RADIO WORKSHOP STAFF MASTERS TECHNIQUE OF PRODUCING BROADCAST

Behind the work of all the committees of the Radio Workshop lies the Technical Staff. With the record as the basis of operation the staff hopes to recreate the conditions of actual broadcasting and to work up programs to be released over station WIXAL.

The ideal equipment hoped for by the group is a two room set-up with the acting going on in one and the recording in the other. In this way the effect of a broadcast will be achieved, for the program will be reproduced by a loud speaker and defects in it may be corrected before the actual recording takes place.

Learns Radio Technique

The work of the staff is two-fold, first to learn the use of instruments, and, second, to master the technique of putting a show on the air. Problems in connection with this phase of the work include: the acoustics of the broadcasting room; the placement of performers in order to avoid rebound and overemphasis; the accurate reproduction of sound effects so that "hoof beats in the distance" don't drown out the heroics of the act; and the blending of all parts of the program in the right proportions.

Further technical problems confront, the staff in the making of the record. The needle must be adjusted to cut just right; the chemical makeup of the record must be neither too hard nor too soft; high and low notes must be carefully merged together. In all of these factors the staff plans extensive experimentation in order to learn the fundamentals of what goes on behind the scenes in a radio broadcast.

For equipment, the workshop has received a generous gift of a complete recording set from the Worldwide Broadcasting Company, including a microphone and a "play back" offered as a loan for the present year. When the Workshop is more firmly established it expects to expand on this finally aiming at a completely fitted out broadcasting room.