USE AND BEAUTY

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 131, 30 November 1933, Page 23

USE AND BEAUTY

Outlining the ideajs'of the Australian Broadcasting Commission, the chairman' (Mr.'C. Lloyd Jones) said recently that the'aim of "the Commission was to combine, the, two.major objects of performing a national service and providing a national entertainment.

"To this end," he said,"the Commission 'present's the best' of whatever ia both suitable and available, so that as far as_ possible thfe service may be entertaining and the entertainment useful, - The Commission has ta bear in tnin'd that it is under a moral obligation to raise the taste and improve the culture of the community, to: spread knowledge, encourage education, and foster the best ideals of our Christian civilisation. ' '

At the same time it'must not be blind to the fact that these things cannot be forced on an. unwilling audience, so it must set out to capture the imagination which; it cannot coerce and intrigue .the interest which, it cannot compel. ■ "Further, it is controlling a business

which must, first pay its way by the gaining and holding of licensed listeners; its potential influence and its potential quality depend almost entirely on the number of its listeners and the amount of its revenue. These are won by tlxs entertainment value of its programmes, so that the value of broadcasting as a national utility depends first on its efficiency as a national entertainment."