THE MAGIC SPARK.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 161, 9 July 1926, Page 13

THE MAGIC SPARK.

AN UNUSUAL SUGGESTION.

LIMITATIONS OF WIRELESS.

AUCKLAND'S SITE APPROVED

LOCAL PROGRESS

(By PHONOS.)

Mr. A. R. Harris, managing-director of the New Zealand Broadcasting Company, went south by the Limited last night, and will return to Auckland during the course of the month. The now Christehureh station, which will be completed two or three weeks after the Auckland one, is being erected on a site at the rear of the municipal offices in Manchester Street. There is ample evidence of activity ut the location of Auckland's now station. All the material for the masts is on the roof. In fact the derrick risrged for tho lifting of this gear has been taken by some as part of one of these masts. Special girders, bolted to the main steel beams of the concrete roof, are now in position, and will form part of the base of each tower. The transmitting plant is also on the spot, and is being housed. PAYING TO HEAR AUSTRALIA. The cabled outline of a _ proposal whereby Australian broadcasting from one station per evening should bo turned on an hour earlier for the benefit of New Zealanders has probably caused many a smile locally. It is true that many hundreds in the Dominion have received much pleasurable entertainment from Australian transmissions, which have been of a much higher general order than those so far experienced in New Zealand. They are likely to remain so, too, for the Melbourne and Sydney stations have much greater sources of revenue than the scattered New Zealand ones can hope to obtain, and have a very much larger body of talent on which to draw for entertainment. But the suggestion that one country should draw on part of another's in return for a slight readjustment of its broadcasting timetable to suit the other country's time limitations, is rather an amusing novelty. The writer knows of no other place where such an arrangement is 'n vogue. In fact, it is a generally recognised principle that "foreign"' broadcasting is free for all who care to tune it in. Europe provides dozens of examples of this. There will be certainly two strongly rooted local objections to the Australian proposal. In tho first place, it will require more than every penny of New Zealand radio license revenue for some time to provide a really satisfactory Dominion service. Also, New Zealand, in a few weeks, will be on the r.ir with much higher power than lias previously been used, and both Auckland and Christchureh stations should come in well on the other side. If we provide broadcasting on timetables similar to those in Australia, listeners there wil l be able to have an hour and a-half of New Zealand ere they tune in to their own stations. With this reciprocity, one might even be selfish enough to suggest that in the interests of booming Australia in our own Dominion the extra early hour might be turned on gratis.

WHERE RADIO NEWS MISSES. The "Star's" London correspondent, in the accompanying letter, makes some particularly interesting comment \ipon the utility of radio broadcasting in times of emergency, and of its limitations. He writes, under date of May 19:— The aims and scope of wireless have had a magnificent try-out during the strike, and while the existence of broadcasting undoubtedly was a big factor in defeating the worst tactics of the general strike, it has been made abundantly clear that the printed word has, and must inevitably retain, a power and permanence which a wireless news service cannot have. We have eloquent testimony to this in the experience of our wireless enthusiasts during the strike. In small villages and parts of the country, completely cut off from all other sources of information, the broadcast news service has been a boon, he ■says. But, looking back on a period which is already becoming remote in the thoughts of a nation struggling to make up for, lost time, it is evident that spoken news can never properly replace printed news. Like man} , other wireless enthusiasts, I published tihe 8.8.C. bulletins as soon as I could type them out, and the typed sheets were posted in various shop windows and other places in the small village in which I live. To my astonishment I found that many folk provided with receiving sets came out, rain or fine, to read those news sheets. They explained that they found it impossible to take in news properly by hearing, and that they had to read it to understand and remember it. 1 have heard that the same difficulty in assimilating spoken news has been in evidence all over the country. We have gradually become used to reading news, and looking to our news sheets for amusement and entertainment as well as news. Evidently, the proper place of broadcasting, in the matter of news service, is tihe publication of brief items of importance. There is no doubt at all, in my mind, that the newspapers need no longer regard broadcasting as a possible rival; but rather as an ally that will stimulate the reading public by drawing i attention, to matters worth reading about.

The following is a typical Japanese effusion and gives some idea of radio interest in the land of the Rising Sun. It is a copy of a letter received by 3 lA> from Mr. Takeo Kimizuka, of Asalii Company, Fusano Kazusa, Chibaken:— "Dear sir, —I am radio fan of Japan. Please reply mc your broadcast time, wave length, powers (watts), call letters, as fast as you can. And kindly teach mc the call letters, owners, wave length, powers (watts), broadcast time and States and cities at your country and near States and South Sea Island and India of you known. Can you receive radio broadcast of Japan? On the wave 375 metres of Tokyo Broadcasting Bureau (1000 watts, J. 0.) and on bhe wave 385 metres of Osaka (500 watts JOBK) and on tho wave 360 metres of Nagoya (1000 watts JO CX). And I can receive radio broadcast music and English talk on the wave about 353, 371, 390, 400, 425 and 484 metres by loud speaker every night in the latest. But Ido not know those radio broadcast whereabout. Please reply mc your precious judgment. 1 beg you will henceforth favour mc with your friendship in perpetuity. Kindly consent mc my entreaties. lam waiting with craned necks for your yearning re p]y. —Very truly yours, Takeo Kimizuka." ,