MAY HAVE TO CLOSE

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 55, Issue 241, 25 July 1935, Page 6

MAY HAVE TO CLOSE

THE SMALLER RADIO STATIONS. GRAMOPHONE COMPANIES’ DEMAND. PAYMENT FOR BROADCASTING. A LARGE SUM INVOLVED. (Per Press Association.) CHRISTCHURCH, This Day. Radio Station 3ZM and all other private or club-supported broadcasting stations in the Dominion are faced with the prospect of closing almost immediately, following receipt of a notice from the gramophone industry forbidding the unauthorised use of records in programmes transmitted. It appears that action by the Government is the only possibility of keeping the stations on the air. In addition to the ban on the use of records, the companies have requested stations to furnish details of all records broadcast without authority during the last three years, and a demand has been made for 10s per record side for each time the record has been used in a programme without authority. Failing receipt of an undertaking to cease unauthorised broadcasting or the details asked for the companies reserve the right to take legal action for an injunction, damages and other relief to which they may be entitled. In the case of station 3ZM, which has been on the air for two years and four montMs, the amount to be paid for records broadcast in the past would be approximately £250 a week, or a total of about £36,000. As far as the other stations are concerned the amount will vary according to the number of records broadcast.