BROADCASTING

Evening Star, Issue 20358, 14 December 1929, Page 22

BROADCASTING

PRIVATE STATIONS’ GRIEVANCE A Menage in new regulation At present owners of wireless setsdn Dunedin have a wide variety of choice as to locally broadcast programmes. It now appears possible that this choice will be pruned hard. The' private broadcasting stations depend largely on gramophone records furnished by those firms soiling them, these latter finding in this medium an excellent form of advertising. If, however, the reproduction of each disc were not accompanied by an announcement of its origin, etc., the value of the advertisement would be destroyed, and the presumption is that they would cease to be available for broadcasting. The problem that would then face the private broadcasting stations would be how to. carry on without their staple raw material. , The following letter from the secretary of the Post and Telegraph Department was the first inkling the private broadcasting stations received of the proposed alteration of the regulations under which they work:— General Post Office, Wellington, 3rd December, 1929. The Manager. ■ Radio Service, Ltd., 243 Macandrew road, Dunedin. Dear sir,—l teg to refer to regulation 30 of the broadcasting regulations, and, *by direction, to inform you of an amendment thereto which will shortly be effected. The present regulation reads as follows: — Regulation 30.—At the commencement of each item of a broadcasting programme the operator shall announce the call signal of _ the broadcasting station; and, in addition thereto, may announce the full name and address of tho station, and make ' brief remarks relevant to the matter about to be broadcast _ ' _ A private broadcasting station will bo required, under the hew regulation, to limit station announcements to the call signal of the station, and will be permitted to broadcast the name of the licensee or his business only at the beginning and end of a programme. At present many stations repeatedly draw attention throughout a programme to the business of the licensee or of those responsible for the programme, and thus secure valuable trade advertisements. This places non-broadcasting firms in similar lines of business at a great disadvantage, and some are seeking equal privileges by applying for broadcasting licenses. Owing to the limited number of radio channels available, it has become apparent that tho licensing of many additional stations will create an impossible position. It is deemed opportune, therefore, in the interests of the business community generally to take action in the direction outlined. Due notice will be gif%n of the coming into force of the new order.—Yonrs faithfully, G. M'Namara. Secretary.

WHAT THIS IMPLIES On behalf of the private broadcasting stations the following protest has been submitted to ns;— “The situation in Otago is that there are four private broadcasting stations in Dunedin—4ZM, 4ZL, 4ZO, and 4ZB —and a fifth one, 4ZI, at InvercaVgili. These five stations are providing a supplementary service to that of the Broadcasting Company’s station 4YA, and judging from the reports, both written and verbal, which the stations are receiving after each programme they are providing far better service to the listeners in every way than the Broadcasting Company is doing. These stations provide a service between them from 10 a.m. until 3 p.rn. on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday; from 3 p.m. until 6 p.m. on Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays; and they also provide evening programmes from 7.30 or 8 p.m. until 10 or 11 p.m. seven days of the week. “The programmes broadcast mostly consist of selected recordings by worldfamous artists, and all listeners .we think wilP agree that they are presented in a better manner and with less distortion and more tone than similar programmes submitted by the Broadcasting Company stations. Mr M‘Namara says in his letter; ‘ Many stations repeatedly draw attention throughout a programme to the business of the licensee or of those responsible for the programme.’ In this we think that he is making an error, as all the Dunedin stations limit this class of announcement to not more than fifteen..seconds once each twenty minutes. This is the standard time for such announcements as used in the United States, which is the home of ‘ Sponsored Radio Programmes.’ “ Mr M‘Namara excuses himself for the making of the new regulation by stating that more business firms are applying for licenses to broadcast, and that owing to the limited number of radio channels available the licensing of more stations will create an impossible position. In making this statement Mr M'Namara shows_ plainly that his technical information is not up to scratch. There are ninety-five distinct channels available in the broadcast band, and so far in New Zealand we only have approximately sixteen stations using thirteen channels. This leaves eighty-two channels available for use by further stations, and in addition the number of channels available during daylight hours may bo extended to at least three times as many' without causing any interference. This is borne out fully by the fact that in the United States alone there are approximately 760 stations operating part and full time on the same ninety-five channels, and besides there are quite a few stations in Canada, Mexico, and Cuba who also use some of the ninetyfive channels. The people of New Zealand are beginning to find out, as they Have already done in other countries, that their radio, service does not come from stations 500 or 2,000 miles away, but that it comes from the nearby stations within whose service area they reside, and from which stations they can expect to get good programmes free from any trace of static or local interference at any time of the day .or of the evening, “The Radio Broadcasting Company of New Zealand operates four stations, one in each main centre, and derives its income of £53,700 from the licenses of the listeners-in, who number at the present time 43,000. This company has repeatedly claimed that it is supplying as good a service ns is possible with its present income. It also claims that this income is rot rufficient to allow it to extend the service, and although several people have endeavoured to get it to publish its palanco sheet, it has refrained from doing so up to the present.

“ The ' B ’ stations are supplementing the company’s service with sponsored programmes, and they are not getting a penny piece for their trouble, either from the Government, the com-.

pany, or the listeners. The Broadcasting Company approached the Post and Telegraph Department lately with representations that the quality of 4YA in particular would be very much improved if allowed to transmit at 306 metres, the Christchurch station 3YA then going up to 463 metres. Is this proposed so that the company can claim that its powerful station, 4YA, is being interfered with by the four lowpowered Dunedin ‘B ’ stations ? The letter from Mr M'Namara indicates another mode of trying to shut up the ‘ B ’ stations.

“ The Post and Telegraph Department should allow the listeners-in to nominate to which group of stationstheir license fees are to be paid. The listeners-in should be the people who decide what sort of broadcasting service they receive; whether it is to be provided by a broadcasting company which is subsidised, or by other stations, by means of sponsored programmes, etc. Yet, Mr M'Namara thinks that he should be able to alter the regulations so that listeners shall have no choice. Are the heads of Government departments going to be allowed to govern the country by ‘ Orders in Council?. - ”