Dr. Lee DeForest, inventor of the audion tube, rebuked broadcasting corporations which rent the air to advertisers, and urged the public to register its protest against this interruption of an evening's entertainment by writing letters to the companies. He made his attack in a talk at a dinner of the Harvard Club.
"In my opinion, it is nothing less than vandalism to turn this marvelous new instrument onto the channels of advertising," he said. " The radio's chief function is to entertain and to educate, and it seems to me, the radio is too fine a thing to be used for advertising purposes. Yet, this tendency to utilize the air for that purpose is rapidly growing. I have just heard that one station is charging almost $1,800 an hour."
Dr. DeForest excused from his criticism the broadcasting of Victor and Brunswick radio stars. The use of their names and the fact, expressed through the microphone, that records of artist's songs that can be purchased are legitimate, in the speaker's opinion. He added, however, that "some of the stuff" broadcast by the offending companies "is nauseating and vulgar."
Although out-and-out advertising over radio is banned by the Federal Government, no action has been taken by the authorities to stop the practice. Dr. DeForest said that if it continues "to outrage the public sentiment" he felt sure the Government would step in.
After his speech Dr. DeForest predicted a decline in radio popularity if advertising broadcasting continues. It will then be found, he said, that the stations that do not "sell" the air will be in demand.
[From RADIO WORLD, March 28th, 1925]