THE BROADCASTING POSITION

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 108, 3 November 1923, Page 22

THE BROADCASTING POSITION

It appears that the report that both Dunedin broadcasting stations, 4YO and 4TA, were closing down is incorrect. At- all events, a leading wireleaa man ja Wellington informs^ Aft jmtfir thflL

he had received a- letter from' 'Mr. O'Neill, the manager of" 4YA,'; stating that that station is not closing, though' 4YO has done so; and a re-perusal of the earlier > reports of the position shows that Mr. O'Neill did not apparently -say ■ more than that he would have to stop brcadcasting unless 'something-was doiie to improve the-financial aepect of the undertaking, which represented' a, considerable expense and little or no'revenue. Since the first announcement, southern amateurs have endeavoured to help by promisingl to give direct support,' and a meeting was'to have been held this week to discuss the position. It is possible that « the ' Dunedin difficulty will -do- good .by opening.-up the question of the .economic foundation of broadcasting. . The 'subject : \vas,'-of course, ■ discussed at. considerable length before business .-'started, at- all, but nobody had:, any practical experience, as to what was required, and trie position is probably very different now. .-,■ If • the people interested in the wireless .trade are satisfied to regard trio cost of broadcasting 'as part of their '"'overhead;':' that is their affair; but it. seems that the system has l( an essential weakness unless the. traders organise . the matter properly. "It "cannot be' expected to succeed if only a proportion of the traders carry the burden. Broadcasting" is first-class advertisin? for the-firms-who conduct it; but it is also a stimulus to the trade of other firms; and these, without the expense «>f the service to carry, can compete seriously in their"'charges for apparatus. This is, of ■'course, the strong argument in favour of the British method, which gives a subsidy by means of a royalty on broadcast reseivers, and parts thereof, ,to the firms which are members of the 8.8.0. This system also ■has defects; and it 'is,only by ( a studyof the advantages arid'" disadvantages of the methods used in various places that J a satisfactory solution can be arrived at. _The time is perhaps not yet ripe for it, but sooner or later the. wireless traders and the principal amateurs of the Dominion will have to put their heads together seriously, and in a good temper, and think the position out thoroughly. . . . ■