sound in pictures on film, which may mean that Warners are to abandon the disc method of producing dialogue for the more generally used method of photographing the sound on the film.
Theodore H. Nakken is president of the corporation bearing his name. Though a native of Holland, he was an admiral in the Russian navy during the late World War, having in charge the submarine division. It was while studying the control of submarines by radio that he became interested in another branch of radio, namely, television, and it is said that he has invented a very excellent method.
Jack Warner, Lewis Warner and Robert Crawford, the last named in charge of the music connected with Warner Brothers productions, are leaving next week for New York to meet H. M. Warner and other officials of the organization to plan enterprises connected with television and other subjects.
Chief among these subjects is the matter of wide film, which the Warner Brothers propose to use in the making of their pictures, to a certain extent, at least, with the probability that w1h1n a short time subjects will be photographed on it. (Grace Kingsley, Los Angeles Times, May 10)

WASHINGTON, May 9—Applications approved today [by the Federal Radio Commission] included a permit to the De Forest Radio Company for a television station at Passaic N. J., with 5,000 watts power; extension of the time for the completion of the Atlantic Broadcasting Company’s new 5,000 watt station until July 31. (Herald Tribune, May 9)

TUESDAY, MAY 13, 1930
Authorization for the construction of a television station has been received by Prof. C. F. Harding, head of the school of electrical engineering of Purdue university, from the federal radio commission in Washington, D. C. The new station which will be the first ever constructed for long distance transmission, will operate upon a wave length of 2,100 kilocycles will have a power of 1,500 watts.
Research work upon television has been carried on during the past year in the school of electrical engineering at Purdue under the direction of C. F. Harding, R. H. George and R. B. Abbott, with the Grigsby-Grunow company, of Chicago, cooperating. A new method making use of the new cathode ray, is being developed. Laboratory experiments have been so successful that the construction of a transmitting station and receiving station was found necessary for further experimentation. The transmitting station will be built in the electrical engineering building at Purdue, and the receiving station will be constructed in Chicago.
Like the radio broadcasting station WBAA, the television station will be constructed by students under the direction of the research staff. Only through such a program was it possible to secure a permit for the station, as the frequency bands available for television operation are few in number.
Although a great deal of development must be done before television can be of household or commercial use, according to Prof. Harding, the policy of the local school of engineering will be to engage in the pioneer investigation. (Lafayette Journal and Courier, May 13)

THURSDAY, MAY 15, 1930
W1XAV, Boston (pictures on 137 meters/2180 kcs.; sound on WEEI, 508.2 meters/590 kcs.)
6:00 to 6:30—Big Brother Club, with Bob Emery.

SATURDAY, MAY 17, 1930
BOSTON, May 17.—Competition on technical details making commercially available color television within two months is the latest achievement of Short Wave and Te1evision Laboratories, Inc., given in an exclusive an to the Herald Tribune correspondent here today.
The group is putting thousands of dollars into television research, and recently received a license from the Federal Radio Commission for transmitting in the 150 to 200 meter band. They now have an application for a voice broadcasting channel in order to transmit simultaneous voice and pictures. With the addition of color transmission extensive work on talking motion pictures permission will be possible.
When considering talking picture transmission one enters Into the best field for television, as the scanning of a compact film is much easier than scanning a large actual object. Now many of the best talking pictures today have color inserts or are all color and perfection of this kind of transmission therefore should create a real public demand for commercial television.
Method of Scanning
The scanning in this company’s system is accomplished by means of a “spider” named after the familiar cooking utensil and resembling it somewhat. A round metal disk is received in a horizontal plane by a synchronous motor.
Instead of the familiar iron such as a cooking spider a scanning belt is set in a circular slot at the edge of this disk or pan bottom. This is made of photographic film and the scanning openings are photographed thereon.
At present a forty-eight-hole scanning is used, but a sixty-hole system can be changed to it in a few minutes by merely putting a sixty-hole belt on the spider. This system is used at both the transmitting and receiving end. This spider is very small, about eight inches in diameter, making for a most compact television receiver.
The designer or this system is Hollis S. Baird. The president of the company is A. M. Morgan and the treasurer E. P. Perry. Their laboratories are located in a concrete building in the motor car supply district at Boston. Test sets have been completed and production design is now under way. The receivers will be running through regular production by September 1.
The first plans called for a rather sound merchandizing idea. This was to concentrate on areas served by the same electric light company that serves the laboratories and transmitter. Using synchronous meters on both the transmitter and receiving scanning spiders, perfect unison would be obtained. This would indicate the use of such a system as limited to certain city areas, which would include a transmitter using this company’s system.
While this idea will still carry on, the receivers are also equipped with a very simple framing device which permits keeping the reception synchronized with the transmission without difficulty, even in remote districts.
If you can imagine a small, aluminum frying pan, minus its handle, with a short shaft inserted through the bottom up through the center, above a small synchronous motor like a top, you have a good picture of the compactness of the Baird design. The scanning arrangement could be put in a box about ten inches square.
The radio receiver is built directly under this and a short wave and broadcast unit will both be available in the design.
The television laboratories have been working on this for about two years and have had their system in actual use. Station WEEI has been co-operating with them in a regular series of tests.
The “big brother” club of this station, which has now been put on a chain program as a commercial feature with Bob Emory in charge, has had its members televised while their voices were being broadcast over the regular wave length of 503 meters. During these tests the scanning arrangement was brought so near to the microphone that some of the humming noise could be heard in order to identify the fact that television was being used. (Boston Globe, May 18)

SUNDAY, MAY 18, 1930
SAN FRANCISCO, May 18 (AP)—The scanning disk and its whirring motor have been eliminated from both transmitter and receiver in television experiments under way here.
Working on the premise the disk was unsatisfactory for radio pictures, Philo T. Farnsworth, young research worker, has developed vacuum tubes that have enabled him to design apparatus to send and receive movies and photographs without mechanism.
Device Copies Image
The transmitting tube he calls a “dissector.” Its task is that of the scanning disk, making a copy of the image to be sent over the air and reflecting it to a photoelectric cell, which reproduces electrically what the “dissector has seen.
In his experiments Farnsworth has transmitted moving pictures containing 640,000 elements or “pin points of light” by the use of a film.
He has sent photographs or “stills,” containing 40,000 elements, at the rate of 20 pictures per minute Compared with a newspaper halftone having a 100-line screen or equivalent to approximately 8000 elements, Farnsworth said his transmitted pictures had five times more detail.
‘Oscillate’ Coneshaped
The receiving or reproducing tube is an ‘oscillate,’ getting its name from the fact that it is a reconstructed oscillograph tube, used for visualizing electric current. It is coneshaped, with a flat end where the picture is seen upon a fluorescent screen. It takes the place of the scanning disk, the motor and the neon letup in the receiver.
As to the success he has had in motion picture transmitting tests, Farnsworth declares it will be only a matter of a few months until visual-radio sets are workable. He has designed and built a set on which a vocal program may be received as picture flash in.
Synchronization, however, is not yet perfect, but Farnsworth believes the problem will be solved by further research. He says perfect transmission is still to be obtained, but that the dissector tube has solved the greatest problem—elimination of moving parts.
The transmitter for pictures utilizes ultra-short wavelengths from 4.7 meters down. His best results have been obtained by using a wide band of frequencies.
Farnsworth has been making his experiments under the sponsorship of William H. Crocker, western financier.

MONDAY, MAY 19, 1930
W1XAV, Boston (pictures on 137 meters/2180 kcs.; sound on WEEI, 508.2 meters/590 kcs.)
6:00 to 6:30—Big Brother Club, with Bob Emery.

THURSDAY, MAY 22, 1930
Schenectady, May 22—The tall bespectacled orchestra leader raised his baton. The crowd waited, hushed and expectant. Down came the baton and the orchestra broke into the first strains of the overture.
Ordinary? Hardly.
The orchestra was in the pit of Proctor’s R. K. O. theatre.
John Gamble, the leader, was a mile away.
Television, grown up after three years of research and study, did it, making its first public appearance as part of a regular theatre program here today.
It was after 10 o’clock this morning when William Gluesing, WGY announcer, stepped from the wings into the greenish blue glare of the spot light. The curtains slid noiselessly apart, exposing a screen six feet square.
Out front there was a crowd of 300, including General Electric officials, theatre officials, newspapermen and patrons.
They waited for television’s pioneer theatre performance. Among them, seated in about the center of the theatre, was Dr. E. F. W. Alexanderson, consulting engineer of the General Electric Co. and the Radio Corporation of America.
Three years ago Dr. Alexanderson gave his first demonstration—a picture in a three-inch aperture.
Last fall at the radio show at Madison Square Garden the image was increased to 14 inches. Today the screen was six feet square. Dr. Alexanderson sat and crumpled his hat in his hands. His feelings were carried to the crowd.
Behind the screen was the television apparatus which was to transform electrical impulses generated a mile away in a special studio of the general Electric company into living pictures.
As wires from the studio to the stage carried the electrical impulses radio carried the voices of performers in the studio to the theatre in perfect synchronization.
Gluesing, laboratory assistant of Dr. Alexanderson, gave the signal from a microphone on the stage. It was carried by telephone to the studio with Merrill Trainer as master of ceremonies on the receiving end.
Apparatus Hums Faintly.
There was a faint hum of the television apparatus back stage. The face and shoulders of Trainer standing in the studio a mile away, appeared on the screen, smiling and clear.
There have been big moments before, but few greater than this. It left one inarticulate—a condition which was to increase as the performance continued.
Trainer lighted a cigarette and blew the smoke toward the audience. He chatted with Gluesing.
For once, a revolution in vaudeville, the performers in the studio fought among themselves to obtain the opening spot.
Being the first actors to participate in a television program of this sort meant something.
Matilda Bigelow Rush, soprano, sang “The Little Hills Are Calling.”
Charley Harrison, a mile away, put on an act with his partner, Sylvia Dakin.
“You be on key,” Charley told Sylvia, grinning from the screen, “and I’ll be a mile off key.” The orchestra played and with the phone receiver to his ear he did his stuff.
Sylvia dedicated a new song, “Now I have a Television Picture of You.”
Billy Raymond, on the stage, put a call through for his partner, “Slim” Trimblin in the studio.
Troubles of the Future.
Trimblin’s face appeared on the screen.
“Oh, operator.” complained his partner, “Wrong face.”
Mabel Renflow sang and gave an imitation of a cornet solo. Helen Keefe, to orchestra accompaniment, sang “Tell It to the Daisies,” all the time being “just thrilled to pieces.”
Trainer made merry in between. His smile covered the screen.
The high spot of the program came when Gamble, from the screen, led his orchestra. His direction was followed perfectly. There was another big moment when Joe Winton, of the team of Weber and Winton, talked with Trainer while standing five rows back from the pit.
Trainer wisecracked with him as if he were standing on the stage.
Alter the performance the newspapermen went back stage where Dr. Alexanderson explained the action of the television equipment and predicted still progress encouraged by the “pleasant spirit of invention.”
Not Practical for Homes.
He preferred to withhold comment on the future possibility of television until tonight, when he will discuss it in a speech before the newspapermen.
Mr. Alexanderson did express the opinion, however, that television will not compete seriously with the “talkies.”
In his opinion television will not be practical for use in homes. Today’s experiment, however, showed the possibilities of the new art as a medium of entertainment in places such as theatres.
In the improved studio the performers appeared before the television camera. The light impulses, converted into electrical impulses or radio signals were sent out by a transmitter in the laboratory on a wave length of 140 meters.
A microphone close to the artist picked up his speech and song and converted the sound into electrical impulses which were carried by wire to a short wave transmitter at South Schenectady, where they went on the air on a wave length of 92 meters.
Intermediate Shades Clear
R. D. Kell, assistant to Dr. Alexanderson in television research, was control operator at the theatre. The light impulses, when received, were reproduced on a small monitor teleopticon and transferred to the light valve at which point the light was broken up to produce an image corresponding in every detail to the subject in the studio. A second receiver picked up the sound signal and fed it into loud speakers which converted the electromagnetic waves into sound.
All the gray shades between black and white were reproduced, registering every shadow and shade of the features and giving both depth and detail to the image. (Binghamton Press, May 22)

FRIDAY, MAY 23, 1930
BOSTON, May 23. (AP)—Television transmission in colors within two months is the hope of engineers tackling the problem of radio sight in laboratories here.
So successful do they feel they have been in their experimentation that the engineers said they would be able to reproduce colored pictures eight inches square. Included in their development work has been the design of a receiver housed in a console no larger than the ordinary sound set.
If the attempt at color transmission succeeds, it will mark a climax in three years of television work by the Short Wave and Television laboratories, which are operating W1XAV on 137 meters or 2180 kilocycles. The transmitter, designed and built for television work by Hollis S. Baird, chief engineer, has a power of 500 watts.
As one of its accomplishments the laboratory points to its development of horizontal transmission against the former method of vertical transmission. The engineers explained that with vertical transmission a straight line always appears as a curved line with resultant distortion in the received picture. In horizontal transmission a straight line remains a straight line when it is received.
The receiver used is rather novel in that the scanning disk is really not a disk. It consists of a band of metal having a series of holes and is fastened around a drum-like frame which revolves in front of the neon lamp. The band is removable, making it possible to change it to receive either a 48-line or a 60-line picture.
The receiver has a framing device which keeps the picture in the correct position for viewing and which somewhat simplifies synchronization. The framer is controlled by a knob at the front of the receiver. The viewing lens is located just above the tuning and framing controls on a level with the operators' eyes.
This outfit, the engineers explained, was for television only and would not reproduce sound, for which a separate set would be required where sound and sight were being received together from the same studio.
Although the picture at present is only four inches square, a process has been developed whereby it can be enlarged to from eight to 12 inches square. Under this method the engineers said the picture would be seen on a ground glass rather than through a magnifying lens. They also said that it would be possible for a room full of persons to see the picture at the same time.
In cooperation with WEEI, Boston, WIXAV began sending synchronized voice and vision of the Big Brother Club on February 5. Short waves were used for the television signals and the sound went out on WEEI’s regular wave length. (C.E. Butterfield, Associated Press)

SUNDAY, MAY 25, 1930
The three McKay brothers of Evanston, Ill., are in all probability the proprietors of the world’s most exclusive store. They opened recently with a complete stock of television receiving equipment.
At the present time station W9XAO of the Chicago Northwestern university, is the only commercial station broadcasting television programs.
Their first program was released on May 3 and included Bryant Washburn, screen and stage star; Gene Sarazen and Johnny Farrell of golfing fame, and Tug Wilson, athletic director. (Sacramento Union, May 25)

MONDAY, MAY 26, 1930
W2XCR (Jenkins Television), Jersey City, 2120 kcs., 139.5 meters
8:00—Jenkins radio-movie silhouettes.
8:30—Reading by Miss Irma L. Lemke.
9:00—The Twilight Hour, "Play."
9:15—Radio talkies.
9:45—Direct scanning.

TUESDAY, MAY 27, 1930
W2XCR (Jenkins Television), Jersey City, 2120 kcs., 139.5 meters
8:00—Radio-movie silhouettes.
8:30—Synchronized movies of noted persons.
9:00—The Twilight Hour.
9:15—Half-tones of noted persons.
9:45—Direct scanning.

An experimental laboratory end radio broadcasting station will be established by the RCA Victor Company, Inc. at Lake Shore drive and Newton creek, Collingswood, June 1.
The station will be used to experiment in television and radio broadcasting.
An application to transfer the RCA experimental broadcasting station in Yonkers, N. Y., to Collingswood is now under consideration by the Federal Radio Commission, it was learned today [27].
At the same time W. G. R. Baker, vice president in charge of engineering of RCA Victor, admitted that the experimental station was to be transferred from Yonkers to Collingswood and that television experiments would be made there.
“Does this mean that RCA Victor will eventually go into the manufacture of radio television sets?” he was asked.
Baker said he was not in a position to answer the question.
Two sites had been under consideration by the company for the station, one in Colwick and the other in Collingswood. The Collingswood site is the property of J. S. F. Pardee, brick manufacturer of Colllngswood, Maple shade and Philadelphia. It is at Lake Shore drive and Newton creek and was formerly Pardee’s home. Previous to that time it had been the site of the Collingswood Tennis Club.
The property is 100 by 200 feet. The former Pardee home is being fitted up for use as an experimental station and for the use of engineer, and scientists. RCA-Victor has a one-year lease beginning from June 1, with an option to purchase at a price reported to be in the neighborhood of $14,000.
Application for the transfer of the radio broadcasting station was filed with the Federal Radio Commission on May 9. Two applications were made, one to transfer the station from Yonkers to Collingswood arid the other to transfer the permit from the Radio Corporation of America to RCA-Victor.
Because of the double transfer involved it is expected that the granting of the application will take slightly longer than usual, but permission for the transfer is expected within the next ten days, engineers at the Camden plant said.
In the application the commission was also asked to approve an increase in power from 150 to 250 watts.
The Collingswood site was chosen because of its isolated location, which will give the quiet needed, and because it is free from high tension wires which would interfere with reception and transmission of radio messages. (Camden Evening Courier, May 27)

WEDNESDAY, MAY 28, 1930
W2XCR (Jenkins Television), Jersey City, 2120 kcs., 139.5 meters
8:00—Radio-movie silhouettes.
8:30—One-act television play.
9:00—The Twilight Hour.
9:15—Synchronized radio-movies, featuring the film of Dr. Lee DeForest.
9:45—Direct scanning.

THURSDAY, MAY 29, 1930
W2XCR (Jenkins Television), Jersey City, 2120 kcs., 139.5 meters
8:00—Radio-movie silhouettes and direct scanning.
8:30—Synchronized half-tone movies.
9:00—The Twilight Hour.
9:15—Jenkins radio-movie silhouettes.
9:30—Jenkins half-tone movies.
9:45—Direct scanning.

FRIDAY, MAY 30, 1930
W2XCR (Jenkins Television), Jersey City, 2120 kcs., 139.5 meters
8:00—Radio-movie silhouettes and direct scanning.
8:30—Television Club.
9:00—The Twilight Hour, with John Glyn Jones and Miss Irma L. Lemke.
9:15—Half-tone synchronized movie.
9:45—Direct scanning.

MONDAY, JUNE 2, 1930
W2XCR (Jenkins Television), Jersey City, 2120 kcs., 139.5 meters
8:00—Jenkins radio-movie silhouettes.
8:30—“Sue and Joe,” Miss Irma L. Lemke.
9:00—The Twilight Hour, with John Glyn Jones and Miss Irma L. Lemke.
9:15—Half-tone movies.
9:45—Direct scanner.

TUESDAY, JUNE 3, 1930
W2XCR (Jenkins Television), Jersey City, 2120 kcs., 139.5 meters
8:00—Silhouettes and half-tone movies.
8:30—Synchronized movies of noted people.
9:00—The Twilight Hour, with John Glyn Jones and Miss Irma L. Lemke.
9:15—Half-tone movies.
9:45—Direct scanning.
W1XAV, Boston (pictures on 137 meters/2180 kcs.; sound on WEEI, 508.2 meters/590 kcs.)
6:00 to 6:30—Big Brother club, Big Brother’s Radio Rascals presenting episode No. 14 of Prince and the Pauper, Elizabeth Rifchin, dramatic coach.

ATLANTIC CITY, June 3. — Television receiving apparatus was introduced in perspective today to America’s radio industry assembled here to view what the next year in radio will offer.
Riding on the crest of the wave of the public acclaim inspired by the giant strides made in recent weeks in television research, two manufacturers exhibited televisors to the some 20,000 radio dealers and jobbers attending the 1930 annual trade show. Under the auspices of the Radio Manufacturers’ association, complete television receiving sets, synchronized with sound, were displayed to show the trade what it should expect in the way of commercial models.
There were television receivers for the experimenter, as well as the early showings of the commercial models designed for home use. There were visual reception kits for connection with audible receiving sets and there were the combination sets to bring in radio “talkies” or the sight synchronized with the sound.
TWO FIRMS EXHIBIT.
The Jenkins television Corporation of Jersey City, and the Insuline Corporation of America, introduced the completed television receivers in cabinet models.
The former, however, announced that the set it introduced was intended for home use and that operation has been greatly simplified. Insuline’s apparatus is for amateur transmitting and receiving.
New receiving sets by new manufacturers abounded in the display in Atlantic City’s new $15,000,000 civic auditorium. Other names familiar only last year in the industry were nowhere to be seen. Westinghouse and General Electric, as well as General Motors Radio, were among the larger of the new manufacturers — who have cropped up as a direct insult of the separation of plant activities of the Radio Corporation of America.
In the receiving set line there were no startling innovations.
SMALL CONSOLES.
Of more than usual significance, was the display of tiny receiving sets about three feet high. Several manufacturers are offering them to the trade for delivery during the 1930-31 season, denoting an apparent trend toward these small consoles. Receiver camouflage, or the secretion of sets in book cases, tables, desks and the like, were more in evidence, as a new twist in furniture design.
The much controverted period, or double screen-grid tube, which caused an upheaval in the industry last winter, was displayed only by the Ceco Manufacturing company of Providence, R. I. (Robert Mack [aka Sol Talshoff], Consolidated Press Association, June 3)

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 4, 1930
W2XCR (Jenkins Television), Jersey City, 2120 kcs., 139.5 meters
8:00—Silhouettes and direct scanning.
8:30—Synchronized half-tones.
9:00—The Twilight Hour, with John Glynn Jones and Miss Irma L. Lemke.
9:15—Half-tone movies.
9:30—One-act play, with Leo A. Carroll and Irma L. Lemke.
W1XAV, Boston (pictures on 137 meters/2180 kcs.; sound on WEEI, 508.2 meters/590 kcs.)
6:00 to 6:30—Big Brother Club, with Bob Emery.

THURSDAY, JUNE 5, 1930
W2XCR (Jenkins Television), Jersey City, 2120 kcs., 139.5 meters
8:00—Radio-movie Silhouettes.
8:30—Synchronized half-tone movies.
9:00—The Twilight Hour, with John Glynn Jones and Miss Irma L. Lemke.
9:30—Felix and his accordion.

SCHENECTADY, June 5. (AP)—Television of tomorrow—outdoor scenes flashed upon a 6-foot screen in the theater—is a possibility in the laboratories of today.
Experiments are way here in which it has been possible to televise, without artificial lighting aid, events transpiring in the open and reproducing in a nearby laboratory radio pictures of traffic going over a bridge in addition to other scenes.
Success in development of the apparatus which may considerably extend the scope of television, even to the possibility of glimpses of a baseball or a football game via radio transmission, was indicated by the projection upon a screen 6 feet square in a local theater of action taking place in a studio a mile away.
Head and Shoulder Seen.
While only head and shoulder views of the images could be seen, there was no contradiction of the fact that entire scenes could be transmitted. The theater demonstration gave the public an insight into the progress that has been made by Dr. E. T. W. Alexanderson, pioneer television research engineer of the General Electric Company staff, in his efforts to overcome the obstacles of practical vision by radio. The showing included the playing of an orchestra in the theater under the baton of its leader standing before the distant televisor whose image was projects upon the large screen on the stage.
It was made possible through the development of a light source in the combination receiver-projector which permitted the showing of lights and shadows with considerable detail despite the fact that the picture was life size, Doctor Alexanderson explained.
An Outdoor Eye.
Doctor Alexanderson does not feel that ultimate television will be restricted to mere heads and shoulders, with his laboratory work cited as an example of what the future may bring. He has designed an outdoor televisor whose photoelectric eye would look over anything within its range and reproduce with considerable fidelity what was taking place.
While this instrument is considerably in the experimental stage, the engineer has used it in the transmission for reproduction upon a large screen views of the Great Western Gateway bridge spanning the Mohawk River near the laboratory, showing plainly the movement of vehicular traffic. Other pictures have included scenes visible from the laboratory windows. The daylight pickup device in outward appearance resembles a large studio photograph camera.
Larger Each Year.
"Television today is in the same state as radio telephony in 1915," Doctor Alexanderson said. "We may derive some comfort from the experience of the past, but on the other hand we are not sure that the analogy is justifiable and that television will repeat the history of radio telephony."
The projection of a 8-foot picture has been another milestone in the progress of which he has been an important factor. Three years ago Doctor Alexanderson produced a picture only 3 inches square. Last fall it had grown to 14 inches square, and now it has taken a considerable leap in size.

FRIDAY, JUNE 6, 1930
W2XCR (Jenkins Television), Jersey City, 2120 kcs., 139.5 meters
8:00—Radio movies and silhouettes.
8:30—The Television Club.
9:00—The Twilight Hour, with John Glynn Jones and Miss Irma L. Lemke.
9:15—Half-tone synchronized movies.
9:45—Direct scanning.

SATURDAY, JUNE 7, 1930
The initial step toward the day when Atlantans may sit comfortably at home and watch by television a football game on Grant field or a political or other gathering at the city auditorium, has been taken by the Southern Broadcasting Stations, Inc., operators of WGST.
Walt Dobbins, vice president and technical director of the organization, Saturday [7] announced that the company had been granted a license for a television transmitter for WGST and will start work at once on the television apparatus.
Parts for the set are already in Atlanta and ready to be assembled. Mr. Dobbins said that in from three to four weeks the station would be completed, and indicated at that time a series of demonstrations will be made at which Atlanta may catch its first glimpse of television.
While television, like radio in 1918 to 1920, is in its infancy, and so far as his knowledge goes there is not a receiving set in the south, Mr. Dobbins expressed confidence in its future.
The installation of the transmitter to WGST, he said, was largely designed to stimulate interest locally in television. The transmitter, he said, would operate on a short wave length, especially chosen so that the standard radios might be readily adapted to it.
It is possible, he said, to purchase a thoroughly satisfactory television receiving set for from $200 to or to adapt a standard radio set to television for as little as $75.
The present difficulty, he said, was that a receiving set would be valueless without a local transmitter. In the east, where television has been experimented with on an extensive scale, it has been found satisfactory at fairly close range, but unsatisfactory at a distance, particularly where the power used for broadcasting and that used for receiving are obtained from different sources.
Successful television by the method most used, he explained, is dependent upon the absolute synchronization of two revolving discs, one on the transmitter and one on the receiving set. When the two discs are operated on power obtained from different sources it is difficult to maintain them at identical speeds.
"Most people at their first sight of it will be disappointed with television,” Mr. Dobbins stated. “They expect too much, forgetting that television is now where radio was 10 years ago.
"If an image four inches square is successfully produced by television, it is thought a success today. The average person seeing it for the first time is expecting something greater than that.
“In 10 years television should be much greater than radio is today. It will improve just as radio has. There is no reason why ultimately we should not be able to follow the plays in a football game, as well as hear a speech, in fact why interesting scenes of all kinds should not be broadcast everywhere.”
Mr. Dobbins, who has been interested in R. O. T. C. work at Georgia Tech, said that two small television sets have already been constructed at the Georgia Tech signal corps laboratory, experimentally, and proved successful from that viewpoint. (Atlanta Constitution, June 8)

MONDAY, JUNE 9, 1930
W1XAV, Boston (pictures on 137 meters/2180 kcs.; sound on WEEI, 508.2 meters/590 kcs.)
6:00 to 6:30—Big Brother Club, with Bob Emery; Big Brother's Radio Science League.

Observance of annual non-affiliates night will marke [sic] the meeting of Pasadena lodge, No. 272, F. and A. M., tonight in the Masonic temple. Dinner will be served at 6:30 o’clock, followed by a first degree meeting at 7:30 o’clock. After lodge Dr. C. E. Warriner will give the first demonstration of television in Pasadena, attempting to bring a radio program from New York. Refreshments will be served at the close of the meeting. (Pasadena Post, June 9)

TUESDAY, JUNE 10, 1930
W1XAV, Boston (pictures on 137 meters/2180 kcs.; sound on WEEI, 508.2 meters/590 kcs.)
6:00 to 6:30—Big Brother Club, with Bob Emery.

Television, as a feature of Brooklyn air entertainment, hardly seems likely. Efforts of Sam Gellard, director of WLTH, to obtain a television license from the Federal Radio Commission failed when engineering counsel advised against it. (John Skinner, Brooklyn Daily Eagle, June 10)

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 11, 1930
W1XAV, Boston (pictures on 137 meters/2180 kcs.; sound on WEEI, 508.2 meters/590 kcs.)
6:00 to 6:30—Big Brother Club, with Bob Emery.

FRIDAY, JUNE 13, 1930
KFRC, San Francisco, has asked permission of the Federal Radio Commission to install equipment for television experiments on 610 kilocycles. (Camden Evening Courier)

A huge theatrical venture which will exploit television, music radio, talking pictures and plays will be erected, it was disclosed last night [13], on the site assembled by John D. Rockefeller Jr. between Fifth and Sixth Avenues and Forty-eighth and Fifty-first Streets, which was rejected by the Metropolitan Opera Company. It will occupy the site in the development that had been intended for the opera.
Plans for the new project which involves a real estate investment alone of nearly $200,000,000 call for the erection of three skyscrapers which will form the central buildings of a group. The first of these will rise sixty stories. The two others will be not quite so high. Other buildings will rise around them and the cost of the structures involved is estimated at another $150,000,000.
Four theatres designed for vaudeville, legitimate shows and concerts, as well as television, will be housed in the new buildings, it is understood, Mr. Rockefeller, whose mind was set at first on giving the city a cultural centre about a great opera house of which it could be proud, is said to have been persuaded that an opera was an aristocratic enterprise and that the real democratic benevolence was to arrange for the modern popular forms of entertainment “on the highest plane” and to give his site to those forms.
The new plan is reported to be sponsored by the Radio-Keith-Orpheum, National Broadcasting Company and General Electric Company. Since the advent of general broadcasting the General Electric and Westinghouse Electric Companies have acquired a radio business of at least $100,000,000.
These companies are reported to be backing the undertaking and to aim not only at enlarging the scope of broadcasting but at eventually offering the public television apparatus. In order to provide audiences with something interesting to look at, the electrical interests have affiliated with the Radio-Keith–Orpheum group, with agreements for the installation of television acts in theaters throughout the country so that it may be introduced to the public.
It is expected that representatives of the various interests involved will officially indorse the plan shortly, probably by the first of next week, and as soon as this action has been taken, full details will be disclosed. The site upon which the new buildings will be erected was obtained by Mr. Rockefeller from Columbia University on a long term lease, the annual rental for which ¡s approximately $3,000,000. (New York Times, June 14)

SATURDAY, JUNE 14, 1930
JERSEY CITY, N. J., June 14.—(AP)—Television, slowly working way to the fore, is offering new delights for the experimentally inclined.
Development of apparatus for the transmission and reception of "ether movies is not entirely confined to the laboratories where expensive equipment is employed in radio sight tests. The home experimenter is being given numerous opportunities to assemble his own television reproducer and have a try at picking up pictures from the air.
The television reproducer may be compared with the radio loud-speaker, as it requires a receiver before it will function. At present this is a short wave set, operating on 150 meters or lower, depending upon the channel that the television transmitter uses.
In the design of television apparatus for the home experimenter, engineers have sought to develop a device that would be simple yet reproduce small pictures with sufficient detail so that the “looker” would be able to make out what was being transmitted. Such an outfit consists of a scanning disk, a motor, a neon lamp, which functions somewhat like the diaphragm of a speaker in that it produces vibrations in the form of light in step with the current flowing into it; a magnifying lens and a frame upon which the various items are assembled.
Working along this line engineers of the Jenkins laboratories here have bent efforts toward development of equipment that has given certain results in copying radio transmitted pictures.
Probably the most interesting part of this reproducer is the motor, which is of the eddy current type that operates as a synchronous motor, giving automatic synchronization when the motor is connected to the same AC power system that is used at the transmitter. A separate control, a rheostat, provides additional means of adjusting the speed. This is of value also in synchronizing where a different power supply source from that at the transmitter is used at the receiver.
The scanner for this outfit is the conventional flat disk type, containing a spiral of holes near the outer edge. In another type of reproducer, a drum is used, designed to give a larger picture. That obtained with the disk is about an inch and a half square.
In connection with its experiments the Jenkins laboratory operates Station W2XCR on 139 meters over which television signals are transmitted, while W2XCD, 187 meters, sends out sound when it is desired to combine vision and voice.
The pictures sent out are of the 48-line type, at 15 pictures per second. (C.E. Butterfield, Associated Press)

THURSDAY, JUNE 19, 1930
W9XAO (WIBO), Chicago, video on 147 meters, sound on 560 kcs.
7:30—Variety and music.

MONDAY, JUNE 23, 1930
W2XCR (Jenkins Television), Jersey City, 2800 kcs., 107.1 meters; sound via W2XCD.
8:00—Direct scanning.
8:30—“Sue and Joe,” Miss Irma L. Lemke.
9:00—The Twilight Hour.
9:30—Half-tone movies.

TUESDAY, JUNE 24, 1930
W2XCR (Jenkins Television), Jersey City, 2800 kcs., 107.1 meters; sound via W2XCD.
8:00—Half-tone movies of prominent people.
8:30—Synchronized movies.
9:00—The Twilight Hour, with John Glynn Jones and Miss Irma L. Lemke.
9:15—Silhouettes.
9:45—Direct scanning.
W9XAO (WIBO), Chicago, video on 147 meters, sound on 560 kcs.
6:30—Variety and music.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25, 1930
W2XCR (Jenkins Television), Jersey City, 2800 kcs., 107.1 meters; sound via W2XCD.
8:00—Silhouettes.
8:30—Studio program.
9:00—The Twilight Hour.
9:30—Half-tone movies.
9:45—Direct scanning.

A new Columbia broadcasting system program has been added to the Friday morning schedule of WDBO. Cooking demonstrations by Ida Bailey Allen during the Radio Home Makers Hour from New York.
These cooking demonstrations will be broadcasted from the elaborate kitchens of WABC. Each item will actually be prepared in the kitchen as its description is broadcast.
Not only the audience in attendance in front of the plate glass window, which encloses one side of the kitchen, but a part of the radio audience who are able to tune in W2XE by short-waves and have a television receiver in their home, will be able to witness the preparations.
This program will be a regular feature on the Friday morning program of WDBO for the next year. However, on Friday, July the 4th, this program will be omitted. (Orlando Morning Sentinel, June 25)

THURSDAY, JUNE 26, 1930
W2XCR (Jenkins Television), Jersey City, 2800 kcs., 107.1 meters; sound via W2XCD.
8:00—Radio movies.
8:30—Vocal technic.
9:00—The Twilight Hour.
9:15—Synchronized half-tones.
9:45—Direct scanner.
W9XAO (WIBO), Chicago, video on 147 meters, sound on 560 kcs.
7:30—Variety and music.

A system of television based entirely on electrical and physical principles, which is expected by its inventor, Lieutenant George Wald, of the Quartermaster Corps, United States Army, at Scott Field, Mo., to eliminate the need for motors and scanning disks in the transmission and reception of images, was shown in New York yesterday [26].
The system uses a special scanning disk at the receiving end, inside the glass envelope of which is a series of electrical Inductors, which cause the various impulses transmitted over the radio or wire from the sending station to distribute themselves in accordance with their respective frequency, Lieutenant Wald explained. The spots of lights, which flicker over the coils of wire within the tube produce the images at any rate desired, he added.
The sending equipment operates in the reverse fashion, with a special vacuum tube employing a series of solenium cells, Lieutenant Wald said he makes use of the solenium cells to form a damper or check to steady the system and keep the images at the receiving end from wavering. Another feature of the system is that the human voice is transmitted with the Image impulses without disturbing the pictures in any way, he said. The system has been named “telephonovislon.” The entire apparatus is said to avoid entirely one of the great difficulties found in most prior systems of television, that of keeping the receiving sets in strict synchronism with the sender. (New York Times, June 27)

FRIDAY, JUNE 27, 1930
W2XCR (Jenkins Television), Jersey City, 2800 kcs., 107.1 meters; sound via W2XCD.
8:00—Direct scanning and half-tone movies.
8:30—The Television Club—prize meeting.
9:00—The Twilight Hour.
9:30—Silhouettes and half-tone movies.

SATURDAY, JUNE 28, 1930
Since June 2 [sic] station W2XCR, the radiovision broadcasting station of the Jenkins Television corporation, Jersey City, N. J., has been operating on 2800 kilocycles or 107 meters, instead of 2150 kilocycles or 139 meters, as formerly. The reason for the change, according to D. E. Replogle of that organization, is to clear up interference between W2XCR and W2XR in New York.
Meanwhile, the other Jenkins radilovision [sic] broadcasting station, W3XK, just outside of Washington, continues to operate on 2900 kilocycles or 103 meters. The present programs include half-tone and silhouette pictures, as well as vocal announcements, together with synchronized sound accompaniment through associated radio channels. (Buffalo News, June 28)

MONDAY, JUNE 30, 1930
W2XCR (Jenkins Television), Jersey City, 2800 kcs., 107.1 meters; sound via W2XCD, 187 m.
8:00—Baseball game; one-reel movie.
8:30—Half-tone movies.
9:00—The Twilight Hour, John Jones and Irma Lemke.
9:30—Direct scanning.