February 1931

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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


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


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

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

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