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List of new commercial stations licensed by Federal Radio Commission—Con. FOR MONTH OF JULY, 1927

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List of new commercial stations licensed by Federal Radio Commission-Con. FOR THE MONTH OF OCTOBER, 1927

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Mr. SIMON. I can not find a series of short waves that were granted to the Federal Tedegraph Co., or, rather, to its successor, the Mackay Radio Co., from the month of September, and which is shown on page 4 of the bulletin, under "Alterations and corrections"; there it shows eight additional waves for the Mackay companies and seven additional waves for the Radio Corporation of America.

Senator DILL. In the month of September?

Mr. SIMON. In the month of September.

Senator DILL. 1927?

Mr. SIMON. Yes, sir.

I would just like to call attention to the table which I presented, which shows that there was very keen competition between those two big companies for the wave lengths. For instance, in August very few were granted, but in September the Radio Corporation of America secured 32 and the Mackay companies 8, they having just entered the field.

Senator DILL. How many to the independents?

Mr. SIMON. None. In October the Mackay companies secured 27, which made the total up to that time for them 39. The Radio Corporation of America and the Mackay companies had at that time an even number, 39 each; and then the next month the radio corporation secured 4 more, making their total 43 as against 39 for the Mackay companies.

Since that time no licenses have been granted, I believe, on account of the hearing that is to be held on the 17th of January.

But I would like to say, in closing, that I think the commission has been unfair to those who applied for licenses during the period when those companies applied, and were barred when the grounds for issuing licenses to them were the same, substantially, as the reasons for granting licenses to those companies.

Now, in order to run this down a little further. I was in New York yesterday and secured these bulletins from the supervisor of radio in order to support this data, and I asked him how many of the wave lengths assigned to the Corporation of America were being used. He said: "Yes; right there on my desk is a list. Look at them." Which I did, and I copied them, with his permission. And they have eight stations operating in his territory on eight shortwave lengths, as follows: WIZ, WIK, WIR, WLL, WQN, WQQ, WQO, and WTT.

Senator DILL. Using how many wave lengths?

Mr. SIMON. Eight wave lengths.

Senator DILL. And they are licensed to use how many in that area?

The CHAIRMAN. Thirty nine.

Mr. SIMON. That covers the entire country.

The CHAIRMAN. Oh, yes.

Mr. SIMON. I would say in that New York area approximately 30. I call that

Senator DILL (interposing). Why should they want to be licensed to use 35 or 40 and only use 8?

Mr. SIMON. That is what came to my mind, Senator, and I told Mr. Batcheller, the supervisor, that I thought there were more being used because of the large number assigned to them, and he was surprised when I showed him the bulletin of September, which showed that there were 22 short-wave length licenses issued to the one station at Rocky Point then. He evidently did not know that, so I asked him whether he was not requested by the commission to make an investigation as to whether there was public necessity for these short-wave lengths before they were issued, and his reply was that he had never heard of it and knew nothing about it and he was surprised that they had so many waves. I told him that we, ourselves, had been listening in, and covered practically all of the short waves, and we felt only 10 were being used, and we felt the others were being held in reserve and to be used by themselves or by others, when they became or were very valuable. And we feel that because of this large number of waves we come before the January 17 conference handicapped because of this large number that have been issued, and those who possess those will strenuously object to the issuance of additional waves.

Senator HOWELL. When was your application made for the first short wave that you have been referring to now?

Mr. SIMON. We filed our first application for short-wave commercial license in the Cleveland station on the 18th day of May. Senator HowELL. 1927?

Mr. SIMON. 1927, requesting two wave lengths.

Senator HOWELL. Since that time how many wave lengths have been granted to the Radio Corporation of America and to the Mackay companies?

Mr. SIMON. Eighty-two.

Senator HOWELL. And your request for two waves has not been passed upon as yet?

Mr. SIMON. It has not; and I might say, Senator Howell, that of the 10 independent companies that did receive consideration and secure licenses there were the Chicago Federation of Labor, one wave length for Chicago; Graham Bros., one wave length at Evansville, Ind.; the International News Service, in New York, with whom we intended to communicate when we received our short wave; the Firestone Rubber Co., at Akron, Ohio, for communication with Liberia; the city of Los Angeles Public Service Department, for some civic purpose; and a few others of that kind. In other words, all organizations who can afford to come down to Washington and get what they want.

Senator HAWES. Do you know what percentage of those permits that were granted were noncontroversial? I mean no opposition to them in these various portions of the country.

Mr. SIMON. Well, I do not believe there were any hearings or any investigation made before the granting of those wave lengths, with the exception of one or two independents.

Senator HAWES. What I mean is this-I know nothing of this and I want to be educated

Mr. SIMON (interposing). Yes, sir.

Senator HAWES. I suppose of those you mentioned some were controversial questions when hearings were required and others were

not.

Mr. SIMON. Of those that were granted?

Senator HAWES. Yes.

Mr. SIMON. I should say the companies that applied for licenses for private operation were not strictly in the public interest and did not serve any public necessity. For example

Senator HAWES (interposing). Now, were those all granted in one section of the country, or were those granted to 48 different States and scattered over the country generally?

Mr. SIMON. Are you referring to the licenses

Senator HAWES (interposing). I am referring to the total.

Mr. SIMON. Well, I would say the Radio Corporation of America stations, the majority of them, were licensed at Rocky Point, where they maintain a station for communication with various parts of the world.

The second largest group was issued to Bolinas, Calif., where they maintain a similar station.

The third largest group was issued to the Mackay companies, where they maintain a station for communication across the Pacific in competition with the Radio Corporation.

Senator HAWES. I do not believe I made myself clear. The inference you give is that there was great discrimination in the matter of time. Do some of those applications require time for investigation, and some are not controverted, so that they go through at once?

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Mr. SIMON. I should think so, Senator. I was astonished when I learned that some 20 wave lengths were granted at Rocky Point, and were granted without the knowledge of the radio supervisor there. I should think he would be called upon to make an investigation, because there was such a large number of them.

Senator HAWES. Are they all at one point?

Mr. SIMON. All at one point.

Senator HAWES. Where are the others?

Mr. SIMON. As I stated before, Senator, in my testimony, the September 30 bulletin shows that the Radio Corporation secured at Rocky Point 20 short-wave lengths and 3 at Bolinas, Calif.

Senator HAWES. So that they received those 23 at two points only. Mr. SIMON. At two points.

Senator HAWES. Where were the others? Were they in different States?

Mr. SIMON. Of the Radio Corporation licenses? I can not answer that generally.

Senator HAWES. Of the independent companies?

Mr. SIMON. Of the independents?

Senator HAWES. Yes.

Mr. SIMON. They are scattered.

Senator HAWES. And those two foremost that were granted were consigned to two points?

Mr. SIMON. Well, Senator, the Radio Corporation secured their licenses for use at points where they maintain their equipment for use at Rocky Point; that is, to South America, and then across the Pacific at Bolinas, Calif.

Senator HAWES. Those were foreign service, were they, both of them?

Mr. SIMON. Yes; because the Radio Corporation does not operate in competition with domestic wire lines. They did secure licenses for communication with Porto Rico. That might be considered domestic.

Senator HAWES. Mr. Chairman, former Commissioner Bellows, while he is here, and the witness, Simon, has mentioned the Chicago wave-length grants. I think we ought to give Commissioner Bellows an opportunity to explain.

The CHAIRMAN. Very well, after Mr. Simon concludes.

Senator HAWES. I think he can explain many of these things.
The CHAIRMAN. Have you anything further, Mr. Simon?

Mr. SIMON. I have three notes of things that Mr. Bellows suggested that I would like to mention.

Senator BLACK. Before he concludes, I would like to ask a few questions.

The CHAIRMAN. Go right on.

Senator BLACK. Have you received any notice of any opposition to your application for these wave lengths?

Mr. SIMON. No, sir.

Senator BLACK. You have not received any notice of any opposition at all?

Mr. SIMON. No, sir.

Senator BLACK. With reference to one point that was brought out by Senator Hawes. He asked you if those were scattered around.

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