BROADCASTING CONTROL

Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 24095, 3 November 1943, Page 2

BROADCASTING CONTROL

NAME OF “ C.B.S. ” NOT NOW USED AMALGAMATION OF THE TWO SERVICES The Commercial Broadcasting Service no longer exists, and recently New Zealand’s ZB radio stations have omitted the old name from their announceAn instruction that stations should limit themselves to the announcement “This is Station—Zß” was issued by the Director of Broadcasting (Professor James Shelley) after the passage of Clause 4 of the Statutes Amendment Bill during the pre-election session of Parliament. , , ~ . . „ That clause repealed the provisions of the Broadcasting Act, 1936, relating to the establishment of the National Commercial Broadcasting Service and the appointment of a controller to act independently of the Director of Broadcasting. The new clause provides for the continuation of the commercial service as a division of the National Broadc sting Service. When the Prime Minister announced in the House on June 18 that Mr C. G. Scrimgeour had been dismissed from the post of Controller of the National Commercial Broadcasting Service, he said that Professor Shelley would be in charge of both services, “pending any further appointment which might be made to All the position vacated by Mr Scrimgeour.” Later, in July, the Prime Minister announced that the technical staffs and equipment of the two services had been amalgamated, and that the amalgamation of other sections of the services was proceeding. Since then, no other appointment has been made. Administration Officers The routine of administration in the commercial division of the N.B.S. is now carried out by executive officers, most of whom were subordinates of Mr Scrimgeour’s in the Commercial Broadcasting Service, Mr I. K. Mackay. who succeeded Mr M. S. Bullivant, of Christchurch, to the position then recognised as equivalent to the post of assistant-controller, has remained _in office. He had been with Mr Scrimgeour at the Friendly Road station. When Mr B. T. Sheil became Director of Public Relations of the Royal New Zealand Air Force, with the rank of squadron leader, Mr Bullivant held the position Mr Shell vacated and Mr Mackay followed when Mr Bullivant was transferred to Dunedin. Another well-known officer of the old Commercial Broadcasting Service. Mr S. J. Duff, has entered the air force since the amalgamation of the two services. His duties as officer in charge of advertising have been assumed by Mr John Young. Mr K. W. Kilpatrick remains in the position he has held intermittently over a long period—publicity and public relations officer. Mr Brian O’Brien is officer in charge of features production at Wellington. These officers are now directly responsible to Professor Shelley, who visits the offices of the commercial division each afternoon, and during a stay of one hour or mbre, keeps,all the division’s activities under review. A Proposal Abandoned In the early stages of the operation of the new system of administration it was a possibility that the entire programming system of the commercial division would be reorganised. It was proposed, for example, that broadcasting time on the ZB stations should bo divided into set periods, as is the case with the YA stations. This would have considerably reduced the choice of broadcasting times available to advertisers, and the proposal was dropped. The staffs of the two divisions are now regarded as interchangeable, although the few transfers which have taken place have mainly been in one direction—from ZB to YA. Announcers, regarded in the C.B.S. as specialists, are rated in the N.B.S. as “programme assistants,” and may be called upon to do other duties. Similarly, operators in the N. 8.5., and other members of stations’ staffs, may be called upon to do announcing. No decision has yet been made about details of the future administration of the commercial division. The Hon. D, Wilson. Minister of Broadcasting, told "The Press” that the whole question would have to be looked into. He said that there was only one broadcasting service and only one head,