POLAR RADIO

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16338, 12 May 1927, Page 3

POLAR RADIO

LATEST U.S. SERVICE HEARD IN POVERTY BAY The broadcasting of special programmes and items of interest for the isolated people of the Arctic regions of North America is one of the latest radio services inaugurated in the United States. In a letter to "I'.LO" shortly after Christmas, Mrs. 11. W. Thompson, of Otoko, who then wrote under the now do plume of "Old Listener," mentioned that she had heard this transmission on Christmas night, when the broadcasters asked that anyone picking up the programme should communicate with them. .Mrs. Thompson did so, and has received the following interesting reply from the Westinghouse News Service: — "Practically the entire white population of North America, north of the Arctic. Circle, and many Eskimos are now receiving personal messages regularly by radio, according to Dr. "William 11. Ea.ston in charge at New York of the Westinghouse broadcasting system. "This system of communication for the polar regions was developed by George A. Wendt, of the Canadian Westinghouse Co., Montreal. Mr. Wendt, who has been actively interested in radio broadcasting ever since it was first developed by KDKA, and has also been in close touch with officials of the Canadian Government and the Hudson Day Company, conceived the plan of bringing into touch with civilisation those devoted men who spend the long Arctic nights in complete isolation. Among these are Canadian mounted police, missionaries., fur traders, naturalists, and explorers,, some of whom are wintering within a comparatively short distance of the North Pole. "Several years ago Mr. Wendt made arrangements to supply certain of he Arctic dwellers with radio sets, by which they were able to receive not only much of the ordinary broadcast, but special personal messages which. Mr Wendt gathered from their friends' and transmitted through some of the, Westinghouse stations. "The success of this experiment was so great that Mr. Wendt developed the system until this year he has had all posts within the American Arctic Circle, and also the Danish settlement of Godhavn in Greenland, equipped with radio receiving sets. Some of these are shori,-wave re-, ceivers and therefore specially efficient. At the same time, he has, made arrangements with all of those connected with these Arctic, dwellers to send messages to him for radio transmission. The stations used for. th'os purpose are KDKA, Pittsburg; KYW, Chicago; KFKX, Hastings, Neb.; and WBZ, Springfield, Mass. "At frequent intervals during the winter, at times announced long in advance, these stations in turn transmit the messages on hand on their regular wave-lengths, while, at the. same time, KDKA sends them out on the short-wave, of 03 metres. The last Arctic broadcast was from WBZ, Springfield, Mass., on November 27, with KYW repeating on December IS. KDKA repeats each time on short wave. "MY. Wendt has given instructions to all radio stations to announce the dav of the month as well as other details when broadcasting to the Arctic because, owing to the fact, that there is no day up there, many of the posts get from one to eight days off their calendar recording. He was told that the first thing men coming out of the. Arctic asked for before the days of broadcasting, 'What day of the month is this?" and the second request was for a haircut. "Many Arctic radio operators have to keep two sets of batteries, one of which is kept hot in the oven of the cook stove until the set in use. goes out of commission because of being frozen."