September 1937

NBC and CBS duelled over television in September 1937, but neither had much ammunition.

Broadcasts of sports, parades and other outdoor events were announced for W2XBS by NBC, starting a month away. The down side is almost everyone who had a TV set in the New York area worked for RCA. It’s not like anyone at home would catch the New York Giants in action. And the vans weren't delivered to the network until December 12th.

As for CBS, Bill Paley also talked about news and sports broadcasts “coming soon” from its New York station. Not only were there no television sets to view them, the station had no studios or even a transmitter yet.

Meanwhile, Du Mont applied for a license for an experimental station.

The most gimmicky story of the month was one the Associated Press circulated about the mannequin that filled in for humans on NBC test broadcasts. Hot TV lights, you know.

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 1937
Confirmation of the opinion that high cost is holding back the development of television as a popular medium of entertainment is given by Dr. P. C. Goldmark, chief television engineer of the Columbia system, who has just returned from five weeks of study abroad. Dr. Goldmark reports that in England receiver prices range from $300 to $800. Less than 8000 receivers have been sold despite the fact that the British Broadcasting Company has broadcast visual programs for almost a year.
• • •
So far as picture quality is concerned Dr. Goldmark says that unusually fine transmissions have been made out-of-doors with daylight illumination ranging from bright sun-light to dim haze on foggy days. He notes that the sensitivity of the television camera has been increased beyond that of ordinary photographic emulsions so that the field of usefulness is greatly extended.
• • •
A little known phase of television is the inability of the photoelectric ray tube to equal the color evaluation of panchromatic film. Engineers are striving to reproduce all colors in the spectrum in their original intensities. Thus far this lack of color sensitiveness has required the use of unnatural makeup for television performances. Dr. Goldmark says that the BBC has made definite progress in developing a television camera rendering color in a fair degree of naturalness.
• • •
Dr. Goldmark witnessed the Davis Cup finals at Wimbleton in the London office of the CBS. The small size of the screen made action hard to follow, but Dr. Goldmark was told that by the end of the month a British manufacturer would have a projection type receiver producing images two feet wide. In France television is in more experimental stage. Projection type receivers throwing a picture comparable in size with homo movies were seen in Germany. The images, Dr. Goldmark reported, were as sharply defined and as steady as the ordinary commercial motion picture. Interest in television in the latter country was keen, but the cost of receivers was still too high for mass distribution. (Springfield Evening Union, Sept. 1)

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1937
TELEVISION STATION SOUGHT FOR CAMDEN
N.B.C. Asks U S. Permission to Operate Portable Experimental Set
Washington, Sept. 3.—The National Broadcasting Company today asked permission of the Federal Commission to place in service a portable television broadcasting station to be built on a specially constructed automobile truck and operated from Camden and nearby points.
Transmitter equipment would be operated in conjunction with NBC'S station N2XBS [W2XBS] in New York. Camden was selected as the principal base for testing and reception and transmission from and to New York City because, it was explained, engineers at the Camden plant of the RCA Manufacturing Company also will utilize the facilities for experiments in the development of television.
The transmitters, with associated control gear, including independent source of power supply, iconoscope cameras and required laboratory tests equipment, will be transported on the truck from point to point in the Camden area, the application explained. Only an experimental license was asked. In addition to transmission of images, sending and receiving of sound will be tested both by radio and wire between Camden and the Empire State Building and Radio City, New York. (Courier-Post, Camden)

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1937
MOVIES TO SPEED WITH TELEVISION
Visual Performance Through Ether Will Concentrate Plot and Action
New York, Sept. 4.—(AP)—How would you like to be entertained by a machine gun?
A gun that fired chunks of sight and sound instead of bullets?
That's what television will be like if it follows the pattern Gilbert Seldes, Columbia Broadcasting Company's new experimental television program director, expects.
Seldes predicted in an interview today that when it finally comes into common use the radio's seeing screen will provide the fastest entertainment on earth—a brand new high speed form of fun.
Just as the movies speeded up the stage, so, Seldes said, television will speed up the movies. But the speed increase will be much greater for this reason:
When the movies were new, they took a play or perhaps an incident from a play and elaborated it, enlarging and adding detail, widening the scene of action and the scope of the plot.
Television, Seldes said, will work in the opposing direction. It will boil everything down to bare essentials. It will concentrate entertainment into virtual bullets of sight and sound, much as medicine and food now are concentrated into pills and capsules.
Programs will last only 15 minutes or less generally, because experience has indicated an audience cannot concentrate longer. This short period is one reason why so much must be packed into a small pace.
Seldes, who began his new television job this week after a long career as a writer and critic, would make no prediction of how soon the average man would have television in his home. He stressed the point that none of his statements must be accepted as definite predictions, but rather as well informed speculation.
Television screens will be about two feet or so square, and will be part of the receiving set, not panels in the walls of homes.
Home-made television sets will be possible, just as home-made radios were in the early days.
Radios will continue in use in their present form after television comes in, because "some programs are made to be heard and not seen." Example: Orchestra music.
Movie houses will continue popular after motion pictures are broadcast because "people are naturally gregarious. They like to get together."
Newspapers will prosper rather than be hurt by broadcasting of devised pictures of news events, because "broadcasts only serve to stir up interest. They will never replace the printed word."
Although not sure when all this would come to pass, Seldes said people were wrong in thinking television was "just around the corner.” He said it was "straight down the street, marching this way; a few hurdles, and it will be here."

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 1937
NBC Tests Tele Sketch
NBC-RCA television experimental test today will include a script called The Match Maker, featuring James Meehan and Noel Mills. Sketch is scheduled to be televised at 1:45 p.m., and will run for 15 minutes. (Radio Daily)

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1937
TELEVISION PERIL SEEN
Electrical Overload in Homes Held Possible Danger
BEDFORD SPRINGS, Pa., Sept. 9 (AP).—Television may create a safety problem in the American home of the future, George R. Conover of Philadelphia told the thirtieth annual convention of the Pennsylvania State electric association yesterday [8].
He said damage might result from the anticipated heavy “wire load” and recommended to the 600 delegates that their companies take precautions to prevent strain on household wiring.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 1937
First testing of television on a much shorter wave-length than that now being used is planned for New York by NBC. At present 6.5 meters are carrying the picture transmissions being sent out on an experimental basis. Under an application filed with the federal communications commission space in the vicinity of one meter is being sought to make further tests. Engineers are anxious to determine whether the lower wave would be more practicable under transmission conditions that prevail in this area. (Flint Journal)

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 1937
Meet Patience; She's the Tops For Television
Wearing Only Bathing Suit, She's Charlie McCarthy's Dream Girl
By C. E. Butterfield
New York, Sept 11.—(AP)—Right now, the most televised girl in New York is known only to her co-workers as Miss Patience. Most of the time, all she wears is a black satin bathing suit.
Never protesting about her hours nor the suffering sometimes encountered under the heat-producing high-powered Kleig lights that are just as necessary in television as the movies, Patience shows more than the fortitude of a real trouper [note: the last word was misspelled in some newspapers].
Well she can, for she's a show window dummy, called forward by engineers and program research men to do her share in the television field tests under way in New York.
The black satin bathing suit was selected mainly because of the color contrast it offers to her whitish pink features, giving the camera two extremes of the color range. Patience has her living assistants who also go through their television paces, but most of them never like to stay under the lights longer than can be helped. Patience just smiles on.
Almost any evening she is at work at the special NBC television studio in Radio City, standing on as the camera picks up her image and sends it along to the transmitter atop the Empire State Building for experimental broadcasting purposes.
These broadcasts, in continuation of the tests being conducted with the RCA system, still put on solely for engineer observers at special receiver locations about the city. They come mainly at night, a couple of hours at a time, but not on a regular schedule.
Outside of Patience's efforts, the program material is principally that of the drama, such as small intimate sketches that require only two or three characters and little setting.
The engineers and studio research staff also on occasion look on other acts like singers and dancers, solo scenes for the most part, in their attempts to solve the problems being encountered in the development of suitable program matter for television broadcasting. Lighting effects also come in for consideration.
As soon as they get farther along with the studio research, the engineers plan to take their camera outdoors in the streets of New York and thereabouts to see what results they can obtain under ordinary conditions. When this will be hasn't been determined yet, but it is the next test step.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 1937
R. C. A. Prepares Mass Television Production
Negotiates for New Factory Site in Harrison, N. J.
Special to the Herald Tribune
HARRISON, N. J., Sept. 16.—The Radio Corporation of America is making preparations for the mass production of television apparatus, it was earned here today. The corporation already has opened negotiations with the Harrison Town Council, to acquire a block-square site for erection of a television factory.
The R. C. A. has a radio tube manufacturing plant here which employs 8,000 persons. The site under discussion for the television factory lies across the street and as bounded by Sussex, Bergen, Sixth and Seventh Strets.
F. H. Corregan, representing the R. C. A., in a letter today to Harrison town officials, asked for an adjustment of tax arrears which have accumulated on the parcels of property making up the site. Although his letter made no mention of television, town officials and spokesmen at the R. C. A. factory both said that was the purpose of the plant expansion.
The corporation also wrote that its present railroad sidings were inadequate and that it had acquired an option permitting the building of a new siding from the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad to its plant.

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 1937
18 STATIONS SEND IMAGES
Tele-Stations Scattered Throughout the Country Use Tiny Waves
EIGHTEEN stations are now licensed in the United States to transmit television images experimentally, according to the latest figures of the Federal Communications Commission.
Three licenses are held by the RCA Manufacturing Company at Camden, N. J., two of them being designated for portable stations. The University of Iowa has two permits.
Licenses to conduct experiments in New York have been granted the National Broadcasting Company and Columbia Broadcasting System.
Other licenses are held by: Don Lee Broadcasting System, Los Angeles; Farnsworth Television, Inc., Springfield, Pa.; First National Television, Inc., Kansas City, Mo.; General Television Corporation, Boston; The Journal Company, Milwaukee; Kansas State College of Agriculture and Applied Science, Manhattan, Kan.; Philco Radio and Television Corporation, Philadelphia; Purdue University, West Lafayette, Ind.; Radio Pictures, Inc., Long Island City, N. Y.; Sparks-Withington Company, Jackson, Mich., and Dr. George W. Young, Minn.
All television stations are as-signed to one of four groups of ultra-high frequencies. (New York Times)

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1937
NBC Outdoor Television
First Mobile Pickup Unit in America Will Start Experimental Service Next Month, Lohr Announces
First mobile television unit in America, now being built by RCA for delivery to NBC on Oct. 18, will be placed in service next month when NBC inaugurates outdoor pickups on an experimental basis in cooperation with RCA, it was announced yesterday [23] by President Lenox R. Lohr of NBC. The work will be strictly experimental, with a view to improving the equipment and methods of RCA television, Lohr pointed out.
As the public will expect television to bring into the home distant currents events, including sports, parades, elections and other news happenings, and will eventually demand faithful image as well as sound reproduction of the events, the new mobile unit will make a start toward supplying that demand, said O. B. Hanson, NBC chief engineer, in outlining the work to be done.
The immediate purpose, Hanson stated, is to train a group of men in handling the problems of special events. NBC has been conducting experiments for eight years, and Hanson declared that while much progress has been made it would be foolhardy to guess when actual daily television service, even in the limited area of New York City, will be a reality.
The new mobile television station will consist of two specially constructed motor vans, each about the size of a large bus. Apparatus for picture and sound pick-up will be installed in one, and a video transmitter, operating on a frequency of 177,000 kilocycles, in the other. In the metropolitan area, where many tall buildings make high frequency transmission difficult, the unit's workable range will be about 25 miles. Ten engineers will be required to operate the two television units. In the experimental field work NBC's present mobile sound transmitter will be included in the station.
Both picture and sound will be relayed by micro-wave to the NBC television transmitter in the Empire State Building. There the programs will be broadcast to the 100 receivers NBC has placed in the homes of trained observers throughout the metropolitan area. The television system to be used will be entirely electric, based on the cathode ray tube developed by RCA.
The van mounting the video, or picture, apparatus will be the mobile equivalent of a television studio control room. It will be fitted with television and broadcast equipment similar to that now in use at Radio City. This will include two cameras, video amplifiers, blanking and deflector amplifiers, synchronizing generators and rectifiers for supplying the iconoscope beam voltages. The principal sound apparatus will be microphones, microphone amplifiers and sound mixing panels. All the equipment will be mounted on racks extending down the center of the van, affording easy access to any part for repairs, and the alterations which will arise from the outdoor experimentation.
Directly in front of the operating engineers in the semi-darkened control room will be two monitoring kinescopes. One will show the scene actually being transmitted; the other will show the scene picked up by the second iconoscope camera preparatory to transmission. Sound will be picked up by a variety of microphones, including the parabolic microphone developed in the NBC laboratories, and will be monitored by loudspeaker. An elaborate telephone cue circuit will keep the ten engineers in contact with each other.
The two iconoscope cameras, to be mounted on tripods, will be technically equivalent to studio cameras, although considerably lighter in weight. Focusing will be by looking directly onto the plate of the iconoscope, instead of through a separate set of lenses, as in the case of studio cameras. The cameras will transmit the image through several hundred feet of multiple core cable, affording a considerable radius of operations. Four operating positions will also be available on the roof of the van.
The micro-wave television transmitter will be housed in the second van, linked to the first by 500 feet of coaxial cable. Here the principal apparatus will be the radio frequency unit, generating the carrier wave for picture signals, and modulating apparatus for imposing picture signals on this carrier. The signals will be transmitted to the Empire State station's directional receiving antenna either from a single dipole antenna raised on the van's roof, or from a highly directive antenna array raised on the scene of the pick-up. (Radio Daily, Sept. 24)

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 1937
Zenith Revising Setup For Television Activity
Chicago — Zenith Radio Corp. is calling a stockholders' meeting [for Oct. 26] to fix its charter so it can apply again to FCC for a television transmitter. Charter at present is not broad enough to cover such expanded activity, the FCC ruled.
President E. F. McDonald Jr. says there is no rush, as television is still far off. He points out that a recent Zenith survey indicates it will take 9,000 television stations to cover the country, and 90,000 miles of coaxial cable at $1 a foot just to link these stations. Elimination of interference and discovering of a way to transmit television beyond the horizon are other problems still unsolved, he said. (Radio Daily)

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1937
Television Station Permit Is Sought by DuMont Lab
Upper Montclaire, N. J. — Allen B. DuMont Laboratories has applied to FCC for construction permit for an experimental television station on 46,000-56,000 kc, 50 watts visual and 50 watts aural power. (Radio Daily)

CBS to Put on Television as Part of Regular Program
New York. Sept. 30—(INS)— Definite plans have been made by the Columbia Broadcasting system to put on television programs from atop New York's Chrysler building, William Paley, president, announced today.
Returning from Europe where he made a study of the progress of television abroad, Mr. Paley said his company would soon begin construction of a transmitter to broadcast pictures through the ether waves.
He discredited reports that Europe is ahead of the United States in television and said that England was on shout a par with her American rivals.
"Television won't progress as rapidly as did radio," he said. "There are still a great many things to be adjusted before it will be perfect."
Experimental programs will be television broadcasts of sports and news events, Mr. Paley said.
Carrying one of the most brilliant passenger lists of the season, the Normandie arrived with a host of notables, including Ambassador William E. Bullitt, envoy to France and a score of stage and screen stars.
Latest importations to Hollywood included Danielle Darrieux, glamorous blonde of the French films, and Fernand Gravet, Parisian screen idol, who is said to be the wealthiest actor in the world.

August 1937

CBS didn’t have a TV studio in August 1937 but that’s the month the company hired someone to take charge of programming from it. The programmer was none other than author Gilbert Seldes. His best-known work at the time was likely “The Seven Lively Arts,” published in 1924, in which he praised George Herriman’s Krazy Kat strip in the newspapers. Seldes was eased out of the company in September 1945, when the network consisted of one station.

Du Mont was not in the television programming business that month, but moved toward it. The company bought a manufacturing plant in New Jersey and intended to carve out studios there.

WFIL in Philadelphia was about to open new studios as well, with an empty floor reserved for television. And W1XG in Boston was revamping operations to accommodate the improved standard for television signals.

NBC continued irregular test programming that month. For the third month in a row, the Home News in New Brunswick, New Jersey, published a feature story about programming on W2XBS in New York. The broadcast sounds much like the one the previous month, with a bit of live programming tossed in amongst newsreels and a Van Beuren cartoon (the one in August 1937 was The Gay Gaucho, made on the west coast by Harman and Ising).

Below are selected TV news highlights for the month. The Newspaper Enterprise Association’s Morris Gilbert wrote a two-part feature on the industry. It was a lengthy situational with no updated news, so we have not included it. Nor have we any specifics about W6AXO other than it continued its brief daily schedule of newsreels and shorts (not identified) from its Los Angeles studios at Seventh and Bixel.

MONDAY, AUGUST 2, 1937
CBS Experimental Tele Studio
An experimental television studio is being built by CBS in the Liederkranz Hall, part of the Park Ave. and 59th St. site where CBS plans its new building. Work on the large new building is expected to be delayed somewhat until the course and prospects of television as well as radio are more clearly charted. (Radio Daily)

Letter Describes Sight Broadcast
Vivid account of an experimental television broadcast is contained in a letter to a Knoxville friend from John S. Van Gilder, of 714 West Hill avenue, who saw the broadcast at the home of W. C. Farrier, New York radio executive who was formerly an assistant co-ordinator for TVA here.
"The set is the size of a cabinet radio," the letter says. "When the set is turned on a picture appears on a mirror in the hinged top of the set. It is not clear at first, but is tuned until it is distinct. "Pictures appeared on the mirror just like on a motion picture screen," the letter says. "Close-up portraits and scenes with crowds were equally distinct. There are about 80 sets scattered within a 50-mile radius of the transmitter atop the Empire State building." (Knoxville Journal)

THURSDAY, AUGUST 5, 1937
DuMont Company Buys Mill Here
Takes Over Anna Meyers Mill in January
One of the country's foremost manufacturers of cathode ray and television tubes will soon be included among Passaic’s manufacturers.
The New Industries Division of the Passaic Chamber of Commerce today announced the sale of the former Peterman plant in Main Avenue, opposite the Continental Can Company's Passaic plant, to the Allan B. Du Mont Laboratories, Inc., of Upper Montclair.
The Du Mont company plans to start operations about the first of next year and will move all of its operations here. Included in alteration plans is a television reception and broadcasting station and a complete cathode ray tube manufacturing plant.
Allan B. Du Mont, president of the concern, returned from England and the Continent Saturday after a three-week business and pleasure trip. He said upon his return that television in England is on an established basis and far ahead of developments here. Passaic is not now to him, for he was formerly chief engineer of the De Forest Company, which at one time occupied space in the old Brighton Mills on Van Houten Avenue.
The sale of the factory, presently occupied on lease by the Anna Myers food product company, was consummated by the Joseph J. Garibaldi Organisation, of Hoboken, factory brokers who last week sold a unit of the old Newport Chemical Company property in this City to the Akis Chemical Company of Switzerland.
The building, a two-story structure, contains 13,300 square feet of floor space. There are 93,000 square feet of vacant land in the property.
John Doherty, of this City, was the seller of record. No price was announced. (Herald-News, Passaic).

TUESDAY, AUGUST 10, 1937
WORK ON A TELEVISION TRANSMITTER HERE
The construction of a modern Cathode ray television transmitter, the first of its type in New England, is under way at the Massachusetts Television Institute, under the direction of Robert E. Rutherford.
The television equipment is of the same type as that used in England and which was used in telecasting the coronation parade there.
Rutherford is a pioneer television engineer and in the course of his work he went to England to supervise the installation of television equipment there and also did similar work in Germany. (Boston Globe)

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 11, 1937
‘I SAW TELEVISION AT ITS BEST—’
OFFICIALS CLAIM BARRIERS REMAIN
Pictures Now Televised Are as Clear as Home Movies
By WILL BALTIN
Theater-Radio Editor
Television is ready for the public!
There is no further doubt in my mind about it. I feel firmly convinced that television sets could be placed on the market tomorrow and would unquestionably meet immediate favor.
Of course, no television official will admit it, though it still puzzles me why they continue to hesitate. And what is more the pity, television sets will probably not be marketed on a wide commercial scale for at least 18 months or two years, and perhaps longer.
But the fact remains that the technical advance in television has been so rapid that television as it is today—as I myself saw it a few days ago — is as fascinating, as clearly defined, and as thrilling as the best home motion picture equipment on the market.
The Radio Corporation of America afforded this writer an excellent opportunity to study the advances made in television over an eight months period, when it invited me to witness a special demonstration at the National Broadcasting Company studios in Radio City last Wednesday afternoon.
Was Not Disappointed
It was not the first television I had witnessed, but it was the first time I had the privilege of watching a program on the latest type television set employed in the RCA experiments, and I therefore visited the studio expecting to see something "new." I was not disappointed.
Heaps of credit are due RCA for its constant efforts to improve the transmission and reception of televised program. It is this determination to reach the goal of perfection that more than anything else is delaying public introduction of this new, marvelous art.
David Sarnoff, president of the Radio Corporation of America, and a titan in the field of broadcasting and television, asserted recently that premature introduction of television might result in early obsolesence of sets, and that television, unlike radio, must be established on a standard which will be nation-wide.
Mr. Sarnoff, who is now in Europe studying radio and television advances abroad, spiked rumors that "certain interests" were holding back the release of television for various and sundry reasons, when he asserted that no one can stop the advent of television any more than they can halt the flow of the Atlantic Ocean. It simply must come sooner or later, he pointed out, and there is a great future in that field.
The Television Broadcast
Witnessing a television broadcast on an RCA set is an experience one does not easily forget. The program I witnessed last Wednesday was televised from the NBC television studios atop the Empire State Building to the sixth floor of the Radio City building where a group of 15 advertising agency officials, three NBC engineers and the writer observed the show on a fairly large television screen.
I was ushered into a room that had been darkened for the purpose of the experiment. Engineers later said darkening of the room was more for convenience of the large number of persons present than out of necessity, as the pictures tele-vised are sufficiently bright to be seen even in a well-lighted room.
The television set stood about five feet high two and a half feet wide, and was placed in a corner of the room. It looked as attractive as any present model console radio. There were six tuning knobs on the front of the set, as well as a station indicator and space for the dynamic speaker.
The top of the set was opened up vertically, with the interior of the top revealing a mirror. Peering down into the set, one observed a glass tube, 12 inches in diameter, its top surface coated with a fluorescent material. To witness the program, one need only seat himself comfortably within a distance of from five to 15 feet from the set and peer into the mirror, which reflected the picture from the tube.
Impulses on Lines
Last November, I saw a press demonstration of television on a screen five by seven inches, with the televised impulses sent on 343 lines per square inch. The "lines" on a television screen are much the same as the minute dots which may he found on an ordinary newspaper half-tone or cut. They vary in principle, however, in that televised "lines" are interlaced horizontally and vertically.
At last Wednesday's demonstration, vast improvements had been made. The size of the screen had been enlarged to 12 square inches, and the number of interlaced "lines" transmitted had been increased from 343 to 441, thus providing an almost perfectly clear picture. The "lines" are now so fine that they can be detected by the eye only if the observer pokes his nose on top of the tube.
Fifteen minutes before the television program began, O. B. Hanson, chief engineer for NBC, turned on the set and tuned the dials as though he were bringing in a regular radio broadcast. An odd pattern appeared on the television screen. The pattern, which forms a circle and contains a series of broad and thin lines, enables the observer to tune the set into focus and set it for the proper light intensity. Once this was done, the set was ready for the "show."
Program Begins
As 19 individuals looked on, the room was darkened, the test pattern vanished and a striking cloud effect appeared on the 12-inch screen. An atmosphere of expectancy could be detected among the observers. Out of the cloud effect appeared a picture of the Empire State Building, and superimposed on the scene was the inscription "NBC" and "RFCA" Television. The announcer's voice then came through the loud speaker, stating that an experimental television broadcast was to follow.
A strip of film was televised announcing that the first portion of the program was to be presented. The title: "Pathe News" immediately appeared.
Each changing sequence was perfectly clear, without the least suggestion of flicker or other inperfection [sic]. The pictures appeared bright and were of greenish hue instead of black and white. This did not detract from the entertainment value.
The regulation news-reel was televised with scenes including the Lake Placid ice carnival held recently, yacht races and other newsy shots. Every picture was amazingly clear, though in miniature.
Present Studio Show
With the conclusion of the Pathe News, a studio program was presented from the Empire State Building studios. A Japanese xylophonist was introduced by his wife and the musician offered two selections. RCA engineers displayed the flexibility of the television camera in this presentation by televising "close ups" and "long shots" of the musician in action with the same finesse of the motion picture camera. At the first demonstration I witnessed eight months ago, the break between the "close ups" and "long shots" was marred by streaks of light that annoyed the observer.
The short program was concluded with the presentation of a Van Burean [sic] cartoon comedy, "The Gay Gaucho." Here the entertainment value of television was put to test and laughter from the small audience gave evidence the observers were being entertained as well as fascinated by the new invention.
With the broadcast at an end, an NBC engineer. Ferdinand Wankle, answered questions asked by the observers. The big question, of course, was "When will television become public property?" And the usual "shrug of the shoulders" followed.
A hint as to when the public will be permitted to see the advances in television was given when the engineer explained that RCA and NBC will demonstrate the new art at the World's Fair in 1939. But the question of whether the sets may be marketed before that time brought no reply from the engineer.
Sets May Cost $250
The cost of sets was also a question which the engineer said he could not answer. The Film Daily, national theatrical publication, in an exclusive story recently revealed that American television interests can market sets profitably today for $250. Which is not an exorbitant price in view of the voluminous equipment necessary.
A query as to the make-up of the set brought the answer that the sets now operated by RCA have 32 tubes, besides the huge cathode ray tube; that the cathode ray tube is good for more than 1,000 hours of entertainment; that sets weigh 250 pounds and require 6,000 volts to operate; that this high voltage is not dangerous because the entire rear of the television set is shielded and once the shield is removed, the current is automatically broken.
The engineer further revealed that the present range of television transmission is 45 miles or more. At the 1936 demonstration it was pointed out that the range is about 25 miles; thus an improvement was shown in this regard, too. Observers at the program generally agreed that, technically, television is now ready for the home.
But RCA officials insist that the technical aspect is but one of the many problems keeping the invention behind laboratory doors. They point to the difficulty of a nation-wide television service in view of the fact that programs can only be sent 45 miles by air. They point to the prohibitive costs of laying co-axial cables to carry the programs across the continent on a chain system. Television programs cannot be sent by ordinary telephone wire as radio programs are now being sent. They also point to the new program technique necessary to provide real entertainment, and a multiplicity of other barriers to commercial television.
Can Be Marketed Today
Still, I feel television is technically acceptable and therefore should be made public property. Certainly it would start a new era of prosperity for radio dealers, although it is entirely separate from radio, and radio sets will STILL be necessary to pick up regular programs.
The Daily Home News and The Sunday Times own an experimental television set built by Norman Van Heuvel, local radio dealer. The set, while much smaller than the RCA sets, does bring in programs. It is now undergoing changes to enlarge the pictures being received, and will be displayed to the public this fall.
RCA has, of course, developed a much more delicate instrument than the "home-made" set owned by these newspapers. Each RCA set — and there are 100 sets in the metropolitan area now being used in the experiments—is exquisitely built and would fit into any home living room.
Whatever officials may say about the stumbling blocks to television, the fact remains that the new art is much further developed now than radio was during the crystal set era of 1919 to 1923, and that the public should not be denied the privilege of witnessing the new wonder of the 20th century any longer.
Television is here! (Sunday Times, New Brunswick, N.J., Aug. 15)

Initial Television Sets To Cost Less Than Auto
But National Broadcasting Head Says Price Will Be "Considerable"
By BARROW LYONS
Times Special financial Writer
NEW YORK, Aug. 11.—Initial television sets will be sold for less than the cheapest automobile but the price still will be "considerable."
This was predicted today by Lenox R. Lohr, president of the National Broadcasting Co., one of a half a dozen pioneers in the field who are conducting exhaustive tests and experiments.
In an interview Mr. Lohr refused to minimize the financial or technical difficulties but placed the problem of entertainment value above everything else.
"When I am absolutely sure that we have something that is capable of providing entertainment to compete with radio and the movies I'll feel quite confident to launch the ship," he declared. "Something Good"
"I feel certain that we have something good—something that is now perfect enough to capture a considerable following. But is it good enough? And can we make it substantially better within the next year or two?"
Nobody, including Mr, Lohr, appears to know just when television will start commercially. The Radio Corp. of America has plans and specifications for mass production of sets ready to be put in operation on short notice. The NBC, 100 per cent owned by RCA, could put programs on the air as soon as the music started to play.
But despite numerous straws in the wind to indicate that considerable progress is being made, Mr. Lohr indicated that the big companies are content to continue their experiments for some time—barring the sudden introduction of television sets by an unsuspected competitor.
New Sets Needed
"If some unsuspected competitor suddenly were to begin broadcasts and place a set on the market we are prepared to do battle immediately. But the moment the manufacturing of sets begins in a big way we are likely to freeze the art," he said.
"Radio broadcasts can be received by sets of many varieties, from a simple crystal outfit to the most complicated mechanisms. But the sending and receiving apparatus of television must fit like lock and key.
"A fundamental improvement in broadcasting technique probably would call for new sets. Hence we want to be as sure as possible that the first sets we sell will be usable for a reasonable period of years.
"It seems the part of wisdom, as long as we are continuing to make rapid progress in the development of the art, and competition does not threaten, to continue our experimentation for a reasonable time."
"How long do you think that will be?" Mr. Lohr was asked.
Two or Three Years Ahead
"I can only guess," he said. "If I were to say two or three years it might be misleading, for it is impossible to tell. We have announced the first public showing of television for the World's Fair here in 1939."
"Who is to pay for the expense of programs?" Mr. Lohr was asked next.
"Presumably the sponsors will," he replied. "Already some 30 or 40 national advertisers have asked to be considered as early applicants for space, but until we are nearer the threshold of performance we are not attempting to work out any contracts.
"One of the indeterminate elements involved lies in the size of the audience, which must necessarily be smaller than that of the radio audience.
“The cost at which sets will be put out, however, must be a factor in the size and quality of the audience, and this is very important to the advertiser. I believe, however, that the problem of sponsoring programs will not be the most difficult we still have to solve." (Buffalo Daily News)

FRIDAY, AUGUST 13, 1937
New York and Los Angeles Television Centers of Nation
By SCIENCE SERVICE
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — New York and Los Angeles are the two most logical choices for the beginnings of commercial television broadcasting in America, reports the scientific committee of the Research Council of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences here. The great need for talented actors is a primary reason for this decision. On the New York stage and radio and in Hollywood's motion picture studios are the best actors in the country.
Geographically Los Angeles excells New York in its facility for television broadcasts on the "line of sight" properties of the television waves, also reports the committee. While New York and its surrounding area can be covered from towering Manhattan skyscrapers the city of Los Angeles has its own, natural high landmarks. Cahuenga Peak, for example, has an altitude of 1,825 feet, affords an eminence nearly 50 per cent, greater than New York's Empire State Tower, and commands the San Fernando Valley on the north, the greater part of Los Angeles to the south and east and the beach cities of the west. (Longview News-Journal)

MONDAY, AUGUST 16, 1937
$200,000 WFIL Studios Being Occupied Sept. 1
Philadelphia.— WFIL's new $200,000 studio plant will be opened for broadcasting Sept. 1, according to Donald Withycomb, g.m. Located on the 18th floor of the Widener Bldg. in the heart of mid-town, the new plant is now three-fourths completed. Formal dedication of the studios will be deferred until decorative work is finished, probably late in October.
WFIL also has on option the remaining wing of the floor not now in use and also has plans drawn up for an auditorium studio seating 700 to be erected on the roof in about two years. Architects are drawing plans for television studios for the optioned space. (Radio Daily)

SATURDAY, AUGUST 21, 1937
TELEVISION DIRECTOR IS APPOINTED BY CBS
New York, Aug. 21.—(AP)—The CBS network, which is making plans again to enter the experimental television field, already had named its picture program director. He is Gilbert Seldes, writer and critic, who is giving up his newspaper connections to take over his new post from September 1.
At the same time the network also announced that it intended to establish a television program center in the Grand Central terminal building in New York just across the street from the Chrysler building, the 75-storey skyscraper which is to house the ultra short wave for the radio images.
Construction of the studios is to begin in the fall, and with the transmitter unit, probably will be ready for the first experiments in a year or so. (C.E. Butterfield)

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 25, 1937
New Television System Is Shown by Kolorama
Demonstration of a new television system was given yesterday by Kolorama Laboratories of Irvington, N. J, which has carried on intensive research to construct television equipment adaptable for home use with projection on a large screen. Kolorama officials believe that small pictures, measuring only a few inches on a side, will not be acceptable in the home or useful for commercial application.
At the demonstration, television transmission was highlighted by projecting high definition pictures on a screen measuring 4x5 feet.
Advanced experiments in color for television is still dependent upon the perfection of black and white transmission, it was said.
The Kolorama system is not yet perfected, but engineers claim they have not reached their limitations. (Radio Daily)

THURSDAY, AUGUST 26, 1937
VALENTINE SEES TELEVISION AS HELP TO POLICE
Watches Demonstration of Transmission by R. C. A.
New York, Aug. 27—Commissioner Lewis J. Valentine and other officers of the police department saw a demonstration yesterday [26] in the offices of the National Broadcasting company of experimental television and facsimile transmission, as developed by the Radio Corporation of America. Their chief interest was in the application of the devices to police work.
"The police department," said Commissioner Valentine, "is constantly on the alert to adopt new developments in science that will aid us In the detection and prevention of crime and the apprehension of criminals. I hope and believe that we will be able to profit from the millions of dollars that RCA and the National Broadcasting company are pending in their development of facsimile transmission and television."
The officers were of the opinion that television might be used to advantage in broadcasting police lineups in various cities. The lineup in New York police headquarters might he shown in Washington, Philadelphia, and other cities, and the lineups in those cities might be shown here. Detectives in all cities on the circuit in such event, would see every day the crooks picked up the day before in all centers.
Facsimile transmission, it was said, would be of indubitable benefit to police work. It would enable police to transmit within a minute or two exact likenesses of features and finger prints of any one in their hands, or any fugitive for whom they were broadcasting an alarm. The system is said to be proof against errors in transmission.
With receiving sets installed at the principal gateways of the city, it was pointed out, exits could be closed promptly against any known criminal, the police on duty at such points receiving almost immediately his photographic likeness and his finger prints. Facsimile receivers, it was said, might be installed in police radio cars, thus enabling the department to broadcast throughout the city the description of any wanted crook without waiting to have cuts made and hand-bills printed. (Daily News, Springfield, Mass.)

MONDAY, AUGUST 30, 1937
Boston Television Station Readies for Eve. Schedule
Boston — W1XG, television station owned and operated by General Television Corp., is completely rebuilding its television equipment to bring it up to the 441-line standard recently accepted by the Radio Manufacturers Assn., and is using the "Iconoscope" and "Kinescope" developed by RCA.
Station transmits on a frequency of 44 megacycles and starting in October will transmit for one hour each evening to allow television experimenters to work on their receivers. During the past year the station was on an afternoon schedule for its own experimental work. (Radio Daily)

TUESDAY, AUGUST 31, 1937
Ordinary Static Does Not Affect Television Reception, Says Baird
Auto Engine In Vicinity Will Generate Enough Interference To Ruin Weak Signal, Hub Engineer Tells Radio Men
Ordinary, static does not interfere with television reception but an automobile engine running in the vicinity of a receiver will generate enough interference to ruin a weak signal, Hollis S. Baird of Boston, pioneer television engineer, told nearly 100 radio men Tuesday evening [31] at a meeting in the Chamber of Commerce under the auspices of the General Television Institute of Boston.
Mr. Baird predicted public sale of television receivers will start in New York City next year and said public interest will determine how rapidly television will spread to other cities. The latest development, he said, is the development of apparatus to throw pietures on a screen three feet by four feet and predicted the usual home size will be 18 inches by 24 inches.
Deveopment of telesivion equipment by the Columbia Broadcasting System, scheduled to start operation about the first of the year, may bring regular scheduled broadcasts, he said. The National Broadcasting Company has been conducting experimental tests jor several years, Mr. Baird explained, but there have been no regular schedules and reception has been restricted to teat sets in the homes of 80 NBC executives.
High power will be necessary to overcome interference in areas where there is heavy automobile traffic, he continued, and to insure reception strong enough to be visible in the average lighted living room. Range of the NBC unit with its aerial on the Empire State Building is about 45 miles, the speaker said, and the range of aerials with less altitude will he about 30 miles.
Network television broadcasting will have to await construction of lines of concentric cable between titles, he said, but pointed out that such a cable already has been installed between New York and Philade!phia. Local stations could transmit motion pictures and local programs before network istellities were available, Mr. Baird declared.
He showed pictures of the experimental equipment of NBC and of the manufacture of television equipment in the General Television Institute. The talk was preceded by a showing of motion pictures of activities of the New England Telephone and Telegraph Company. (Portland Press-Herald, Sept. 1)

July 1937

NBC in Washington, D.C. opened a new building in June 1937, and studio space was reserved for television. The station didn’t actually get on the air until 1947, though the network had applied for a license before World War Two.

It shows that companies were preparing for TV broadcasts at the time. There was still plenty of speculation (and there would be for several more years) when television would “arrive.” No less a person than FDR, in honour of the new Washington studios, mused it would be sooner than later, and people would even read news on video while eating breakfast. That was a little further off.

Below are stories for July 1937. There’s another roundup of a broadcast from NBC’s station in New York, W2XBS, viewed thanks to a home-built set. Getting the necessary picture tube would normally be impossible, except the constructor had been an engineer at Du Mont, which was developing a television set. The broadcast was dominated by newsreel film, as well as a cartoon from the defunct Van Beuren studio; Van Beuren cartoons would appear often on TV across the U.S. until the explosion of stations in 1948.

There’s also a little news about W6XAO in Los Angeles and some experimental stations in the Midwest.

SATURDAY, JULY 3, 1937
Television’s Status in Connection With Movie Production Scrutinized
By ELIZABETH YEAMAN
[Three paragraphs on Hayes Office investigating television and a recommendation by the son of the FCC chairman for the film industry to acquire control of a radio network, then pool TV rights].
Few people realize that there are local television broadcasts twice a day. One hour of televised programs is broadcast during the day, and another series of programs is sent out over the ether every night between 6:30 and 7:30 [on W6XAO]. There are several hundred television enthusiasts in this locality, who have made their own receiving sets and tune in on these experimental television programs.
* * *
Life Work Cut Out
The man responsible for these television programs is Harry R. Lubcke, who graduated from the University of California in 1929 and ever since has been working on television. For five years he has been employed by the Don Lee Mutual Broadcasting System. Other major radio networks conduct experimental broadcasts of television in the East. The Federal Communications Commission forbids anyone to obtain revenue from television as yet, and you can be certain that these experimental broadcasts cost hundreds of thousands of dollars annually. However, there seems to be little doubt that the big radio networks which are spending so much money in television experimentation will be preferred petitioners when the commercial licenses are eventually issued.
Lubcke is of the opinion that when television is a commercial product, at least 60 per cent of the programs sent out will be motion pictures. Performances of living actors may be alternated with those of motion pictures, to avoid the delay caused by changing of sets in a series of living programs.
There is little argument against the prediction that when the general public is able to see and hear entertainment in the home, that all commercial public entertainment will suffer for a time. The novelty of the new invention will develop a rabid audience at first, and the fact that it may be free entertainment, paid for by advertising sponsors as on the radio, is another big selling point. in the early stages, television is bound to be menacing competition for motion picture theaters.
However, Lubcke points out that the film studios may capitalize on the new invention if they wish, by producing motion pictures for the television programs. What the film theaters and film distributors would have to say about such a move in the studios is another matter.
* * *
Tips for Film Players
From his work with daily experimental broadcasts, Lubcke has formulated a list of motion picture requirements for television. Brunettes are the beet physical types, and prominent features and normal complexion also televise with the greatest clarity. Hair may be blonde if it stands out in contrast to the background and the rest of the face. The success of the television subject is dependent upon proper contrast of all the features.
Clear pictorial photography is absolutely necessary. Great masses of dark shadow or ultra artiness in photography do not reproduce well in television. The detail of a scene must be carried in intermediate tones or half tones. Checkerboard contrast in the photographic composition of a scene is essential. That means dark and light objects must he interspersed throughout the area of the picture. The over-all contrast range must be limited. Extremes of black and white, more accurately described as extremes of light intensity, must be limited. The laboratory must supply prints of medium density. Black frame lines must be present in motion picture films. These are absent in some newsreel cameras. Lap dissolves or quick fades are preferable for scene changes. Slow fades give the momentary impression that the receiving set is out of order. The television scene, during a fadeout, remains grey instead of going black as on the movie screen.
Of the motion picture subjects televised by Lubcke, Loretta Young and Claudette Colbert have been the best. Herbert Marshall has the best face among the men.
Lubcke believes that most television programs will be confined to a 15-minute period. Serial programs, like Amos and Andy, probably will be popular, and that opens a great range for motion picture serials. Short film comedies can be made successfully for the 15-minute period, but few dramas can be successfully condensed to that time limit. So perhaps they will be presented as serials, in 15-minute episodes. Dancers, acrobats, impersonaters [sic], and all the entertainers of vaudeville will be in demand.
When commercial receiving sets for television go on the market next year, they probably will cost around $300. The budget for the film programs will depend upon the amount of money an advertising sponsor wishes to pay, and he will pay in direct ratio to the size of the receiving audience. The larger the audience, the more sets will be sold, and the cheaper the sets will become. (Hollywood Citizen-Reporter)

SUNDAY, JULY 4, 1937
Television Is in the Air—And Norman Van Heuvel Sees It
Local Experimenter Picks Up N. Y. Signal
Newsreels, Cartoon Movies and Other Entertainment Flashes From Empire State Bldg. in N. Y. to This City; Uses DuMont Cathode Ray Tube
By WILL BALTIN
"TELECASTER"
Norman Van Heuvel sat before his experimental television set at his home in Colonial Gardens last Tuesday night [June 29] and fingered several dials on a complex-looking instrument that was spread out across an improvised workshop bench erected in the sun-parlor of his dwelling.
As he did so he peered at the base of an odd-shaped tube that resembled more an old-fashioned type wine bottle. A rectangular-shaped light about three inches in dimension blazed brightly on the tube's base.
Suddenly the light flickered momentarily.
"Here it comes now!" Mr. Van Heuvel said enthusiastically to a group of young men who surrounded him. And in an instant, like a miniature motion picture, appeared the lettering "PATHE NEWS" on the three-inch screen.
And another experimental television program came whizzing through the air from the Empire State Building in New York City.
Amazing ... incredible ... a challenge to the imagination—the television program was, even in a somewhat crude form, the most thrilling experience ever encountered by the writer, who was among the few invited friends present to witness what Mr. Van Heuvel termed, his “first public demonstration.”
The phonograph in its day was considered an exceptional feat of man-made-magic. The telephone, too, made people gape with amazement. The incandescent lamp revolutionized modern ways of living. And the radio was considered about the most amazing invention ever conceived by human mind.
The Biggest Wonder
All of these seem infinitesimal when placed beside the magic of television. Imagine watching a complete show being staged in the metropolis 40 miles away, while you sit in your own home. Or imagine watching the news of the day un-reeling before your eyes as it occurs, or did occur a few hours before, while you lounge in the comfort of your living room.
The few invited guests at the Van Heuvel home had a “preview” of what the future holds when they witnessed the 30-minute television show that the Radio Corporation of America experimenters staged for the benefit of a handful of experimental owners in the metropolitan district last week.
Although the screen on the local set is tiny compared with those developed at RCA and being used on their experimental sets, the observers here thoroughly enjoyed the "show."
Pathe News was first and as the reel came through the ether, events of the day were revealed. Jim Braddock appeared on the small screen to tell his side of the recent boxing battle and Joe Louis was also there with a few words. The ballet dancers of the Radio City Music Hall were shown as they departed for Europe. The Princeton Invitation Track Meet moved across the television screen.
See Irwin's Face
And then the face of Robert Irwin, confessed slayer of Ronnie Gedeon, her mother and family boarder, was shown. Other news shots appeared under the title of Pathe "News Flashes" before the reel ended. A Van Buren cartoon comedy was next to be shown and here the little drawn objects cavorted on the screen much as you see them in the movies.
With the short program over, the observers agreed that television, technically, is a fact, and that as far as they were concerned they were eagerly awaiting the sale of sets—which manufacturers insist must still be held in abeyance [sic] until “the time is ripe”. Which means exactly nothing!
Mr. Van Heuvel spent several months building the set and now that he has gained the knowledge of how a television machine operates, he will rip apart the present equipment and rebuild it with a much larger screen for public showings.
Construction of the set was difficult enough to discourage a less industrious individual than Mr. Van Heuvel. Set designs were rare and are, in fact, still hard to find, due to the stubborn efforts by leading experimenters to guard any new developments from the amateur.
Actual work began late last fall and by this spring, the experimental set, which will become the property of The Daily Home News and The Sunday Times when it is completed, was ready for operation. Repeated efforts to pick up the sight signal failed, although the sound portion of the television were received regularly.
Not Discouraged
Hardly discouraged, "Van" as Mr. Van Heuvel is known in radio circles, continued his experiments. He found that a broad tuning amplifier was essential to bring in the signal, with distance from the station a determining factor on how broad the amplifier had to be. Constant experimenting brought about the necessary amplification, and it was with considerable gratification that "Van" witnessed his first home television show about a month ago.
Quite bulky in appearance now, the set which Van Heuvel is to re-build will be made compact and will give the appearance of a regular floor model radio. At present employing the 3-inch Du Mont cathode ray tube, Mr. Van Heuvel intends to use the 5 or perhaps 7-inch Du Mont tube in his larger set.
Unquestionably the most important part of the television receiving equipment is the cathode ray tube through which the televised electrical impulses charge and are reflected into a complete picture on the base of the tube. These tubes range in size from one-inch to 12-inches and require delicate manufacture.
Up-and-Coming Leader
One of the leading cathode ray tube manufacturers in the country land certainly one that will someday take the front rank in the television industry is Allen B. Du Mont, a young engineer, who conducts his laboratories in Upper Montclair.
Mr. Du Mont's knowledge of the tube manufacturing was gained through years of study and experiment at the De Forest Manufacturing Laboratories in Passaic, where he was chief enginner [sic]. It was at the De Forest labs that Du Mont had a first glimpse at television equipment and sensed then that the future in this field was one that sparkled with opportunity.
Television in 1928 was operated on the Jenkins scanning disc principle, and the De Forest firm was the first to obtain a broadcast license for the operation of an experimental station. Its call letters were W2XCD. Scanning disc television was doomed for failure, it was learned after these experiments, but television itself was due to progress into a realm of even greater possibility with the discovery of the cathode ray tube.
Western Electric was first to make these tubes and in this field, Du Mont decided to cast his lot. He started his own cathode ray laboratory in the basement of his home, and experimented with equipment purchased for a few hundred dollars. He perfected a tube all his own, had it patented, and immediately set about to manufacture them.
Laboratory Grows
The laboratory outgrew the basement and a double garage in the back of his home was utilized for the manufacturing. Business thrived as television interest grew. A market arose in England and other European countries where television is today already public property.
The "backyard" shop finally proved entirely inadequate and the energetic and determined-to-make-good Mr. Du Mont rented what appeared to be a spacious shop not far from his home in Upper Montclair. A staff of engineers were employed to make the tubes to meet the increasing order list. A shop next door to the one originally rented had to be taken over to meet the business demands, then another store, and recently a fourth store was taken over on the same block to extend operations.
Increased use of the oscillograph for which most of the cathode ray tubes now made are used, resulted in the thriving business. Mr. Du Mont told this writer the other day that business has tripled every year for seven consecutive years, with every indication of even greater future success.
At present 40 men are working for the young man, who, less than 40 years old, is a leader in American television operations. His chief assistant is Thomas Goldsmith Jr., who is director of research for the Du Mont Laboratories, Inc. "Doc" Goldsmith is a graduate of Cornell University and has been experimenting primarily with television cathode ray tubes. Allen and "Doc" are a “perfect team” in the laboratory.
"As far as the pictures I have seen," Mr. DuMont, "there is no question but that television is here." He pointed out that technical advancement has been rapid luring the past few years, and the pictures televised are "in some cases better than home movies." He estimates that Great Britain is making its mark in television already and that 50.000 television sets were told there during the past year.
Mr. Du Mont holds 25 patents on cathode ray and other television developments. His name is linked among the front rank television authorities in the country today. (Home News, New Brunswick, N.J.)

TUESDAY, JULY 6, 1937
Television Option Denied
Application filed by General Foods Corp. with NBC requesting option on the first commercial television broadcast has been turned down by the network. Web has had similar requests of this nature in the past. Whole episode was more in the nature of a publicity stunt to draw attention to General Foods' new Maxwell House "Show Boat" program. Ralph Starr Butler, vice-president in charge of advertising for General Foods, made the request to NBC through Roy C. Witmer, network's vice-president in charge of sales. (Radio Daily)

WEDNESDAY, JULY 7, 1937
Philadelphia Companies Vie For Honor of Being First Under the Wire With Television
PHILADELPHIA, July 7—The cradle of American television!
That is the title Philadelphia is getting ready to claim when mass production of sight-and-sound radio sets starts soon in this country.
Grounds for the pretensions of the civic boosters and manufacturers lie in the fact that three of the leading television research laboratories are situated in the Philadelphia area. They are those of the Farnsworth Television, Inc., the Philco Radio and Television Corporation, and the RCA-Victor Company.
Each of the three concerns thus far has spent tens of thousands of dollars on preliminary work essential to the development of a practical radio-vision receiver.
They are now preparing to make even more lavish financial outlays in the hope of being first under the wire with a popular priced and efficient product of America's number one infant industry. The cost to the producer before this new receiver is put on sale to the public will run into the millions.
As a natural consequence of such high finance an intense rivalry exists between the king-pins of television today. Production plans and research problems are jealously guarded. Control of patent rights is a vital factor in the competition. Already two of the principals hare locked horns in a court action.
Although recent demonstrations of television receivers here have shown pictures as clear as home movies if viewed 10 feet from the vision screen, company officials say they aren't good enough for the American public and possibly won't be for another year.
Meanwhile, however, the British Broadcasting Corporation has come out with a sound-sight receiver that goes into the home for a down payment of a small deposit and weekly payments of $5. Costing approximately $408 this de luxe machine has a capacity for long, medium and short-wave reception. A simpler model sells for $360.
In the research laboratories of the Farnsworth and Philco plants and the Radio Corporation of America across the river in Camden, N. J., engineers and experts in the fields of physics and chemistry are hard at work setting the stage for the television industry's debut in the United States.
Many knotty problems must be solved be-fore the new invention becomes an everyday factor. The development of larger and brighter pictures, discovery of a transmission system that will give nation-wide coverage, and the origination of entertainment programs are only a few of the difficulties to be hurdled.
Plans of the experts for the months ahead call for field tests in the Philadelphia area that will send the faces of people and scenes flashing through the air over rooftops and through the walls of homes. The man in the street and the family around the dinner table as yet cannot see these fast traveling images being shot through the ether, but they are slowly observed for imperfections or improvements by the pioneers engaged in the creation of this most amazing product of man's ingenuity. (Springfield, Mass Republican)

FRIDAY, JULY 9, 1937
Television Type
Philadelphia — Carol Weymann, former KYW songbird now heard with NBC, has been selected as a "perfect television subject" by the Farnsworth Television Corp. Miss Weymann is 23 years old, light-complexioned and has clear-cut features. She comes here from New York each week to participate in Farnsworth's experimental television transmissions [W3XPF]. (Radio Daily)

Television Antenna Set Up
Kansas City — Kenneth Alexander, chief of the engineering staff of First National Television, Inc., and Les Hotsenpiller, research engineer, have completed the erection of a 10 1/2-foot half wave vertical antenna between the towers of the Fidelity building for ultra-high wave television broadcasts. They also have constructed a 300 watt transmitter with which they are making daily experimental broadcasts, testing the efficiency of different numbers of lines. Television broadcasts of W9XBY are also broadcast by First National Television's radio station, KXBY, in the Fidelity Building. [The company used W9XAL for television] (Radio Daily)

TUESDAY, JULY 13, 1937
20 SCHOOL OF AIR FINALISTS RETURN; TIRED BUT HAPPY
Young Georgians Home After Visiting New York, Washington
Travel worn but jubilant, twenty state finalists in The Atlanta Journal School of the Air returned here late Tuesday [13] from a tour of Washington and New York.
Led by Director Louis T. Rigdon, Mrs. Rigdon and Elsie Galkin Smerling, School of the Air officials, the party was met by a welcoming committee at the Terminal Station which included John Paschall, associate editor and managing editor of The Journal, and Lambdin Kay, general manager of The Journal's radio station, WSB.
Youthful members of the party were elated over their royal reception in the national capital and in New York. In the latter place they made a complete tour of Radio City and shortly before their departure were given a preview of television.
Major Lenox R. Lohr, president of the National Broadcasting Company, in receiving the Georgia delegation of winners in his Radio City office in New York, told the group that "The Journal School of the Air is expected to furnish its share of talent for television.”
Prior to being greeted by Major Lohr a special television demonstration for the students was arranged by R. M. Brophey, manager of the stations relations department and the NBC engineering staff, and was transmitted from the Empire State Building to their reception room in Radio City.
The NBC executive in talking with the twenty winners, paid a special tribute to Mr. Kay and John A. Brice, general manager of The Journal, in making it possible for Georgia school boys and girls to have the opportunity of participating in the annual auditions. (Atlanta Journal, July 14)

THURSDAY, JULY 15, 1937
No Television Sets in 1937
By C. E. BUTTERFIELD
Associated Press Radio Editor
NEW YORK, July 15.—The question as to when this country is to have television sets on the market still lacks an answer.
Authorities say simply: "We do not know." But they will amplify this comment a little with "We do not know anyone who does know.”
They are certain, though, such a development will not take place this year.
One authority quoted is David Sarnoff, president of the Radio Corporation of America, a leader in television research.
Here's what he has to say: "Will there be television commercially at any time during the balance of this year? The answer is 'No' as far as RCA is concerned, and I know of no other plans anywhere else to put television on the market during the present year.
"Then, when will there be commercial television receivers on the market? The answer is ‘I don't know,’ and ‘I do not know anyone who does know’."
Not Being Held Back
Such comment, he went on, is "not due in the slightest degree to any policy or program on the part of RCA, or, so far as I know, of anyone else in this country to hold television back or to pull it like a rabbit out of the hat on some unsuspected day. The reasons are due solely to the fact that many problems yet remain to be solved in this complicated new field of transmission."
In adding that he was a firm believer in television, he said he thought "that television can no more be stopped by anybody's desire to stop it than can the waves of the Atlantic Ocean be stopped" for "I think there is a great need for television."
He touched, too, on another item important to the future television audience, the cost of the receiver.
"I think that even today a receiver could be built and sold perhaps at prices in the neighborhood of $400 or so—of course I am only guessing at this figure."
Meanwhile, apparently in keeping with these statements, plans have been announced for probably the first public television tests in this country to be conducted from a special radio-television building at the New York World's Fair two year hence.

SATURDAY, JULY 17, 1937
Television Near, But Who's to Pay Leaves Biggest Question Up in Air
Washington, July 17.—(AP)—The national resources committee said today the most significant trend in communication developments was the "relative imminence of television." The committee reported to President Roosevelt that the basic engineering work of television development already had been accomplished and the next major problem was to find a method of presenting television broadcasting at a reasonable cost.
Technical Problem to Be Solved.
The study of television, prepared by the engineering department of the Federal Communications Commission, conceded that many technical problems remained to be solved, but pointed out that since 1929 visual broadcasting had reached such perfection as a scientific tool that it is possible "to transmit over a local area of 10 to 20 miles radius fairly good pictures having the clarity and details of the average home moving picture."
"The next corner to be turned, however, is an economic rather than an engineering one," the report said, "and it can be briefly stated in one short question—'Who is to pay for television?' Will the public accept a television service ''based upon a continuance of the present system of a commercial aural broadcasting and its extension into television? Will a 'looker-in' be willing to sit in a darkened living room at home intently peering into the screen of his television receiver?"
Point to Social Influence.
In trying to measure the social influence of television when it reaches the commonplace stage of present day radio receivers, the committee said it is likely that the main impact of television will be to intensify the social effects which broadcasting is already producing." In discussing the future use of visual broadcasting, the committee said "it seems reasonable to expect that the most popular type of entertainment by television will be the drama."
"The drama," the report stated, "may grow in importance at the expense of music, which, not requiring the sense of vision, has occupied such a large share of aural broadcasting time. The motion pictures, rather than the legitimate stage, doubtless will provide the dramatic patterns, since the televisioned drama need not be limited to the walls of a single indoor stage.
"The competition of the home theater with the moving picture theater may lead to important economic readjustments, rapidly or gradually, depending on the enlargeability of television screens, the abundance of televisors in homes, and on the controlling of patents and programs."
Look for Strict Censorship.
The committee also pointed out that the advent of the home theater with television would bring on a censorship more drastic than in present radio broadcasting since fewer broadcasting bands would be available for television.
The committee also pointed out that political speakers would be both seen and heard, and said facsimile transmission, akin to television, would open the way for radio delivery of newspapers by metropolitan and chain newspapers.
The report said color television was already a laboratory accomplishment and that developments had already started in three dimensional sight and sound, adding that it was not too much to expect fragrant odors of nature eventually would be transmitted by radio.

THURSDAY, JULY 23, 1937
Roosevelt Congratulates NBC Upon New Studios
WASHINGTON, July 22.—(AP)—President Roosevelt declared tonight that it is not within the province of the reactionaries to put obstacles in the way of orderly development.
He made the statement in a letter congratulating the National Broadcasting Company upon the opening of new studios in Washington.
“The watchword of silence must he progress," he said. "It is not within the province of reactionaries to put obstacles in the way of orderly development nor to mark boundaries beyond which radio may not go.
Television Expected
"I believe that sooner than many of us realize television will be established in homes throughout the country. Indeed it may not be long before radio will make it possible for us to visualize at the breakfast table the front pages of daily newspapers or news reports, no matter how remote we may be from the place of their publication and distribution."
Wheeler Speaks
Senator Wheeler, Democrat of Montana, a leader of the forces which brought about the shelving of the president's court reorganization bill, spoke at the opening of the new studios. He said radio, by providing a medium for the discussion of national issues by the leaders on both sides, has contributed to the efficiency of democratic government.
"It can continue to perform this duty only if free and uncensored use of radio facilities is maintained," Wheeler declared.
Postmaster General Farley also spoke, asserting radio has brought about a keener interest in public affairs than ever before.

MONDAY, JULY 26, 1937
Iowa University Buys Equipment For Television
IOWA CITY, Ia., July 26.—(Special)—Prof. E. B. Kurtz, head of the electrical engineering department, today announced the purchase of new television equipment with which to launch a new experimental program for the coming year. The new equipment will make the television pictures [on W9XUI?] about 10 times as clear as that formerly used here, and will also transmit the pictures once again as fast. Iowa is one of the few colleges in the country taking part in television experimentation [on W9XK]. (Daily Times, Davenport, Iowa)

Television Patents Agreement Reached
PHILADELPHIA, July 26.—(AP). Announcement was made Monday that a licensing agreement has been entered into between Farnsworth Television, Incorporated, and the American Telephone and Telegraph Company whereby each grants extensive rights under its patents to the other.
Donald K. Lippincott, of San Francisco, representing the Farnsworth interests, said "this clears the path for co-operation between the Bell System, Farnsworth and certain Farnsworth licensees, helps to clarify a difficult patent situation and brings one step nearer the broad use of television and other advances in communications."
The agreement was signed in New York last week by C. P. Cooper, vice president of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, and Philo T. Farnsworth.