NOT GOOD ENOUGH

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 39, 16 February 1933, Page 19

NOT GOOD ENOUGH

SYDNEY CHORAL SOCIETIES

BROADCAST BAN

(From Our Own. Correspondent.) SYDNEY, February 9. The Australian Broadcasting Commission" has delivered an ultimatum to the choral 'societies of .Sydney whose performances it has been in tho habit of relaying throughout the national network of stations. The Commission has told them that until they improve the I standard of their performances they will not again be put over the air. If | the societies care' t<v put their house i. in. order, as it. were, the Commission will be preparod to consider their claims, but until there is a substantial improvement the concerts will not be broadcast. Altogether five organisations in Sydney come under the ban, and as they relied on their broadcast fees to a very large extent their future is in .jeopardy. They may even go out of existence, for the support given to .them by the public iii tho way of attendances ianot likely to be .ufficient to enable them to carry on. The deficiency in choral music in the broadcast programmes will be filled by the Commission, which is now organising a choir on an elaborate scale. ' Tha action of the Commission has caused an outcry among the societies, but the Commission appears to be adamant and declares that it has a definite duty to the public. That duty is said to be the provision of programmes of a high standard. Of course, the Commission endeavours to cater for all tastes, and the whole of its programmes are not of a "high-brow" character. The Commission believes, however, that if it promises the public a programme of choral music that programme must be of the very best. In an official statement it is said that the standard of tho various choirs in Sydney is lamentably low, and for that reason they will not leeeive further engagements. It is not a quostion of policy, but of keeping faith with the listeners. The Commission will be prepared to consider every application on its merits, but all tho societies concerned can rost assured that they will not bo put over the air until their standard is considerably higher than it is at present. Even tiie choir of the Conservatorium has come under tho ban. The Eoyel Apollo Club and the "Welsh Male Choir are others affeete.d. Officers of these concerns regret the action of the Commission and say that the - Commission should subsidise the Societies and so improve the standard in that way. Tho Commission has replied that it has already been subsidising them by paying them for tho broadcasts, but that, the contributions have not stemmed the tide of deterioration. There does not appear to bo much sympathy on th 0 part of the general public with the choirs concerned, but there is satisfaction at tbe evidence ofthG Commission's interest in providing programmes of quality.