Indianapolis Times, Volume 36, Number 254, Indianapolis, Marion County, 5 March 1925 — Page 13

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INDIANAPOLIS HAS BRAND NEW RADIO BROADCASTING STATION

WFBM, Merchants Heat and Light Company’s New Step, Will Start Its Program Tonight at 6:30 o’Clock —On the Air Six Nights a Week. With & policy of service to the city of Indianapolis as a keynote, the Merchants Heat and Light Company’s broadcasting station, WFBM, will open tonight at 6:30 p. m. The station is licensed for 250 watts of power and under tests that have been going on for the past several weeks has been reaching out consistently to a range of 1,500 miles, and under favorable conditions this range will increase several hundred miles. The present plans cell for a program six nights a week. The wave length of the station is 268 meters.

Dedicatory exercises will be held at the Indianapolis Athletic as the station is opened this evening. Speakers will include F. Harold Van Orman, Lieutenant Governor; Mayor Shank, I*. B. Andrus, president of the Merchants Heat and Light Company: John Ferguson, manager of operations for the Merchants Heat and Light Company; M. IC. Foxworthy, vice president and general manager of the company and H. A. Luckey, president of the Broadcast Listeners’ Association of Indianapolis. M. K. Foxworthy will be master of ceremonies. The program will include Gus Edwards Athletic Club Orchestra, Miss Francis Johnson, soloist; the Quartet; The Popular Four, a male quartet, aqd two popular Gennett Record artists, Billy Smythe ’ and Scotty Middleton. No Studio The station’s operation will be unique in that they will have no studio. All broadcasting will be done by remote control picked up from any part of Ch, city where a program or event may take place, this way the radio fan of Indianapolis will be able to receive a varied program of events as they take place. The transmitting board and the microphones, both which may be placed In a suit cr.ce, can be carried to. the place where the program is to be broadcast. The sound waves being carried out to the transmitting station, which is located just south of the city at Lenore, over the telephone wire, from where the program will go on the air. The transmitter of WFBM Is a standard Hartley hookup employing the Colpitts modulation system with several individual features which were developed and constructed by the engineers of the Merchants Heat and Light Company. While the present power is 250 watts it can be readily raised to 1,000 watts if desired. The power of the station is furnished by a kenetron rectifying system which furnishes 2,300 volts of pure direct current. By impressing this voltage upon the oscillators at the plate at approximately 400 mill&mperes fourteen amperes can be put into the radiating aystem. Another feature of the station is that the speech or music is at no point in the system forced to pass through any kind of a transformer or choke coil. This is a great advantage in broadcasting, inasmuch as it tends to surpass distortion due to iron losses and allows more perfect reproduction of speech and music. Reproduces Perfectly ' The entire amplifying and modulating system is coupled by means of. resistance and when used in conjunction with microphones of the highest type will reproduce perfectly the delicate shadings and overtones of the transmitted material and construct at the receiving sets all over the country an exact sound jjieture of just what is taking place at the transmitting board of WFBM. C. A. Portman is the radi? engineer in charge of the station. Hobart Ashiock will be the’ licensed

The Indianapolis Times

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operator in charge of the transmitting set, while our old friend, John Tribby, who Is known to thousands of radio fans all over the country through his connections with the old WLK station, will preside at the microphone. The new station rank among the best in the country, and every local radio fan should tune in on the opening program and stick until the finish. Indianapolis now has a real broadcasting station. Let’s all get behind it and boost. Indianapolis programs and good-will will now be sent all over the United States nightly from WFBM. Same Music, Unlinked Stations KFI at laws Angeles and WOC at Davenport recently were heard broadcasting the same piece of music simultaneously even to the rhythm. But the stations weren’t linked. Four in Bulgaria There are only four receiving sets in Bulgaria. And these are limited by special license.

Operas Make Big Hit Bv NBA Service EHILADELPHIA, March s.—So popular have its operatic broadcasts become that station WIP here plans to make this a regular feature. Starting with “Cavalliera Rustlcana," and following this with ‘‘The Barber of Seville,” and “Alda,” these broadcasters have found a na-tion-wide demand for these classics. These operas were broadcast from the Metropolitan Opera House here, where they were being staged.

BUGS

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INDIANAPOLIS, THURSDAY, MARCH 5,1925

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FOR THE NOTEBOOK * Avoid sharp turns with bus-bar wire and bend only with round-nose pliers. A loud speaker extension can be made without affecting the operation of the set itself. A cheap battery may last less than a montTi. while a good one may last six or nine months. Because rust and corrosion interfere with reception, it is wise to renew aerials each year. Give the battery a regular charge. Never wait until the tubes refuse to work before charging the battery. Always see that the voltage of the charging device is higher than that, of the battery.

WFBM Will Start Programs Tonight

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ABOVE. GUS EDWARDS'-INDIANAPOLIS ATHLETIC CLUB ORCHESTRA. THIS ORCHESTRA WAS ONE OF THE FIRST FOC'R ORCHESTRAS IN THE COUNTRY TO BROADCAST ANJ) IS AN ORGANIZATION THAT RANKS AMONG THE BEST DANCE ORCHESTRAS. BELOW, THE TRXnHMITTER IS OF THE LATEST TYPE AND DESIGN. LEFT. C. A. PORTMAN. ENGINEER OF THE 4 STATION.

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By Roy Grove