AN EXAMPLE FOR THE B.B.C.

Press, Volume LXIX, Issue 20955, 8 September 1933, Page 6

AN EXAMPLE FOR THE 8.8.C.

! NEW ZEALAND BOARD j COMMENDED j CO-OPERATION WITH MUSICAL SOCIETIES The British Broadcasting Corporation is often held up as a model for the New Zealand Broadcasting Board, but it is somewhat unusual to find the New Zealand Board's administration recommended as a model for the British Broadcasting Corporation. Writing in the "Musical Times" for April, the well-known critic, Mr Harvey Grace, says:— "I recently met Mr W. H. Dixon, a prominent New Zealand musician who was for 10 years well known in East Anglia as the conductor of the Ipswich Choral Society. As he is now closely connected with broadcasting in New Zealand I obtained from him some particulars as to the way in which the broadcasting authorities there co-operate with local organisations. Here is the sub- j stance of Mr Dixon's information: There are four main broadcasting centres in New Zealand, and a number of B stations. An advisory committee of about eight or 10 members representing musical and dramatic societies, etc., meets the broadcasting headquarters staff on the first Thursday in each month, and the officials are always ready to accept the criticism and advice of its members. Professional musicians in New Zealand have thus regular and direct contact with the authorities which their confreres in this country are denied. Each of the four | main stations sets aside annually £2OO to be shared among the organisations which broadcast, the allocation of the engagements and the amount of the fee being settled by the advisory committee. Stimulus to Members. "The fees, though small, are sufficiently large to enable the various societies to maintain a small credit balance, and of course the broadcasting acts as a stimulus to the members as well as being of great interest to their connexions scattered over a large area. (A similar committee, by the way, advises concerning the broadcasting of church services: this body is composed partly of clergy, partly of musicians, so that both sides of the service arclooked after.) j "Musicians are satisfied that the ; effect of broadcasting on New Zea-' land's musical taste has been good; i their chief anxiety, like ours, is that! listening should not be developed at the expense of doing. The practical encouragement of choral and other societies is proving to be a valuable means of avoiding this danger. Similarly the competition festival movement, which is very 1 popular in New Zealand, is encouraged and supported by the occasional broadcast of the final concert of a festival, the adjudicator usually making a short general report of the event, his remarks being centred round some point likely to be of special use and interest to the general public. For example, Mr Dixon having received many letters asking if it was worth while nowadays for young people to continue their musical studies, made the question a chief plank during his adjudications at a festival, and included a summary of his remarks in the broadcast concert at the conclusion of the festival. "Now, what is being done on a small scale in New Zealand might surely be done in a more comprehensive way in this country."