OVER THE AERIAL.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 121, 24 May 1935, Page 14

OVER THE AERIAL.

RADIO NOTES.

FROM FAR AND NEAR,

(By TUXE-IN.)

IZM's sports announcer, Mr. W. Hindman, is proving so popular that it has been found necessary to extend his session on Thursday evenings. In future he will be heard from 7 p.m. to 7.2") p.m. and from 7.35 to 8 p.m. in its sport* talks.

Atmospheric and other conditions being favourable, IYA will rebroadcast from the Daventry short-wave station to-morrow the celebrations to be held ill London in connection with Empire Daj-. At 4.30 p.m. the main ceremony of "half an hour's duration will be broadcast, and at 5.45 p.m. an Empire Diiy address by Earl Jellicoe will be heard.

Last week-end, Mr. W. W. Rodgcre, of •station IZM, answered about lf>u telephone calls, most being from listeners who asked that special recordings should be played. As so many roqiieste are being received at this station, the director asks that listeners .should forward their requests for certain numbers by Thursday of each week, in order that they might be included in Saturday's extended dance programme.

Miss Lilian Quinn, well known in musical circles in Auckland, will be heard in soprano solos from 2UL on Monday night next. A nio*t accomplished pianist, Miss Quinn was- for a considerable time official accompanist at IYA and has done much broadcasting work in New Zealand. J laving completed a tour with "Carter the Great" as conductor of his orchestra, Miss Quinn is now residing in Sydney, where she is studying the vocal side of music.

About £30,000 is shortly to be spent on the construction of a new station, to be called (iWA, with a mast 700 feet high—2oo feet higher than lYA's Henderson in net j which has since its erection claimed the title of the tallest structure south of the equator. The now station is to be the national broadcasting transmitter which is being erected at Minding, 14 miles west of Wagin, in Western Australia. Work on the station is well advanced, and it will transmit on a wave-length of 03(1 metres. The initial power of the station will be ten kilowatts in the aerial, but the plans provide for a power ot (id kilowatts. The station is designed to serve an area with a population ot 78.000, in which there are only about 4yl)tt listeners at present. It is expected that IiWA will be in operation before the end of the year, providing day-and-night reception over a 200-mile radius.

A number of listeners have written to "Tune In" recently complaining about the. programmes broadcast from I\A, especially during the breakfast and dinner session*. Here is one from "Brighter Music," of Rotorua: "In voicing the opinion of, 1 think, a large number of listener*, 1 am writing to protest strongly against the programmes put over the air by the present Broadcasting Board. To listen to the dreary 'highbrow' music broadcast by the YA .stations every night is enough to bora the average "listener to tears, and tmtainly is not worth wasting power to hear." The Broadcasting Board says proof of the popularity of it«> programmes is to be shown by the increase Fri licenses during recent year*, but 1 env this is not the case, but is due to tho comparative cheapness of the modern receiver and also to greater range, in other words, its ability to bring in overseas stations. However, the trouble now is that with the increasing power of the YA stations they are taking up «o much of the dial that many previously popular overseas stations cannot be tuned in. 1 maintain that in the days before the Government took over control the programmes were infinitely superior for the average listener. In those days we could sit down 'of an evening and listen to a bright variety programme, humorous items and lively" musical numbers, which were n treat to listen to, as well as a selected programme of dance music from I) p.m. to 11. What ie there to prevent nt least one of the YA stations taking it in turn to put on this style of programme for an evening? Then thoee that wished for this melancholy 'highbrow' music could do to by tuning in to an alternative station. Certainly at the ttiil end of the evening, 10 p.m.. we get it programme of danco miiisie, but how many people can wait up until this hour? I eay that the biggest majority of listeners have switched off their sele by that time. Or lake the breakfast j,e*Hion, for instance., nnd what, do we get? A monotonous repetition »f band marches and ancient records. The test records broadcast before 7 a.m. are really good and 1 know a large number of people used to make a special point of switching on for them, but now we are lucky if we hear one or two of these records before 7 a.m. Although I am not in favour of sponsored programmes, I eay "ive them to us at any price if the items a re good (as they usually are), ruther than what we have to listen to now."

FROM IYA NEXT WEEK

Bundav—o.o n.m., selected recordings; 110 relay or service Horn St. Luke's ■ reVtSriuii Church i 1.0 to 4.30 P.m , selected record iiks, nt .1.30 p.m. lei .\ , weintci"'turn- and Royal iMiilharmonlc me ■Sα playing Brahms , " symphony | no TIC Minor"; 7.0. relay or service , l from Beresrord Street Congregational , ■much- S 30 p.m., concert profcnunme incluuinr solos by Mr. Henry I'enn, overseas > a si. and at t>.r> p.m.. recorded presenta- > lion or Mascngrnl r s opera in one act, < " cavallerla iiusticana." 11 Monday—7.3o p.m., agricultural talk. | » Gumlantl Areas or North Auckland ;j 8 0 (relay to IZH), concert proferumme, ! inclu llntr a dramatic sketch taken from ••uncanny Tales," first appearance or Fra r perrin, comedian, ana a recorded talk BV Sir Joshua Stamp on "The Causes! or \Viir"; «-r>, description of wrestling:!, match at Town Hull; IU.O to 11.0, musk-, mirth and melody session. Tuesday—-7.30 p.m., book review ;_ 8.0, concert programme, recordings, also H-auK Perrin, comedian; 0,5, talk hy Kev. J. Iμ (iray, "In the Shadow or the Himalayas"; U. 20 to 11.0, dance music. Wednesday—B.o p.m., chamber music. programme; 0.5, first or a soiles or talks | by "lev. A. n. Chappell on the Maori, " The Maori as a Warrior"; recorded Items Killow until 10.U; 10.0 to 11.0, music, mirth and melody session. Thursday—B.o p.m., concert programme, ' continuity hour, " Round the Family Hearth"; 0.5, talk liv Miss Briar Gardner, " Spinners and Weavers —the Master Weaver"; 0.20 to 10.0, hand piogrammo I)V famous Rritirih hands, also Frank | Perrin, comedian; 10.0 to li.O. dance music. 1 Friday —7.3o p.m., sports talk by Gordon lliitter; 8-0, concert programme, "A Mozart Hour"; fl.O, talk by lipv. p Gladstone Hughes, "Wales and the Welsh'; items by studio orchestra until 10.0; 10.0 to 11.0. music, mirth and mulody session. ! Saturday—7.3o p.m., talk by the gnrden- ! in if' expert, " Tho Development of the Oarden"; S.O, concert programme, record-: inirs also Mists l.csbia Dobson. lecture- ' rocitulist and pianist; 0.5 to 11.30, modern, dance programme. »