RADIO BOON

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 46, 24 February 1937, Page 11

RADIO BOON

CANADIAN ARCTIC

WORKING AS TELEGRAPH

(From "The Post's" Representative.) VANCOUVER, January 12.

Loneliness in the Arctic—theme of author, artist, and poet—where contact with civilisation is practicable but once a year, by visits from the Canadian Government steamer Nascopie, from the east, and an itinerant Hudson's Bay Company vessel from the west, has at last been cured by radio.

This latest conquest of the White Silence, beyond the purview of the law of God and man, was begun by a British naval officer, member of an expedition based at Nain, Labrador, who asked the manager of a broadcasting station at Halifax whether he would relay messages to its members. The officer who was consulted sought the concurrence of his superiors at Ottawa, and the Radio Commission devised a weekly service that has become perhaps the most unique in the annals of broadcasting.

Amid the clamour of men and dogs on the rim of the farthest North, just now, during the long night, is heard a voice, calling from Toronto, centre of the Canadian radio system, relaying messages from the families of Mounted Police, traders, trappers, prospectors, missionaries, and natives. Messages that in less severe climes, would be read only by the recipient of a telegram or letter. But privacy is readily sacrificed, in the knowledge that,, as results 'show, the message is received by the person for whom it is intended. The response to the commission's gesture was immediate, and enthusiastic to a degree. Messages for denizens of the Arctic poured in from all parts of Canada, and Newfoundland, later from the United States, the United Kingdom—as far distant as New Zealand. During the first winter, between November and May, weekly broadcasts carried 1754 messages; it is expected that, during the present winter, 11,000 messages will be flashed across the ether. EFFECTIVENESS OF SERVICE. In order to test reception, the Government of Canada instructed its officers to deliver copies of these radio messages on the forward voyage of the Nascopie, and to pick up replies on her return. From as remote as Ellesmere Land, replies indicated that the service was 75 per cent, effective. Now, almost every individual resident of the Arctic has a radio. A vast audience, in temperate climes, times in at midnight, and endeavours to share, in the daily routine of the Frozen North. Listening at one's radio,' one is thrilled to hear messages to each of the three Mounties at Craig Harbour, the nearest white settlement to the North Pole. One is the father of twin sons, born since he left for this threeyear tour of duty on the roof of the world. Few weekends pass without a message for the most honoured of Eskimos, Ungulalik, decorated by the late King George with his Jubilee medal. From the messages sent to the more remote Western Arctic —the Northwest Passage has been made only once, in 1927—0ne wonders if. somebody remembers the Englishman, on the shore of the Polar Sea. five hundred miles east of the mouth of the mighty M5,-.kenzie, who receives one ma'l a year, and reads a London daily newspaper each day till the next mail arrives. We hope so,