BROADCASTS OF CRICKET

Press, Volume C, Issue 29673, 17 November 1961, Page 6

BROADCASTS OF CRICKET

Reasons For Delay

“Tests during the Transvaal cricket match gave unsatisfactory results. They are being continued, using a different frequency and a different radio-telephone route, and better results are hoped for but far from certain.” said the Director of Broadcasting (Mr J. H. E. Schroder), commenting on a letter to “The Press." from a correspondent “Cricket Fan.” who wondered why Rugby broadcasts were made from South Africa but not cricket broadcasts. “Cricket Fan” wrote: “Can someone please tell me why a football test can be broadcast direct from South Africa in the middle of the night, but details of the daily cricket score-board cannot be given (if at all) until after the receipt of a cable some time after 7.15 a.m.?” “It is true that all but one of the All Blacks' matches that were broadcast came In at fair quality, but this was very lucky,” said Mr Schroder. “Quality rapidly worsened towards the end, and five minutes after the signal would be lost. The summaries received later were unbroadcastable and had to be transcribed and voiced in the studio. “The longer period of play in cricket reduces the chance of successful ball-by-ball transmissions. As for the cables, the South African Broadcasting Corpora ti o n warned us that, from many parts of the country, stumps scoreboard cables would be slow on the way. They have mostly arrived between 10 and 11 a.m.,” said Mr Schroder.