Say that again

Press, 7 October 1980, Page 25

Say that again

Radio

Heath Lees

* The use of instant repetition in the media can be .very irritating. Last Saturday on 3YA news we were given a taped interview from the leader of the group tackling the forest fire north of Rangiora. Not five minutes later, in the local news read from Christchurch, we had the same interview repeated exactly. There wasn’t even any extra comment to justify the repetition, simply a direct action replay.

This kind of thing happens often enough to make one wonder if the local news editors don’t actually know what will be covered in the national bulletin. Or do they assume that the interviews will seem different when fronted up by a local reader?

One usually expects adverts and their intermittent repetition to be boring. Radio Avon has one for a used-car showroom (nameless, of course) which is incredibly unimaginative, ending with a hip voice urging us to buy a Utera Van. I for one have been unable to locate such a model. On the other hand Avon carries a really stylish advertisement for a music store, using a varied collage of sound effects under a selfmocking, dreamlike narration. It becomes something of a treat in the usual uninteresting landscape of names and products. It would be nice to think that one day enlightened commercial stations will grade advertisements, and offer reduced rates for quality and style instead of charging simply by the second. Who knows, it

might do their ratings some good. Having suffered a setback in the recent audience ratings, Radio Avon is obviously trying hard to come back. Enlisting the help of Kenny Everet’c space-travelling Captain Kremmen was a good move; this could easily become a cult. Another avenue is its Appeal to History — the interest in Golden Oldies. Sometimes the introduction is rather bald — “It’s 1957” he said, which I thought was a time check until I heard the best-forgotten sounds of “Mr Lee.” Balance was soon restored though with a playing of “Bridge over Troubled Water,” probably the biggest pop record ever. Is it not possible to flesh out these instant retrievals of the past with some snippets of speeches, interviews, or comments made at the time? This would give some contrast to the endless repetition of talk-and-play, and would offer scope for some imaginative exploitation of the medium . As well as obvious repetition there is a kind of latent repetition. Most weekly programmes have a set format, with only a kind of updating going on each week. The YC Arts Round-up programmes are

rather like this. This or that event is taking place and here in the studio is someone who is involved with it.» . Surely there is some scope for review and discussion, to reflect what one hopes is a lively area where people may actually differ in their opinions. There seems to be a feeling that if it’s classed as Art it need only be presented rather than explored. Come to that, who classifies Art for the purpose, and, since we’re all in a questioning mood, why are films — specially film festivals — never mentioned in these programmes? Another type of repetition is possibly best described as prolongation, and not always merciful. Last week’s edition of “Gliding On” (YA) by Roger Hall was one of a series that perpetuates the sit-com success of “Glide Time.” This time “The staff of the stores section in a Government Office’’ went on a ski trip with an appropriately chilly script. The few worth-while smiles that happen tend to be located in the office in which the characters were bom.

There was some amusing word play about a missing file which had gone missing — it turned up eventually at the bottom of the lift-shaft, presumably along with the missing jokes. It becomes something of an embarrassment to see a success being ruthlessly dragged out in an effort to create a legend. Instead, the characters concerned tend to fall flat, or sometimes simply refuse to come out of their comers.