RADIO IN N.Z.

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21198, 23 June 1934, Page 19

RADIO IN N.Z.

ARTICLE IN ENGLISH JOURNAL MISS SCANLAN'S OPINIONS (jsok oua owjr cobxespondxxt.) LONDON, Kay 8. "World Radio" publishes a very brightly written article entitled "What New Zealand Likes to Hear." Miss Nelle Scanlan, who wrote it, refers to the growth of wireless throughout the Dominion, until a set has become a necessity in almost every country home. The purchase of a wireless set has taken precedence over other luxuries, she says, and as electric power is available on so many farms, the sets are just plugged into the wall. She says that Mr Clive Drummond can illuminate the most trivial announcement or stodgy statement. To hear him say: "It was a fine day in Wellington today" is to feel the sunshine. Into the results of a football match or race meeting he can infuse the tempered excitement of a man who has backed a winner. His voice is personal, intimate, confidential, so it is no wonder that the cheery greeting "Hullo, Clive!" is heard in a thousand homes when 2YA is call-

ing, for every man, woman, and child regards him as a friend. Miss Scanlan found that, of ail her broadcasts in New Zealand, those dealing with personalities were most popular. As she had attended many international conferences—in Washington, Geneva, and London—she gave thumbnail sketches of prominent men and women, people conspicuous in world affairs. These were the things they wanted to hear. She could crowd a dozen names into her 20 minutes, and they liked them intimate and informal, /ith some incident or story to give point to character; and they loved a gleam of humour. Next to personalities. New Zoalanders like a graphic account «£ some function—the pageantry England, Royal ceremonies, ancient customs, and a human interest story: These sketches of people, and pictures of ceremonies, give them a background against which they can interpret th. newspaper records of day to day events, and the wider range of their reading. A Strengthening Link "New Zealanders are extreme]y British in outloc"; and sentiment, but their comparative isolation in the past has made it difficult to get world events in true perspective through newspaper snippets of ne\\\> Wireless has 'wrought the Dominion into much cjoser contact, and they are looking to it to strengthen tlK> link that binds them to the Empire. It takes four or five weeks to recxh there in person, but the mayic u." wireless brings them together in ih > twinkling of an eye. You need tu live in New Zealand to realise what that really means," she says.