EMPIRE WIRELESS

Evening Star, Issue 20989, 31 December 1931, Page 9

EMPIRE WIRELESS

BRITISH BROADCASTING CORPORATION • NEW STATION AT DAVENTRY (British Official Wireless.) Press Association —By Telegraph—Copyright. RUGBY, December 29. The new Empire broadcasting station which the British Broadcasting Corporation is erecting at Daventry will comprise two transmitters, each capable of working on a number of wave lengths, so that various parts of the Empire will be reached at times suitable for local reception. It is expected that the station will he available for use in a year’s time. In a review of tlio_ year’s work the Broadcasting Corporation mentions that its stations transmitted for nearly 68,000 hours, and the percentage of breakdown time was only .03. An interesting experiment in testing the suitability for broadcasting purposes of ultra-short waves will shortly be made in conjunction with Marconis._ A special transmitter, using waves in a 6.5 to 8 metro wave band, is being installed at Broadcasting House, the huge new headquarters to which the corporation’s activities are gradually being transferred from Savoy Hill. The King has approved of tho reappointment of Lord Gainford as vicechairman of the British Broadcasting Corporation, and of Viscountess Snowden and Dr Montague Rendall as governors for a period of one year. The King has also approved of the appointment of Mr Harold Brown to be governor for a period of five years. Sir Brown, who takes the place vacated by Sir Gordon Nairne (retired), has had wide commercial and financial experience. THE IMPERIAL VIEWPOINT The British Broadcasting Corporation has announced that a new station is to he ereced at Daventry from which will be broadcast programmes to which audiences all over tho Lmpiro will bo able to listen. ' For some time, the corporation has been in consultation with Government departments concerned, and the subject was discussed with the last Imperial and Colonial Conferences. Difficulties of financing such a service on a permanent basis have so far postponed the development of tho experimental service from Chelmsford, hut tho need in the Imperial sense, and the strong desire expressed from all parts or the Empire, in particular from the Crown colonies, has determined the corporation to proceed without further delav. ‘The object will he to get as many listeners as possible in all parts' of the Empire to a programme from the Home Country at hours when it is most convenient for them. , Details ot the times of operation will depend upon the results of experiment and upon the demand. . . Technical arrangements include the use of several wave-lengths, which will be chosen so as to provide the best S;ion under the varying conditions obtain in the dominions and colonies. , ... , In the outline of tho plan submitted to the Imperial Conference it was suggested that there should be one hour nf broadcasting between 10 a.m. and 12 noon (British time) for an evening programme to Australia and New ZeaIt is estimated that the , new station, construction of which is to begin soon, will cost £40,000. Its, maintenance and programme service will cost another £42,000 a year. NEWS SERVICE.

The ‘Daily Telegraph’ maintains that the nows service from the Imperial point of view is of higher value than the entertainment. • “Lonely settlors and remote exiles will bo able to get one, two, or three bulletins of homo news per day, and they will get the nows direct without its taking on another colour from translation and transmission through a nonBritish source. Such a service will act automatically as trade propaganda; hut that is subsidiary to the main object of providing trustworthy British news and good British entertainment to every Briton in whatever corner of the Empire he may, happen to dwell.” “It is not only an important enterprise in itself,” says the ‘ NewsChronicle,’ “ but it marks —or, at any rate, foreshadows-f-the beginnings of a new era in news'**Hstribution. It has long been evident that a better knowledge of the affairs of the Empire and of their own place in it was urgently desirable, both in India and in the Crown colonies, which the new service is designed especially to serve; _ and in so far as it successfully achieves this end the experiment will be really valuable.” GOSPEL OP SWEETNESS. The ‘ Morning Post ’ suggests that we might take a lesson from Russia, which specialises in propaganda and broadcasts its praise of Communism and the Five Year Plan to receivers placed in every village hall. In India at present there is no broadcasting system, and Daventry might create and supply the want, with the co-operation of the Government of India. If wo desire to preserve and defend our Empire wa must not be content with antiquated weapons. The Soviet Government produces cinema films calculated to fill the Chinese breast with hate of every European. We should be able to find appropriate replies, and a British gospel of sweetness and light on the shortwave length might penetrate tho dark heart of Asia.