March 1933

Everything is up to date in Kansas City, went the old saying, and it was certainly true in one aspect in March 1933.

W2XAB, the CBS TV station in New York, had suddenly halted its broadcasts in February. With that, the main experimental television transmissions were coming from the Midwest.

The big station seems to have been W9XAL. It was owned by the Kansas City Journal-Post, which also owned KMBC radio. The paper’s Sunday broadcasting page columnist was a chap named John Cameron Swayze (right), who did a six-day-a-week noon newscast that went to the air on both stations. Other radio shows were simulcast. One was a variety show hosted by Emil Chaquette. He was a well-known local bandleader. Swayze profiled him in the paper’s March 5, 1933 edition, including this tale:

The scene was the studios of television station W9XAL. One of the officials was watching the picture produced by the evening television jubilee program. Suddenly he looked at his watch. "I thought that cartoonist was supposed to finish at 8 o'clock," he remarked.
A student spoke up: "Pardon me, sir, but the cartoonist has finished, the jubilee program is on now." He looked at the picture in the receiving set. "That's our program' director's picture you see."
The official started, then looked closer.
It was Emile!

I wonder if the watch was a Timex.

By month's end, Chaquette's show was off the air. An evening interview programme was added.

Also on W9XAL with Ted Malone was singer/announcer Hugh Studebaker, who left for Chicago in 1933 and was part of the supporting company on Fibber McGee and Molly. While he doesn’t talk about television, he does talk about working with Malone in an interview with chronicler Chuck Schaden.



W9XAK at Kansas State College in Manhattan began its programming this month. Other stations were on the air, including W9XK at the University of Iowa, W9YH at the University of Illinois and Purdue University’s W9XG, judging by a story about someone who had built a TV set (not included in this post). Their broadcasts were not for mass entertainment. Elsewhere, W6XAO was still broadcasting limited programming from Los Angeles.

Here are some items for the month, with W9XAL getting the focus. There is an unusual entry about a television show from the National Radio Broadcasting Company in Los Angeles. The next day, the Pasadena Star-News declared “Visual and audible reception of the program were excellent.” I cannot find the company in the 1933 or 1934 City Directories, nor any of the company's principals, and the only TV station license in Los Angeles was held by the Don Lee Broadcasting System.

Wednesday, March 1, 1933
W9XAL, Kansas City
12:00—Journal-Post News Flashes, with John Cameron Swayze, KMBC.
12:15—Tex Owens, KMBC.
4:30—Between the Bookends with Ted Malone and Hugh Studebaker, KMBC.
8:00—Emile Chaquette with Rose Nutter and Rhythm Sweeties.

FIRST TELEVISION SET.
The first television radio set to reach this city is now in operation. The set is in the possession of Wade Patrick, pioneer radio dealer of Brookfield [Missouri].
In a broadcast last night [1] the stations of Iowa City, Iowa, and Kansas City, featuring singers, were seen and heard. Television in a commercial sense is still in its infancy, but the set shows what the "hand writing on the wall" for the future of radio will be. The set has seven tubes, and a receiving panel in the top part of the cabinet, which transmits the pictures.
Wade, who was the first to develop the radio business in Brookfield, is still holding to his prestige by being the first with television. (Brookfield Argus, Mar. 1)

W3BBD Known to Hundreds of Operators in All Parts of the World—Owner Also Experiments Successfully With Television
The brilliant flashes of a blue tube and the insane acrobatics of a half dozen dials are the only visible signs to inform the novice that a powerful short wave radio station is operating with the skilled hand of one with years’ of experience at the key.
The station is W3BBD, owned and operated by Conard M. Gilbert, 206 Harding avenue, Collingswood. . .who is 27. . .
Gilbert recently built and operated a television outfit, and succeeded in receiving several pictures from Washington via that channel. However, the pictures were almost illegible, and Gilbert gave up the set until such time as method of sending shall be improved. (Post-Courier, Camden, N.J.)

Thursday, March 2, 1933
W9XAL, Kansas City
10:00 a.m.—Uncle Ezra’s Ramblings, KMBC.
12:00—Journal-Post News Flashes with John Cameron Swayze, KMBC.
12:15—Tex Owens, KMBC.
4:30—Between the Bookends with Ted Malone and Hugh Studebaker, KMBC.
8:00—Emile Chaquette with Judy Conrad and Leo Bates, WLBF.

Sound-Sight Program Will Be Open to the Public Friday Over Stations WSUI, W9XK
First public demonstration of a sound-sight program broadcast over radio station WSUI and television station W9XK at the University of Iowa will he made Friday evening [3] at 6:15 o'clock in the chemistry building corridor.
The program will be under the direction of Prof. E. B. Kurtz, head of the electrical engineering department and "father" of the university television elation, first one operating at an American university. The demonstration will precede Professor Kurtz' Baconian lecture at 7 o'clock on "Problems in Television."
A regular WSUI feature will be sent out over the television and radio microphones in the electrical engineering building studios. The program will he received in sound-sight in the corridor of the chemistry building, where visitors will pats on their way to the auditorium for the lecture.
Professor Kurtz in his lecture will explain the fundamental processes of television used in the local station, W9XK. The talk will be illustrated by stereopticon slides showing the principle of operation, as well as pictures of the equipment used. After describing the method of operation involved in transmitting and receiving, he will discuss and explain the important problems that must be solved in order to transmit pictures of larger area and finer texture.
Professor Kurtz has been head of the department of electrical engineering for the last four years. He received his bachelor's degree in 1917 at Wisconsin, and holds the degrees of M.S. in electrical engineering from Union college, Schenectady, N. Y., and E.E. and Ph.D., from Iowa State college at Ames. He was head of the electrical engineering and acting dean of engineering at Oklahoma A. and M. college before coming to Iowa. Sound-sight demonstrations for several faculty groups have been given recently, with Friday night's program the first that has been opened to the public. (Iowa City Press-Citizen)

Mechanism Being Built at K. S. C. Will have Only One Other Equal
A scanning disc which will have but one equal in the United States is now under construction in the college television laboratory by L. C. Paslay and H. H. Higginbottom. The disc is one of the most important parts of the television set and must be constructed with extreme accuracy, said Mr. Paslay. It must be balanced so that it can run smoothly at 1,200 revolutions per minute. This part would take but a short time in comparison with arranging the holes through which the light must be filtered. (Manhattan, Kan. Journal)

Marceline News— Marceline [Missouri] has been well represented on radio programs within the last week. Friday afternoon, Lawrence Patrick, son of Dr. and Mrs. P. L. Patrick, sang from station KMBC, Kansas City. He appeared on the television experimental program. (The Bulletin, Linneus, Mo., Mar. 2)

Friday, March 3, 1933
W9XAL, Kansas City
12:00—Journal-Post News Flashes with John Cameron Swayze, KMBC.
12:15—Tex Owens, KMBC.
4:30—Ted Malone and Hugh Studebaker, KMBC.
8:00—Emile Chaquette with Rev. Earl A. Blackman, Youth’s Forum, and Four Molton Bros., WLBF.
9:00—Ed Cochrane’s Sports Chat, KMBC.

Kurtz Demonstrates Sight-Sound Program Over W9XK and WSUI
Demonstration and explanation of sound-sight broadcasts as sent out by radio station WSUI and television station W9XK at the University of Iowa was given to about 1,000 persons Friday evening [3] at the chemistry auditorium. It was the first public demonstration of television, with Prof. E. B. Kurtz, head of the electrical engineering department, explaining the operation in his Baconian lecture which followed the broadcast.
The reception was made in the corridor of the chemistry building from 6:45 to 7 o'clock, with the large crowd permitted only a short view and then moved on to make room for others. In his lecture, Professor Kurtz explained the process of changing the light waves reflected from the subject to be broadcast into electric current through a photoelectric cell, transmitted to the receiver, and changed back by the "glow lamp" to the image seen on the screen. (Iowa City Press-Citizen, Mar. 4)

Saturday, March 4, 1933
W9XAL, Kansas City
12:00—Journal-Post News Flashes with John Cameron Swayze, KMBC.
12:15—Tex Owens, Texas Ranger, KMBC.
6:30—Kansas City Bar Association, James M. Johnson, speaker, KMBC.
8:00—Emile Chaquette with Judy Conrad and Bill and Mary, WLBF.

W9YH, University of Chicago
11:00 to 11:15 a.m.—Television program.

Combined Pictures, Sound Will Be Broadcast Today in First Program Over WILL, W9YH
Combined pictures and sound will be broadcast today by the University on its first publicly announced television program via station W9YH, located in the radio laboratories of the department of electrical engineering, Electrical Engineering laboratory, and the University's radio station, WILL. The program will go on the air from 11 a. m. until 11:15.
F. J. Darke, Jr. '33 and D. E Chapman, graduate student, both of them majors in electrical engineering, are operators of the television set. They have been working on it since last September. Prof. Hugh A. Brown of the department of electrical engineering has acted as their technical adviser.
Last Saturday [Feb. 25] the first program —an experimental program — was broadcast. Today will begin regular Saturday broadcasts with the exception of March 11 and 17, when a conflict on WILL'S program will make television broadcast via that station impossible at 11 a. m.
Ukelele selections and singing by E. J. Emery '35 and a four-minute talk on the history of television by Darke will make up the program which will be broadcast. Darke will be the announcer.
The subjects to be broadcast will stand in the television booth in the radio laboratory with the pictures being sent out directly from W9YH while a wire will carry the sound over to WILL where it will be broadcast. W9YH operates on a frequency of 1884 kilocycles and WILL on 890 kilocycles. W9YH has a 500-watt transmitter, and sends out 45 hole, three spiral, 900 revolutions-per-minute television signals. (Daily Illini)

Monday, March 6, 1933
W9XAL, Kansas City
11:50—Journal-Post News Flashes with John Cameron Swayze, KMBC.
12:15—Tex Owens, KMBC.
4:30—Between the Bookends, with Ted Malone and Hugh Studebaker, KMBC.
8:00—Emile Chaquette with Gladys Schnorf, pianist, WLBF.

GLADYS SCHNORF ON TELEVISION JUBILEE
Gladys Schnorf, Kansas City pianist will again be featured on the Television Jubilee program, Monday night [6] at 8 o'clock over television station W9XAL.
Her numbers will be "The Fountain" by Provaznik and "The Legend" by Albeniz.
Other artists that have a prominent part in the program during the week are Emile Chaquette, Judy Conrad, Don Watson, Gaylord Bentley. Doris Bicknell, Kitty Evers, Rose Mary Dougherty, Bill and Mary and the Four Milton Brothers. (Kansas City Journal, Mar. 5, 1933)

Masons To See Demonstration Of Television
Pictures Of Dancer, Chief Will Be Broadcast
Pictures transmitted by television will be shown at the stated meeting of Pasadena Masonic Lodge, No. 272, tomorrow night at the Masonic Temple. It will be the first television demonstration held in Pasadena.
Dance Program
Collenette, former Pavlowa dance artist, and one of her ballets will appear on the program, and the Venetian Trio, composed of Robert Olson, piano; Hamilton Lawrence, violin; and Winslow Adams, 'cello,' will play. This year marks the golden anniversary of Pasadena Lodge, the oldest Masonic group in the city and the program is one of a series to mark the fiftieth anniversary.
The television demonstration will tie up a Los Angeles broadcasting station one hour and involve the services of nearly fifty persons. Collenette and Police Chief Charles H. Kelley, the latter a past master of Pasadena Lodge, will be televised from the National Radio Broadcasting studio. Collenette, following her appearance on the dance program, will be taken with Chief Kelley to the television studio by a police escort.
Two Numbers Planned
The Collenette ballet will appear in two numbers, "The Awakening" and a comedy feature. There will also be solo and duet dances. Those to appear are Dorothy Dean, Joanne Turner, Ida Lee, Inetta Buell, Anne Abbott, Phyllis Lee, Mary Beauchamp, Helene Richards, Shirley Nash, Barbara Brooks, May Belle La Rue and Joan Roamer, while principles will be Evelyn Le Moene, Lysle Winter, Thelma Hersey, Jean Allen and Nata Lane.
The television experiment will be explained by Thomas Nikert, radio engineer, and Mr. Haroldsen of the National Radio Television School. L. Rosencranz, also of the television school will be in charge of the receiving equipment. W. G. Patterson of the radio shop bearing his name, will be chairman of the program. Ralph T. Merriam, Pasadena Lodge worshipful master, will preside. The program will follow a short business session. (Pasadena Post, Mar. 5)

Tuesday, March 7, 1933
W9XAL, Kansas City
11:50—Journal-Post News Flashes with John Cameron Swayze, KMBC.
12:15—Tex Owens, KMBC.
4:30—Between the Bookends, with Ted Malone and Hugh Studebaker, KMBC.
8:00—Emile Chaquette with Emma Pritchard and Dorothy Lang, WLBF.

Wednesday, March 8, 1933
W9XAL, Kansas City
11:50—Journal-Post News Flashes with John Cameron Swayze, KMBC.
12:15—Tex Owens, KMBC.
4:00—Interview with Karl Moore, KMBC.
4:30—Between the Bookends, with Ted Malone and Hugh Studebaker, KMBC.
8:00—Emile Chaquette with Judy Conrad and Ester Nelson, WLBF.

Thursday, March 9, 1933
W9XAL, Kansas City
10:00 a.m.—Uncle Ezra’s Ramblings, KMBC.
11:50—Journal-Post News Flashes with John Cameron Swayze, KMBC.
12:15—Tex Owens, KMBC.
4:30—Between the Bookends with Ted Malone and Hugh Studebaker, KMBC.
8:00—Emile Chaquette with Ethel Osborne, Mickey and Margie, WLBF.

BEGIN TELEVISION BROADCASTS SOON
University of Iowa Ready To Begin Regular Schedule of Illustrated Lectures Over Air.
IOWA CITY—University of Iowa's radio and television stations, WSUI and W9XK, are ready to present the first scheduled series of sight-sound educational programs every given by an American university, Prof. Edward B. Kurtz, head of the department of electrical engineering, announced Friday.
Details of the broadcasts are now being arranged and it is expected that a regular schedule of illustrated lectures will commence next week. Illustrated lectures have been chosen for program material because they are adaptable to radio and television synchronization, pictures being confined to small areas with limited details.
At first the broadcasts will probably be made once a wekk, between 7 and 7:30 p.m., the exact evenings being undetermined as yet. Later in the year programs may be given twice or even three times weekly.
While the number of Iowans owning television receiving sets is not known, Prof. Kurtz predicted that the number will increase as sigh-sound programs go on the air. A set can now be purchased for as little as $85.
The first sight-sound program from the synchronized stations was broadcast in January before a group of faculty members. Two later demonstrations, one of them public, have proved that the broadcasts are practical.
Granted in January, 1932, the license for W9XK was the first for a visual station west of the Mississippi. Broadcast hours are unlimited and experimental work, especially that requiring operation of a transmitter, is permitted. (Cedar Rapids Gazette)

Former Eldon Boy’s Work Is Recognized at U. of Minnesota
Max Risley, a former student of Eldon High School, is one of the co-builders of a television set —the first ever constructed at the University of Minnesota—which was the subject of a recent article in The Minneapolis Tribune. His partner in the construction was Robert Campbell and both of them are graduate students at the University.
The set was constructed largely of old parts reclaimed from the university's electrical department "morgue" and made its initial public appearance at a recent meeting of the student chapter of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers.
The construction required eight months, the students working six hours a day during the first four, and three hours a day during the last two. At present the contrivance is in an elementary stage, but will project a small picture two inches square. The students hope, with more labor, to be able to produce larger and clearer images.
The apparatus is equipped only for direct wire transmission, but Risley and Campbell have been receiving radio television programs nightly from Chicago and Kansas City. Since television broadcasts rarely can be dependable over a distance of more than twenty-five miles, the record is considered remarkable.
Max is the son of Mrs. Ella Risley, of Sherburn, Minn. and the brother of Mrs. John Gattermeir of Olean. (Eldon Advertiser)

Friday, March 10, 1933
W9XAL, Kansas City
11:50—Journal-Post News Flashes with John Cameron Swayze, KMBC.
12:15—Tex Owens, KMBC.
4:30—Ted Malone and Hugh Studebaker, KMBC.
8:00—Emile Chaquette with Judy Conrad and Bruce Robbins, WLBF.
9:00—Ed Cochrane’s Sports Chat, KMBC.

Saturday, March 11, 1933
W9XAL, Kansas City
11:50—Journal-Post News Flashes with John Cameron Swayze, KMBC.
12:15—Tex Owens, Texas Ranger, KMBC.
4:30—Ted Malone and Hugh Studebaker, KMBC.
6:30—Kansas City Bar Association, presenting T.J. Madden, speaker, KMBC.
8:00—Emile Chaquette with Pearl Silvers, WLBF.
W9YH, University of Chicago
11:50 to 12:00 noon—Television program.

'BOOKENDS' DEDICATED TO GIRL SCOUTS
KMBC's popular feature, "Between the Bookends," is to be dedicated to the twenty-first birthday anniversary of the Girl Scout organization when it takes the air at 4:30 o'clock Saturday [11]. The anniversary is on Sunday the following day.
The program will be conducted, as usual by Ted Malone, with Hugh Studebaker furnishing suitable organ music.
Digressing from his usual readings and philosophy, Ted Malone will present Margaret Fifield, leader of the Kansas City Girl Scouts, and a select chorus of girls from the organization.
As "Between the Bookends" is to be broadcast by more than twenty stations of the Columbia network throughout the West, arrangements have been made with the national headquarters to have all troops of the Girl Scouts in Kansas City and in the West gather and tune in for the program. When the group of Kansas City girls sing the Scouting songs, these troops will be requested to join them, making in actuality, the greatest chorus of Girl Scouts ever to sing at one time. (Kansas City Journal-Post, Mar. 5)

Sunday, March 12, 1933
Her Singing Assists In The Emergency Relief Drive, Boston
Miss Sheila O’Donovan Rossa, a mezzo soprano, who has been heard locally many times, is taking an active part in the Boston Emergency Relief drive. Miss Rossa has sung the campaign song “The Mother’s Prayer” in practically every ward in the City, softening the hearts of her audiences and spurring the solicitors on to greater efforts.
Her appearances have been sponsored by Mayor James M. Curley as one of his official efforts.
Miss Rossa is known as “Miss Television” and sings over the international short wave station every Friday night [W1XAV]. (Portland Press Herald)

Monday, March 13, 1933
W9XAL, Kansas City
11:50—Journal-Post News Flashes with John Cameron Swayze, KMBC.
12:15—Tex Owens, KMBC.
4:00—Roscoe Ates interviewed by Dick Smith, KMBC.
4:30—Between the Bookends, with Ted Malone and Hugh Studebaker, KMBC.
8:00—Emile Chaquette with Gladys Schnorf, pianist, WLBF.

How about Roscoe Ates’ stutter on the radio, would you like it? The stuttering comic arrived in the Heart of America Saturday morning [11] for his 6-say appearance at the Sni-a-Bar Gardens to announce that he was willing to do some air work if he found the right vehicle. So at 4 o’clock Monday you can hear him stuttering at Dick Smith over KMBC and see him over W9XAL. (Kansas City Journal-Post, Mar. 12)

BARKER BROTHERS TO OPEN ELECTRIC SHOW
Starting Monday Barker Brothers are presenting an electrical show, featuring the newest developments in radio refrigeration and electrical aids for the home. A magic electrical kitchen has been constructed where everything is done electrically and which will be open to the public daily. Through the courtesy of the Don Lee television stations and the National Radio and Television School, Barker Brothers will present continuous television programs each day during the exposition from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
[Don Lee was broadcasting W6XS on 140 metres and W6XAO on 6 ¾ metres, 80 line single spiral image repeated 15 times a second.] (Los Angeles Times, Mar. 11)

Tuesday, March 14, 1933
W9XAL, Kansas City
11:50—Journal-Post News Flashes with John Cameron Swayze, KMBC.
12:15—Tex Owens, KMBC.
4:30—Between the Bookends, with Ted Malone and Hugh Studebaker, KMBC.
8:00—Emile Chaquette’s Television Jubilee, WLBF.

Wednesday, March 15, 1933
W9XAL, Kansas City
11:50—Journal-Post News Flashes with John Cameron Swayze, KMBC.
12:15—Tex Owens, KMBC.
4:30—Between the Bookends, with Ted Malone and Hugh Studebaker, KMBC.
8:00—Emile Chaquette with Helen Lindsey, WLBF.

Thursday, March 16, 1933
W9XAL, Kansas City
11:50—Journal-Post News Flashes with John Cameron Swayze, KMBC.
12:15—Tex Owens, KMBC.
4:30—Between the Bookends with Ted Malone and Hugh Studebaker, KMBC.
8:00—Emile Chaquette’s Television Jubilee, WLBF.

Motion Pictures Of Quake Sent By Radio Television
LOS ANGELES, March 16.— (AP) —For the first time in history, the station claims, motion picture scenes [Pathe news reel] of a major disaster were transmitted by television, as W6XS, the Don Lee television station here, broadcast scenes of the Long Beach-Compton earthquake area.
Operating simultaneously, the 1,000-watt W6XS and the ultra-short wave sister station, W6XAO, broadcast film scenes showing the survivors, wrecked buildings and the general havoc wrought by last week's shocks.

Friday, March 17, 1933
W9XAL, Kansas City
11:50—Journal-Post News Flashes with John Cameron Swayze, KMBC.
12:15—Tex Owens, KMBC.
4:30—Ted Malone and Hugh Studebaker, KMBC.
8:00—Emile Chaquette’s Television Jubilee with Four Milton Brothers, WLBF.
9:00—Ed Cochrane’s Sports Chat, KMBC.

Engineers’ open house, which last year attracted nearly 7,000 visitors and 5,000 the year before, again will be given for students, townspeople, and the public in general Friday night [17] and all day Saturday at Kansas State. This is the thirteenth presentation of the event.
This year a complete television demonstration will be given as one of the outstanding features of the free educational show. (Manhattan, Ks. Mercury, Mar. 16)

TELEVISION TO START FRIDAY
University Stations to Open Sight-Sound Programs
Inauguration of a regularly scheduled sight-sound series of programs will he started over the University of Iowa's synchronized television and radio stations, W9XK and WSUI, Friday evening at 7:10 o'clock. The sight-sound programs will be given each Friday evening at 7:10 o'clock during the remainder of the semester, according to Prof. E. B. Kurtz, head of the department of electrical engineering who is in charge of the television station.
Friday evening's initial broadcast will include an illustrated lecture on art under the direction of Mr. Aden Arnold [right], instructor in the graphic and plastic arts department, and some readings by speech department members under the direction of Prof. H. C. Harshbarger.
Granted a federal government license in January, 1932, the first synchronized broadcast was given early this year by the university stations. The university license, permitting experimental work in all of the field with unlimited broadcasting time, was the first license issued for a visual station west of the Mississippi river.
Plan of Professor Kurtz and Dr. Bruce E. Mahan, chairman of the radio board, call for the sight-sound series to present a varied type of programs. (Iowa City Press-Citizen)

Television Popular.
Combined television and radio broadcasts, which were put on the air from University of Iowa stations WSUI and W9XX [sic] in the first regular program of a series Friday evening [17], will be continued at least until May, according to Prot. E. R. Kurtz, head of the university electrical engineering department. The presentations are believed to be the first made on a fixed schedule by an educational institution in the United States.
Illustrated lectures, contributed by faculty members, are planned for the series of broadcasts, altho present equipment will make it necessary to confine illustrations to those of a small area, with limited detail. (Quad City Times, Mar. 19)

Saturday, March 18, 1933
W9XAL, Kansas City
11:50—Journal-Post News Flashes with John Cameron Swayze, KMBC.
12:15—Tex Owens, Texas Ranger, KMBC.
6:30—Kansas City Bar Association, presenting James P. Aylward, speaker, KMBC.
8:00—Emile Chaquette with Judy Conrad and Gaylord Bentley, WLBF.
W9YH, University of Chicago
11:50 to 12:00 noon—Television program.

Sunday, March 19, 1933
Radio School's Music Division Will Be Opened
The National Broadcasting School this evening will entertain the musical world of Los Angeles at the formal opening of its music department. Following a reception in the auditorium of the school a program will be presented, in which modern methods of broadcasting and some tricks of the trade will be displayed. Musical broadcasting, both instrumental and vocal, will be featured, with some discussion by Alexander Bevani, head of the department. Dr. Charles Frederick Lindsley, head of the announcers' school, will be heard in a literary broadcast and Marta Oatman players will present a short radio drama. Harold Isbell, Los Angeles and Chicago announcer, will conduct the program and add to it a number of back-stage novelties. A special feature of the evening will be a television broadcast, in which both the sound and picture will be sent out on the air and received again in the studio. Alberta Campbell Simmons, director of the National Broadcasting School, and Alexander Bevan, head of the department of radio singing, have been figures in the musical life of Los Angeles for the past decade. (Los Angeles Times)

Monday, March 20, 1933
W9XAL, Kansas City
11:50—Journal-Post News Flashes with John Cameron Swayze, KMBC.
12:15—Tex Owens, KMBC.
4:30—Between the Bookends, with Ted Malone and Hugh Studebaker, KMBC.
8:00—Emile Chaquette with Gladys Schnorf, pianist, WLBF.

Tuesday, March 21, 1933
W9XAL, Kansas City
11:50—Journal-Post News Flashes with John Cameron Swayze, KMBC.
12:15—Tex Owens, KMBC.
4:30—Between the Bookends with Ted Malone, KMBC.
8:00—Emile Chaquette’s Television Jubilee, WLBF.

Wednesday, March 22, 1933
W9XAL, Kansas City
11:50—Journal-Post News Flashes with John Cameron Swayze, KMBC.
12:15—Tex Owens, KMBC.
4:30—Between the Bookends with Ted Malone, KMBC.
8:00—Emile Chaquette with Judy Conrad and Gaylord Bentley, WLBF.

VERGIL TACY ANNOUNCES TELEVISION PROGRAMS
Vergil Tacy, son of Mr and Mrs. T. O. Tacy, 471 Park avenue, is announcing the weekly television programs for stations WSUI and 49XU at the University of Iowa, Iowa City.
The programs, which are believed to be the first of their kind broadcast regularly west of the Mississippi river, are on the air every Friday at 7:10 p. m. Tacy not only announces the programs but also takes part in them.
He is a junior in the college of liberal arts and will enter the law school next year. He is a graduate of Abraham Lincoln high school. (Council Bluffs Nonpareil

Thursday, March 23, 1933
W9XAL, Kansas City
10:00—Uncle Ezra’s Ramblings, KMBC
11:50—Journal-Post News Flashes with John Cameron Swayze, KMBC.
12:15—Tex Owens, KMBC.
4:30—Between the Bookends with Ted Malone and Hugh Studebaker, KMBC.
8:00—Emile Chaquette’s Television Jubilee, WLBF.

Friday, March 24, 1933
W9XAL, Kansas City
11:50—Journal-Post News Flashes with John Cameron Swayze, KMBC.
12:15—Tex Owens, KMBC.
4:30—Between the Bookends with Ted Malone and Hugh Studebaker, KMBC.
8:00—Emile Chaquette with Judy Conrad, WLBF.
9:00—Ed Cochrane’s Sports Chat, KMBC.

DENTAL TALK BY TELEVISION
Dr. Charles L. Drain to Give Address Over Station Here
Believed to be the first dental talk ever carried by a television station in the world, Dr. Charlee L. Drain of the college of dentistry faculty will speak Friday night in the sight-sound program over the University of Iowa radio and television stations, WSUI and W9XK. Doctor Drain will talk on the subject of "Oral Hygiene" at 7:10 o'clock.
Following the lecture, selections will be given by members of the music, speech and arts department, according to Prof. E. B. Kurtz, head of the electrical engineering department and director of the television station. The sight-sound programs were inaugurated last week as a regular Friday evening feature. (Iowa City Press-Citizen)

Saturday, March 25, 1933
W9XAL, Kansas City
11:50—Journal-Post News Flashes with John Cameron Swayze, KMBC.
12:15—Tex Owens, Texas Ranger, KMBC.
6:30—Kansas City Bar Association, presenting Henry M. Beardsley, speaker, KMBC.
W9YH, University of Chicago
11:00 to 11:15 a.m.—Television program.

VACATE ORDER OF ASSET SALE
WILMINGTON, Del., March 25—(AP)—Judge John P. Nields in federal court today vacated his recent order for the sale next Tuesday of assets of the Jenkins Television Corporation.
The court stated that it had not been sufficiently advised as to the value of the corporation’s assets and of the necessity for the sale.
It was stated here that the proposed sale of the assets of the DeForest Radio Corporation to the Radio Corporation of America for about $500,000 was contingent on the ability of the receivers also to deliver the assets of the Jenkins Corpoation.

Sunday, March 26, 1933
Television Permit Denied
Application of the Visual Radio Corporation of Watsontown, Pa., for authority to erect a new 1,000-watt experimental television station later to be operated in Philadelphia, has been denied by the Federal Radio Commission, which has sustained the finding of its examiner that the proposed venture would not add to the scientific knowledge or development of television. (Washington Sunday Star)

Monday, March 27, 1933
W9XAL, Kansas City
11:50—Journal-Post News Flashes with John Cameron Swayze, KMBC.
12:15—Tex Owens, KMBC.
4:30—Between the Bookends, with Ted Malone and Hugh Studebaker, KMBC.

Sending and receiving of radio programs by television in full view of the audience, will be demonstrated at the Minneapolis Auto, Home and Flower show, which opens next Monday [27] at the Minneapolis Auditorium. Arrangements for this feature were completed today by George K. Belden and H. H. Cory, show manager, following a conference with Dr. George W. Young of WDGY.
A 500-watt broadcasting station, the first of its kind in the northwest, will be installed in the auditorium. The broadcasting and receiving booths will be located so show visitors will be able to watch both operations. The receiving set will reproduce a picture 14 inches square, and represents the latest equipment in this branch of radio. (Minneapolis Star, Mar. 20)

Lou Breese will attempt a novel experiment in that he will direct the orchestra by remote control, the musicians responding to the waving of his baton as his image is shown on the screen. (Minneapolis Journal, Mar. 26)

One of the spots that attracted much attention was the television booth. Starting at 1 p. m., demonstrations were staged every 20 minutes. That schedule will be maintained the remainder of show week. Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Mar. 28)

Tuesday, March 28, 1933
W9XAL, Kansas City
12:15—Tex Owens, KMBC.
4:30—Between the Bookends with Ted Malone, KMBC.

Wednesday, March 29, 1933
W9XAL, Kansas City
12:15—Tex Owens, KMBC.
2:45—Television interview with Ted Malone, KMBC. 4:30—Between the Bookends, KMBC.
9:30—9:30—First National Television interview, KMBC.

Thursday, March 30, 1933
W9XAL, Kansas City
12:15—Tex Owens, KMBC.
4:30—Between the Bookends, KMBC.
9:30 to 10:00 p.m.—Television interview with Ted Malone, KMBC.

TELEVISION!
An event of unusual interest from both a scientific and entertainment standpoint is slated for next Thursday [30] and Friday when, for the first time, a complete motion picture feature production will be broadcast over radio-television. "The Crooked Circle," World Wide picture, featuring Ben Lyon, Zasu Pitts, James Gleason and Irene Purcell has been selected. A special demonstration, open without charge to the public, will be on view at Barker Brothers' radio department. [The film aired without sound] (Los Angeles Evening Post-Record, Mar. 25)

SCIENCE MEET SET
Gathering at Manhattan to Be April 13-15.
MANHATTAN, KAS., March 30.— (Special)—Dr. George F. Johnson, secretary of the Kansas Academy of Science, has announced the program of the sixty-fifth annual meeting of the academy, to be held at Kansas State college here April 13, 14 and 15. . . .
Plans are being made to stage a television exhibition for the visiting academy members. An address by Dr. J C. Peterson of Kansas State college will be broadcast from Denison hall and flashed on the television screen in Engineering hall, through the equipment of television station W9XAK. (Kansas City Journal, Mar. 30)

Friday, March 31, 1933
W9XAL, Kansas City
11:50—Journal-Post News Flashes with John Cameron Swayze, KMBC.
12:15—Tex Owens, KMBC.
4:30—Between the Bookends with Ted Malone and Hugh Studebaker, KMBC.
9:30—Interview with Ted Malone, KMBC.

PLAN EVENING OF FELLOWSHIP
Junior, Senior Chambers Of Commerce Will Dine Friday
Members of the Iowa City senior and junior chambers of commerce will meet together Friday night [31] for an evening of entertainment, fellowship, and fun, the feature of which will be a program of television, to be broadcast by station W9XK of the University of Iowa.
The special event has been called, "Goodfellows Night", and will begin with a dinner at 6:15 o'clock Friday night at the American Legion Community building. Community singing will follow the dinner and shortly before 7:10 o'clock, the television will get underway.
The television broadcast, enabling the members to not only hear but see the broadcast, will he made from the television studios in the electrical engineering building of the University of Iowa and will be received at the Legion building on one of the latest approved commercial television receiving sets.
Prof. E. B. Kurtz, of the college of engineering, director of the television station, will be in charge of the program and will present a brief explanatory address before the broadcast. Mr. Carl Menzer, director of radio station WSUI, will announce the program over the air and Mr. J. L. Patter, operator of station W9XK, will have charge of operating the station. (Iowa City Press-Citizen, Mar. 30)

Complete Program For Joint Meeting Chambers Commerce
Program for the joint meeting of the Iowa city junior and senior chambers of commerce, to be held beginning at 6:15 o'clock Friday night [31] at the American Legion Community building, was announced Thursday by Mr. D. W. Crum, senior secretary. . . .
The feature of the program will be the receiving of a television program to be broadcast from the University of Iowa television station W9XK and WSUI. The television program will include a skit by Wanda Mathison and Bernice Erlandson of the university speech department, and a short talk, "The Language of the Architect," by Prof. F. G. Higbee, of the college of engineering. (Iowa City Press-Citizen, Mar. 30)

REGULAR TELEVISION SCHEDULE AT COLLEGE
Programs on Tuesday and Thursday Evenings Broadcast Over W9XAK
The Kansas State college television broadcasting station W9XAK went on the air this week on regular schedule. Two broadcasts are scheduled for each week, one Tuesday and the other Saturday, from 6:30 to 7:15 o'clock. Those participating in the programs this week were Miss Roberta Shannon, reader; Max Burk, trombone; W. M. Sandel, harmonica; Tom Haines, trumpet and guitar; and William Fitch, oboe. Vinton Johnson has been in charge.
The broadcasts have been confined to pictures of those taking part in the program, no sound being broadcast. It is hoped that station KSAC can be synchronised with the picture broadcasts so that sound and pictures can be put onto the air at the same time.
Prof. R. G. Kloeffler, head of the electrical engineering department, and H. H. Higginbottom, one of the men who set up the station, went toward Topeka Thursday afternoon in automobiles with television receivers and tests were made at various points. The college station was on the air with a test program. (Manhattan Morning Chronicle, Mar. 31)

October 1937

Nope. Their plans weren’t going to happen.

NBC had talked about remote broadcasts on W2XBS in October 1937. But the equipment wasn’t ready so the idea was postponed. The same with CBS announcing it would get W2XAB on the air “soon.” It had to admit in October 1937 it wouldn’t be ready until 1938.

One station that returned to the air, judging by local newspaper clippings, was W9XK at the University of Iowa. It resumed broadcasting once or twice a week, 15 minutes at a time, that month, after stopping its programmes earlier in the year.

Meanwhile, the FCC assigned frequencies specifically for television, even though manufacturers said they couldn’t be used yet to send signals.

Below are some of the news stories of the month pertaining to television. We’ve again skipped various opinion pieces. There’s a brief description of a W2XBS broadcast, and word that NBC was setting aside space in its about-to-be-built studios at Sunset and Vine in Hollywood. KNBH would not begin broadcasting until 1949. NBC outgrew the lovely building and it was torn down some years ago.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 4, 1937
TELEVISION OFF MT WASHINGTON
Summit Station Planned by Col H. M. Teague
Confers Here With National Broadcasting Officials
A long-range radio television station, equipped to send pictorial images through the air in synchronization with speech and music, is being planned for the bleak summit of Mt Washington, 6293 feet above sea level, the highest point in New England.
Out over the White Mountains of New Hampshire, the modern miracle at television will flash to local radio sets, if Col Henry M. Teague, president of the Mt Washington Railway Company—the famous cog railroad—is successful in negotiations he opened in Boston yesterday [4].
He visualizes a sending station on the summit, far above timber line, in the coldest, most windblown spot east of the Rockies, that will be powerful enough to reach to the larger communities—Boston, Portland, Montpelier, Springfield, Providence.
Height Primary Factor
The mountain top, he believes, will be an ideal location for such a station, because height is of primary importance in the broadcasting of television waves. These waves do not follow the curve of the earth like radio waves, but go forth in straight lines. The horizon is practically their range, at the present stage of development.
Col Teague came to Boston yesterday to confer with officials of the National Broadcasting Company. Little was said about the outcome of the day-long conference, but it is known the price of rental is one of the stumbling blocks to a completion of negotiations.
The railway company owns several acres on the summit, reached both by the cog railroad from the western slope and a toll automobile road from the east. A hotel shares the summit with a year-round meteorlogical [sic] station.
Tanks Ready at Fabyans
Col Teague, in anticipation of a successful outcome to his idea, has drawn plans for a site and the necessary equipment. Several steel tanks, to be used for gasoline storage, are loaded on flat cars at Fabyans, ready for the steep trip up the mountain. These tanks, it is planned, will be located near the marker to Lizzie Bourne, who perished years ago during an attempted climb to the top. She died in her father's arms with the summit almost in sight.
The Mt Washington Railway Company is a corporation within itself, although it is virtually a subsidiary of the Boston & Maine Railway. It acquired the rights for the cog railroad and purchased the summit area from the heirs of Coe and Pintree, many years ago.
Col Teague, who is the proprietor of the Mt Kinco House, in the Moosehead Lake section of Maine, spent several hours yesterday with John Shepard, head of WNAC. No statement was made about further discussions. (Boston Globe, Oct. 5)

DAVID SARNOFF REPORTS ON TELEVISION PROGRESS
By DAVID SARNOFF
DURING my five weeks abroad, I studied the latest developments of television in Europe. While interest is shown everywhere in this new branch of the radio art, greater progress has been made in England than elsewhere in Europe. Nevertheless, the experience to date with television in England, has only served to emphasize the formidable nature of the problems which must be solved before a satisfactory service of television to the public can be rendered, and a new industry soundly established.
The question is often asked: "Is England ahead of the United States in television?" I shall try to answer this question by stating the facts as I have now observed them on both sides of the Atlantic.
British Broadcasting Corp. has been operating its television transmitter, located at Alexandria Palace in London, for about a year. The range of this transmitter is more than 25 miles and covers all of London and its immediate vicinity. The system employed is known abroad as the Marconi E.M.I. Television System which is fundamentally based on the RCA Television System first developed in the RCA Laboratories in the United States. Under an exchange of patent licenses, this British company may use RCA patents in England and in turn, RCA and its American licensees may use British Patents in the United States.
Each side is therefore in a position to benefit from developments and improvements made by the other.
For nearly one year BBC has been broadcasting television programs to the public on a regular daily schedule of one hour in the afternoon and one hour in the evening.
Some fifteen British Radio Manufacturers have been offering television receiving sets to the public at prices ranging between $200 and $500 each. At the Olympia Radio show which I visited while in London, all the manufacturers exhibited their latest television sets and the BBC arranged special programs so that the public could view the actual operations of television while visiting the radio show. From a technical standpoint the results were highly satisfactory. The public filled the television booths and showed great interest. But while hundreds of thousands of ordinary broadcast receivers were sold during the show the public bought less than 100 television receivers in total.
During one year's operation of a public television service in England, less than 2,000 receivers in all have been sold to the trade and less than 1,000 are actually in the hands of the public. There is but one television transmitter in London, and I was informed that it will probably be two years more before a second transmitter is erected in any other part of England.
The foregoing represents the present status of television in England despite the fact that geographically its problem is simple compared with the vast area to be served by a television service in the United States. Also it is to be noted that in England the costs of erecting a television station, the establishment of a special organization, and the furnishing of television programs, have been paid by the Government out of license fees paid by the public annually for the privilege of listening or seeing by radio.
The range of the RCA television transmitter atop the Empire State Building now operated by the NBC from its television studios in the RCA Building in New York City, is approximately the same as that of the BBC station in London. The television receivers installed in the homes of our experts, who have been carrying on field tests during the past year, are likewise of the same order of performance as those in use in England.
The major problem of television, in both countries, is to provide a program for the home that will meet public requirements and maintain public interest.
To place television on a commercial basis in the United States, it is necessary to establish a sufficient number of sending stations, that must be interconnected and able to furnish a regular service at least to the population residing within the principal market areas of our country. The erection of such stations, the provision of necessary interconnecting facilities, and the establishment of a regular program service that would meet public requirements and hold public interest, call for vast financial expenditures before any returns can be reasonably expected.
I firmly believe in the American System of private enterprise, rather than Government subsidy; of free radio to the home, rather than license fees paid to the Government by owners of receiving sets; and I have no doubt, that in due time, we shall find practical answers to the practical problems that now beset the difficult road of the pioneer in television. The road calls for faith and perseverance as well as ingenuity and enterprise but it is a road that holds great promise for the public, for artists and performers, and for the radio industry. (Radio Daily)

MONDAY, OCTOBER 4, 1937
Says Tele Must Create Own Program Technique
New Brunswick, N. J. — Television must develop its own program technique, and the ultimate characteristics of such programs should be "spontaneity"— in other words, television must capture images of the world in action — declared Dr. Alfred N. Goldsmith, RCA technical consultant, in a talk before the New Jersey Press Ass'n here yesterday [4].
"Television networks of stations comparable to those existing in sound broadcasting," said Dr. Goldsmith, "must await the development of either the co-axial cable or automatic radio relay stations. Meanwhile, if public service should be inaugurated, individual stations can use local talent, films and traveling units."
Dr. Goldsmith said more than $10,000,000 had already been spent on television experiments, and current research appropriations may total between one and two million dollars a year.
New York presents problems in television transmission that are unique, Dr. Goldsmith stated, because of the effect of tall steel structures on the ultra-short radio waves employed in the new art, but he said that communities in northern New Jersey are in direct air line with the antenna on the Empire State Bldg.
Charles L. Allen, executive secretary of the press association, said newspapers must learn to use television as a supplement for their services in future. He termed coming of television as "an age of terrific competition in eye appeal." (Radio Daily, Oct. 5)

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1937
Television Up Another Notch
Special Demonstration Scores Hit.
By C.E. BUTTERFIELD
NEW YORK (AP)— Television is trying to grow up. It's [sic] latest demonstration had 25 persons in the "cast."
That was when the RCA-NBC system, now being used for field tests in New York, was operated yesterday [7] to give a preview of the National Business show open here Oct. 18.
The special Television studio on the third floor of Radio City was transformed into something on the order of an exhibit hall and the electric camera was moved about much as would a show visitor. The 25 persons included demonstrators, Albert Tangora, champion speed typist [right], and Miss Eleanor Rankin of New York, who was in charge of the televised tour.
The guests, business executives, looked on by means of receivers installed three floors above and connected to the studio by a special wire line. They thought the demonstration “interesting and marvelous." It took 45 minutes for the preview.

Urges Launching Television Without Awaiting Perfection
Upper Montclair, N. J. — The sooner American television goes on a regular program basis, with television sets made available to the public, regardless how crude and no matter what the obstacles may be, the sooner this country will realize practical television. So says Allen B. Du Mont, head of the Allen B. Du Mont Laboratories, a pioneer in the cathode-ray tube field, following his recent return from abroad and an inspection of television progress in England and on the continent.
Du Mont says there has been too much loose talk about television in this country, whereas in England they have gone ahead and started television broadcasts, thereby learning more in six months of practical activity than the U. S. is liable to learn in six more years of laboratory experiments. He believes that the only way to get the right answers to questions about technique, programs, service areas, networks and economics is to bring television out of the laboratory and make a real try.
Some 10,000 television sets have already been sold in England, according to Du Mont. Average price now is $350, but will be reduced to $200 shortly. He said the range of the London BBC transmitter is 100 miles.
Du Mont also declared the BBC has proved there is no absolute need for special co-axial cables for transmission of programs from pickup source to remote television transmitter and to associated stations of a network. (Radio Daily)

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1937
W9XK, University of Iowa
7:15 to 7:30—Television program with radio station WSUI, 910 kcs.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1937
BROADCAST TESTS OF TELEVISION TO START NEXT YEAR
By C.E. BUTTERFIELD

NEW YORK, Oct. 13 (AP)—The CBS network, which as soon as technically possible, plans to join in the New York testing of television, reports that work on the installation of its picture transmitter is expected to get under way not long after the first of the year.
This belief is based on the progress made at the RCA laboratories at Camden, N. J., where the equipment is being put together. It is just about ready for the preliminary power checkup before shipment to New York.
The transmitter, designed for ultra short waves, is in two sections, one for sight and the other for sound. It will be placed on the 73rd and 74th floors of the Chrysler building, to be connected by cable to a special studio in a building across the street. The antenna is to be built around the spire on top of the skyscraper.
While no date has been set to begin the actual broadcast tests, it probably will be well on toward summer before they get under way.
Meanwhile, the NCB-RCA setup on the Empire State building, with studios in Radio City, is making preparations to extend experimentation into the outdoor field by the addition of mobile equipment.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 14, 1937
Television on 3x4' Screen Is Demonstrated by RCA
First demonstration of the RCA projection tube in the reception of a broadcast television program took place last night on the tower of the Empire State Building with the sending of a program received from the NBC studios back to the RCA Building.
An enlarged picture, approximately 3x 4 feet, was thrown on the screen by the projection tube. Recent advances made in black and white television picture transmission and reception also were shown by RCA. The NBC television transmitter recently was equipped with a new antenna system which is expected to materially improve the field test transmissions.
Demonstration was held in connection with the convention of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers, and President David Sarnoff of RCA addressed the group.
The New RCA cathode-ray tube of intense brilliance enabled the projection of moving images in black and white on the 3x4-ft. screen, marking the first demonstration of a broadcast television program on such a screen.
Addressing the engineers, Sarnoff pointed out that although television progress seems slow at times, and "television today is an unfinished product," the size of the screen has been increased from approximately 5x8 inches to 7x10, and in addition important progress has been made in projecting pictures 3x4 feet on a screen.
Television programs will cost much more than present radio shows, Sarnoff stated, and this constituted a tele problem as formidable as the technical problems yet to be solved. A program technique also must be worked out, and advertisers must be provided with assurance that the more costly medium will be worth the expense, he added.
Both film and live talent were used for the demonstration. Show included two dramatic sketches written for television, harp solos by Margaret Brill, a comedy skit by Herman and Banta and a newsreel. The show was picked up by iconoscope cameras in the NBC studios at Radio City, relayed by coaxial cable to the Empire State Tower transmitter, and broadcast from there back to the RCA Building. (Radio Daily, Oct. 15)

PROGRESS MADE BY TELEVISION DEMONSTRATED
Special Studio Show Is Put on for Motion Picture Engineers
By C.E. BUTTERFIELD
Associated Press Radio Editor
NEW YORK, Oct. 15 (AP)—Television on a screen came out of the laboratory temporarily last night [14] to show members of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers how far it has gone.
Studio Show Given
While the images it reproduced were somewhat dim, it did indicate some of its possibilities by putting them on an area three by four feet.
The apparatus was operated under actual broadcast conditions, displaying a 35-minute studio show of both live talent and films, in its first semipublic demonstration. In a test last summer before the Institute of Radio Engineers there was only a still picture without transmission.
The projector, which uses a special cathode ray tube and other apparatus, differs from direct reproduction in that the tube is designed to pass the image through a set of lenses onto the screen. In direct reproduction the picture appears on the flat end of a much larger cathode ray tube, which despite its greater size can handle pictures only about seven by ten inches. However, the resulting detail is better than in the case of projection.
Still in the process of development, the projection tube is part of the research now under way by Radio Corporation of America and National Broadcasting Company engineers. This work includes field testing in New York by the use of a special studio in Radio City and an ultra short wave transmitter for both sight and sound on the Empire State Building.
Receiver Demonstrated
Besides the projection, the movie engineers were shown the direct type of receiver, 13 of which reproduced images in black and white and two of which were operated in the shade of green of earlier cathode ray experiments. The black and white tends to give a sharper picture.
David Sarnoff, president of R. C. A., told the guests that while "television is today an unfinished product," its progress to date led him to express the belief that "the same pioneering spirit of private enterprise that has produced the great industries of the automobile, motion picture and radio will likewise provide us with a nation-wide system of television."
Participating in the entertainment, put together much like a vaudeville revue, was Betty Goodwin, who has become known as NBC’s "television girl." Improvement in production was noticeable in that one scene was blended into another with much greater ease than in previous demonstrations.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 15, 1937
PHILCO APPLICATION REFUSED
WASHINGTON, Oct. 15—The Communications Commission returned today to the Philco Radio and Television Corporation, Philadelphia, its application for authority to build a new television broadcast station.
The commission said the Philco application was “not in proper form.”

MONDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1937
FCC SEES TELEVISION LONG DISTANCE AWAY
Washington.—A virtual admission that television is actually rounding the corner in the United States is seen in the action yesterday [18] by the Federal Communications Commission in clearing the upper traffic bands in an allocation move which is considered one of the most important in recent years. The FCC order is a significant basic step in paving the way for the actual development of reliable service and proper technical standards preparatory to the practical use of television.
Air space will be increased ten-fold by the FCC act. Ultra high frequency bands from 30,000 to 300,000 kilocycles are affected by the new allocation standards set up by the FCC order. Seven channels between 44,000 and 108,000 kilocycles, and 12 channels between 156,000 and 300,000 kilocycles are assigned to television, including in six megacycle width, both pictures and synchronized sound.
In the 41,020 to 43,980 kilocycle band, 75 channels are made available for assignment to aural broadcasting stations. Sixteen channels for relay broadcast stations are provided in the band from 30,830 to 39,820 kilocycles.
The FCC order is effective October 13, 1938, but due to the scarcity of assignments at present in ultra high frequency bands, the commission may make assignments before that date. (Hollywood Reporter, Oct. 19)

Television Test To Be Delayed
More Time Needed To Assemble Equipment.
By C.E. BUTTERFIELD
NEW YORK, Oct. 18.—(AP)—Outdoor pickups of experimental television broadcasts here are not to get under way as soon as it was first hoped. The indications now are that it will be two or three weeks before they do.
The delay is due to the fact that more time is being required to put the equipment together. It is being housed in two mobile units, one for the electric camera and the other for the ultra-short wave relay transmitter. When the apparatus is ready it will be put to work about the streets of New York and other sections of the big city as another adjunct for the field test studio and Empire State transmitter be operated with the RCA-NBC system.
It is not expected that a demonstration will be conducted until some time after the arrival of the apparatus because of a desire to iron out any possible kinks.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 19, 1937
W9XK, University of Iowa
7:15 to 7:30—Television program with radio station WSUI, 910 kcs.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 21, 1937
W9XK, University of Iowa
7:15 to 7:30—Television program with radio station WSUI, 910 kcs.

Westmore Says Television Won't Need Freak Makeup
Television performers will be required to use only natural makeup, and probably less of it than the average New York woman uses for street wear, it was predicted yesterday [21] by Percy Westmore, prominent Hollywood makeup man, following an inspection of the NBC television studio in Radio City.
Westmore scoffed at the oft-circulated stories that purple lipstick, green rouge and blue powder would be required for makeup of artists appearing in front of the television camera.
"I have had an opportunity to study studio conditions and see the television image, and I am convinced the development of makeup technique for television will follow the current trend in motion pictures," said Westmore. "We are using less grease paint today, less powder and less lip rouge. There is every reason for television to do likewise, particularly because spontaneity and naturalness are keynotes of the medium."
Makeup's two biggest contributions to television, Westmore believes, will be to define features more clearly and accentuate the plans of the face.
Gloria Dickson, Hollywood actress, accompanied Westmore on his NBC tour and did voluntary duty as a subject for the iconoscope camera. (Radio Daily, Oct. 22)

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 23, 1937
Parts for Television Sets to Be Sold Soon
Receiving apparatus, like first radios, will be home-made
New York, Oct. 23 (AP)—The first television sets, like the first radios, will be home made.
Engineers confirmed this today after word leaked out that the Radio Corporation of America will soon market parts from which such sets can be built.
The first sets will probably cost from $200 to $300.
The parts will be sold, it was explained at the RCA offices, because television experts have found no better way of bringing radio pictures from the experimental stage into widespread practical use. Programs too Expensive From the time television emerged from the dream phase, engineers have striven to bring the new medium to life full grown. They wanted receiving sets, broadcasting apparatus and programs perfected together so the thing could start at full tilt. The Federal Communications Commission co-operated in this limiting television broadcasting licenses to an experimental basis.
But experience has shown that television programs are too expensive to attract commercial sponsors unless those sponsors are assured a large audience. The audience will not be there unless buyers of television sets are assured a steady flow of good programs. And—here is the big catch—television engineers are afraid to sell complete sets now because developments are coming so fast the sets soon would be out of date.
So the television men are turning deliberately to the man who, accidentally, was responsible for the development of radio—the great American handy-man-around-the-house—the fellow who can build anything as long as he has the parts.
Builds Own Set
The handyman builds his own set, and when a change comes he makes 'it by inserting a new part instead of buying a whole new set. His experiences help the television engineers, and when commercial sets are ready they are compact and cheaper because they are made for mass consumption.
The growth of television will thus be like that of radio, but it will also be different. In the earliest days of wireless anyone anywhere could sit in his parlor with his crystal and earphones and listen to dots and dashes of the Morse code. That was great stuff then because no one thought of anything better. The voice and music broadcasts which followed could also be heard over a wide range.
The first television sets, on the other hand, will be dependable only within a 100-mile radius of New York and Philadelphia, the two cities from which regular picture programs are now broadcast. Another difference between young television and young radio is that the first radios had innumerable, crude parts.
In television, much of this preliminary detail has already been eliminated in the laboratories. The main part in the home made sets will be a large cathode ray tube, similar in appearance to an over-grown radio tube, through which electrical impulses are filtered, amplified and converted into light rays. Other important parts "scan" the picture, picking up light and shadow line by line just as your eye reads a book, from left to right, down the page; focus the screen and “stepup” the current.
The parts, which will go on the market within a few months, can be assembled and hooked up to an ordinary radio set.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 1937
W9XK, University of Iowa
7:15 to 7:30—Television program with radio station WSUI, 910 kcs.

Philco has re-submitted to FCC its application for television station, on 204,000 to 210,000 band. (Radio Daily)

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1937
W9XK, University of Iowa
7:15 to 7:30—Television program with radio station WSUI, 910 kcs.

Many FCC Tele Channels Too High, Says Murray
Philadelphia — FCC assignment to television of channels 44-108 megacycles has given television companies a number of desired channels, but some of them are so high that they cannot be used today for this purpose, according to A. L. Murray, Philco Television engineer, and Chairman of the Television Committee of the Radio Manufacturers Association. In addition, Murray said, the television channels are sandwiched between those used for other purposes.
He pointed out that the assignment does not cover commercial television. "The commission," he said, "made it very clear that there does not appear to be an immediate outlook for the recognition of television service on a commercial basis. These assigned channels are solely for the continuance of experimentation and the solution of the many problems that still confront television, and must not be taken as an indication that commercial television is right at hand."
The R.M.A. committee told the FCC that before television experimentation could be successfully carried on the whole band from 42 to 90 megacycles had to be cleared for this purpose. (Radio Daily)

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 29, 1937
Zenith Amends Charter For Television Activity
Chicago — The way was paved for Zenith Radio to enter the television field at a meeting of stockholders here this week amending articles of incorporation permitting the firm to broaden its activities to include the field of visual radio. An application for permit to build transmitter had previously been turned down by FCC on grounds company charter did not permit television activity.
E. F. McDonald Jr., president of Zenith, told stockholders that while problems of television are not insurmountable, commercial application appears to be well in the future. He expressed the belief that television will come over telephone wires instead of through the air by radio waves. Added that he expects American Telephone and Telegraph Company to handle the transmission of television programs, with the public paying for the service as it does for phone services today. Radio manufacturers, he thought, would probably restrict their television activity to building receivers. (Radio Daily)

NBC STARTS BUILDING IN HOLLYWOOD
TO REPLACE its present Hollywood studios, already outgrown although built only two years ago, NBC will begin immediate construction of its new Hollywood home at the famous intersection of Sunset Blvd. & Vine St., site of the original Famous Players-Lasky film lot.
The new structure will provide for the immediate needs of NBC, occupying about half of the five-acre tract, comprising two city blocks, and leaving ample room for future expansion as well as for television studios when needed. Designed by O. B. Hanson, NBC chief engineer, and the company's design unit, working in cooperation with the Austin Co., which will erect the building, the studios will be patterned after the motion picture unit plan.
Four large individual studios under separate roofs, each with an audience capacity of several hundred persons and four non-audience studios will be used for broadcasting. Executive offices will be housed in a central office building at the corner of Sunset and Vine, which visitors will enter through a three-story lobby from which a huge master control room with its intricate panels and apparatus will be visible. Modern in every respect, with the latest lighting facilities, air conditioning, acoustical treatment, the studios will also represent the latest development of NBC engineers, including an automatic pre-set switching system.
"This development," said President Lenox Lohr [on Oct. 29], "marks a definite step in the importance of Hollywood as a center for the radio industry. That Hollywood is important in radio is borne out by the fact that less than two years ago we opened the most modern broadcasting center we could construct. Already we have outgrown it."
It is expected that Don Lee Broadcasting System, Los Angeles, will take over the present NBC Hollywood headquarters. (Broadcasting, Nov. 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.