Broach

BROACH, a word used for any one of many forms of pointed instruments, such as bodkins, wooden needles used in tapestry, roasting spits and even the tools (also called "rimers" or "reamers") employed for enlarging or smoothing holes. Hence comes the expression "to broach" for "to tap" a cask. In archi tecture, the term is used specifically to designate a triangular Whether broadcasting is conducted as a public service as in Great Britain and in most other countries, or also as a means of attracting commercial goodwill as in the United States of America and elsewhere, the results tend to become unexpectedly similar, and the material that is acceptable from the point of view of commercial goodwill differs only by fine shades from what is suitable from the point of view of the non-commercial broad caster animated by a sense of his public mission. Even the suc cessful acquisition of commercial goodwill depends more and more upon the interested party assuming the role of public bene factor. Quantitatively, as to numbers reached, there seems to be little to choose between the two systems.

From 1919 onward, amateur wireless experimenters, who were numerous even before the war, worked more and more in teleph ony in preference to Morse telegraphy, and in England and several other European countries broadcasting began spontane ously with transmissions of gramophone records and amateur per formances. At the same time the radio industry began to foresee and prepare for a future of evidently great but unknown possi bilities. Experimental work was undertaken for the improvement of microphones, and for the development of listening apparatus which could be operated with a minimum of technical knowledge. Arrangements began to be made (in some cases under considerable difficulties due to the claims of vested interests) for the regular transmission of programmes. Thus, an innovation, comparable in cultural importance to the introduction of printing, was launched tentatively upon a responsive Europe, before either the financial organization of broadcasting services or their relations with the theatre, the musical profession, the press, the wireless industry, or existing wireless services had been properly settled, and while the conditions for good broadcasting were unexplored. The nations of Europe pushed on with the organization of regular broadcast ing services so fast that by the end of 1925 over 9o, and by the end of 1935 practically 30o stations, were in operation.

The first result of this rapid growth was an imminent danger of chaos, and it was the first task of the International Broadcast ing Union (headquarters Geneva), formed in April 1925 at a conference of European broadcasters held at the headquarters of the British Broadcasting Company, to remedy this situation. The task was one of extreme difficulty, as the conflicts to be adjusted were those of perfectly legitimate interests, and the character of the Union as an unofficial body left its decisions open to ratifi cation or reversal by the several national Governments, but a tentative pan-European scheme was largely in operation by Nov. 1926. In 1929 the Union was recognized as expert adviser to the official Telecommunication Union of Berne ; its activities also concern copyright law, exchange of experience and considera tion of common policy vis-a-vis performers, authors, press, con cert and theatrical interests, etc., international transmissions of programmes for terminal broadcast by telephone lines, and gener ally the promotion of international smooth working and good feeling.

As a broad classification, programme elements may be divided into music and speech. For broadcasting purposes, music, whether concerted or solo, instrumental or vocal, is best classified according to character and appeal; viz., as serious, popular and dance music. The proportions of each that are included in any day's or week's programmes vary according to the conceptions of the programme authorities, their resources in artists from day to day and the demands of the public.

Broadcast speech includes (a) informative and practical utility matter such as news, market prices, weather reports, time signals, agricultural bulletins and notices of various sorts (e.g., appeals for charity, police notices, club or association bulletins and notifi cations of dangerous illness to relatives whose address is un known) ; (b) "talks," i.e., short lectures or series of lectures on all sorts of subjects, critiques of literature, drama, music and films, courses of education addressed to schools in school hours or to adults, and debates; (c) important public speeches, cere monies, matches and events taken by a microphone on the spot; (d) religious services, either specially arranged for broadcasting, or taken by a microphone from church or chapel; (e) radio drama, a form of dramatic presentation in which all effects other than vocal have to be conveyed to the ear or suggested to the imagination, and which calls, therefore, for a special technique in playwriting and acting; (f) short programmes of entertainment and instruction for children ; (g) humorous entertainment ; (h) ad vertisement ; and (i) political or other propaganda. To these must be added the possibilities of television. Further, there are miscel laneous special broadcasts, such as words of command for physical exercises performed by listeners at home, or messages from an explorer in the heart of a distant country.

The Principles of Selection.

The mere catalogue of these activities is enough to indicate the immense social importance of broadcasting. So far, it is only under the headings (e) and (f) above that radio has created expression-f orms peculiar to itself, and in all other respects programme-building is creative only in the sense that the programme-builders can build combinations of suitable music and speech round one or another central idea. More generally, too, they can create (or evoke and nurse) a mass disposition towards certain aims and preferences. Practically, then, their power is no more and no less than the power of selec tion, which is qualified by the need of balancing the character of successive or simultaneous programmes so as to give a fair meas ure to all reasonable tastes or to ensure a fair field to speakers of all points of view. Here and there constitutional limitations or police instructions limit the scope. Established interests such as the press, the theatre and the musical industry, have in many cases safeguarded their special fields in various ways ; and tech nical requirements also operate to a certain, though rapidly di minishing, extent as a check.

It is coming to be recognized also that, from the social stand point, it is vitally important that programme-builders should be governed by ideals and standards defined by themselves as a rule of conduct. This question affects every aspect of a programme service. A well-developed national broadcast system has the ear of far more people than any two or three newspapers, and this, coupled with the fact that the microphone is the most intimate of all known vehicles of general communication, makes it perhaps more potent for good or evil than any other social influence.

Alternative Programmes.

As no one is entitled to dictate that the public shall hear only what he himself would care to hear, as the available programme material exceeds the capacity for dealing with it, and as the listener's temporary mood must be catered for no less than his settled tastes, programme policy must seek to provide (technical and financial limitations permitting) for more than one programme to be available at any given time for any given listener. The American system of unrestricted competition was expected to provide this very freedom of choice, but in practice the alternatives simultaneously transmitted are apt to be simultaneously received also. The prevention of mutual interference thus becomes a keynote of technical policy. This in terference depends on many factors, chiefly (a) the number of wave-lengths regionally available, limited because every musical transmission requires not a mere "spot" frequency but a fairly wide band of frequencies, and (b) the fact that every station possesses both a "primary" or direct ray service area and a "sec ondary" or indirect ray service area, the secondary service area of one station overlapping and thus being capable of causing in terference in the primary service area of another station. Rem edies are complex; the chief are (a) careful regional planning in the allocation of frequencies, (b) extreme working accuracy of stations, and (c) the useful but delicate technique of "synchro nization," which enables different stations to employ the same wave with minimal interference in each other's zones. And the applica tion of these expedients is more complicated still. Populations may be dense or widespread; districts flat or mountainous; the ad missible power rating may be more than r 5okw. here and less than 5kw. there; wave-lengths vary widely in service value; the applicability of synchronization differs according to whether the programmes concerned are different or identical ; and in the par ticular case of the European "region" account must be taken of the diversity of authorities, cultures and tongues, and even the shapes of the states. The problem of programme material on the contrary is simpler—it is possible and even customary to separate studios (or other places of performance) from transmitters in such a way that artistic resources can be tapped wherever they exist, while the actual emission takes place from points chosen for geo graphical and demographical reasons.