138 Miracles Ahead! 



"In attempting to illustrate radio news with pictures, we 

 are prone to follow the technique developed by such news 

 magazines as Life, The Illustrated London News, and UIllus- 

 tration. . . . Pictorial news broadcasting may in time become 

 one of television's most important public service functions. 

 For here the program staff has at its disposal the means of 

 depicting history exactly as it takes place. No matter if a 

 news broadcast is unrehearsed and even if it appears amateur- 

 ish, the ingredients of drama and interest are present to a 

 large degree." 



In summarizing the probable future of television develop- 

 ment in America, Mr. Lohr said: 



"The prices of the receivers were admittedly high. They 

 ranged commonly from $175 to $700 in the early months; at 

 the time of writing there seems to be a trend toward reduc- 

 tion of them. A price of $125 to $250 is within range of many 

 families whose income is less than $2,000 a year, but such 

 families are reluctant to part with so substantial a sum unless 

 there is reasonable assurance that the receiver will not become 

 obsolete rapidly. 



"This question of the cost of receiving sets is the basic fac- 

 tor in obtaining 'mass circulation' for the broadcaster. The 

 necessarily high cost of the receiver the technical equivalent 

 of about three first-class broadcast receivers can not be re- 

 duced without painstaking effort. However, assembly-line 

 methods, a supply of used receivers, and the effect of compe- 

 tition in bringing down the cost of television sets may be 

 counted on to make sets widely available in the not-too- 

 distant future. The problem is, of course, to market the re- 

 ceiver at a price within reach of a large number of buyers, 

 to gauge the market accurately, and to keep factory capacity 

 geared to the demand for receivers." 



Mr. Lohr takes a very levelheaded view of the possibilities 



