Present Radio Said To Be Inadequate

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32251, 20 March 1970, Page 26

Present Radio Said To Be Inadequate

The present radio services in Christchurch—except for 3YA and 3YC—were inadequate. Many musical programmes were not presented in a professional or entertaining manner. Mr W. L. Carswell, manager of the Canterbury Broadcasting Company, Ltd, told the Broadcasting Authority in Christchurch yesterday.

At 3ZM presentation was very loose, there were unduly long gaps between records and speech, and records were poorly cued and begun at incorrect speed, Mr Carswell said.

Giving evidence in support; of an application for a sound radio warrant for a private station in Christchurch, Mr Carswell said that his company had applied last October to lease time from 3ZM. The corporation had said the application would be considered early this year, but the company had no further reply. The Canterbury Broadcasting Company began submissions and evidence in support of its application after evidence for Radio Christchurch Company, Ltd, had been concluded.

The third applicant for a warrant is Gospel Radio, and submissions and evidence in support of its application will be heard when the sitting resumes today. The authority comprises Mr R. T. Peacock, of Wellington, chairman; Mr R. B. Miller, of Christchurch, and Mr H. E. Duff Daysh, of Wellington.

Mr P. T. Mahon, with him Mr J. R. Fox, appears for Radio Christchurch, Ltd, Mr C. C. H. Knight for the Gospel Radio Fellowship, Inc.; and Mr A. D. Holland for the Canterbury Broadcasting Company, Ltd.

Mr R. B. Cooke, Q.C., of Wellington, with him Mr B L. Darby, appears for the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation. Mayor’s Evidence

Mr A. R. Guthrey, Mayor of Christchurch, nominated as chairman of directors of Radio Christchurch, Ltd, gave evidence when the sitting resumed yesterday. He said that it was not his practice to hold shares in public companies of which he was a director, and he did not intend to take up any shares in Radio Christchurch, Ltd, if it should be granted a warrant. “My interest in the company is to see the establishment of a soundly based private radio station in Christchurch. 1 believe that the balance between the newspaper participation and a widely spread public shareholding is ideal. “The backing of the two newspapers gives the com-

ipany financial strength and an experienced directorate. The newspapers have a wealth of commercial experience, in particular with advertising and the providing of a news service,” he said.

Mr Guthrey said a private local radio station should provide a news service and programmes that were impartial and in the public interest. Mr Guthrey said it was possible that the newspapers could control the company, but he could not imagine them doing so. To Mr Knight, he said he did not think this possibility was a “grave danger—just the opposite in fact.” He would expect the company to make a minimum of 10 per cent profit. Younger Listeners The New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation failed to provide in Christchurch a consistent programme of appeal to the younger listeners from the age of 15 to 30, said Mr A D. Holland, in his opening submissions for the Canterbury Broadcasting Company, Ltd.

He said that the company had a nominal capital of $400,000 with issued capital of $13,000 held by 58 sharehold ers, with Mr Carswell, the manager and a nominated director if a warrant was granted, holding the largest number of shares, 2000. An issue of 300,000 shares would be made to the Canterbury public if a warrant was granted to the company, and a firm of Christchurch stockbrokers had undertaken to underwrite 250.000 of the public issue.

Counsel said that the directors of the company would be Mr G. D. Griffiths, a prominent architect and Christchurch City councillor, and the chairman of the Christchurch Regional Planning Authority; Mr R. A. Anderson, a chartered accountant in Christchurch; Mr J. T. Runga, a valuer; Mr R. L. Barrow, an insurance supervisor in Christchurch; and himself.

Messrs Carswell, Runga and Barrow will manage the development and administra-

tion of the station, with the other three as outsiders.

The company was formed by a group of young, enthusiastic persons anxious to see their city with a local radio station, said Mr Holland. Others “Haves” “I don’t want to bring the air of politics too much into the arena, but my submission is that the previous applicants are ‘haves’ asking for more, while the present applicants are ‘have-nots’ asking for an opportunity. They have the good fortune of having a number of consultants, people of high position in the community,” said Mr Holland.

Mr Carswell, in evidence, said that he was 25, and had completed an apprenticeship in engineering with N.A.C. The articles of the company provided that no shareholder would be able to exercise more than 5000 votes, notwithstanding his shareholding, to ensure that control of the company could not be obtained by one individual or organisation to use a radio station for its own purposes. The proposed site for the transmitter was 11 acres in the Marshland area which the company could buy for $l3OO an acre. The company could see no difficulty in renting studio and office space in Christchurch.

Radio One (his company’s proposed station) would cater for the very broad middle bracket of the public. It was planned as complementing the existing service rather than directly competing with each programme, he said.

“The young-adult age group, providing the biggest listening group, one-third of all, would be the initial target of the station,” Mr Carswell said. The company believed that the grant of a warrant to it would not ma terially affect either the revenue or staff of the N.Z.B.C.

“The competition provided will benefit the public by improving all services. Radio One’s combination of easylistening music and independent news, with maximum local involvement in people, (artists, events and city life, will give the proposed station an appeal for Canterbury listeners which the company considers is not available from existing stations," said •Mr Carswell. “Easy Listening” i Cross-examined by Mr Knight when the sitting resumed in the afternoon, Mr Carswell said the “easy listening” music his station would put on was not “middle-of-the-road music.” It was between highbrow and pop music, slightly nearer the pop music level than highbrow. From Monday to Friday, broadcasting 20 hours a day, 55.5 per cent of the programme would be music, 26 per cent local, 5 per cent serious, 2.5 per cent light, 11 per cent news and religion nil.

To Mr Mahon, he said that he had had no experience in advertising, journalism or business management. Mr Mahon: Isn’t the 10 to 29 group the pop group'? Won’t you be putting out pop programmes? No easy listening with some pop tunes in it

Some people would disagree that pop is easy listening?— That is possible. To Mr Cooke, Mr Carswell said that it was “a strange coincidence” that suggestions in his company’s prospectus and in newsletters about programmes and length of advertising spots should be copied by 3ZB. “I accepted that a new station manager at 3ZB would make changes, but it seems a series of strange coincidences that the changes happened after our intentions were published,” Mr Carswell said. News Service Mr T. J. Keown, a journalist, of Keown, Stevens and Associates, said he had been asked by the CanterburyBroadcasting Company to establish a news service should it be granted a warrant. He said that tentative arrangements had been made for accommodation, staffing and news presentation, based on eventual expansion of the service to cover a national link with other private broadcasting stations. He had had approaches from United Press International, and the Copley News Service, of Australia.

He said the principals of his company (yet to be formed) were all practising journalists. The cost of providing a news service for the applicant was estimated at $BO,OOO. The staff would comprise five senior grade journalists and two of grades three to five. In addition, four stringers (part-time) journalists would be employed.

He said that the New Zealand Press Association lacked the spur of competition and that he hoped his organisation would provide it. Cross-examined, Mr Keown said that it was proposed to put on 14 or 15 news bulletins on seven days a week. His organisation would supply it for 12 months and would be responsible for its accuracy

In the soap industry Uni-

If events moved as he hoped they would, his organisation would be taken into the Canterbury Broadcasting Company after 12 months of supplying the news.