Radio for Everybody, Austin C. Lescarboura, 1922, pages 66-69:
WITH AN EYE TO THE FUTURE
Heretofore, the broadcasting services have been sent out at considerable expense by the companies operating radio-phone stations, without charge to the sender or the receiver of the messages or music. However, it is absolutely obvious that the interest created in radio has been multiplied thousands of times by the radio-phone service, and there has sprung up a demand for radio receiving apparatus that has exceeded the wildest expectations. Radio manufacturers in many instances are months behind in their deliveries, and their greatest problem is production. This, mind you, at a time when practically every other line of business is searching every nook and corner for a buyer!
However, it must be obvious that this gratuitous service cannot continue indefinitely. A time must come when the radio market will be pretty well saturated, and it will no longer be attractive for companies to furnish free radio-phone service. No doubt by then the Government will be furnishing all kinds of news, such as agricultural reports, weather forecasts, official time signals, commercial reports, and so on by radio-phone, but there will still be a demand for musical entertainment.
So, the way it seems now, the radio-phone service of the future must be a cross between a special publicity service and a free program. There will be free service, the same as now; there will be musical numbers, news of the day, weather forecasts, and so on; but in addition there must be an occasional talk on the offerings of the leading department store, a subscription-getting chat by the editor of a large magazine, a campaign speech by a candidate for public office, and so on. It will be the toll charged for such broadcasting service that will pay for the radio-phone concerts and news. It must come to that, sooner or later.
Already department stores and others have planned and are going ahead with radio-phone transmitters, with the object of sending out entertainment, news, and their own particular brand of publicity. Interesting as this work may be, there is always a grave danger that it may be overdone. For, let it be remembered, there is only a limited amount of radio traffic that can be borne on the ether highways. It wouldn't take many radio-phone transmitters in any one locality to crowd each other so hard that a hopeless tangle would ensue. That is why the thought of radio-phone transmission, which is unfortunately so persistent with many amateurs and business organizations, must be discouraged, particularly in crowded areas. The ether must be kept free and clear for the better class of radio-phone services. It must and will be a survival of the fittest, for the Government must step in and see that only those with a real service to offer are permitted to travel the ether highways, so long as our present knowledge of the art affords but a limited number of available wave lengths with which to operate.