Box Populi Magazine Starts Well

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31043, 26 April 1966, Page 11

Box Populi Magazine Starts Well

“Town and Around” is something new on the local screen—a topical news magazine which packs a lot of information into a programme lasting only 15 minutes. The first issue included go-go fashions and go-go dancing girls; its successors showed that the programme is not yet with it But it takes time for a programme of this nature to develop continuity and character. In spite of some minor faults “Town and Around” looks like being a success. It is a welcome change from the “Postscript” mixture which used to follow the news. As a programme it has more flexibility and imagination than the late unlamented “Montage.” In their first week David Pumphrey and his team dealt with a variety of subjects in town and around. There were reports about police recruiting, the future of our airport, Capping Week, long-term plans for Timaru. and the city’s water supply. Neatest interview of the week was the one which established the relationship between the popularity of “The Avengers” and the quantity of water used on Wednesday nights. Most of the subjects in

Town and Around” were interesting, and they were handled competently. But there were too many interviews. Some were done out in the open; others were conducted in the studio where those questioned were inclined to give little lectures instead of answers. The camera work in some of the interviews and other sections of the programme was unven in quality. There were too many long shots, and on one or two nights the photography was poor. “Town and Around” has done one good service to viewers. It has introduced a new face and voice to the screen. Helen Holmes speaks well and asks intelligent questions. She could not be blamed for being over-

whelmed by medical matters in the first instalment of the programme. Dr. Erich Geiringer, of the New Zealand Medical Association, would be difficult for even a skilled interviewer to keep in check. Much of “Town and Around” in the future may be less, interesting than the first instalments. It is sure to be unless the director and his team put more bite into the interviews, and try not to make the programme an extension to the news bulletin. They might start by not cramming so many items into the 15 minutes they are allowed.

“Town and Around” has shown in its first week that CHTV3 can produce a lively and interesting topical news magazine programme. It

should be able to maintain the standard it has set. The introduction of “Town and Around” programmes has coincided with a change in the presentation of the outstanding public affairs survey, “Compass.” This week the present series will end. It will return next month but will appear fortnightly instead of weekly. Alternating with it will be a new current affairs programme called “Topic,” which win present the usual mixture of discussions, interviews, and debates. Official reasons for the change in presentation are lack of studio facilities and the long hours worked by the “Compass” production team. “Compass” is one of the best programmes the N.Z.B.C. has produced, and it seems strange that studio facilities and staff should be used for the “Town and Around” programmes and the usual kind of current affairs discussion. There have been suggestions that “Compass,” which has been run with a comparatively small team, has been costing too much. If it is expensive, and anything firstclass usually is, there are other programmes on which economies could be made. “Compass” deserves a bigger team and better facilities, not a month’s rest and fewer appearances. —ARGUS.