RADIO NOTES

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 189, 9 May 1934, Page 6

RADIO NOTES

Royalties in Patents NEW ARRANGEMENT Empire Broadcasting

(By

"Ether.”)

The latest idea of paying 3/6 an electron stream as a royalty to patentees (roughly 3/6 a valve) is a sign that New Zealand has bowed to the inevitable and fallen into line with Australia. where the matter was thrashed out at considerable expense. _ At one time it looked as if sets in New Zealand would have to pay patent rights to at least five powerful companies. The recent pronouncement indicates that an understanding has been arranged so that the live patent holders share the 3/6 in a suitable proportion. The net result of this arrangement will be to discourage the “mushroom” dealer, because a fee of £l5O is the minimum royalty fee accepted. This in itself is a desirable state of affairs, because “dealers of straw," who sell radio sets, if not of straw, at any rate of some other rubbish, will not be able to unload their junk on an unsuspecting public. The whole matter is really a private one between the radio dealers of New’ Zealand arid the patentees. We might have done considerably worse. If radio sets are to cost a little more, let us hope that the money now available from broadcast license fees will be applied toward improving the programmes or the suppression of manmade static. Local Talent.

If any proof were required that it is possible to obtain satisfactory local talent, it was obtained on Monday when Miss Gretta Stark gave us a selection of popular songs. It may be argued that she selected songs that are sung frequently per medium of gramophone records; but artists of merit naturally select the best songs.

At any rate, Miss Stark’s rendering of the "Lass With the Delicate Air,” if below the standard of, say, Florence Austral, was nevertheless very well done. Indeed, she set a standard that it is hoped the authorities will do their best to keep up. Her repertoire consisted of light material. It was treated with an inimitable lightness of touch to such good effect that the last item, “Fairy Pipers,” might well have been mistaken for a gramophone record. It is to be hoped that we shall be allowed to hear more of Miss Gretta Stark from the New’ Zealand stations. Empire Broadcasting. It is an open secret that the radio authorities were bitterly' disappointed that Prince George’s speech, recorded copy, failed to come through at all well. The night before reception was stated to be excellent, and it was hoped that it would remain so for another day. It is this uncertainty of reception that makes the Empire station useless as a programme attraction to the radio authorities. Nothing that has been done so far has alleviated the position. One curious fact is the discrepancy that exists between reception conditions as reported by the authorities and conditions as reported by shortwave enthusiasts. Ono would have thought, judging by reports from enthusiasts, that the authorities could have utilised the early morning for Empire reception. This, it seems, is not possible. Although early morning reception of the Empire station is sometimes suitable for headphones, or even modest loudspeaker reproduction, the extra amplification required to put the signal on the air by 2YA or any other of the Board’s stations is so great, it is stated, that extraneous noise mars the result.

Fashions by Radio. One cannot Imagine a more difficult medium through which to disseminate fashions than the ether. Nevertheless, Mrs. T. Lewis made a valiant effort this week to give us a historical resume of fashion from the time of Tutankhamen to the present day. The fact that several thousands of years of fashions had to be compressed into a matter of half an hour or less, tended to make an interesting lecturette almost too condensed. Correspondence.

“A Short-wave Enthusiast” writes: — “The banquet to Prince George was a joint affair, being given at Grosvencr House. Park Lane, by the Royal Empire Society, British Empire League, African Society, Victoria League, Overseas League, and the British Empire Club. The original speech was heard here last Thursday morning at 7.50. Conditions were good on the African Zone on 31,55 metres. At 8.10 a.ra. a relay from Covent Garden of the third act of ‘The Valkyrie’ continued till 9.5 a.m.

“The effort made at 5.40 p.m., Thursday, by the YA stations, was an electrical recording of Prince George’s speech. No wonder that the relay of the special Empire transmission on Anzac Day was a failure, it was too far on in the morning in London. The Empire transmission to New Zealand cannot be heard well here between 10 and 11 p.m. at this time of year.”