Wireless News

Press, Volume LXIX, Issue 21034, 9 December 1933, Page 9

Wireless News

NOTES FROM FAR AND NEAR

(By ARIEL) | What did Mr Gladstone say in 1864? ' Please do not trouble to write me concerning the enswer to this question. vThe point is that there was no gramophone and no Blattnerphone to record what Mr Gladstone did say in 1864. It is really rather a pity. I would have liked to hear Mr Gladstone speaking on a 12-inch disc. But although I do not know what Mr Gladstone said in 1864, I am able to tell you what Signor Marconi said in 1922. First visualise radio in 1922. Eleven years ago. And 11 years before that I made my first acquaintance with wireless. There were a lot of wires in a hut, and coils and sliders and earphones and a great deal of optimism. Sometimes we would get morse signals through the earphones, more often the signals would come from a passing tram-car. A few years pass. 1917. There is a, war in progress. I am in the middle! of the Arabian desert. I have a camel. On the camel is a wireless transmitting and receiving set. On the same camel is a cage containing pigeons. Wireless won't worl: but pigeons will lly. Nature gives science the knockout. Pigeons carry messages to base. A few years again pass. 1920. Broadcasting, as term is now understood, comes into being. A short phonograph concert is sent out weekly from the Anacostia Naval Air Station, near Washington, and is heard as far as St. Louis, Minneapolis, and Various places in Pennsylvania. A little later in the year a daring experiment is carried out at the Marconi station at Chelmsford, England. Melba visits the station, and sings over the air. Her glorious voice is heard (much distorted) in Norway, and as far east as Persia. And the Postmaster-General is annoyed that the air is used for such a frivolous purpose. In May, 1922, the Postmaster-General agreed to license a limited number oi stations for public broadcasting 111 the United Kingdom. That is 11 years ago. As I have said, let us visualise radio in 1922. I havd a wireless set. It is a long sheet of vulcanite, completely covered with valves, coils, and knobs projecting in differing angles. A pretty sinister piece oi work. I listen in to a lot of morse, a lot more static, and a little ta'k. I have a pair of earphones. When i get bored I change a coil. When 1 get still more bored I change the circuit. And connexions come adrift, valves burn out, batteries run down. To listen in during the year 1922 is equivalent to owning a motor-cycle "Nvell," in the year 1922, Signor Marconi, originator of radio as we know it tells us of his conception ot radio in the future. This is what ho says: "There is no doubt that in the near future great progress will be made in tuning apparatus so that broadcasting stations using slightly different wave-lengths may be built to send out simultaneously slightly different wave-lengths, each one allocated to a particular form of entertainment or instruction. With improved forms of receivers, therefore, it will almost certainly be possible in the future to recive jazz music, grand opera, classical concerts, the latest news, weather reports, lectures, etc., at will. ... It is difficult to estimate the enormpus influence that broadcasting is going to exercise on humanity in a hundred directions." Marconi was Right. The point is that until the year 1922 it was impossible to speak to more even this, it was necessary to pack them into a huge hall. True, the Albert Hall has on occasion held 15,000 people, and in 1903, at the jubilee of Pope Leo XIII., the Pontiff's Benediction was more or less clearly heard throughout St. Peter's, in which some 50,000 people were massed. But the limits of the carrying power of the unaided human voice are pretty sharply defined. By the way, Mr Treffle Soucie, of Manteno, 111., who is 75 years old, seven times a champion cow caller, can bring in the cows with his voice from half a mile away—without a megaphone. But I should imagine that the quality of the voice of Mr Treffle Soucer is, unlike that of mercy, a trifle strained. The fact remains that Mr Soucer could call to, and be heard by, a hundred thousand people. And yet with a microphone, Mr Soucer could whisper to, and be heard by a hundred million people. At least, so thought Signor Marconi, in 1922. And Marconi was right. "The day may come," said Marconi, "when after a warning voice has cleared the ether of all unimportant chatter, the great ones of humanity—scientists, statesmen, divines, authors, artists — will lecture from some great central university to classes of 10,000,000 students scattered all over the United Kingdom, perhaps all over Europe." "The day may come," said Marconi, "when it will be as easy as natural to turn on dance music or grand opera in some farm lost in the depths of, the South African veldt or the Australian bush, as it now is to sit and listen to the town band. All these things are not only within the range of possibility, but very much within the range of probability by means of radio telephony. . . To go even further, why should not municipalities or even governments endow broadcasting stations? Many cities spend money on free courses of lectures and on city orchestras which do not reach more than a few hundreds at a time, whereas from a broadcasting centre they might reach tens of thousands. Why, therefore, should we not some day see a millionaire endowing a Broadcasting Chair of English Literature, or of Geography at a municipal—or govern-ment-endowed broadcasting station?" The artist who illustrated this article of Signor Marconi from which I quote had not perhaps the vision of the author. There is a picture of two Australians —or perhaps South Africans—listening in to a now antiquated looking two valve set with a horn speaker. Behind them stretches the Australian bush—or perhaps the South African veldt, complete with seven cows. But Marconi —in 1922—was filled with visions of the future. "I am inclined , to believe," he said, "that the simple broadcasting of fairy tales to children, which is about as far as we have got to now, is presently going to evolve. Soon we shall have short stories adapted from the magazines and in a form suitable for broadcasting to grown-ups as well as to children; then original stories will be written for broadcasting just as original scenarios are written for the screen now, the appeal being to the ear only, instead of to the eye as in the cinema, or to the eye and the ear as in the theatre. "This may be followed by the adaptation or the writing of long novels or serials for broadcasting and, eventually, we may arrive at another artform v which will stir the emotions by the spoken word through the ear as the'cinema does through the eye. "The author of the future may be as keen about safeguarding the broadcasting rights as he is now about his cinema rights, although probably new legislation will be necessary. It seems to me also that sooner or later some kind of control over the matter broadcasted may bpcome necessary." Eleven Years of Progress. So we see that 11 years have brought to fruition all Marconi's prophecies. Government endowment, censorship, radio plays, the great ones of the earth talking to mankind. All has come true. Yet somehow this 11 years of glorious progress does not seem greatly to have ameliorated the lot of mankind.

BROADCASTING

TO-DAY'S PROGRAMMES 3YA, CHRISTCHURCH (980 Kilocycles.) 12 noon: Selectod recordings- 12.20 p.m. (approx.): Relay from New Brighton of the New Brighton Trotting Club's meeting- 2- 0: Selected recordings. 3.30: Sports results. 4.30: Special weather forecast for farmers and sports results. 5.0: Children s hour, conducted by Riddleman. 6.0: Dinuer music. 7.0: News and reports. 8.0: Concert programme. Studio concert by the Christchurch Commercial Travellers' Choir, Conductor, James Shaw, and tho Christchurch Commercial Travellers' Orchestra, conductor, lOruest .Famieson. March, Commercial Travellers Orchestra, "Tho Flyer" (Urbach). 8.0: IJlces, Commercial Travellers' Choir, (a) "Up With the .Tolly Roger" (Cnnidish) ; (b) "In Absence" (Buck). 8.13: Orchestral, Commercial Travellers' Orchestra, "Hungarian Dance No. " (Briihms). 8.18: Baritone, W. Toomey, (a) "The Ballad of the Knight" (Lohr); (b) "I Travel the Road (Thayer). 8.2-1: Humour, C. Romerill, "Terrible Tales" (Ifayerl). 8.30: Vocal Duet, J. Shaw and R. Hawker, "Love and War" (Cooke). 8:36: Medley, Commercial Travellers' Orchestra, "Homestead Melodies" (arr. Recker). 8.50: Tenor, S. Andrews, (a) "Largo" (Handel); (b) "Elegie" (Massenet). 8.55: Selection, Commercial Travellers' Orchestra, "The Geisha" (Sidney Jones). 9.1: Weather forecast and station notices. 9.2: Miss Julie Russell, soprano rpcital: 9.18: Glues, Commercian Travellers' Choir, (a) "Simple Simon" (Macy); (b) "Philosophy" (Keiiiecko). 9.24: 'Waltz, Commercial Travellers' Orchestra, "Cold and Silver" (Lobar). 9.29: Sea Shanties, The Choir, (a) "Billy Boy" ; (b) "Shenandoah"; (e) "Bound for the Rio Grande" (Terry). O.IlS: Tenor Solos, .James Shaw, (a) "An Old Violin" (l-'ishor); (b) "Songs My Mother Taught Me" (Dvorak). 9.44: Medley, Commercial Travellers' Orchestra and Choir, "Commiinit.yland" (arr. Ktoddin). 9.51: Glees, Tho Choir, (a) "Sleep Thou, Wild Rose" f Abt) ; (b) "Kvening Sung fl-iilleter). 9.57: March, ■ The Orchestra, "Highland Echoes." 3 0.3: Sports summary. 10.J2-11.12: Danco music. 3ZC, CHRISTCHURCH (1200 Kilocycles). 10 a.m.: Morning programme (Light recordings). 7 p.m.: News, sporting results, selected recordings. 7.55: Station notices. 8.0-11.0: Recordings and dance programme. 2YA, WELLINGTON (570 Kilocycles.) 7.30 a.m.: Breakfast session. 10.0: Selected recordings. 10.30: Devotional iscrviue. 13 noon: Lunch music. 2 p.m.: Selected recordings. 3.30 and -1.30: Special weather report and sports results. 5.0: Children's hour, conducted by Aunt Molly and Uncle Jasper. 5.0: One-hour musical programme from Station 2VC, 840 kilocycles. 6.0: Dinner music. 7.0: News and reports (2YC, 840 kilocycles, after-dinner music). 8.0: Alternative concert programme from Station 2YC, 810 kilocycles. 8.0: Concert programmo (2YA.) Recording, Jack Hylton and Ilia Orchestra, (a) "The Wedding of thu Rose" (Jessol) ; (b) "The Grasshoppers Danco" (Buculossi). 8.6: Quintotte, Mclodie Five, "Tho Buttle live" (Bonlieur). Novelty Piano, Mr Bert Burton, "The Match Parade" (arr. Mayerl). Tenor, Mr Frank Bryant, "X do My Way Singing" (Smith). 8.10: Recording, Ventriloquist, Coram, "Jerry in the Armv." 8.22: Recording, Banjo, Tarrant Bailey, Jr., "Tho Dear Old Home Songs" (arr. Russoll). 8.28: Tenor Duet, Messrs Sam Duncan and Frank Bryant, "Tell_ ller I Love Ifer So" (Faye). Bass, Mr \V. \V. Marshall, "In Sheltered Vale" (Moffat). Quintette, Melodic Five, "Pickin' Cotton" (arr. Zamecnik). 8.40: Lecturette, Miss N. K. Ootid, "Tho Ago of Chivalry." 9.0: Weather report and station notices. 9.2: Recording, Hurry Hamsley entertainß with thu children (a) "Packing Up"; (h) "Kxplaining Pictures" (Hemsley). 9.8: Recording, Orchestra Mascotte, (a) "The Opera Ball" (Hauberger) ; (b) "When Grandmamma wa* 20" (Zeller). 9.14: Quintette, Melodic Five. "Come, Landlord, Fill the Flowing Bowl" (Lee.) Novelty Piiuio, .Mr Bert. Burton, "Something Came and Got me in the Spring" (Scholl). Tenor, Mr Sam Duncan, "My Desire" (Cadman). 9.24: Recording, Juck Hylton and His Orchestra, "FortySecond Street" Medley (Warren). 9.30: Recording, Yodelling, Yanco and His Million Airs, (a) "1 Must, Have a Drink Before I Yodel"; (b) "Jolly Joe lhc Milkman" (Stodgen). 9.36: Recording, Instrumental, J. 11. Squire Celeste Octet, (a) "Silver Threads Among the Gold" (Danks); (b) "My Sweetheart When a Boy" (Morgan). 9.12: Baritone, Mr L. M. Cachemaille, "The Sun God" (James). Quartette, Melodic, Four, "New Goodnight" (Flowtow). 9.50: Recording, Tho London Palladium Orchestra (a) "Lea Sylphides" (arr. Lotter); (b) "Moontimo" (Collins). 9.50: Recording, Massed Bands, "Once Upon a Time" Selection (arr. Stoddcn). 10.0: Sporting summary. 10.10-11.10: Dance pro. gramme. SUNDAY 3YA,CHKISTCIIURCH 9 n.m.: JSelecleM recordings. 1 p.m.; Dinner music. 2.0: Selected recordings. 2.43: Talk. U.O: Selected recordings. 5.150: Children's bong Service, conducted by children from the Church of Christ Sunday School, Aloorliouso Avenue. 6.15: Chimes from tho studio. Selected recordings. 7.0: Kclay of evening service from tho Church of Christ, -Moorhouflc Avenue. Preacher, Pastor Stuart Stevens. Organist, Mrs A. L. Pugh. Choirmaster, Mr JI. K. Ames. B.'JO: Relay of concert programme from Station 4YA, Dunedin. 3ZC, CHRISTCHURCH (1200 Kilocycles). 9 a.m.: Programme of selected recordings. G. 30 p.m.: Programme of String aud Orchestral Selections. 7.55: Station notices. 6.0-10.0; Evening programme. 2YA, WELLINGTON 0 a.m.; Selected recordings. lf.O: lie Jay of servico from the Ton-ace. Congregational Church. Preacher: Rev. 11. Newell. Organist and Choirmaster: Mr 11. Bru&cy. 1 p.m.: Dinner .music, 2.0: Selected recordings. X3O: Kecordfld talk, Professor George Trevelyan, C.B.K. (Professor of Modern History in tho University of Cambridge), "Some Aspects of Eighteenth-Century England." 0.0: Childron's Song Service, conducted by Uncle Herbert, assisted by the Children's Ohoir from the Roseneath Presbyterian Church. 7.0: Kolay of Eveniug Service from tho Trinity Methodist Church, Wellington South. Preacher: Rev. W. JJramwell Scott. Organist: Miss Lilian Tliuwley, L.A.B. 8.15: (approx): Concert Programme. "Faust." A speciul presentation of a recorded versiou of Gounod's famous opera. An opera in five acts, written by Jules Bnrbiere and Michael Carre. English version by IJ. F. Chorley. Tho Cast: JPaust, Heddle Nash; Mephistophfles, Robert Kaston; Vnlentine, Jlarold Williams; Wagner, Robert Carr: Margarita, Miriam Licetto; Martha, Muriel Brunskill; Siebel, Doris Vane, Chorus of students, soldiers, spirits, people, etc. by the 8.8.C. Choir, with Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sir Thomns Boccham. Alternative programme 2YC, 840 kilocycles. G p.m.: Selected musical programme. S.oO: Alternative concert session.

The young of this earth likes its jazz and likes it hot. The middle-aged of this earth have grown up with radio and take it for granted. The old of this earth are rather annoyed with the raucous blaring of the loudspeaker. I know of several elderly persons who "wouldn't have the darned radio in the house, even if it was free." The fact is that radio is rather like the tanks of the last war. It was invented a little before its time, and was used before it was perfected. When the sandwich was invented by the late lamented earl of the same name the whole world gasped. "Here," said the world, "is a perfect article of diet; let us adopt it." And the world took the sandwich to its heart —or rather to its maw. But when Signor Marconi invented radio the world neither believed Marconi nor radio. And the world has gone on disbelieving both for the last 20 odd years. And that brings me back to my original paragraph. Ido not know what Mr Gladstone said in 1864. But I do know what the price of fat lambs is at Addington. Thanks to radio.