WIRELESS NEWS.

Thames Star, Volume LX, Issue 16960, 6 December 1926, Page 7

WIRELESS NEWS.

Home very interesting information regarding broadcasting in the United States has recently been received from New York. As the conditions in that country are of special interest to us in New Zealand, the information is worth epitomising. MANY STATES CEASE OPERATIONS.

Since 1.920 over 1400 broadcasting stations have been licensed and no less than 870—over 62 per cent.—have gone out of the business. Two* main reasons are given for these defections. The first is difficulties experienced by the broadcasters in riming the stations. Nearly 50 per cent, of the 870 stations tha tclosed disappeared from the air on this account. It was found that to in a main a broadcasing service was a costly business,and as no return was received from the listeners, the proprietors of the sta- * ions decided to cut their losses and get out.

It only goes to show that broadcastmg is not a business ill at eveiycne can manage; there must be an understanding of the requirements of listeners and of the expenses to be incurred in providing a service that will last The second main reason advanced for the failures also proves this. About 20 per cent, of the proprietors of stations retired from the business because they realised that they were not giving as satisfactory a service as their competitors. They found that the "‘.Message” they desired to put over, could be done better by people who understood the business, and who consequently had many more listeners. It was more economical to pay another station to broadcast their advertisement and propoganda.

POPULARITY OF BROADCASTING NOT DIMINISHING.

The decrease in the number of stations has not caused any lessening in the interest taken hv listeners. On the contrary, it appears to have liad tlie oher e :ec. There are probably too many stations now operating in the various cities,, especially as only a portion of them can afford to give good services.

A census was conducted recently to ascertain the number of listeners. It was conducted in a very thorough manner by the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, which operates eighteen of the principal stations m the Eastern and Middle West of the States. A questionnaire was sent out an tithe answers were very interesting. Over 3,750,000 people answered the questions, and it was estimated that the listeners numbered 15,000,000. (A more recent return gives the number of sets in use as 5,500,000; and it was estimated from the neplies to the for flier questionnaire that five persons listened at each set, the radio audience in the. United States can be set down, at over 27,000,000 people.) COMPETITION BETWEEN BROADCASTING AND PHONOGRAPH BUSINESS.

The fatuous inventor Edison recently startled the radio world in America, by stating that music received from broadcasting stations was always distorted, and owing to the failure to obtain faithful reproduction of musical items, people were abandoning their radio sets and'Wturning to the phonograph. » This surprising statement was challenged by radio authorities and broad casting enterpeneurs. Telegrams were sent to most of the phonograph dealers throughout the country asking if Edison’s statement reflected the position. The replies produced abundant evidence to the contrary. Phonograph dealers reported that the sale of radio receivers was not declining, nor was there any sign of the popularity of broadcasting waning. Kadio engineers and research workers also replied, as did noted musical critics, to the effect that music received on a. good set from the average good station was more faithfully reproduced than on the phonograph records. It thus appears that the great inventor was not correct in his severe criticism. The questionnaire of the A.T. and A. Co. .also elicited the fact that over 73 per cent, of the owners of radio sets, also had phonographs. The competition must be negligible; in fact, it is possible that the two businesses, broadcasting and phonograph, actually help one another. MAJORITY OF SETS IN LARGE CITIES. The plebiscites also showed that 70 per cent, of the listeners were in the large cities, and 30 per cent in the rural areas. These figures are of interest to us in New Zealand. They indicate that the popularity of broadcasting in eountrv districts is not as far advanced with us, as in America. Last vear a return was prepared bv the Postmaster-General which showed that only about 10 per cent, of listeners m New South Wales were beyond fifty miles of Sydney’. The proportions today are probably not very different. EFFECTIVE RANGE OF A STATION In deciding a tariff for “selling time’ or the use of a station lor propaganda -or publieitv purposes, the big New York station WEAF based its charges oir a. good service of 100 miles. It was considered that this was an area in which reliable service could be obtained al lthe year round from that station. The type of receiver was not mentioned, hut there are not many crystal sets in the United States, and one can assume that the receiver contemplated would be a three or four valve -set. . , , As WEAF has a power of about double the power of 3LO, Melbourne, the area of 100 miles is interesting. The recent investigations carried out In- 3LO in Victoria showed that a good service was given up to about 70 miles. This would tend to prove that the Victorian service is not inferior to that given in America. In England, where there are many more crystal sets in

use than in America, the defective range of a station is, of course, much lower.