[BC] question for you engineers

[Bob Tarsio]

Donna:

I suspect it was done much like it can still be done today by taking the
caller output from one side of the hybrid in a standard telephone and
feeding it to console input. Back then it would have likely been transformer
isolated and fed to a console input. The idea of two way communication
through a phone could have been accomplished as well at that point as there
were hybrid transformers available to divide the caller and sender audio
into discrete paths. The isolation wasn't as good as can be done today with
digital techniques but it probably worked well enough. 

Bob Tarsio
President
 
www.Broadcast-Devices.com
 


-----Original Message-----
From: broadcast-bounces at radiolists.net
[mailto:broadcast-bounces at radiolists.net] On Behalf Of Donna Halper
Sent: Monday, December 31, 2007 21:47
To: Broadcasters' Mailing List
Subject: [BC] question for you engineers

So I'm working on my book, as you know, and here is something I don't 
entirely understand.  In the 1920s, putting a caller on the air was 
impossible for several reasons (including the government forbidding 
personal communication-- or "point to point" communication by 
commerical radio stations), and long distance phone service was still 
not available in many cities-- plus it cost a small fortune.

Sometime in the late 1930s, "America's Town Meeting of the Air" began 
putting listeners on the air from distant locations.  How was this 
done-- at first I guessed maybe phone service was good enough now so 
that they could phone in.  But I also know that listening to this 
show was a group activity in many cities. People gathered at one of 
the many locations where the show was broadcast, and they all 
listened together.  There was evidently a point in the show, after 
the guest speakers had had given their talks, when listeners with 
questions were asked to step up to the mike.  At the Town Hall in NY, 
I understand how the audience questions got on the air.  But how 
would the questions from other cities have been broadcast as part of 
a live program?  This is circa 1937-8 or so.

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but I don't know the history of 
technology as well as I know the history of the programs and the 
people who did them.   

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