“SAMPLES" BY WIRELESS

Evening Star, Issue 21890, 29 November 1934, Page 4

“SAMPLES" BY WIRELESS

An important deal which resulted in a large order for the consignment of gramophone records to Japan has been made possible by the aid of the British Post Office. The representative of a Japanese importing house joined the White Star liner Homeric (while cruising in the Mediterranean at Venice, en route for Malta, and on board met an executive of one of the principal British gramophone recording' firms. Mixing business with pleasure (says the ‘ Sunday Times ’) the British executive endeavoured to persuade the Japanese to conclude a deal, hut the Japanese said he could not place an order until he was able to judge the quality of the records by actually hearing them. As he was leaving the Homeric at Malta it seemed fruitless to pursue the matter any further. But one of the ship’s officers suggested a solution. The Homeric is one of the six large liners fitted with radio telephone. The British executive telephoned to his London office and asked them to arrange with the Post Office to transmit over the ship’s radio-tele-phone service several recent recordings by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham. This had never been done before, hut the Post Office immediately made arrangements. The records were taken to the Radio Terminal of the International Telephone Exchange in Faraday Building, London, and a radio-gramophone was connected in circuit with the radio telephone channel. Post Office engineers controlled the transmission, which was received perfectly by the Homeric, then over 100 miles from Malta.