THE MAGIC SPARK.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 95, 23 April 1926, Page 11

THE MAGIC SPARK.

THE DOMINION SCHEME.

BRITISH BROADCASTING.

STILL ANOTHER LOUD SPEAKER.

(By "PHONOS.").

There will be very general regret among all local broadcatchers that Mr. Les, White is relinquishing the management of IYA. Mr. White has been a foremost figure in broadcasting since Scots Hall first came on to the air, and he has stuck loyally and gratuitously to a difficult task under conditions that would have broken the spirit of anyone less enthusiastic.

Though no public announcement has yet been made, it is generally 'underStood that Mr. Venables, well known in Auckland musical circles, is to take up the position of concert director for the New Zealand Broadcasting Company in this city.

In one month, December last, the United States exported one hundred and twenty thousand pounds' worth of radio apparatus to Canada, and nearly thirteen thousands pounds' worth to Australia. The Americans have got a firm hold on the Dominion markets, though British material is now coming to hand in increasing quantities. , The British manufacturer, however, is not as wide awake to possibilities of trade as his competitor, and a drawback to the sale of English sets in New Zealand is the fact that many of tbem embrace circuits which are prohibited by local regulation.

BROADCAST LICENSES IN ENGLAND. According to the Postmaster-General, the number of licenses for broadcast receivers in force in Great Britain on January 31, 1926, was approximately 1,841,000. The British Post Office accounts, just issued for the year .ending March 31,, 1925, show .that.the receipts from licenses'issued to the public during the year covered by the report amounted to- £685,593. There was a purplus of income over expenditure of £54,346. It would be interesting,'for the sake of comparison, to know the number of licenses taken out or renewed in the Dominion since March 31.- .

A NOVEL LOUD-SPEAKER. A novelty in loud-speaker reproduction will be put on the English market shortly in the shape of an adapter which is to be applied to the sound hoard of a piano. This device is attached to the sound board by a couple of screws and connected to the output terminals of the receiver, and it is Stated that beautiful mellow, tones are produced," though a greater amplification is needed with this: piano-speaker than is required for the usual type of loud-speaker. All orchestral instruments are faithfully reproduced as well as the human voice, and the usual metallic, sounds associated with loudspeakers of the horn type are quite absent. /.

THC BRITISH COMMISSION. ■Considerable interest was aroused by a recent cable summarising the findings of a commission set up by the British •Parliament to investigate the conditions of broadcasting in the Motherland. To the surprise of many, the commission recommended nationalisation -of radio telephony, and there is little doubt but that the , recommendation ■ will be put into effect. Late English files contain varied comment on, the "•• subject. Some prominent public men foresee in" the change the doom of broadcasting from stagnation, and declare-that pure officialdom will destroy that intimate touch with the public that is necessary for successful radio work.. Sir Harry x Lauder touches characteristically on one point when he contends that the public, when broadcasting is their own State concern, will grouch against the artist's salary,, and the result -will be rotten entertainments. On the other hand, big, societies, suchi as ,the -.Wireless League, and the Radio Society of Great Britain, are frankly delighted with the . indicated .change, and welcome the advent of Government, control. They stress the fact that the recommended advisory committees will counteract any bureaucratic -tendencies of State officials. That remains to be seen.'" We have an advisory committee in New Zealand, but ——

DOMINION AND AUSTRALIAN SYSTEMS. Geographical conditions have played an important part in moulding the development of New Zealand broadcasting ;on lines different to those adopted across the Tasman. In Australia, New South Wales has pioneered the radio movement, and, with half of its population in one city, it naturally depended entirely on Sydney for its transmitting service. ; To efficiently cover so I vast a State as New South Wales, with its sub-tropical climate and consequent proneness to atmospherics, high power ■broadcasting was an -essential, and recent stepping up of. the big Sydney stations have shown that even that high power originally supplied was insufficient. There is a certain point where tlie cost of increased power is not counterbalanced by the increase in range and efficiency, and it is a moot point whether it would not have been more satisfactory to have substituted relay stations. Fifty per cent of the Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane output, goes out to sea, and as wireless waves admittedly travel better .over water than over land, we in New Zealand are receiving Australian stations, more efficiently than nearer locations within the Southern Continent itself. New Zealand is adopting a series of lower power stations, and with AuckI land, Christchurch and Dunedin in operation in July, experience will enable us to gauge how much of our attenuated . Dominion can be effectively, covered. When a fourth station at Wellington conies into the chain there should be a series of plants both sufficient, if effi- . cient, to fill our requirements. What will be saved in power, however, will be (lost in additional running expenses, and the cost of providing four programmes instead of one. _ . ~