EMPIRE LINKED BY RADIO

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21355, 24 December 1934, Page 14

EMPIRE LINKED BY RADIO

KING'S BROADCAST CHRISTMAS BELLS FROM MANY LANDS One of the most ambitious concerted efforts yet made in the history of wireless will be heard on Boxing Day when the Empire will be linked together by a broadcast from each of the colonies. In addition the King, speaking from Sandringham, will deliver a special message to his subjects. The Empire Christmas Broadcasting Programme, which has been arranged by the British Broadcasting Corporation, will be on the air from 1.45 a.m. to 3 a.m. en Boxing Day. In the evening an electrical recording of the same programme will be broadcast by New Zealand stations for the benefit of Dominion listeners. The programme will open with the bells of the Church of the Nativity at Bethlehem, and bells from all parts of the Empire, including ttie carillon at Wellington, will then join in combined chimes.

A special feature of the programme will be the messages from various dominions and colonies, in which speakers of every type and occupation will give an account of their labours or a description of the celebrations in their own parts of the world. Among others messages will be received from the following countries:— Australia. —A railway settler on the trans-continental railway; an attendant at the Melbourne Botanical Gardens; a drover in North Queensland; the toll-keeper at Sydney Harbour Bridge; a life-saver on one of New South Wales's surf beaches; and a sheep farmer in South Australia.

Southern Rhodesia. —A speaker from Salisbury. India.—A tea planter in Southern India; an officer in the Indian Army. New Zealand.—A whaler from the Marlborough Sounds area; a dairy farmer from the North Island. South Africa.—Natives in a South African compound giving a loyal salute; a speaker on a Johannesburg skyscraper. Canada.—A fisherman in the Maritime Provinces; a Canadian in a lumber camp. Irish Free State.—An operator at the power station on the River Shannon; a man of Aran. At the conclusion of the messages the King will speak from Sandringham, and after his short address the programme will be concluded with the National Anthem. A great deal of special organisation has been necessary, and the British Broadcasting Corporation has had the assistance of the British General Post Office, the African Broadcasting Company, Ltd.; the Government Broadcasting Service, Salisbury; the Australian Broadcasting Commission; the Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission; the Irish Free State Broadcasting Service; the New Zealand Broadcasting Board; the Postmaster-General's Department, Jerusalem; and the Government of India.