RADIO CITY

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 143, 14 December 1933, Page 26

RADIO CITY

SOME INTERESTING POINTS

The world's ninth—or umteenth— wonder is Radio City, New York. Here are some of the curious facts about it. All studios are constructed on the "thermos bottle" theory. The walls are doubly corked with two soundproof doors forming an anteroom to each studio. There are 296 of these unique doors. The studios are airtight, as well as soundtight. A special air-conditioning plant provides regulatedventilation and temperature. Air to the extent of 20,000,000 cubic feet is forced into the building every hour, then humidified or dehumidified as weather requires, warmed or cooled to proper temperature, and forced into studios at the rate of 15 miles an hour, completely changing the air in each studio at least 'once every eight minutes. After being cleaned and brought to the proper humidity, the air is filtered through finely-spun glass fabric before being sent to the studios. The fans alone, used to force the air through these ducts, use 1941 h.p. Ice is used to '' dry the air fed to the studios— a total of 18,0001b being manufactured daily for that purpose. The refrigeration plant is in the sub-basement. Time is an important element on the radio; 325 electric clocks synchronise the studios. There are 250 microphone outlets. The equipment is linked by 1250 miles of wire; S9 miles of lead cable, some with 40-wire strands. The engineers estimate there are 20,000,000 wire connections. Six hundred electricians worked on the installation. There is one cable containing 1800 strands of wire.or "radio nerves." Heavy soundproof glass separating the studios from control rooms and observation booths, measures 8500 square feet. Forty different fabrics are used for wall coverings. (Fabric does not interfere with the soundproofing as would paper or paint,) Most of the fabrics, 244,908-square feet, were woven to specification. Five thousand yards of 54in linen cover the ceilings. In the soundproofing, 500,0001b, 11 carloads, of rock-wool was used. This is a kind of spun glass which absorbs sound, A perforated hard asbestos board called transite is used between the rock-wool and the fabric covering to allow the sound to go through.