ON SHORT WAVES

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 112, 13 May 1937, Page 30

ON SHORT WAVES

EUROPE'S TRANSMITTERS

,7 Europe's^ short-wave, stations tanimit at' all -times, of the day and night; arid one-of:;-their great advantages is th6?fact*that, one can.'listen. to Berlin, Paris, Romte; or Moscow m bright sunshine at noon, a'"time when even lhe longwave-stations do not give troublefree -reception: - / .-"' Another great advantage of the European short-wavers is their programme arrangements." No national listeners have to be considered. The programmes are 7 therefore entirely. for abroad, the' "news bulletins are more outspoken;.'"and "there is no language difficulty, -as extensive use of English. is'>'rhade. v.- ?■*■■■-. 7 ■ ■''■■• :;'The oldest 'short-wave, broaacasting station in Europe must be .that owned by the Philips Company of Holland. After a long period ofy successful operation .it ;. discontinued for 'some years and was opened again' about two years ago, and, fortunately for all those who adihire"this pioneer, station's 'work, _it has': received a substantial ". financial working basis which permits Mr. Startz', the' eight-language announcer's voic'e,,to be.heard .regularly. .. .. ■„, MrV Startz "divides -his time between work in Eindhoven, where he deals with his. extensive fan .mail from' all parts' of the world (somebody even once.sent him a stuffed crocodile) and Hilversum, where the short-wave station's studios are situated. Hilversum is. just half an hour's train run from Amsterdam amd .is the Netherlands' broadcasting centre. ' Germany started comparatively late with short-wave broadcasting, but. it now;'has the most powerful and most extensive short-wave broadcasting station in Europe.' A shoal of high-powered . transmitters, their number.has never been officially, disclosed, operating on over a score of directional aerials, supply the whole world with a continuous:programme of some 56 hours a day.- This figure is arrived at by adding together the, time occupied by the.various individual programmes and does not in-, elude relays of the. .same programnie by.a' second transmitter. ; • The transmitters are out at Zeesen, a small village about a mile from Konigs-Wusterhausen, the cradle :of German; broadcasting, some twenty miles, from-Berlin. The studios are not. in the Berlin Broadcasting House, but in a separate building, some two hundred yards away, on the Adolf Hitler Platz; in the extreme West End of the city. Here one can see people emerging at .all times of the day and night from the brightly-illuminated entrance. . The German short-wave station has no fewer than twelve .permanent announcers.. All, of these are Germans, although most of them have acquired their knowledge of foreign languages abroad. •.■ -. ■ Afrikaans, Malay,' English,, German, Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese are among some of the languages covered by these men. Unlike English language broadcasts 7 from other ' European stations, the Zebsen 'announcers, can never be mistakerkfor EnglisTimen or Americans; They Speak, the language ..fluently,' but each of them has,some definite accent. One speaks with a curious mixture of, the English and American manner of pronunciation, another has a definite German accent, another again has a colonial accent with an occasional admixture of pure Oxford. Before the upheaval Spain- only had one short-wave station in Madrid. Nowadays there are large numbers of stations, some in Barcelona, others in or near Madrid, others at Seville, Burgos, etc. After midnight the very latest war reports c§n be heard from both sides, and some of the stations have the bulletins read by Englishmen. The Danish short-wave station mostly relays the ordinary Danish broadcasting programmes. Miss.Grete Otto and

her two male colleagues see to' the announcements. Occasionally there are special transmissions for Iceland and America.

Czechoslovakia is a comparative newcomer to the short-wave broadcasters. She started up a 30 kw. station in September, and reports show that it will be a great success.' The programmes are still experimental. .

Hungary broadcasts several time's a week on the short-waves, and one of the five.charming women announcers, who all speak English does the announcing. Gipsy music is one of the star features. Miss Gitta Natter, the announcer, learnt her English in a girls' school on the Isle of Wight, where she passed some time as an instructress of French.

She is of that tall, slim, blonde Hungarian type, which is a complete contrast from what one usually expects to find in Hungary. There are also a number of dark-haired and: black-eyed beauties. Take Miss Skublicz, Miss Natter's colleague, for instance, or Miss Filotas, who, however, has recently gone blonde, which suits her dark complexion and dark eyes even better. Belgrade, capital of. Yugoslavia, has recently, started a short-wave.station. It is owned and operated by the Government,, and; has. no ..connection,, .with the medium-wave, privately-owned stations. The programmes; apart from news bulletins in English, and: seven other languages, specialise - in Yugoslav folk and contemporary music. Important English visitors, are frequently interviewed at the microphone, so that listeners should , not be surprised ;to hear cultured English in its best form spoken on the Belgrade wave. Radio-Sofia,: the Bulgarian ' station which is shortly to obtain a strong -100 kw. medium-wave station, also -relays its programmes on the short-waves. Announcements are in Bulgarian and French, and there are also occasional English transmissions. Even the briefest survey of.European short-wave fare would be incomplete without a reference to Rome," 2RO, the' : famous, Italian, ; short-wave, station, which is at present busy doubling the number,.of transmitters to vie with French and German transmissions to overseas. English is prominently featured both for English .listeners and.for America. The famous Italian women announcers are usually too busy on the medium waves to work on-the shortwaves, as well, but a': number'-of a Ispecial staff see to the. interpretation l of" Italian -outlook-to. English-speaking listeners. 7 ;.'''..' ■'. '"../'