December 1947 Radio-Craft
Wax nostalgic about and learn from the history of early electronics.
See articles from Radio-Craft,
published 1929 - 1953. All copyrights are hereby acknowledged.
Hugo Gernsback (nee Gernsbacher), born in
Luxembourg, made his fame and fortune in America as a serial electronics magazine
publisher, science fiction author, inventor, and visionary. Radio Craft
magazine, in which this editorial was printed, began in 1929 on the heels of
which began in 1919 and ran through 1959. Hugo Gernsback had a huge influence on
the direction of communications electronics, and his opinions were widely sought.
As has been the case since governments first regulated services and manufacturing,
there was in the middle of the last century a debate over whether electronics servicemen
should be required to be licensed to ply their trade. Magazines of the era were
filled with full-page advertisements offering home-study courses and classroom instruction
to prepare for prestigious and prosperous careers in servicing of radio and television
receivers, transmitters, telephone systems, computers (what there was of them),
radars, etc. Most likely the majority of people conducted their businesses with
honesty and integrity, but there were also a lot of cheats and scoundrels who charged
customers extra amounts due incompetence, replacing - or claiming to have replaced
- perfectly good parts, purposely creating latent defects in equipment to assure
a repeat service call later, etc.
Service-Licensing, or Self-Policing - Which Will It Be?
By Hugo Gernsback
Radio-Craft has pointed out for many years that sooner or later, either
national, state, or local licensing of radio servicemen would have to be viewed
realistically by servicemen.
In past years, much pressure has been put on by various authorities to license
servicemen for a variety of reasons. Chief among these reasons are:
1. Danger to radio owners (such as electric shocks) from errors of diagnosis
and repair of radio sets.
2. Fire hazard due to faulty repairing.
3. Abuses of many kinds by servicemen in their repair work.
These are the main and perhaps overall reasons. There are others.*
Last October the New York City Administration through its City Councilman Stanley
M. Isaacs called for mandatory licensing of all radio technicians and radio repairmen
in New York City. The Board of Directors of the Radio Manufacturers Association
immediately adopted a unanimous resolution opposing this proposed licensing of radio
The Radio Manufacturers made it clear that it does not deny that abuses exist
in the radio servicing and repair field, abuses which the licensing regulations
might correct. These, according to the Association, involve "exorbitant" fees and
poor workmanship. The RMA points out that only a small minority of the radio servicing
trade are guilty of such abuses. But the industry feels, according to spokesmen,
that "bureaucratic regulation" is not the final answer to the subject. The resolution
also stressed that there was no intention of criticizing the New York Municipal
Administration in any way. It is rather the implications of general licensing that
The Association rightly feels that if New York sets a precedent in licensing
radio servicemen, it is almost certain that other cities throughout the country
will soon enact similar measures. The Association is convinced that it would be
far better that the servicing industry police itself to do away with present abuses.
The Board also pointed out that such initial steps for self-policing are now being
taken. As an example, they call attention to a forthcoming experimental clinic for
radio repairmen in Philadelphia.
Radio-Craft has pointed out many times in the past that the servicemen
themselves can do a great deal to ward off unfavorable legislation and licensing
if they would themselves form either a national servicing league, or as this seems
to be difficult to achieve at present, that servicemen in all cities should certainly
have local Associations to do the policing.
It is true that a few such associations exist in some cities, but there are far
too few of them and they cannot be said to exist on a nationwide scale. It would
seem that unless such a nationwide movement soon gets under way, either stringent
federal or state legislation will result. This is certain to prove a great handicap
to the servicing industry. Usually when such controls are applied, the individual
serviceman particularly, loses much of his freedom. Other new factors will also
be injected which in many ways are bound to handicap him. We all know that most
of the servicing abuses are perpetrated by a small minority of irresponsible individuals,
but it is precisely this minority who give the servicing industry its bad name.
It is unfortunate that human nature is such that satisfactory work is seldom praised
to the skies, but let one serious abuse come along and instantly the entire servicing
industry is blamed.
The country would be best served at the present time by the establishment of
local associations. These would issue to each member a shield for display in his
place of business, stating that he is a member of the association and licensed by
it under a serial number. The local association would make it its business to ascertain
that all representative servicemen are properly enrolled. Then by running educational
advertisements in the local newspapers the public would quickly learn to patronize
only "association men".
It would then be a simple matter to trace those servicemen who abuse the trade,
and sufficient pressure could be brought by the association on such non-members
to make it almost impossible for the minority, wild-cat servicemen to make a living.
None of this is new. It has been proposed in various ways before, but the unfortunate
part is that so far little or nothing has been done about it. There are already
certain areas in this country where servicemen are even now subject to restrictive
measures, as for instance Madison, Wisconsin, which has an ordinance for "licensing
radio and electronic servicemen". Special legislation on the subject has been drafted
in Baltimore, Los Angeles, Orlando, Fla., although as far as has been ascertained
none has been enacted into law.
It has often been said, and rightly so, that many people feel that licensing
is a threat to the freedom of enterprise and freedom for the individual service
man. Indeed, many believe this to be so. But we might also point out that numerous
other services are licensed such as plumbers, electricians, and scores of others.
They do not appear to be very much down-trodden.
It is quite true that licensing always imposes certain restrictions on the licensee,
yet in many trades licenses are distinctly necessary and often essential to the
welfare of the community.
Radio-Craft does, however, believe that at the present time country-wide
licensing by authorities is not necessary if the radio servicing industry can regulate
Radio-Craft believes that the issue is urgent. It believes also that
unless corrective steps are taken in the near future, licensing will very certainly
Radio-Craft would welcome suggestions from within the radio servicing
industry and particularly welcomes codes set up by local associations which will
be publicized as models in future issues of this magazine.
Radio-Craft will welcome all suggestions on this important subject and
will devote ample space to it in future issues.
*See also article "Licensing Problems
and the Serviceman" by H. W. Schendel, November 1945, p90, Radio-Craft.
Posted June 30, 2020