RADIO GIFTS

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 300, 19 December 1930, Page 18

RADIO GIFTS

OVER THE AERIAL

"And you shall have music k l ivherever i you go"— these holidays!

OPTIMISTIC FORECAST,

RADIO AND CHRISTMAS. ESSENTIAL OF MODERN LIFE. Listeners are approaching another Christmas season, when once more they will hear over the air greetings that have been given down the centuries and appropriate festival music associated with this period of the year. For only five years has this been anything like a general experience in New Zealand, but | vast strides in radio progress have been made in those five years. Xext week there will be a radio Christmas influence in over 50,000 . homes .throughout the Dominion. Half a decade ago not onetenth of the families that now enjoy this experience could have participated in it. Then, too, earphones were the vogue, and the humble crystal set, the carefullyassembled home-made receiver, or the expensive and cumbersome manufactured one, played their magic parts and were worshipped with that respect attendant upon all such revolutionary novelties. Now' the crystal set is fast being displaced, the home-made device in most

1 imiiiriiiiiiiiiiiiiniHiiiiiiiiicjiiiiiiiiiiiicjimiiiiiiiicJiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiii g cases have been consigned to the junk H '-rooms and the modern receiver, product J of intensive research, "brings in" places B near 6i\ far with a simplification of §j. manipulation unknown, it seems, only a B few moons ago. The coming one will H be our most extensive radio Christmas, B and it is hoped that it will add thousands B to ever-growing battalions of listeners. jf A radio receiver forms an ideal g Christmas' gift—one -that ,i.as a direct 1 appeal to all in'the'home, , for both young 1 and. old. remain under the spell of listeng ing once they are "provided with the faci--1 lities for doing so. There is to-day a m range of receivers at prices to suit all, I and, with- a reliability, simplicity and 1 economy of operating that make such 8 articles permanently serviceable- Like 1 other businesses, the radio trade has felt I the recent effects of .bad tinres, but, with I the wares it now has to offer, and with 1 all in the way of entertainment, news 1 and instruction which, these will bring, 1-.there should, be .the busiest of times in I-demonstrating and selling in these clos-1--ing-weeks of..the year. Those who own 1 sete" thelnselves willr appreciate fully all I-' the advantages coming from such owner--1 ship and should be the first to urge upon I others the manifold benefits of joining I the ranks of listeners. "Make it a radio I Christmas" by further popularising I listening-in. This is no longer fi craze, or I a hobby—it is'orie of tfie amenities of modern life, and the home without a set will soon be as uncommon as the home without electricity.

' As for several years past, tlie Christmas broadcasts from our main stations "will be under the control of the Radio Broadcasting Company. As the terms of its agreement do not expire till January, 1932, similar .transmitting conditions will probably exist for the next festival season. By that time, how- ! ever, the future' of broadcasting will have been clearly denned, and we shall be in anticipation of the many big changes and improvements already hazily forecast. Next Christmas may see the parting of the ways ; for New Zealand broadcasting.

POCKET WIRELESS SETS FOR POLICEMEN

"Our industry breathes tie spirit of optimism and progress probably to a greater extent than any other in the, country," said Captain J. W. Barber, chairman of the Radio Manufacturers' Association of Britain. "Things are not so bad; times are improving. The industry I represent proves it. "The "wireless trade has taken advantage of the past year to fortify its position, to laydown new, efficient and effective plant and machinery, and is turning out sets on an unprecedented scale. "It is safe to say that one pound to-day buys more wireless than five did as many years ago so far as concerns its intrinsic physical value, but , it has ten times the buying power so far as programmes are concerned, because the wireless is a 'go-getter' industry. "The parent to-day should appreciate that the wireless set is the finest educational factor of modern life. "The League of Nations cannot achieve one-tithe of radio's influence in removing insular misunderstandings." The competition for the setting oi music to words, already judged for the IYA eong-writing contest, has been Avon by Mr. Eric Waters, whose anonymous contribution received the unanimous verdict of three.judges acting independently.

FACTS ABOUT THE 8.8.C. When the British Radio Corporation celebrated its eighth birthday last month there was''a deluge of statistics indicating the remarkable progress of this greatest entertainment unit of the world. .Some of the comparisons were astounding. Eight years ago there were 30,000 set owners; now there are over three million, but there are still nine million homes in Britain that lack facilities for listening-in, or at least lack such facilities as . officialdom is aware of. The old 8.8.C. commenced operations with an authorised capital of £100,000; to-day its annual revenue is more than ten times that sum. Its staff has grown from three to a thousand. The wireless industry in Britain now employs some 300,000 people, and, despite trade conditions, ranks next to the British motor trade in its enthusiasm ■ and the headway it has made.