THE RADIO-GRAM.

Evening Post, Volume CXXI, Issue 107, 7 May 1936, Page 26

THE RADIO-GRAM.

FREEDOM OF CHOICE

Anyone who has watched at all closely the progress of radio during the last few years cannot have failed vo notice the significant increase in the popularity of the radio-gramophone a development which is not wholly explainable by the fact that its price is a good deal less than it used to be although naturally these two factors are inter-related, and it may perhaps be noted that the increased demand for these instruments has contributed materially to a reduction in manufacturing costs.

Fundamentally,' the present popularity of the radio-gramophone can be ascribed to two groups of factors—the one psychological and the other technical. Under the first heading there are such considerations as appearance, convenience, and simplicity. But probably the strongest appeal which the radio-gramophtone makes to most people is the fact that it satisfies the desire for freedom of choice, independent of outside sources; that it is able to supply exactly the type of entertainment which the needs of the occasion or the mood of the moment may dictate.

On technical grounds the development of the radio-gramophone is particularly interesting. The science of the recording and reproduction of sound has always been something of a race tor efficiency between the record and the reproducer—an attempt on the one hand to get as much as possible of the original sound on to the record, and on the other hand to make as much as possible of the recorded sound audible. And by the phrase "as much of the sound as possible" is to. be implied not only volume, but also the many complex overtones and harmonics, the presence or absence of which determines the degree of fidelity of the recorded or reproduced sound to the original. The advent of electric recording—itself a direct outcome of the big developments in radio technique brought about by broadcasting— marked a tremendous step forward, but one of which full advantage could not be taken at the time by those responsible for the design of the reproducing apparatus.

Although it is mainly on the grounds of its magnificent volume and real fidelity of tone-quality that the modern instrument makes such an insistent appeal, one cannot overlook the additional attractions of simplicity and convenience, thanks to the silent running and' constant speed of its electric motor, its automatic switch, and the outstanding advantage of upwards of half an hour's continuous and effortless entertainment from one's favourite records, made possible by the automatic record-changing device with which some of them are now equipped.