THE MAGIC SPARK.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 54, 5 March 1926, Page 11

THE MAGIC SPARK.

THE PROGRAMME QUESTION. FURTHER GLOBE CIRCLING. RADIO TRADE ABROAD. 4 AA's OWNER TRAVELS. (By PHONOS.) Ycstenlay's advertisement for a programme director for the Auckland raelio broadcasting . stntion has creatcel considerable interest, and some slight hope among local listeners. Evidently, their criticism nnd suggestions are having some result. With a new technical head, and a new Minister in prospect, wireless licensees are wondering whether any improvement in the attitude of the Post and Telegraph Department towards broadcasting will soon develop. It is interesting, ill this particular, to note that the Sydney "Daily Telegraph devotes an article to the Unsatisfactory state of broadcasting jn New Zealand, and, in conclusion, emphasises how much better is the lot of the Australian listener. VOICES ROUND THE GLOBE. Frank Neill. a wireless amateur i experimenter residing at Whitehead. Ireland, after sending out the Morse call sign for Max Howden, of Box Hill (Victoria) was surprised to hear Howden reply vocally. He heard Howden perfectly for 15 minutes. 3LO (Melbourne) was distinctly heard by a farmer, A. J. Haynes, at Delia (Alberta) between 4 and 5 a.m. on February 17. The listener-in heard a soprano voice singing "Land of Sky-Blue Water" and "Love's Olel Sweet Song," and also an orchestral selection, as well as news of the bush fires and an appeal on behalf of the fund for the sufferers. Mr. Hayes used a four-valve set, with a loud speaker, on a wave-length of 370 meters. AN INTERESTING ANALYSIS. , Mr. Salt has been to considerable trouble to substantiate his argument for an improved service from IYA, and his observations over a week's programmes should be illuminating to the powers that control the Auckland transmissions. They point -to the conclusion that it must be a hard struggle for those in charge to fill in the nine hours and eleven minutes of programme which were the total of the week's broadcasting. If 3t is costing over £30 per week to provide this amount of entertainment, so Jacking in bbth variety -and originality, 'then neither the Broadcasting Company for its outlay, nor the listeners for their contributions, are getting good value. j Listening to a New Zealand radio programme is like dndulging in a "lucky dip" at a bazaar. You never know what you will get, but you are sure that it will Mot be much. At present, from papers over a week old, we know thai to-nigllt March 5, Mr. Hilton Porter, a New Zealand baritone, will be heard from Farmer's, Sydney, but we do not know what will emanate from our own station) though it is" far from improbable' that it Will be something that has already been transmitted during the week. On top of all eome3 the announcement that, though ah extelisioh of time for establishment of a satisfactory broadcast has been granted to the company, and though it is still allowed to send out Voluntary, monotonous programmes stich ns Mr. Salt has analysed, Ho consideration in connection with the listeners' contributions towards the support of broadcasting can be granted, or, rather, Will be granted. The Department also announces that it is on the trail of the unlicensed set owner. In this course dt Would receive' the .whole-hearted assistance of licensees if the latter felt they Were receiving fair treatment in the Departmental safeguarding of their interests. As it is, however, matters &re so one-sided that there would be little if any enthusiastic response, locally to a call for the assistance of honorary inspectors, or to a request that listeners should endeavour to *nrol all under .the banner of the licensed. If the Government desires the cheapest and most effective way of wiping out the radio pirate, it can find it by insisting, ns it has the fight to insist, that tile Broadcasting Company shall immediately eatei* adequately for its audiences. Then the untted support of dealers, societies, and individual licensees will be forthcoming ih tho pursuit of those who steal from the other what others arc willingly paying for. MAGNITUDE OF RADIO TRADE. Some interesting and authoritative itatistics of the extent of the 1925 radio trade of the United States have just come to hand by mail. These estimate the radio audience in the land of the stars and stripes to total twenty millions. With us in New Zealand the audience, judged on the same basis of four listeners per set, does not total twenty thousand. There are at present over five million receiving sets in use in U.S.A., where the sales of vacuum tubes for the year were over nineteen millions. The gross expenditure on all radio material for the twelve months ending December 31, 1925, is given, in round figures, at ninety millions sterling —almost double the total value of the year's imports to the Dominion. Judging from a variety of reports the radio trade in New Zealand, which has been developing remarkably considering all that it has endured, is now in a state Of stagnation, aud unfortunately is likely to remain so until purchasers can realise that it is worth while to invest in, a set. N.Z TRANSMITTER ABROAD. Thilt the achievements of New Zealand amateurs aro recognised abroad may be gathered from the following:— Mr. F. D. Bell, the amateur owner and operator of station 4AA, which is situated at Palmerston, New Zealand, is one of the best-known amateur experimenters in this part of the world. He is the Australasian councillor of the International Amateur Radio Union, an organisation which has as its members amateurs from almost every country. Of the many amateur stations in New Zealand 4AA was the first to be heard in Australia, the first to communicate with Australia, the first to establish two-way working with the United States of America, the first to be heard in England, and the first to communicate both ways with England. 4AA is certainly one of the several short wave pioneer stations which has placed Australasia on the radio map of the world. Mr. Bell, who was married recently. is to leave next week with his wife on the Otranto. He is to spend nine months on the Continent.