THE BROADCASTING COMPANY.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 150, 28 June 1927, Page 6

THE BROADCASTING COMPANY.

The statement about the Broadcasting Company's affairs that the Secretary of the Post Office made to a meeting of listeners-in last week was in some respects valuable, but criticism has by no means been silenced. It is something to be assured that no license fee money has been spent for capital purposes, but while listeners-in will accept the assurance, they would very much like to see a complete balance-sheet. Mr. Macnamara does not see that this is necessary. We have, he says, the word of the Minister that everything is all right, and is not that sufficient ? No, it is not. Assurances by Ministers do not do away with the need for Departmental balance-sheets. The Broadcasting Company works under State auspices; it is a public company which has been given an important monopoly for a daily service used in thousands of homes. It seems to us that the Government is being very kind to the Company. It has just extended the term of the monopoly. At a time when money is scarce, and the farmer and the home-seeker in the towns are waiting for loans, the Government lends the Company £15,000 to build the Wellington station. The most curious feature of the whole business, however, is Mr. Macnamara's statement that from the Company's point of view entertainment programmes are the least important item. The retort is obvious, that from the point of view of the people who pay the fees and keep the enterprise going, programmes are the most important item. This is the first time we have ever heard it contended that the goods sold in a business are its least important aspect. Listeners-in, whose dissatisfaction with what has been broadcasted has been mounting steadily, will say that this explains a great deal.