March 1939 Part 2

The CBS-owned W2XAB was the station to turn to in New York if you wanted to watch entertainment programming in the mechanical era of TV in the early 1930s.

Once engineers jettisoned the idea of a spinning wheel or drum and decided to go all-electronic, CBS had to play catch-up. NBC’s W2XBS had been testing through the ‘30s and was ready for regular programming to begin at the opening of the World’s Fair in April 1939. CBS had logistical problems just getting things in place, which were outlined in Broadcasting magazine.

Elsewhere in mid-March that year, General Electric was getting its transmitter in place outside Schenectady, Philco toured various cities showing off its transmitting equipment (no licensed TV station was involved), Zenith’s station in Chicago and Don Lee’s W6XAO put out programming, as did the University of Iowa’s W9XK. One local newspaper story mentions what the day’s broadcast (simulcast on radio) consisted of.

And Don Lee’s car rival, Earle C. Anthony (Lee sold Cadillacs, Anthony sold Packards) decided to apply for a television sister station to its KFI radio. It would be after the war before the FCC gave final approval.

Below, find some selected stories about TV for the second half of March 1939. We’ve skipped some about closed circuit television, including a baby’s birth at a hospital in New York, as well as demonstrations at the San Francisco World’s Fair and elsewhere.

Thursday, March 16
W9XK, University of Iowa
7:15 to 7:30 p.m.—Television Program with WSUI, 880 kcs.

Tuesday, March 21
W9XK, University of Iowa
7:15 to 7:30 p.m.—Television Program with WSUI, 880 kcs.

SEE BROADCAST OF TELEVISION
Junior Chamber Members Witness Program W9XK
Members of the Junior chamber of commerce witnessed their first television program in the electrical engineering building of the university Tuesday night [21] following a 6 o'clock dinner in the Hotel Jefferson.
The university station is W9XK and broadcasts but twice each week, Prof. Edwin B. Kurtz, head of the electrical engineering department, told club members. The regular 15-minute program Tuesday night was a story read by Miss Eloise Kellogg, a university student.
Following the program Professor Kurtz explained the operation of the station to the members. He said it was seven years old and pointed to the fact that although the local unit is not as advanced as it might be, it proved that trans-sniffing of images and sound really can be accomplished. (Iowa Press-Citizen, Mar. 22)

CBS Plans First Tests of Television In May as Transmitter Work Advances
INSTALLATION of the CBS television transmitter atop the Chrysler Tower in New York City is virtually complete and the network hopes to make its first test telecasts sometime in May, Dr. Peter Goldmark, chief television engineer of CBS, stated March 21, when he conducted a group of radio editors on an inspection tour of the Tower’s 73d, 74th and 75th floors, where the equipment is located.
The transmitter, which was built by RCA, embodies the latest principles of television design, he stated, and has a power output of 7 1/2 kw. audio and 15 kw. video.
The antenna, not yet installed, is of a new design worked out by Dr. Goldmark in collaboration with consulting engineers. Because this antenna will permit the focusing of the video signals in a vertical direction instead of spraying them out spherically, the CBS signals will be four times as strong as those of the NBC television transmitter, although the power output is identical, he said. CBS engineers have also designed the equipment for film transmission and some of the studio equipment.
Costly Preparations
Actual installation of the transmitting equipment in the tower began in January, although preparatory work in the tower has been under way since last fall, Dr. Goldmark explained. Apparatus for both video and audio transmission is now in place and has been wired and when the antenna has been erected and the power brought in, testing will begin. CBS will have expended about $600,000 before the first video program goes on the air, he said, including the cost of the apparatus, $400,000, and about $200,000 for installation costs.
For the present, at least, CBS has no thought of building other television transmitters in other cities, he said, but will concentrate on New York with its experiments in sight broadcasting. Neither does CBS expect to make any video pickups from the World's Fair grounds or other remote spots, he added, but will broadcast all its experimental visual programs from the studio in the Grand Central Bldg., across the street from the Chrysler Bldg.
Probably the largest studio to be used in broadcasting, the CBS quarters consist of a single room 270 feet long, 60 feet wide and 45 feet high. At one end a control room, where the programs will be monitored, is now nearing completion. A projection studio for use in televising moving pictures is also under construction. Work on the studio is expected to be completed in May at about the time the transmitter is ready to begin operations. Gilbert Seldes, director of television programs for CBS, has for more than a year been planning experimental programs, but he has not yet made any announcement regarding them.
Installation of the transmitter apparatus in the Chrysler Tower presented many problems to Dr. Goldmark and G. S. McAllister, CBS director of construction. The building elevators were needed during the daytime for normal traffic and were available to the construction crew only between 7 p. m. and 6 a. m. Furthermore, the regular freight elevator went only to the 60th floor and a special hoist was constructed to lift the bulky equipment the rest of the way through the fire well. Moving heavy equipment from elevator to hoist and from hoist through narrow corridors was another problem that was only solved after much careful consideration.
Raising the cable from the basement level to the 74th floor was another stickler. Because the cable almost filled the conduit it was feared the lead covering would swell from the heat of the friction and jam, but coating the conduit with heavy grease avoided this trouble. By detaching the elevator cab and using the drum, the cable was hoisted without installing special winches, as had been thought necessary at first.
At present the engineers are working on the problem of air-conditioning the tower to maintain the required constant temperature of 90 degrees, which means changing the air three times a minute because of the intense heat generated by the equipment, without creating a constant gale. Another puzzler is the antenna installation. The arms of the antenna will extend out of small openings in the spire and the swirling wind curents [sic] make anchorage a problem that has not been solved. The antennas are being made to withstand a wind velocity of 150 miles an hour, with a large additional safety margin. (Broadcasting, Apr. 1)

Television Next Month
NBC is preparing to give possessors of television sets views of activities at the World's Fair starting on April 30. At the present time there are about 200 television receivers in use in the metropolitan area. Most of the sets are in the hands of engineers or executives of RCA companies and other experimenters.
"RCA will place its domestic television receivers on the market in the early Spring,” in time to receive the first program which will signalize the opening of the New York World's Fair, "according to a statement from NBC.” While no definite costs have been announced as yet, it is expected that satisfactory receivers will be available at prices ranging from $200 to $450.
"It is very likely that during the early telecasts, while the number of receivers in the market will be small the number of people viewing at each receiver will be considerably larger, on the average, than is to be expected a few years from now, when many more families will own receivers."
Early experimental sets were mysterious-looking affairs, the sort of things a Buck Rogers might have fashioned in one of his more daring moments, but we are given to understand that the new RCA receiver will not be such a terrifying object nor so difficult to handle. Receivers will not present the formidable appearance of an array of 14 tuning knobs—no, nothing like that.
"It is expected that the 1939 receiving set will be approximately as simple as that of an ordinary radio," according to NBC engineers. "In addition to the usual volume control for the sound, there will be one or two simple controls for brightness and contrast, and for the horizontal and vertical placing of the picture. The actual tuning from station to station will be coupled in a single control which will tune both sound and sight simultaneously."
The quality of the image on the new receiver will be "equivalent to that of a good 16 millimeter movie," and its size will be approximately seven and one-half inches by ten inches.
Program schedules are now being prepared and your television receiver will most likely pick up special sight and sound features of a live nature twice weekly at night and daytime telecasts consisting of canned stuff (film). (Jo Ranson, Brooklyn Eagle)

Crosley Television May Pioneer Field
Application Is First For Entertainment
The Crosley Corp. of Cincinnati, will be the first television station in the country to offer television programs solely for public entertainment if its application to operate a television transmitter is granted by the Federal Communications Commission, it was revealed in Washington Tuesday.
The commission reported all previous requests for similar licenses cited "development of technical systems" as the reason for desiring a permit.
Crosley asked specifically for authority to use the channel 50,000-56,000 megacycles with aural and visual power of 1000 watts, continuous service. (Cincinnati Post)

GE Television Exhibit at Fair
Visitors to the New Work World's Fair will have the opportunity of participating in television programs in a studio at the General Electric Company's exhibit building.
In addition to other General Electric exhibits, including man-made bolts of lightning rated at 10,000,000 volts, and a presentation of current development in science and research, the company will establish in its building a studio with a number of television receivers, camera and transmitting equipment, according to a joint announcement by Dr. W. R. G. Baker, managing engineer of the radio division, and Chester H. Lang, advertising manager. (Berkshire Eagle)

Wednesday, March 22
NBC CONDUCTING REHEARSALS FOR TELEVISION DEBUT
By C.E. Butterfield
NEW YORK, March 22 (AP)—Preparatory to the April 30 opening of television broadcasts on a regular schedule in the New York section, previews of picture programs are under way in NBC's Radio City studios.
The previews, in the form of dress rehearsals, are held four afternoons a week and are being put on to familiarize the production staff with the realigned technical facilities. They are not being sent on the air.
Technical changes have included rebuilding of studio equipment and extensive alterations in the Empire State building transmitter. Engineers say that test transmissions have shown an improvement of nearly 50 per cent in picture resolution.

Thursday, March 23
W9XK, University of Iowa
7:15 to 7:30 p.m.—Television Program with WSUI, 880 kcs.

Bogota High School Players On First Television Program
Choice Made Because N. F. Kersta, Alumnus, Directs N. B. C.'s Latest Broadcasting Development
A television first broadcast over the National Broadcasting network was assured today [23] for a certain few Bogota High School students.
But which few will be determined tomorrow night when the students present four 1-act plays in the school auditorium.
BEST TO BE PICKED
Noran E. Kersta, assistant television co-ordinator of the broadcasting company, will attend the performance and decide which of the plays will be the most effective for television purposes on a broadcast to be given in May from the NBC studios.
The play by Bogota High School amateurs will be the first of a series to be broadcast by high school students from all parts of the country. It will also be one of the first actual television broadcasts available to the general public.
Television receiving sets will go on sale April 1 and by the time the Bogota High School students broadcast several hundred will probably be in use, according to organization estimates.
A Bogota High School alumnus, the pleasant-mannered young Mr. Kersta, himself, is the answer to why Bogota clamors to be first.
The son of Mr. and Mrs L. J. Kersta of Washington Avenue, Maywood, the television enthusiast is a graduate of the class of ‘30 of Bogota High School.
Tall, blonde, and decidedly athletic looking, he won the "Beat Athlete" trophy in his high school graduating class. Kersta was still a student in high school when he first became interested in television through a demonstration he witnessed in the Bell Laboratories in New York City in April, 1927.
"I decided then that I wanted to grow with this unique science so very new at that time," he explained. Looking over his record one suspects that he has not only grown but is aiding in its struggle for maturity.
Following graduation from Maywood and Bogota schools in which towns he has lived during most of his life although born in Jersey City in 1911, Kersta studied engineering in the Bell Laboratories School, chemical engineering at Georgia School of Technology, electrical engineering at New York University, and mathematics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
During his spare time he organized the Television Research Institute, releasing monthly reports to radio and advertising executives on developments in the field. An honor student, he also played football and lacrosse at Georgia Tech.
Kersta has been employed by six different organizations in the remarkably short time since he left high school doing assembly work engineering, bridge work, and research reports.
With radiating enthusiasm and endless knowledge on the subject Kersta could convince the whole State of Missouri of its worth. He feels it is the most technically important advancement in the world today.
IT'S AN ACTUALITY
"It is no longer a dream", he emphasized. "Television service will have to be continued once the receiving sets go on the market " Incidentally receiving sets showing pictures about the size of an average snapshot will sell as low as $100; whereas the more expensive ones will bring much larger pictures into the home, Kersta said.
Reaction of famous movie stars, industrialists and others who witness a television broadcast are amusing, Kersta finds. For the first few minutes they sit as calmly as if they were watching an ordinary motion picture; then suddenly jump up and ask, "Is what I'm watching actually happening right now?"
Still as thrilled as the spectators that such is the case even after several years of working in the field, Kersta gave an illustration of an actual workout last fall. The apparatus with its operators was over at Ward Field picking up a football game, he said, when a fire broke out on the field there and it was flashed on the studio screen as it was occurring.
"Everyone is anxious to look through a microscope or a telescope and [k]n[o]w every sort of activity can be telescoped to persons sitting comfortably in their homes through this medium. They can learn to dance through television instruction, see good plays, and vastly increase their education.
SAYS NEWSPAPERS SAFE
"Television is unique in itself and will not usurp other modes of communications such as the new[s]paper. Even though men see a baseball game they still wants to read the score in the newspaper," Kersta said reassuringly.
He feels confident that the time is not far distant when the young science will be an accepted fact backed by commercial advertising instead of the pioneering dollars now carrying the experimentations. Surveying the history of television he said it was first thought of in 1817; in 1927 it was effected through mechanical means, and now it is entirely electronic.
Kersta has written articles on the subject for leading science and laymen's magazines and has talked before large groups including Columbia Teachers' College. He has exhaustive files of information on all phases of the medium.
And which play will Kersta choose from those to be presented by the students? Although he has discussed all of them with George Dukes, high school librarian and one of the coaches, and Miss Gladys White, general director of the productions, he will not be sure, he said, until he sees the plays presented.
They are "The Drums of Oude", coached by Miss Doris Mason; "The Pot Boiler", under the direction of Miss Elizabeth Saunders, "The Crystal Gentleman and the Bronze Lady" coached by William Simpson, and "Afterwards" coached by Mr. Dukes.
So tonight while 25 students feverishly rehearse for the last tmie [sic] knowing that something more than just an audience's applause is at stake, Noran Kersta sits home contentedly relaxing by communicating with other amateur radio operators from his own station W2-JYF. (Bergen Record)

Ralph Blane Sells Song to Berlin Music Publishers
Ralph Blane writes friends in Broken Arrow this morning [23] that he signed a contract with the Irvin Berlin [sic] Music Publishing company last Tuesday night for a song that he has written, entitled "How Warm it is THE WEATHER—How Cold it is Your Heart."
Horace Heidt and his famous radio orchestra is to introduce it soon on the airwaves.
Ralph Blane has also been doing some interesting work in television shows, one of which was presented Wednesday morning at which the president of NBC, Lenox Lohr; president of RCA, David Sarnoff; Max Gordon, producer; and George Kaufman, playwright, were present along with the song writing team, Rogers and Hart.
Blane has spent many hours in front of television cameras and hot television lamps with costume and makeup for only an eight minute song and dance skit to be presented by television. He will give skits over the television sets at the World's fair soon in New York City. (Broken Arrow Ledger)

History of Television In GE Company Related
The history of television in the General Electric Company had its beginning in the laboratory of Dr. E. F. W. Alexanderson in early 1927.
Used Mirror Wheel
The system studied at that time involved the use of the mirror wheel and a multiple flying spot. Later, work was undertaken with a 48-line system using the Nipkow disk and a single spot. On Jan. 11, 1928, the first public demonstration was held in the home of Dr. Alexanderson. The definition was poor and the picture size was small, it being intended for viewing by only a few people. A 24-line system was next developed, necessarily of low definition, but operating within the frequency limits of the standard radio broadcast channels. Using this system, television programs were broadcast on regular schedules by WGY on both long and short waves, and pictures were received by amateurs in various parts of the country even as far as Los Angeles.
Demonstration Given
Coincident with the broadcasting of these programs, a demonstration of their possibilities was given to company officials and the press, using a number of semi-commercial 24-line receivers set up in the WGY studios. At this demonstration a play, “The Queen's Messenger,” was presented. This was the first television play ever broadcast. In the fall of 1928 there was demonstrated at the New York Radio Show, a projected 48-line television picture approximately one goot square which could be viewed simultaneously by an audience of about 100 people. Thihs [sic] exhibit was repeated at the New York and Chicago Radio Shows in 1929. A demonstration of a projected picture was also given in 1928, again at the home of Dr. Alexanderson, to the members of the Schenectady Fortnightly Club. At this time the President of the club conducted the meeting "in absentia." A picture of his head and shoulders was visible to the gathered meeting, and sound accompaniment was available. In this manner the president conducted the meeting. In April, 1929, television images were produced on a cathode-ray tube using an early gas-focused oscilloscope tube. Twenty-four line images of black-and-white geometrical patterns in were obtained, but farther progress along these lines awaited the development of a tube with means for modulating the electron beam to produce gradation in the picture. In May, 1930, a large television picture approximately seven feet square was demonstrated in Proctor's Theater in Schenectady, N. Y., as part of the regular vaudeville program. At this time the absent leader of the orchestra conducted in the theater by means of his projected picture. At that time also a vaudeville team put on their act, one being present the theater and the other one appearing to the theater audience on the television screen.
Broadcases [sic] to Europe
Early in 1931, weekly television programs were broadcast to Europe on 17 meters, using the 30-line, 15-picture-per-second German standard of that time. These were so well received in Berlin that accurate drawings were made there of several different geometrical patterns transmitted.
During this same period, 48-line television images were successfully recorded on motion-picture film in the GE laboratory. An interesting corollary of this was that if the pictures consisted of printed matter, they could be transmitted and recorded at the rate of 20,000 words per minute. Attracted by the film work, Fox Movietone News made a newsreel showing details of the television apparatus used in the theater demonstration of 1930, concluding the reel with a recorded television picture of one of the laboratory workers. This newsreel was shown in the New York Newsreel Theaters in the spring of 1931.
The General Electric Company was inactive in the television field until July, 1933, at which time approval was given for the development of a high-definition system. This work was not carried on intensively but, by the time the Engineering Department moved to Bridgeport in September, 1934, a goodly part of the equipment necessary had been developed and constructed.
During the year 1935, high-definition pictures of 245 lines were reproduced in the Bridgeport laboratory. In early 1936 this equipment was again taken to Schenectady and made part of an intensive television program on the part of the General Engineering Laboratory. The equipment was extensively modified and a complete system including iconoscope, cameras, synchronizing generators, video and audio transmitters and receiver was developed and constructed. This system was based on 441-line television high-definition scanning. In approximately October, 1937, this complete system was demonstrated and proved to provide a very satisfactory picture.
Work Begins in Earnest
At this time (1937) work on television in the General Electric Company really begun again in earnest. The program planned at this time was directed toward bringing GE up-to-date and if possible contributing to the television art before its commercialization.
A plan finally agreed upon involved five departments of the company and embraced all aspects of television. In general the plan called for the development and construction of a complete television system including the building of two different types of commercial receivers.
The plan included the erection of a transmitter and building antennae in the Helderberg Mountains, 12 miles from Schenectady. This transmitter site overlooks Albany, Schenectady and Troy, and signals from this source will provide television service to as estimated population of 500,000 throughout the tri-city area. The transmitter is located on the escarpment of a 1500-foot cliff, thus providing in the desired direction an antenna which is effectively very high. In the reverse direction, however, that is toward New York the effective height of the antenna is low, consequently the interference caused in the region of New York will be very low. Two transmitters will be installed at this point, one for vision signals and one for accompanying sound. The sound material together with the vision material will be supplied from the old WGY studios in the International General Electric building in Schenectady. At this point will be installed full studio equipment for the transmission of moving picture films and for direct studio pickup. The vision and audio material originating at the studios will be transferred to the Helderberg Mountain site by way of ultra short-wave transmitters operating at approximately 150 MC. These signals will be transmitted to the Helderberg Mountain site by a highly directive beam type antenna system and will be received there on a similar antenna from which point they will be conveyed [to the] main transmitter building where, after suitable amplification, the signals will be radiated at high power in the band of 66 to 72 MC. (Berkshire Eagle)

Saturday, March 25
Plans Completed For RCA's Video Exhibition at Fair
Half-Dozen Other Firms Will Market Televisors Soon
WITH RCA definitely scheduled to bring television into the open during the New York World's Fair, starting April 30, and with at least a half-dozen additional manufacturers preparing to place televisors on the market at that time, Ralph R. Beal, RCA director of research, on March 25 announced completed plans for the RCA exhibit at the Fair and made known that 10 hours of television programs will be broadcast daily from NBC studios in Radio City via the Empire State Bldg. transmitter.
Revised exhibit plans call for division of the television exhibition and demonstrations in the tubeshaped RCA Bldg. at the Fair into eight sections or displays: Hall of television, television laboratory, radio living room of tomorrow, radio living room of today, telemobile unit, television camera setup and model television transmitter, laboratory model of "flask" type of television receiver, stock model of television receiver in clear glass cabinet.
Hall for Viewing
Early plans of the ground floor of the building have been redesigned by the architects to include a suitable hall for viewing television reception, and new equipment also was designed. Installation of this equipment will start about April 1.
The RCA exhibit building, now completed, is shaped like a huge radio tube attached to a base and the whole lying on its side. The base forms the front section of the building. The tube proper, or rear section, is where the television hall has been located. Approximately square in shape, the hall will accommodate, in addition to its equipment, more than 150 persons at a time. It will be luxuriously appointed, and will have special air-conditioning, lighting effects and acoustical treatment.
The equipment to be installed consists of 13 of RCA's newest stock model television receivers and a projection-type receiver which is still in the laboratory stage of development. The projection receiver will be set up to focus on a 6x10 foot screen across one corner of the room. The stock model receivers will be arranged in three tiered semi-circular rows behind the projection unit. This arrangement will permit spectators to view the images on the stock receivers and compare them with the projected images on the screen.
Ten hours of television programs daily will be picked up on the receivers in the RCA exhibit, starting at 11 a. m. and running continuously until 9 p. m. The programs will consist of presentations from the NBC studios in Radio City, broadcast via the Empire State transmitter; outside pickups by the telemobile unit on the RCA exhibit grounds, on the Fair grounds and in New York City, and motion pictures picked up locally by means of a special television film scanning device.
Some of the most interesting shows are expected to come from the telemobile unit. After seeing the exhibits in the RCA building, visitors will enter the gardens at the rear, where several special exhibits are located. Here, "vox pop" television presentations will be made, wherein the visitors themselves will be televised as they are interviewed by announcers. At other times, the telemobile equipment will be used to pick up the more spectacular events staged by the Fair and outdoor events of news value as they occur in New York. This activity will follow the pattern of the recent RCA-NBC demonstrations in Washington [BROADCASTING, Feb. 15]. In addition to television, the RCA exhibit will present special displays of radio facsimile, international radio communications, marine radio and safety devices, sound broadcasting and related products of the radio industry. Large, animated dioramas will be used to dramatize some of the exhibits.
NBC Changes Progressing
ALTERATIONS at NBC's Empire State television transmitter are in their final stages, and about April 10 NBC engineers will begin their last series of test broadcasts before they take to the air with a regular schedule of sight programs on April 30. After this date, television will start a new phase, according to O. B. Hanson, NBC vice-president and chief engineer who says that henceforth new devices must be perfected before they can be tested in actual broadcasting.
"The days when untried devices could be installed between shows and tested in experimental television broadcasts are definitely over," he said. "We now have a schedule to meet and we can no longer take chances."
Chief changes at the transmitter since the last series of experimental broadcasts have been the installation of a new wideband antenna system and the addition of a sideband filter. Improvements have also been made in the modulator unit to accommodate higher frequencies and to obtain greater power output, which will produce finer, clearer images on the receivers. First tests indicated that the wide band-pass will transmit without discrimination a frequency band four times the width required by present video standards, maintaining a "flat" characteristic throughout the entire range of transmitted frequencies.
This means better pictures, since telecasting high-definition images requires using frequencies ranging from 30 to about 4,000,000 and since "favoring" any frequency between these extremes would produce distortion in the received pictures. The new filter widens the upper sideband and eliminates the unused portion of the lower side - band, thus increasing the amount of picture detail.
Staff Enlarged
Seventeen men have been added to the technical staff to meet the demands of regular television broadcasting, Mr. Hanson said, making it possible to set up a permanent operating group and freeing some of the engineers who have heretofore operated as well as maintained the equipment for laboratory work in developing new and improved apparatus.
At the Radio City studios the television program staff is engaged in putting on dress rehearsals of the programs prepared for telecasting after the regular schedule begins on April 30. Chief purpose of these dress rehearsals, according to Thomas H. Hutchinson, manager of NBC's television program division, is to familiarize the production staff with the greatly altered studio technical facilities. (Broadcasting, Apr. 1)

Anthony Seeks Television
EARLE C. ANTHONY Inc., operating KFI and KECA, Los Angeles, made known its intention of entering the television field March 25 when the FCC announced its application for an experimental visual broadcasting station to operate with 1,000 watts on 42000-56000 kc. The station would be located at a site to be determined in Los Angeles. RCA equipment would be used. The Anthony television application is the fifth now pending before the FCC's television committee, the others being those of WTMJ, Milwaukee; Crosley Radio Corp., Cincinnati; Don Lee Broadcasting System, San Francisco, and KSTP, St. Paul. All of the applications have been referred to the FCC television committee. (Broadcasting, Apr. 1)

Tuesday, March 28
W9XK, University of Iowa
7:15 to 7:30 p.m.—Television Program with WSUI, 880 kcs.

‘Vicious Circle’ Delays Television
Youthful President of C. B. S. Says Many Handicaps in Pathway
The 38 year old head of one of the world's largest radio broadcasting companies has no exaggerated ideas about the imminence of nation-wide, in-even-home television.
William S. Paley, president of the Columbia Broadcasting System, said that he expected that television "for a long time will be restricted to metropolitan centers."
This will be so, he believes, despite the fact that "television is about ready technically," because of a "vicious circle," which he described like this:
Television sets must be sold. Television can't go far unless it can support itself. Advertisers don't want to buy television time until there are enough sets in use to afford a sizable audience. But the public won't buy sets until there are enough good television programs on the market to be worth the investment.
English Example
He cited as one of "discouraging factors" in the outlook for popularized television the experience in England, where, he said, televised programs had been presented two hours daily for three years but only 10,000 television sets had been sold.
Columbia will make its bid for television leadership in New York June 15 when the "world's largest" television transmitter begins operation in the Grand Central Terminal Bldg., Paley said. First home receiving sets will sell for about $350, he believes. A smaller set costing $150 also is expected.
Columbia is making no plans at present for television development in Hollywood.
However, expansion of the network's radio operations in Hollywood are looming, with plans under consideration for two additional audience studios on the Columbia Square property.
And Hollywood, Paley is convinced, is destined to grow as a great radio broadcasting center.
'War' No Worry
The C.B.S. chieftain is not greatly perturbed over alarms of "war" on radio by the movies.
"I see no reason why outstanding stars should not be given to the public on every medium possible," he said.
"I have no particular worry about the possibilities of the motion pictures clamping down on radio. I don’t think it’s going to happen. I don't think many stars are going to give up radio and radio can and has built up its own stars."
Nevertheless, Paley said he expected to discuss the "war" situation with studio executives during his stay in the film center "to get their fresh opinions" concerning radio broadcasting by film celebrities. (Hollywood Citizen-News)

Thursday, March 30, 1939
W9XK, University of Iowa
7:15 to 7:30 p.m.—Television Program with WSUI, 880 kcs.

Zenith's Television
CHICAGO'S first high definition television broadcast was transmitted March 30 from the television studios of Zenith Radio Corp. over W9XZV. Receiving sets of the firm's officials were located within a radius of 12 to 15 miles from the transmitter atop the Zenith plant at 6001 Dickens Ave. The quarter-hour program featured the Hoosier Sod-Busters of WLS, Chicago, with Don Kelley of WLS as m.c. According to J. E. Brown, chief television engineer of Zenith, the 441-line transmission was highly successful. Zenith will not televise on a regular program schedule, but will continue its experiments, he said. (Broadcasting, Apr. 15)

DON KELLEY, WATERLOO, M. C. IN FIRST CHICAGO TELEVISION BROADCAST
Don Kelley, son of Mr. and Mrs, Edward H. Kelley, 114 Barclay street south, recently was master of ceremonies at the first television broadcast attempted in Chicago, produced in the studios of Zenith Radio corporation.
Kelley, graduate of East High school and of Iowa State Teachers college, where he was prominent in dramatics, formerly was an announcer at radio station WMT, and has been with the WLS station staff in Chicago for the past year. The television broadcast, made March 30, was received a distance of 15 miles, it was reported. (Waterloo Courier, April 6)

March 1939 Part 1

Tests, tests and more tests greeted television viewers on the East Coast in March 1939 as NBC worked to get W2XBS set for its regular schedule on April 30.

CBS’ W2XAB still had a way to go before it could put anything on the air. DuMont’s W2XVT was broadcasting overnight, but turned down in a bid to experiment during the day, while General Electric’s W2XB in Schenectady was erecting a new tower to enable it to resume broadcasts after several years.

Meanwhile, W6XAO, the Don Lee station in Los Angeles was on the air regularly with little notice as the East got most of the ink that month. And little W9XK, the University of Iowa station, carried on with its twice-weekly, 15-minute simulcasts with radio.

The FCC made its decision on what do about TV channels. While Broadcasting magazine talked about 19 of them, newspapers spoke of 13 channels (1 through 13).

The papers gave feature-page space to stories about the status of television and the financial problems to expand it outside major cities, at least for the interim. We have only transcribed a few of the stories, which you’ll find below.

Thursday, March 2
W9XK, University of Iowa
7:15 to 7:30 p.m.—Television Program with WSUI, 880 kcs.

Passaic Television Station is Refused Experimental Time
WASHINGTON, (AP)—The Federal Communications Commission denied Station W2XVT, operated by Allen B. DuMont Laboratories, Inc., Main Avenue, Passaic, N. J., special temporary authority to operate its experimental television broadcast station from 9 A. M. to midnight, for a period of not more than 30 days. The special authority was asked to conduct certain tests.

Television Progress Depends Largely Upon Its Acceptance By Fickle American Public
By Central Press
NEW YORK—Television coming in 1939? Yes. But there is a big "if" in the minds of radio executives. The big "if" is the American public.
At once the most discriminating, the most fickle and the most exacting entertainment audience, Americans still have to express an opinion on television.
The British public's reaction to television is scarcely comparable. Under government control, the BBC monopolizes the ether and offers a single program service. The free system of American broadcasting will. however, enable televiewers in large cities to select a program from several competing services. We may expect that American television will have a wider variety of interest.
Kind of Entertainment
In the spring and summer of 1939, NBC's metropolitan New York broadcasts, for example, will in one way or another resemble stage, movies and sound radio entertainment, but in many respects the program will be utterly different. Television combines a number of techniques and practices that originated in the older fields of entertainment; but even in its brief career television has done more than borrow. It is slowly but surely fusing some of the finest features of screen, stage and radio production into one art, besides adding a few of its own kinks. This is television as we shall know it.
One important job just completed by Thomas H. Hutchinson, director of NBC television production, is the balancing of items on a program menu. His projected programs for the first eight weeks of broadcasting indicate a complete upset of traditional radio practice.
Music, by far and large the chief item offered to sound radio fans, becomes secondary in television. At present about 60 per cent of the total sound broadcasting time is taken up with music, popular and classical. Television will cut this figure down to a mere 12 1/2 per cent!
The chief items on NBC's television are adaptations of stage plays, short stories, etc. Documentaries will embrace a wide variety of non-fictional programs based on events behind the news, adventures, explorations, discoveries, travelogues, etc.
Informative Programs
Another item on the television menu, comprising 12 1/2 per cent of the total time, will be informative programs. These are mainly demonstrations, exhibitions, techniques, experiments, etc. An informative program may teach geography or demonstrate the latest dance steps or take you on a tour of an art exhibit.
Television will also attempt to revive popular interest in a form, of entertainment that has virtually dropped out of the American scene, that is, vaudeville. Basically the same as theater vaudeville, certain changes will be made to meet the requirements of the tele-picture, medium.
At present about one and one-half per cent of sound radio time is devoted to a coverage of sports events. Present indications are that television will increase this coverage, giving both the words-eye view and the birds-eye view of outdoor and indoor athletic contests.
The sight radio system also will devote an estimated 12 1/2 per cent of its total time to news pickups. The telemobile unit and movie film recordings will be used alternately.
Public Acceptance Problem
The above program menu is not based upon speculation but upon a careful survey which Noran E. Kersta, NBC's assistant television coordinator, has made over the past two years. During that period of experimental broadcasting, Kersta has made a statistical compilation of the televiewer's reaction.
A "command" audience of about 500 people witnessed the programs on 100 sight receivers in the homes of NBC and RCA executives. Only time will tell whether the programmers have struck just the right balance. If not, the menu will be readjusted to meet conditions.
Whether John Q. American Public will be willing to change his domestic habits for television is one question which perplexes the radio bosses. You cannot "see in" a television show while wandering all over the house, as in listening to a sound program. The hope is that John Q. will be willing to sacrifice his wanderlust for increased enjoyment.
The increased enjoyment will come from closer contact with many accomplished and talented personalities whom the public knows slightly. When such people appear in a living room and speak out, you will know them better.

Television Faces Technical And Economic Limits
NEW YORK. — New York City, Schenectady, and possibly Los Angeles will be the starting cities for television this year. Albany, Troy, Amsterdam, and Saratoga, New York, will be in the range of the Schenectady transmitter. A 50-mile radius from the Empire State Building will be the maximum range for Metropolitan New Yorkers.
There is a very important reason for these limited areas. Modern television calls for a very wide channel in the air to transmit pictures and sound. The actual width is six times the entire present broadcasting band, that is, six times the air band from the bottom to the top of your broadcast receiver—and that for a single program.
Naturally there is no space for this in the already crowded broadcast range so the transmission must go down to the relatively new field of ultra short waves. Now these waves have much of the characteristics of light. When transmitted they tend to end at the horizon. Thus a television sending station is limited by the horizon visible from its antenna.
Skyscrapers and Television
One way of increasing this horizon distance and thus the station's range is to locate the antenna on a point as high above the ground as possible. So New York's tallest skyscrapers are in demand. The National Broadcasting Company has taken over the top of the Empire State Building and the Columbia Broadcasting System the top of the Chrysler Building. It is thus apparent that tall buildings are going to have a special value in the real estate market because of this.
The General Electric Company at Schenectady solves this problem by putting its transmitter on a 500-foot mountain and thereby expects even wider range than that of the Empire State Building station.
Naturally comes the question, "Even if a television station is limited in range, why can't all the major cities have television stations, hooked together like the present sound networks?" The answer to that question is not technical so much as economic.
Television, unlike sound radio-casting, is an experimental art. The government has not released television wave lengths for paid programs as yet. But even if it had the fact remains that those factors which support sound radiocasting are missing in television.
Early Revenue Limited
Sound broadcasting stations are paid by advertisers because of the thousands of potential customers making up the millions in the listening audience. In television the sets sold, even in the first year in New York, may be numbered in the hundreds, certainly not more than 10,000. And this is in the most concentrated and wealthiest market in the country!
Thus the broadcasters must foot the bill of putting on television programs for some time to come, until enough sets are out to make television attractive to advertisers. Naturally only those major distributing groups of radio such as the National Broadcasting Company. the Columbia Broadcasting System, and the General Electric Company could logically finance the trial period.
Rather than scatter their fire it appears wiser to concentrate on a few markets until the art has proved itself and its effectiveness in a given area has been determined. Then the duplication of such areas could be undertaken relatively quickly, with assured income in sight.
High Cost Also Cited
The next logical argument is that if more stations were set up in different cities the cost of programs could be split as in network broadcasting. The answer to that is that the wide band of channels required to send a television picture cannot be carried on existing telephone wires as is sound broadcasting. Even the new so-called cable which will carry 240 telephone conversations simultaneously is not "wide" enough for present day television pictures. If this cable could carry such programs, its cost would be so prohibitive that any saving in spreading program costs would be more than offset by "wire charges."
So it is apparent why two or three major centers will be the sole beneficiaries of television broadcasting this year. Just how rapidly stations will be set up in other cities next year will depend upon set sales and program developments during the next ten months. (Wainwright Sun, syndicated)

"Gunga Din" Film To Be Television Pioneer
Marking a milestone in the oft-rumored tie-up between television and the cinema, a special television version is being made of "Gunga Din," the $2,000,000 RKO Radio production starring Cary Grant, Victor McLaglen and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.
This television version will be in synopsis form, approximately 1000 feet in length, and will have about 10 minutes running time. It will be composed of close-up and medium close-up scenes, with special sound effects to achieve smooth flowing continuity.
Following conferences with National Broadcasting Company television experts, for whom the film is being prepared. "Gunga Din" was finally chosen as the vehicle best suited to the new medium treatise of its many spectacular outdoor scenes.
The television version will be shipped to New York for exhaustive tests until the end of March, at which time it is expected the new television broadcast station, now building, will be completed. At that time "Gunga Din" will be televised generally, and put on the high frequency waves for local and foreign consumption.
“This special version is, in a sense, a ground-breaker," stated Pandro S. Berman, executive vice-president of RKO Radio production. "Confident, however, that television will eventually use studio output generally, I feel certain that 'Gunga Din' will go down in history as a pioneer in this new field." (Bates County Democrat)
Friday, March 3
Plan to Use Television in Motion Picture Merchandising Points to Scope of Possible Application of New Art
While the question of how fast television will progress to a stage comparable with radio broadcasting cannot presently be answered, there seems little doubt that its utilization in all its phases will be pushed as rapidly as is technically feasible.
This is again indicated in the announcement that Paramount Pictures is planning to use televised trailers in sales promotion of coming features. The first experiments will likely be under taken within the next two months on the transmitter now being tested at Montclair, N.J. by the Allen B. Dumont Laboratories, Inc., which Paramount controls.
PREPARATORY MOVE
The Paramount officials are preparing for the advent of television on the practical basis that when it does reach a broad-scale commercial status, their organization will have made beneficial adjustments. The present move in their opinion should help the exhibitors in the territory where the trailers are televised. Stanton Griffis, chairman of the executive committee of Paramount Pictures, Inc., who is also chairman of the board of Madison Square Garden Corp., in a recent address expressed the following views:
NEW DEPARTMENTS
"From the point of view of the film industry, we of Paramount believe that the development of television will bring into being in the studios important new departments, both for the adaptation of old films to television programs, but as well the manufacture of new specialty films of an entirely different nature for the television programs. Our laboratories are already working along these lines, for it is our belief that for the next few years a tremendous percentage of all televised programs will be from films and not from direct photography.
"For the exhibitor, we see the televising of great sports and other current events as an important adjunct to his newsreel program, and some day he will use direct transmission of the world panorama of news for projection directly on his screen—but I fear this is a long way off."
TO BOOST REVENUE
Mr. Griffis does not believe that Madison Square Garden will suffer at the box office from television in the future but rather will expect a tremendously increased revenue from its television activities. Likewise he sees television not as an enemy but as a friend of motion pictures and that it will be t h e source of great profits to the industry. The gregarious instinct in people, he holds, will continue a potent factor in public entertainment and amusement.
He called attention to the progress being made in television in Britain, where he was informed that about 10,000 television sets had been sold in the last few months and that the British Broadcasting Corp. was co-operating with the manufacturing associations on a drive to increase the number of sets to 100,000 during 1939. (Wesley Smith, Los Angeles Times)

TELEVISION TESTS PROVED SUCCESSFUL
One of the most ambitious television tests ever attempted was made recently when a cafe variety show was televised for the first time at Rockefeller Center by the National Broadcasting company. The program consisted of a floor show in the restaurant and an exhibition by ice skating experts on the Rockefeller Plaza Skating Pond, adjacent to the cafe.
O. B. Hansen, a vice-president of the National Broadcasting company, pronounced the show a success, and it is believed that this test is a forerunner of similar programs that will eventually be presented from other sections of the city. (Lynn Daily Item)

Saturday, March 4
When television brings the likeness of speakers into the American home, as radio now does their words, here is a hint what may be expected. These pictures were televised as three public figures spoke at the annual dinner of the Inner Circle, association of New York political writers, held last night [4] at the Waldorf-Astoria. Demonstration was arranged by National Broadcasting Co. (New York Daily News)


Sunday, March 5
Public Goes Behind The Scenes In Television at NBC
NEW YORK—The newest radio innovation in America—regularly conducted tours of "behind-the-scenes" television — was made available to the public by the National Broadcasting company at Radio City on September 1, to give visitors an opportunity not only to view real telecasts, but to participate in television demonstrations themselves during their visit to the studio. Each group appears before the camera for the party following, which sees the first group on receivers in an adjoining room.
The exhibit includes a complete television studio. This is a self-contained unit, entirely separate from the one now in use for 'the current experimental telecast by NBC-RCA over Station W2XBS atop the Empire State Tower; an explanation of the fundamentals of television is provided, together with an opportunity to examine the apparatus at close range. Television reception is shown on RCA experimental receivers, and there is a display of miniature settings, backgrounds and special visual effects used in television.
As with the NBC Studio Tours, which have attracted nearly 3,000,000 visitors since their inauguration four and a half years ago, there is an admission charge for the television exhibit.
Daily from 9:00 a.m. to 11 p.m., parties leave every ten minutes from the mezzanine floor of the RCA Building in Radio City. The groups are escorted by a corps of trained guides who have had special schooling in the technical phases of television for several weeks.
The tour begins in a television museum, where are displayed some of the early television devices. Here is the mechanical scanning machine used by Dr. E. F. W. Alexanderson, noted radio engineer, for his first demonstration of television in an Albany, N. Y., theatre ten years ago.
Also on exhibition are mechanical scanners dating back to the earliest days, from the one which scanned images in 48 lines progressively through the 60, 120 and 343 line scanners. There also is a. visual demonstration of scanning, the process by which the machine receives light impulses from the image in tiny dots, received in rapid succession across one line after another as one reads a page in a book.
The exhibit shows how the RCA all-electronic system was developed; how the Kinescope eliminated both the mechanical scanner and the neon lamp in television receivers, and how the Iconoscope made mechanical scanners obsolete in television cameras with the arrival of the present scanning standard of 441 lines, televising a complete image each thirtieth of a second.
Next stop on the tour is the receiving room, where four receiver-monitors are placed; then the control room, behind a glass partition. The tour continues to a room fitted with miniature sets used in television studios for panoramic shots, and finally to the television studio itself, equipped with a camera exactly like those used in the current NBC experimental telecasts. This studio has stage sets and a small, glass enclosed "theater" for televising moving diaramas and puppets.
In the regular experimental telecasts over W2XBS, the Iconoscope in the television camera converts light rays into electrical impulses. These are conveyed by coaxial cable to the video amplifier in the adjacent control room, thence to the transmitter which sends the pictures through the air.
For the studio demonstration, however, the transmitter is eliminated, but the principle of television is accurately illustrated. Coaxial cables carry the impulses from the camera direct to the four receiver-monitors, or receiving sets, placed in the next room. One of these receivers is fitted with a glass front, with mirrors behind it to disclose the interior of tomorrow's television set. With this special view of the Kinescope as it translates electric impulses back into light rays and throws them onto the screen at the rate of thirty pictures each second, visitors will complete their survey of the all-electronic television cycle developed by RCA and NBC. (Honolulu Star-Advertiser)


Monday, March 6
Television Plant Near
By Science Service
SCHENECTADY, N. Y.—(Special)—A new type, cubic-shaped antenna for the 10-kilowatt vision station of the General Electric company atop a 1,500-foot mountain in the Helderberg hills region near here is nearing completion.
Radical both in shape and design, the antenna will radiate picture-carrying waves polarized horizontally so that the signal will have more power than any existing television station in America.
Using four and one-half meter waves, the station, W2XB, will blanket the region of Albany and the entire capital district of New York state. Expected range of the station is about 40 miles, the distance to the horizon.
Schenectady's new television station will soon be completed but because there is much engineering investigation to be done prior to actual broadcasts, public transmission will not start before early summer.
Part of the system is an ultra short wave transmitter which will relay programs from Schenectady out to the mountain top station.
This relay station may be the forerunner of future chain vision broadcasting for it has been suggested that major cities might be linked through such small relay stations spaced at intervals of 10 or 12 miles across country.

Philco's Portable Video Transmitter Shown to Dealers at New York Session
A PORTABLE television transmitter, with all its apparatus contained in a box 4 1/2 feet high, 2 feet deep and 1 1/2 feet wide, and weighing approximately 420 pounds, mounted on wheels so that it can be easily moved indoors or out, was used by Philco Radio & Television Corp. to demonstrate television to the dealers and distributors attending its "All Year Round" convention in New York the week of March 6.
With power of less than 1 watt, the transmitter has a broadcasting range of about 175 feet, but during the tests it is so arranged that it does not send out signals which would interfere with other services in the ultra-high frequency region, between 50 and 56 megacycles, in which it operates, according to A. F. Murray, engineer in charge of television at the Philco plant.
The scanning camera, which is mounted on top of the box containing the 83 tubes and other transmitting apparatus, contains a cathode ray tube which produces images of 441 lines, 60 frames per second interlaced, in accordance with RMA standards. Images as viewed on the receivers were clear and of good quality. The receivers were laboratory models, as the sets which will be offered the public will not be shown until they are placed on sale May 1 in New York, Philadelphia and other cities having video transmission, Mr. Murray explained. Philco does not intend exhibiting television at the New York World's Fair.
Won't Market Transmitter
The portable transmitter will not be sold, he said, but was designed by two of his staff of television engineers, Charles Stec and B. E. Schnitzer, purely for use by Philco research men, permitting them to experiment with televising under all sorts of light conditions both indoors and out. It was first demonstrated before the Society of Automotive Engineers in Detroit Jan. 7, he said, and in February was taken to Palm Beach where a beauty contest was televised at the Sun & Surf Club, the bright costumes and the brilliant Florida Sun giving pictures seldom seen around Philadelphia. (Broadcasting, March 15)

Tuesday, March 7
W9XK, University of Iowa
7:15 to 7:30 p.m.—Television Program with WSUI, 880 kcs.

Thursday, March 9
Puppets Used in Television Show
Since "'The Drunkard" opened several years ago at the Theater Mart, members of the cast have appeared in various and sundry pictures and some of their services are in frequent demand on the radio. The other day Lois Hunt, leading woman of the melodrama, and a well-known puppeteer, staged a novel experiment for television by presenting three of her creations, namely "Arabella," "Way Down South" and "Aggie and Her Dog," with Miss Hunt doing the voice and dancing and William Young handling the puppets. (Los Angeles Times)

Television Sprouts Commercial Wings, Backed by 10 Years’ Experience
By JOSEPH W. LaBINE
Western Newspaper Union
History will remember April of 1939 as the month America became television-conscious.
The research of more than 10 years, the expenditure of more than $10,000,000 will be climaxed when radio manufacturers place commercial television receivers on the market for the first time.
At least this announcement was made last October by David Sarnoff of the Radio Corporation of America, speaking for the American Radio Manufacturers' association. Simultaneously, when the New York World's fair opens April 30, commercial telecasting will begin in the Manhattan metropolitan area.
Before the year is out additional transmitters will be operating commercially at Schenectady and (possibly) Los Angeles.
But this most fascinating of modern sciences will still be wearing short trousers, ensnared in more technical, economic and artistic difficulties than the complicated motion picture industry ever imagined.
Strange to say, the least of these problems is that of technique. Ten years ago visionary television engineers dreamed of the great future in this business, once equipment could be perfected. The weird situation today is that television is mechanically quite perfect but programming and financing have been neglected.
Horizon Is Maximum Distance.
The receivers going on sale next month will project an 8 by 10-inch image into your living room, provided you live within horizon-range of the Empire State building or a 1,500 foot mountain near Schenectady. Also provided you can pay from $150 to $1,000 for a receiver. The former has sight only, the latter both sound and sight.
Behind that image in your living room is a devastating complexity of electrons, light beams, photography and ultra-short waves. Standing before a camera in the Empire State building, your favorite politician will harangue his no-longer-unseen audience with gestures as well as vocal inflections, all of which are picked up by a camera-sound combination. Whereas a regularly photographed image is transferred to the plate chemically, television does it electrically on a plate made up of several thousand tiny silver dots which react electrically to light.
The trick is that these silver dots are arranged regularly in lines across the plate. There are 441 lines on the full plate and by the time each is filled with its light and dark dots you have a finished picture not entirely different from the halftone pictures used to illustrate this story. Examine the pictures closely and you'll see the dots.
From Dots to Impulses.
Somehow, these television dots are transferred to electric impulses, amplified and shot through the air to receivers, whence the picture is recreated bit by bit. All this takes place in about one-thirtieth of a second, Since each complete image contains 200,000 dots, you get 6,000,000 a second, which is a lot of dots.
There's good reason for television's narrow broadcasting range. To transmit both pictures and sound requires a "channel" six times the distance from top to bottom of your radio dial, which means that television must turn to the unexplored field of ultra-short waves. Here is encountered still another problem. Regular "long" radio waves shoot into the air, bounce off the ionosphere and come back to earth. Not so ultra-short waves. Highly independent, they proceed in a straight line out over the horizon and zip off into space, never returning. Consequently all television audiences are confined to eye-shot of the transmitting station.
The one exception is that broadcasts may be "piped" from one city to another with coaxial cable, but a mile of this wire costs a small fortune and it is therefore impractical.
'Ghosts' Cause Interference.
Even on ultra-short wave and within the horizon radius, television does not always have clear sailing. "Ghosts" pop up occasionally in the form of reflecting surfaces which send an extra delayed image into the receiver. Empire State building broadcasts often encounter a ghost in the Palisades, a vertical wall of rock on the Jersey side of the Hudson river. Large surfaces like gas tanks also provide ghosts.
Sometimes freak waves may be reflected from the ionosphere, producing ghosts of broadcasts being made miles away on the same wavelength. During the past winter Dr. DeWitt R. Goddard, working on television at Riverhead. L. I., received fairly clear images televised from London and bounced off the ionosphere.
Artistically television compares with motion pictures. Only it has more ramifications. The first performance must be letter-perfect because it is the last performance. There are no retakes to correct poorly acted scenes, nor any time to debate the proper instant to "fade in" a second or third camera. Technicians, actors and audience are constantly alert, which indicates the change television may make in your home life.
New Field for Programming.
Once established, television holds tremendous program possibilities. Writing for the Christian Science Monitor, Volney D. Hurd visualizes evening foreign affairs discussions with the commentator pointing out spots of interest on the map of Europe. A few minutes later news events of the day may be recreated by motion pictures taken at the actual scene a few hours earlier. The next morning a cooking school will show someone actually preparing food. Visual education broadcasts will become an important factor in training both children and adults. If $10,000,000 has already been spent to bring television into its present Infancy, many more mil-lions must be spent to give it the polish of our modem radio pro-grams. The distance handicap and the expense of "piping" may be technical problems, but they're business problems, too. Add to this the fact that a half-hour television production will cost $60,000 (over one station) while a full-hour sound radio show costs only $30,000 over the complete national hookup.
These things frighten would-be sponsors. Many firms now using sound radio would gladly invest $60,000 in a half-hour television show—provided they got something in return. But in New York, where American television has reached its highest development, the number of receivers by next December will be far less than 10,000. It's simply not worthwhile to spend $6 on each of these possible 10,000 prospects!
Population Counts.
Meanwhile, however, televisionists realize the New York metropolitan area will—by virtue of its population—be the first site of self-liquidating operations. That's why experimentation and sale of commercial receivers is being confined largely to this vicinity.
Much can be learned from England's experience. Youthful John L. Baird began experimenting with British television back in 1925 and today there are 10,000 receivers in the 30 to 50-mile radius surrounding Alexandria palace, London. This, incidentally, includes more than 25 per cent of the total population of England and Wales. making British television more feasible commercially. Two systems are used, the Emitron camera which—like the American method—uses electrical signals, and the Scophony system which uses a mechanical process and "scans" by strips instead of dots. The latter camera permits televised pictures to be reproduced on a large screen, encouraging the development of television theaters.
Don't expect television too quickly; in fact, be thankful its pioneers are holding back their achievement until they've something more permanent to offer, otherwise your investment might be a total loss. In the opinion of the federal communication commission, television is not ready for standardization or commercial use by the general public. But by the time 1939 is out tins viewpoint may change.

Saturday, March 11
Local Television Station On Air
Gets First Permit In New Jersey
The State Board of Public Utility Commissioners today authorized the first permit for an experimental television station in New Jersey, to be operated by that Allen B. Dumont Laboratories, Inc., of 2 Main Avenue, Passaic Park. The station, which received the approval of the Federal Communications Commission a month ago, has been on the air since conducting tests and experimental work. Within three weeks, it expects to begin broadcasting moving pictures with sound.
Eventually, said Dr. Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr., director of research, the station will broadcast outside events and staged productions.
The Dumont Laboratories is working on a different system of transmission than the National Broadcasting Corporation [sic], the Columbia Broadcasting System and others are using in their experimental work, he said.
As explained by Dr. Goldsmith, the either experimenters are using a transmission system which will crystalize the quality of reproduction at a certain point. To go beyond this will necessitate radical changes which will render receiving sets obsolete.
The Dumont system, on the other hand, permits improvement of the quality of the image received without necessitating any great changes in the receiving equipment. In other words, the improvements will be made at the transmission end.
The receivers will remain essentially the same, said Dr. Goldsmith, while improvements are being made in transmission.
The results of the experiments being conducted nightly, said Dr. Goldsmith, are “very promising.”
The Dumont station, whose call letters are W2XVT, is on the air from midnight to 9 o’clock in the morning.
It operates of a video frequency of 46.5 megacycles in sending pictures, and an audio frequency of 49.75 megacycles in sending sound.
The station has a 50-watt transmitter, which is of fairly low power. Dr. Goldsmith said, however, it is planned to step up the power so the entire metropolitan area will be covered.
The Dumont Laboratories already has receiving sets in three different models, a table and two console types, on the market. It is with three sets, most of which are at the homes of Dumont employees, that the experiments are being carried on.
The receivers reproduce an eight by ten-inch image in black and white.
Dr. Goldsmith also said the Dumont Laboratories are working on television in color, but because it is more expensive than black and white transmission and reception, it has not yet been offered to the public. (Passaic Herald-News)

Monday, March 13
Ultra-High Bands Allocated by FCC
ALLOCATIONS of frequencies in the ultra-high range from 30,000 to 300,000 kc., announced March 13 by the FCC to become effective April 13, reaffirmed previous assignments to general services, including television and "apex" broadcasting, except for several minor changes.
Renewing its action of Oct. 13, 1937, with respect to television, the Commission set aside the same 19 bands for this service, but specified that three of the bands (162,000-168,000, 210,000-216,000, and 264,000-270,000 kc.), while primarily for television, may be used secondarily for general or specific experimentation. Such experimental stations, however, will be required to vacate these bands if operation results in interference to any television service.
Also renewed were the assignments to aural broadcasting and facsimile of 75 channels in the band 41,000-44,000 kc. Twenty-five of these channels have already been allocated to non-commercial educational broadcast stations. [BROADCASTING, 1939 Yearbook].
In order to make way for additional aviation service, the new allocations shift experimental broadcasting in the ultra-high range to the 116,000-118,000 kc. band, heretofore assigned to amateurs. The band 142,000-144,000 kc. formerly broadcasting was assigned aviation.
"Nationwide" Television
In announcing the new assignments, no change in allocations for frequency modulation, as opposed to amplitude modulation, was made. Frequencies above 40,000 kc. provide for both types of experimentation, so that relative merits of the two types may be evaluated. It is anticipated, the Commission said, that as a result of such experimentation proper standards eventually will be developed.
Respecting television, the Commission said that to permit it to be inaugurated on a "nationwide" basis, a minimum of 19 channels should be reserved below 300 megacycles. This, it was made clear, is in connection with provision of service to urban as distinguished from rural areas, there being no immediate outlook for nationwide service paralleling network operations which would provide adequate rural coverage.
Aside from these changes, the new allocation order is identical with that issued in 1937 (Order 19) relating to relay, high frequency and experimental operations. Existing licenses for frequencies above 60,000 kc., except those operating in the broadcast services, were extended to Oct. 1, 1939. Under the changes, applications for renewals due to be filed on Aug. 1, 1939, must specify frequencies in accordance with the allocations, it was stated, as must all new instruments of authorization. (Broadcasting, March 15)

Tuesday, March 14
W9XK, University of Iowa
7:15 to 7:30 p.m.—Television Program with WSUI, 880 kcs.