BROADCASTING - 25 issues

Washington DC: Broadcasting Publications, Inc.. Very Good. 1940. First Edition. Publishers wrappers. Washington DC: Very Good. 1940 & 2 issues 1939. First Edition. Broadcasting" -- the entire year 1940, two issues per month. Our file lacks the issue published May 15, 1940, but does include issues for November 15 and December 15, 1939. These issues are bound (using spring-steel clips at the gutter margins) with the first group of issues for 1940 (through February) . All have the front covers intact, but all but the issue for February 15, 1940 are lacking the rear covers. The issues for March through June are bound together using another clip, and the issues for July 1 through October 15, 1940, similarly bound using a third clip. The final four issues for the year 1940 are loose as issued in their original printed wrappers. Generally excellent condition, with a very few issues showing minor folds or short tears to the wrappers. "Broadcasting" magazine was founded in Washington, D. C. , by Martin Codel, Sol Taishoff, and former National Association of Broadcasters president Harry Shaw; the first issue was published on October 15, 1931. Sol Taishoff became sole proprietor after June 1944 when he bought out his remaining partner, and appears on the mastheads as Publisher and Editor. Although Broadcasting magazine was early on devoted to the ever-increasing business of radio, commerical television was just coming into existence as our file of this important publication commenced. As early as our issue dated November 15, 1939 -- there is significant television news reported in "Broadcasting. " There is a discussion on page 17 of an important report of the FCC Television Committee (formed earlier in the year) -- suggesting details of how the 19 available channels might be divided between potential commercial and experimental stations. Only seven of the theoretical channels seemed nearly ready to begin experimental broadcasts... Fewer than a thousand television receiving sets had been sold Nationwide; nearly all in greater New York City. Also, see p. 77 for a notice that GE was testing the "practicability" of a television broadcast network based on radio relay rather than coaxial cable transmission. The test involved construction of a relay facility near the NBC & GE Schenectady station on Heiderberg Mountain. The aim was to receive signals from New York station W2XBS (120 miles distant) and rebroadcast via the airwaves. The diamond antenna covered an area of about 300 by 600 feet, giving the engineers a good chance of success, despite the fact that the new receiving station was about 8000 feet below a theoretical line-of-sight. Even though television broadcasting was already underway in 1939... For the moment, this notice shows how many technical details had yet to be worked out. Also, there was an entire page (86) of "Television News Notes. " This file of the important magazine "Broadcasting" shows the ever-enlarging business world of radio (and television in its infancy) in incomparable detail, as history was in the process of being made. Collectively, "Broadcasting" shows who filled America's airwaves, who hired that on-air talent, and who made and sold the advertising which paid for it all. The advertisements within these pages are a priceless record... Themselves. Twenty-five issues. . 1940 & 2 issues 1939; Science and History of Science, Music and Performing Arts, Most Recent Listing .