Wireless and Gas

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21811, 17 June 1936, Page 10

Wireless and Gas

The Postmaster-General, the Hon. F. Jones, has discovered that there are 200,000 families in New Zealand without radio sets and has consequently become ambitious “ to bring the bene- “ fits of broadcasting into those homes as soon “as possible.” This sounds progressive. But the Postmaster-General’s next sentence is chilling. “We want the people,” he says, “to look “on the radio service just as they look on “electricity, gas [an unfortunate simile], or the “ telephone—as something which is a necessary “ adjunct to every home.” With due respect to the kindliness of the Postmaster-General’s motives, this is exactly the attitude towards broadcasting which he should strive with all the means at his disposal to eliminate. Broadcasting is not a service like electricity or sewerage, which no one becomes aware of until it goe? wrong. It is either a vehicle of knowledge, culture, and entertainment, or it is something actively harmful. If it is the former, it demands an active and selective response from the listener. If it is the latter it demands nothing more than the effort involved in turning a switch. It is safe to say that at present three-quarters of what is broadcast from New Zealand stations is actively harmful. It is turned on to provide a background of noise which relieves the busy housewife or the tired husband from the painful burden of thought. There is no good reason why public money should be spent to such a purpose. If the Government succeeds in providing broadcasting programmes which alarm, irritate, or interest listeners, it will be time to talk about introducing wireless sets into those homes which prefer silence to mere sound. As things are, broadcasting is just what the PostmasterGeneral wants to make it—a service like electricity, gas, or the telephone.