THE BATHYSPHERE BROADCAST \JJ 



When the National Broadcasting Company officials ap- 

 plied for permission to attempt a broadcast from the 

 bathysphere while I descended as deep as possible, they told 

 me that it was the first time that radio engineers had trav- 

 eled beyond territorial waters of the United States to 

 broadcast a program back to home stations. 



Early in September, 1932, the field staff of the broad- 

 casting company arrived, just in time for the second hur- 

 ricane and the cosmic display of pyrotechnics, which 

 taught them the difference between studio broadcasting 

 and that in the field, on a scientific expedition. They set 

 up two complete transmitters and two receiving stations 

 on the upper deck of the Freedom. Here they established 

 a special radio station which was called ZFB-i, after 

 the station in St. Georges, which is ZFB. Through the 

 courtesy of the Imperial and International Communica- 

 tion Company a license was granted to operate in terri- 

 torial waters off Bermuda, and its officials cooperated in 

 every way to facilitate the broadcast of this dive. An 

 elaborate technical set-up of radio gear was required to 

 transmit to listeners throughout the United States and 

 Europe the preparations of the bathysphere on deck and 

 observations made during the dive to 2200 feet. The en- 

 gineers considered the problem of transmission from Ber- 

 muda to the United States relatively simple. But the in- 

 stallation aboard the Freedom of the short wave transmit- 

 ter to be operated at sea, and the reception facilities on 

 shore, required considerable labor and weeks of prepara- 



