April 1937

CBS was the leader in television programming in the early 1930s, but by the end of the decade, it was playing catch-up to NBC.

The company had taken W2XAB off the air in 1933, saying it had done all it could to develop live broadcasts. NBC, however, kept tinkering and was testing an improved W2XBS while CBS was waiting for a construction permit for a new transmitter. It finally got the okay in April 1937.

There was little other TV news that mouth, outside of a few interviews with people at NBC. W6XAO in Hollywood continued its Saturday broadcasts. W9XAT in Minneapolis was on the air Monday through Saturday and W9XK at the University of Iowa broadcast once or twice a week. All telecasts were 15 minutes and the sound came over a local radio station (the Minneapolis station was an independent that signed off at sunset).

THURSDAY, APRIL 1, 1937
W9XAT, Minneapolis
12:30-12:45—Television with radio station WDGY 1180 kcs.

FRIDAY, APRIL 2, 1937
W9XAT, Minneapolis
12:30-12:45—Television with radio station WDGY 1180 kcs.

CBS Television Site Set
Transmitter to be Located Atop Chrysler Building Will be Most Powerful Station of Its Kind
Upon receiving FCC permission to construct a combined television and sound transmitter, CBS will take over space on the 74th floor of the Chrysler Building here and start work on the most powerful station of its kind in the world. Peak power of 30 kilowatts (30,000 watts) will be equalled only by the finished apparatus now being constructed in Paris on the Eiffel Tower and will be sufficient to televise strong enough reception to receivers 40 miles away, or a total of some 4,800 square miles.
Acquisition of the Chrysler location gives CBS the only possible available tower high enough to surmount a reasonable horizon and comparable to NBC's station W2XBS located in the tower of the Empire State Building. This operates with power of 12,000 watts and has reported favorable reception to a point in Connecticut over 40 miles distant.
CBS engineers figure on an operating frequency somewhere between 42 and 56 megacycles. A distance of less than 100 feet will separate the transmitter from the antenna and consequently insure almost distortionless transfer of power. According to Dr. P. C. Goldmark, head of CBS tele research department, Chrysler tower is particularly desirable because of unobstructed skyline. Latest developments in high power wide band design will be incorporated. Dr. Goldmark said further:
"Experiments conducted by CBS engineers disclosed that the heighth [sic] of the antenna was not the only thing to be considered, despite the general impression to that effect. Fact that most of Manhattan's population is concentrated north of the Chrysler tower and that no higher buildings are located in that direction was of prime importance in selecting the site. This situation indicates that the radio waves will not be broken up or refracted by the steel skeletons of other skyscrapers and that therefore a common fault of television — the production of double images — will be avoided."
CBS conducted experiments with television some few years ago and discontinued it in 1933. Transmission of low definition pictures (with sound going through regular CBS channels) over station W2XAX later resulted in CBS conducting intense research here and abroad. Comparison of the progress in other countries was not overlooked. At the time of this tele, operation Bill Schudt, now manager of WBT, Charlotte, took an active part. These pictures technically known as low-definition images were 60-lines transmitted on a frequency of 2,800 kilocycles.
New station will, of course, stick to the 441-line basis agreed upon by U. S. experimental stations as per recommendation of the Radio Manufacturers Association. (Radio Daily)

SATURDAY, APRIL 3, 1937
W9XAT, Minneapolis
12:30-12:45—Television with radio station WDGY 1180 kcs.
W6XAO Hollywood
8:00-8:15—Television (sound on KHJ, KGB, KDB and other Mutual-Don Lee stations).

MONDAY, APRIL 5, 1937
W9XAT, Minneapolis
12:30-12:45—Television with radio station WDGY 1180 kcs.

TUESDAY, APRIL 6, 1937
W9XAT, Minneapolis
12:30-12:45—Television with radio station WDGY 1180 kcs.

TELEVISION FIELD TESTS ARE RESUMED BY RCA
Field tests of RCA experimental television with the new 441-line definition were resumed yesterday [5] by NBC on the largest scale ever undertaken in the U. S. Tests will continue throughout the spring and summer months. Test programs will be televised daily from the NBC transmitter in the Empire State tower. NBC has been on the air with television since 1931, and has had the only television station in operation in New York City for the last four years. Quality of reception will be checked by NBC engineers on more than 75 receivers placed at selected points throughout the metropolitan area.
O. B. Hanson, NBC chief engineer, said the object of the new tests, which represent the latest development in seven years of television experiment by NBC, is to determine the home program potentialities of high definition television. RCA television of 441-line definition has been in operation in the laboratory since last December, but this will be the first test under practical field conditions.
In similar field tests of 343-line pictures held as early as last summer, NBC engineers received satisfactory pictures as far distant as 45 miles from the Empire State transmitter. Last December tests on this basis were discontinued to allow for necessary alterations to change the equipment over to the finer definition 441 -line system. (Radio Daily)

Television Will Soon Be Here Says Goldwyn
By HAROLD HEFFERNAN
North American Newspaper Alliance
HOLLYWOOD, April 6—Television is coming, and all Hollywood is lifting its eyebrows just a little—not certain how to react when it wakes some morning soon to find this new problem dumped right into its lap.
Few producers will discuss television, chiefly, they admit, because they know nothing about it. One of its lone boosters, however, is Samuel Goldwyn, dean of Hollywood film makers, who stated in an interview that he looks to the arrival of television as a great boon to the film industry. He thinks it will prove as beneficial a stimulant to movie attendance as the coming of sound was to the silent picture.
"Television is undoubtedly about to be given to the public," said Goldwyn. “At first they may not televise motion pictures, but when they do the entire world will be able to see them immediately. That will create a demand for more pictures than ever.
“Injure the motion picture industry? I should say not! It should prove a tremendous ally. At least that's my firm personal reaction.
"Of course, none of us in the film industry has been fully advised as to how motion pictures will be broadcast over television. But I understand this will be done exactly as is done with nation-wide radio broadcasts—over telephone lines to avoid distortion of the images by static.
“In that case, they probably will work out a dial system. Your newspapers will publish the list of pictures to be televised that particular evening. Then the patron will simply dial the ‘motion picture operator,’ ask for the picture of his choice, and then will be charged a certain amount on his telephone bill. That is the same kind of tie-up the telegraph companies are using successfully now."
The producer was asked what effect he thought the home use of television would have on theater investments and theater patronage throughout the world.
Effect on Patronage
“I don't believe it will have any effect at all on theater patronage,” he replied. "I say this because people by nature like to flock together. It wouldn't be nearly so much fun to sit home participating in some amusement as it would be to enjoy it with the crowd. There is something about going out to the theater, about dressing up for the evening, about mixing with other people that television cannot bring to you at home.
"Furthermore, the film Industry will have to refuse broadcast rights to certain of its better productions. You will undoubtedly find that business in the theaters for these big productions will be better than ever. And here's something else I’ll predict while I’m in the predicting mood. Watch and you'll see that the fine film productions will then run on a single bill for six and seven weeks instead of one week on a double bill as they do today.
"You'll find also that shorter pictures will be the popular choice for television broadcast because it is unlikely home audiences will want to sit more than an hour, with the neighbors dropping in, the telephone ringing and other interruptions so common of an evening in an average household.”
Sees No Threat
Goldwyn scoffs at the fears advanced by some right in his own business that television is a dangerous threat to the whole movie industry, and that it might actually ruin it.
“Not unless were too slow and stupid to fight back," retorted the producer. “The advancement of radio forced the films to find sound. The rise of television will force the motion picture industry to find some other new step forward.
"I have always believed in facing the inevitable and, if it's a fight, every last producer in this business should line up and fight back with better entertainment. People will never (and Goldwyn slapped his desk emphatically as he shouted the word) stop going to movie theaters to see great entertainment.”
Goldwyn concluded his views with a stab at his pet hobgoblin—the double feature bill.
“If these double bills keep on driving people out of the theaters,” he said, "and if Hollywood keeps on deliberately making mediocre pictures—what it blandly terms the 'B' picture—I myself would prefer to sit home at my television outfit.”
Shrewd Producer
Goldwyn, who has become known as the “one-man industry" because of his lone-wolf policy of producing heavy programs of costly films, each one under his own personal supervision, is regarded as the shrewdest and most far-visioned of the few remaining old-timers, so his views on this new electrical threat to the industry are looked upon here as extremely potent and timely.
Recently Goldwyn revised all his players' contracts, inserting clauses which read as follows:
“...That he will render his services as an actor in television productions ...; that he will render his services in connection with the broadcasting or transmission of his likeness and voice by means of television ...; that he will not render his services for television without the written consent of the producer."
The producer is also known to be experimenting now through his camera department with a special "television negative" for films.
"We'll probably soon be shooting two different negatives on the same picture," confided Gregg Toland, chief cinematographer at the Goldwyn Studio. "One will be for theater consumption and the other for air reproduction. We are experimenting with them now over several Los Angeles stations."

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 7, 1937
W9XAT, Minneapolis
12:30-12:45—Television with radio station WDGY 1180 kcs.

Tele Will Need Sponsors
Sarnoff Tells RCA Annual Meet That High Cost of Visual Programs Will Require Ad Support
Costliness of television, not only in its current experimental stages, but when in actual operation, will mean that support will really devolve upon the advertiser as it does in broadcasting, said David Sarnoff, president of RCA, at the annual stockholders' meeting yesterday afternoon. Sarnoff reviewed the various RCA activities, including broadcasting, communications, research and manufacturing.
Relative to broadcasting, Sarnoff stressed the progress made in supplying informative and educational as well as entertaining programs, while leading advertisers continued to take increased advantage of the NBC facilities to reach the public with business and industry messages. Fan mail of the RCA broadcasts of the Metropolitan opera reached a new high by way of public appreciation, while next month, he predicted would again make radio history with broadcasts of the Coronation.
Television was making rapid strides Sarnoff said, pictures now being televised being about double that of the former 5 1/2 x 7 inches.
Coverage of the U. S. with approximately 3 million square miles of territory and about 130,000,000 inhabitants presents a problem "more formidable" than in England, where the area is small and the population concentrated, he pointed out. Mentioning the government subsidy of television in England, Sarnoff was sure that reception would be free to the American home through private enterprise. Further technical improvement was necessary in transmission as well as reception, but as the improvements were made, costs should decrease and reduce the huge financial outlays now necessary in starting a nation-wide television service.
Sponsored tele programs were definitely a part of the future status of this new form of entertainment, stated Sarnoff, because the program service will be costly and support will devolve upon advertisers as it does in broadcasting. Before sponsors can be interested, however, it is necessary to provide a seeing and hearing audience. He pointed out that RCA equipment was second to none, that developments in England were based on RCA patents and reminded his hearers that CBS in re-entering the field of tele had purchased RCA apparatus. (Radio Daily)

THURSDAY, APRIL 8, 1937
W9XAT, Minneapolis
12:30-12:45—Television with radio station WDGY 1180 kcs.
W9XK, University of Iowa
7:15 to 7:30—Television program with radio station WSUI.

FRIDAY, APRIL 9, 1937
W9XAT, Minneapolis
12:30-12:45—Television with radio station WDGY 1180 kcs.

SATURDAY, APRIL 10, 1937
W9XAT, Minneapolis
12:30-12:45—Television with radio station WDGY 1180 kcs.

Caltech Open House Ends Tonight
So great was the throng at the opening of the California Institute of Technology public exhibition last night [9] that enough tickets for the "canned lightning" display were requested to run four hours over the closing time, 11 p. m.
The largest attendance in the history of the event, which continues today, resulted in automobiles being parked for six blocks in all directions and Tournament Park was jammed.
Officers Clear Jam
Officers were summoned to clear the jam at the afternoon demonstration of television, which will be continuous today. Arrangements have been completed with KHJ to broadcast the television from 9 a. m. to 12, and 1 to 5 p. m., which are the open house hours today.
Five major news reels were on hand for the first time, photographing the lightning show in the high tension laboratory, sparks from the tesla coil that are caught by a student with his finger, and campus activities. (Pasadena Post)



MONDAY, APRIL 12, 1937
W9XAT, Minneapolis
12:15-12:30—Television with radio station WDGY 1180 kcs.

TUESDAY, APRIL 13, 1937
W9XAT, Minneapolis
12:30-12:45—Television with radio station WDGY 1180 kcs.
W9XK, University of Iowa
7:15 to 7:30—Television program with radio station WSUI.

Don Lee Television Draws Coast Crowds
West Coast Bureau. RADIO DAILY
Los Angeles — Don Lee installed its television receiving apparatus in the Cal. Tech Annual Electrical Progress exhibition over the week-end, sent pictures and sound more than 10 miles from its studios at 15-minute intervals over Friday and Saturday and drew biggest crowds of any exhibit of the show. Because it worked on a seven-hour daily schedule, the usual Don Lee custom of using KHJ for the sound was given up, and the ultra high frequency station, W1OXFZ was used, with pictures going out on W6XAO. (Radio Daily)

Back on the air with its New York field test television transmitter after a changeover to provide pictures of greater detail and clarity, NBC expects to devote a big share of its Spring and Summer research to program problems.
A tentative schedule is under consideration calling for four special evening transmissions a week on alternate weeks. The exact times will vary according to the test requirements. A full technical staff is to be maintained in the studio to aid program and production men.
The tests, which are being conducted in cooperation with RCA, which developed the system used, are to concern themselves with various scenes and types of performances. For looking-in purposes, the number of receivers in the New York area has been increased to more than 75, to be used only by the engineers. The transmitter is located in the Empire State Building with the studio in the network's Radio City quarters. (Andrew Smith, Birmingham News)

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 14, 1937
W9XAT, Minneapolis
12:15-12:30—Television with radio station WDGY 1180 kcs.

THURSDAY, APRIL 15, 1937
W9XAT, Minneapolis
12:15-12:30—Television with radio station WDGY 1180 kcs.

FRIDAY, APRIL 16, 1937
W9XAT, Minneapolis
12:15-12:30—Television with radio station WDGY 1180 kcs.

Exposition Plans Television Display
It was revealed that television will form an important part in the Golden Gate International Exposition yesterday [16] as directors announced that their financial campaign had reached $2,017,983.75. Television will be used in broadcasting, with radio and movie stars as a special feature of the fair. Committees of volunteer workers are trying to get subscriptions of $7,500,000 to finance the exposition. Subscriptions obtained yesterday totaled $110,000. (Oakland Tribune, Apr. 17)

SATURDAY, APRIL 17, 1937
W9XAT, Minneapolis
12:30-12:45—Television with radio station WDGY 1180 kcs.
W6XAO, Hollywood
8:00-8:15—Television (sound on KHJ and other Mutual-Don Lee stations).

MONDAY, APRIL 19, 1937
W9XAT, Minneapolis
12:15-12:30—Television with radio station WDGY 1180 kcs.

CBS Gets Television Permit
Washington Bureau, RADIO DAILY
Washington — FCC Saturday [17] granted application of CBS for construction permit authorizing changes in equipment, increase in power of visual broadcasting transmitter to 7500 watts and move of transmitter to top of Chrysler Building. (Radio Daily)

Hopes of Television Are Spurred by Test
West Coast Bureau, RADIO DAILY
Los Angeles — Successful spanning of a distance of 10 1/2 miles with "sight and sound" by the Television Division of the Don Lee Broadcasting System here last week has spurred interest and hopes in the proximity of regular television broadcasts. The latest demonstrations here, piloted by Harry R. Lubcke, were witnessed by both laymen and noted scientists, among them Nobel Prize Winner Dr. Robert A. Millikan. The television programs were transmitted many times during the day at 15-minute intervals.
These repeated demonstrations were performed via the Don Lee owned and operated experimental television station W6XAO which carried the mages, and an auxiliary ultra-short wave channel which conveyed the sound. They marked the first time that high-definition television (300 lines to the image, repeated at the rate of 24 images per second) had been broadcast so great a distance. Transmitters were located in the Don Lee Building in Los Angeles while the television receiver was located in the Physics Exhibit at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, a distance of slightly more than 10 ½ miles. (Radio Daily)

Playwrights Granting Film Television Rights
In selling the film rights to a stage play, the Dramatists' Guild is now granting film companies the right to televise the motion picture produced from the play, but reserves to the author the right to televise the play with living actors, RADIO DAILY was advised Saturday [17] by Sidney R. Fleischer, arbiter for the Dramatists' Guild.
Previously the Dramatists' Guild had refused to include television rights in the sale of movie rights to a play. (Radio Daily)

TUESDAY, APRIL 20, 1937
W9XAT, Minneapolis
12:15-12:30—Television with radio station WDGY 1180 kcs.
W9XK, University of Iowa
7:15 to 7:30—Television program with radio station WSUI.

SET FOR HEARING
NEW, Zenith Radio Corp., Chicago, CP television station 100w.

DON GILMAN TO CONFER ON TELEVISION STUDIO
San Francisco — Among matters to be taken up with NBC officials in New York by Don E. Gilman, v. p. in charge of the western division, who leaves tomorrow for the east, will be the question of whether NBC will expand its present Hollywood studios or seek more space elsewhere in order to provide for television developments.
Having just recently completed Hollywood studios, NBC is now confronted with the necessity of enlarging its quarters to meet the increasing demands for programs from the film capital, Gilman said.
Rapid extension of both Pacific networks is another reason for Gilman's trip, which will keep him east for several weeks. (Radio Daily)

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 1937
W9XAT, Minneapolis
12:15-12:30—Television with radio station WDGY 1180 kcs.

Economic Factor Is Biggest Obstacle to Home Television
V.K. Zworykin, RCA Laboratory Experimenter, Says Vision Sets Are Technically Acceptable Today for Home Use; 3 by 4-foot Screen Planned
By TELECASTER
The economic factor rather than technical imperfection is keeping television out of the home. . . . Progress in technical development has been so rapid in the past two years that sets could be placed in the home tomorrow, with excellent reception in a limited area assured. . . . The answer to the economic problem in television will be forthcoming in the "near future." , . . These statements and other interesting comments concerning progress in the field of television were made last Wednesday evening [21] by V. K. Zworykin, inventor, scientist and television expert before 200 members of the Atlantic Coast section of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers in New York City.
Dr. Zworykin, whore achievements in the RCA laboratories in Camden have won universal acclaim, described the television set-up of today, explained the relationship between the field of television and motion pictures, and, with a series of slides, pictured the multiple equipment and complexity of transmitting pictures through the air.
Ready for the Home
Questioned by this writer following his lecture whether sets developed today offered acceptable reception for home use, the inventor, assuredly replied: "Oh, yes!" He revealed for the first time at the lecture that RCA is working on a small cathode ray tube, which, with the addition of a lens could magnify the picture to a site of three by four feet. However, he stated that he was not in a position at the time to go into detail, or to reveal the manner in which the enlarged screen process is being developed.
Dr. Zworykin stated that RCA recently increased its television screen from 5 to 7 1/2 inches to 7 1/2 by 10 inches. The pictures received are sufficiently bright to enable reception in a well-lighted room. Pictures, he added, are a pinkish-yellow color, and quite an improvement over the earlier greenish tinted views.
RCA receivers in their present form resemble quite closely a large console radio set. There are at present 100 experimental sets in operation in the New York area, he said.
Each set has seven control knobs, although tuning is simple. One control knob places both sight and sound into operation. The other six knobs—three for sight and three for sound—are used to adjust the clarity of the picture or sound for one's own needs.
The noted scientist then delivered a discourse on the technical development of the transmission and reception through use of the iconoscope, which he developed, and the kinescope, better known as the cathode ray tube.
He explained the choice of ultra short waves for transmission and the limitations of these waves as to the carrying distance of the pictures. It was interesting to note that whereas 24 pictures pass through a motion picture camera per second, in television the number of pictures or frames has been stepped up to 30.
Send Pictures 45 Miles
The range of transmission at present varies from 25 to 45 miles, although the pictures transmitted in New York have been picked up in Camden, a distance of 90 miles. At that distance, however, Dr. Zworykin said, reception was inconsistent, depending on conditions.
Pictures of studio sets employed in transmitting experimental programs were exhibited. The speaker told of the cameras used for outdoor televising, the camera is equipped with f. 2.7 lens.
Results of tests made to date have proved the system is "very satisfactory," he added. The NBC handling of the equipment has proved the practicability of the system employed. The economic problem, however, is causing the delay in home development, he inferred.
Following the lecture, an open forum was conducted in which engineers questioned the inventor as to principles employed in transmission. It was during this portion of the meeting that Dr. Zworykin revealed the heretofore unknown fact that RCA was working on a smaller cathode ray tube with lens to magnify pictures on enlarged screen. The greatest problem in this regard, he said. has been to I create enough intensity of light to make the enlarged screen well illuminated. (Sunday Times, New Brunswick, N.J., Apr. 25)

THURSDAY, APRIL 22, 1937
W9XAT, Minneapolis
12:15-12:30—Television with radio station WDGY 1180 kcs.
W9XK, University of Iowa
7:15 to 7:30—Television program with radio station WSUI.

FRIDAY, APRIL 23, 1937
W9XAT, Minneapolis
12:15-12:30—Television with radio station WDGY 1180 kcs.

SATURDAY, APRIL 24, 1937
W9XAT, Minneapolis
12:15-12:30—Television with radio station WDGY 1180 kcs.
W6XAO, Hollywood
8:00-8:15—Television (sound on KHJ and other Mutual-Don Lee stations).

MONDAY, APRIL 26, 1937
W9XAT, Minneapolis
12:45-1:00—Television with radio station WDGY 1180 kcs.

TUESDAY, APRIL 27, 1937
W9XAT, Minneapolis
12:45-1:00—Television with radio station WDGY 1180 kcs.
W9XK, University of Iowa
7:15 to 7:30—Television program with radio station WSUI.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 28, 1937
W9XAT, Minneapolis
12:30-1:00—Television with radio station WDGY 1180 kcs.

THURSDAY, APRIL 29, 1937
W9XAT, Minneapolis
12:45-1:00—Television with radio station WDGY 1180 kcs.
W9XK, University of Iowa
7:15 to 7:30—Television program with radio station WSUI.

FRIDAY, APRIL 30, 1937
W9XAT, Minneapolis
12:45-1:00—Television with radio station WDGY 1180 kcs.

EUROPEAN TELEVISION RECEIVED IN AMERICA
By WATSON DAVIS
(Director, Science Service.
WASHINGTON, April 30.—Reception of some schedules of television transmitters in London and Berlin at Riverhead, N. Y., was reported to the International Scientific Radio Union and the Institute of Radio Engineers meeting jointly here today.
These signals were 40 to 45 mega-cycles, which is shorter in wave length than even the short waves commonly receivable with present short wave sets. H. O. Peterson and D. R. Goddard of R. C. A. communications explained that daily observations of these transatlantic signals had been made since the middle of January.
Such short waves are generally not considered to travel much farther than the eye can see. But direction measurements showed that at times the signal arrived from he reverse direction over the longest way around the world.
INTERSTELLAR NOISE
The noise that originates in the interstellar spaces of the universe is generally the ultimate barrier to receiving radio signals on very short waves, K. G. Jansky of the Bell Telephone laboratories told the scientists. Some years ago Mr. Pansky discovered static coming out of the depths of the universe. In the absence of man-made interference the usable signal strength is usually limited by this astronomical interference.
PREDICTING RADIO CONDITIONS
Hope that scientists will be able to predict radio transmission conditions a month or more in advance was held out by A. K. Ludy of the U. S. coast and geodetic survey and A. G. McNish of the Carnegie Institution's department of terrestrial magnetism. To correlate more closely the activity of the earth's magnetic field with radio transmission, these scientists are compiling a twice daily measure of the magneto conditions as observed at seven world-wide stations. These "character figures" will be distributed by Science Service throughout the world and are expected to reveal practically useful relations between radio and the earth's magnetism.