RADIO RECORD

Greymouth Evening Star, 13 April 1933, Page 10

RADIO RECORD

NOTES FOR LISTENERS-IN

( By

“Reception” )

RADIO MUSIC HALLS-

A FIGHT FOR ARTISTS A fight, as important and interesting as any which has taken place in the entertainment world, appears to be looming ahead as a result of the partial embargo now placed upon variety artists giving broadcast performances (writes Harold Conway, in the “Daily Mail”). The seeds of this fight were sown long ago—at the time, in fact, when two big forces began to push their ways forward simultaneously in the entertainment industry. For it was precisely at the period which witnessed the birth of radio variety that the great and plucky struggle was begun to restore the British music halls to the supreme pinnacle of popularity they had enjoyed for so long before the war. And ever since these two branches of variety began to develop along parallel lines it has been inevitable that the ensuing rivalry must sooner or lai er be brought to head. A preliminary skirmish a few years ago, when the 8.8. C. first showed a tendency to “raid” the ranks of the music hall performers for badly-needed talent, was allowed to die down. I But now that recent amalgamations I have brought SO per cent, of the music I halls in the country under unified con- | trol, the situation has changed—and j the many well-known variety stars ’ who have been accustomed to earning a comfortable side-income from appearances before the microphone will now have to obey the almost forgotten clause in their stage contracts which requires them to secure permission to broadcast, from their stage employers. That permission is unlikely to be given in any case where the music-hall management consider there is a danger of audiences being j “thinned” as a result of over-familiar- j ity with a popular artist’s act on the( radio. r

Now, wireless listeners cannot view a deadlock on this question with anything hut consternation —the big majority of them, that is, who want to hear good variety programmes and who have been patiently waiting for the 8.8. C. to provide such entertainment. For the vaudeville broadcasts are indifferent enough under present conditions. It is not only in the ranks of the. 8.8.C.’s own semi-repertory company of artists—among whom the genuine spirit of variety entertainment seems so sadly lacking—that one no-1 tices the low standard. Even some of I the best-known music-hall stage stars! .seem to lose much of their personality! directly they take part in a broadcast! production. The important fact re-' mains, however, that this latter class I of performers arc—with but few ex-j ccptions—the only artists who have bad even a partial measure of success in brightening up these well-intention-ed wireless “entertainments.” V/bat, then, docs the 8.8. C. intend to do about the threatened drastic re- i : striction upon their appearances be- i 1 fore the microphone? If the corpora-j ' tion is at all sensitive to the opinion' l

jof the public it serves it must he i realised that unless broadcast variety , shows are to die a natural death from sheer mediocrity the whole scope of such performances must be extended rather than restricted. It is for that reason that I hope the corporation will not adhere to the attitude of “let the artists fight their own battles with the music-hall managements.” Any artist of standing., faced with the necessity of choosing between occasional microphone appearances and regular employment in the theatres of a large and powerful circuit, must inevitably decide upon the latter. Equally, I hope that the variety organisation in question will not maintain its present attitude of “let the 8.8. C. make the first move; they have everything to gain from us.” The variety managements feel —with a certain amount of justification, I will j admit —that they themselves have 1 ! done much in working up the per-i ! scnalities of comedians and singers, I and in suggesting new acts to them. • Why, they ask, should these self-same i artists and their acts be taken from i i them by a rival entertainments organi isation? But I suggest to these thea- j lire managements, and to Mr. George! Black, the wizard who directs their i policies, that a further seeing view ! should be taken; that the mainten-j ance, or promotion, if you like, of a j friendly but active rivalry between I l the two spheres of variety entertain-1 ment will do more than anything else I to intensify its present popularity. As I a. corollory a denial to the 8.8. C of | access to first-class variety talent is bound to result in future broadcast programmes of such mediocre quality that there will be a danger of the public becoming tired of this class of. entertainment as a whole. I am confident that it is possible for both sides to come to some practical agreement whereby stage artists should be able to do their share in the efforts to provide wireless audiences with better variety shows —not, of course, duplicating their stage material, but impressing their personal!- ( ties “on the air,” with sufficient effect to whet listeners’ appetites for more at close quarters. And, finally, may I suggest to the 8.8. C. that, having! ; come to some such agreement, they j ■ should at once take the most impor-1 t tant step of all —the engaging, for the I t production of their variety shows, of 1 j

some expert or experts with first-hand j knowledge and experience of the conditions which go to tho building up j of the genuine variety atmosphere? ■ A producer who has studied the re-1 actions of large audiences to various , types of variety acts will be more 1 valuable in the broadcasting studios' than an entire army of star names• and technical experts. '

ACCUMULATOR HINT. USE OF HOME-MADE PLUG During the last year or so the design.-, of accumulators have been wonderfully improved, and for those who ovvn one of the modern types this hint will be of no value. There must

be many readers, though, who still have the old accumulators in use, and to those the following remarks may be of interest. The rubber stopper fitted to the old type of battery is surely a most , elusive thing. You take the accumulator to the charging station with the stopper in place, but when it is returned you are told it has been mislaid. Perhaps you replace it with a small cork and, having drilled a hole to act as an air vent, you think your trouble solved until you take it out again to be charged. What a mess, the hole has become blocked and the acid has frothed up and overflowed! To prevent this sort of thing occuring, call into the local garage and buy a piece of H.T. sparking plugcable. Cut half an inch off and withdraw the centre wires. This leaves a i nice clean hole and will be found to i act quite suitably as a vent plug. CONFUSING TERMS It is rather curious how the terras “high resistance” and “low resistance” 1 have come into use with regard to loudspeaker windings. They are often confusing to beginners and are! liable to create the impression that j the resistance itself is a desirable fac-1 tor. J If that were the case, a low-resist- i ance speaker could be converted into ! a high-resistance one by the very sim-' pie process of inserting an external ■ high resistance in series with the loud- i speaker windings. This, of course, ’ would not be at all the same thing as i a high-resistance winding. ! The point is, as I mentioned above, J that if you have already a high im-{ pedance or resistance in the circuit in-! to which the loudspeaker is to be connected, so that the resistance of the' speaker makes very little difference to ’ the electrical conditions in that circuit, then you can use a large number of windings, and so to that extent build up the sensitivity of the speaker. Bear in mind always that the actual resistance to the speaker is only incidental to the extra windings.

UNKNOWN WIRELESS PIONEER Another wireless pioneer, unknown to the wider world, has passed on. The world had scarcely heard of Mr. George S. Kemp, -who has died at Southampton at seventy-five, but Senatcre Marconi and many oilier famous people knew of the part he played in the development of wireless. lie was a man of Kent, born at Queensborough, ami was the first Englishman to help Marconi in demonstrating his svstein before our Post Office officials in 1896, After he left the Navy Mr. Kemp became laboratory assistant to Sir William Preece, the famous Post Office engineer, who did so much for telegraphy and wireless, and it was Sir William who detailed Mr. Kemp to heln Marconi with his demonstrations.

| Mr. Kemp remained with Marconi I and helped him with hundreds of his : experiments in the pioneering days, j and until his death he was associated ' with the Marconi Company. i Not long ago in an interesting talk ! with this grand old man of wireless, i he spoke with obvious pride of Mari coni’s triumphs and of the part he bad i been privileged to play. He told of the experimental station established at The Needles in 1896, and of another that was fitted up in a tiny basement near Bournemouth Pier. Experimental transmissions took place between these two stations, hut it soon became apparent that the position at Bournemouth was unsuitable. So Marconi and bis first assistant de-

j mded to move their apparatus to the 1 Haven Hotel at Parkstone. , in 1S!)S ' aiKl from then un.ll 1.. 1., (lie Parkstone station was in regular use for experimental purposes, and many of the greatest wireless pioDiems were solved i n that small hoH not until l->2(> that the station was finally dismantled. Mr. Kemp had copious notes of the work at the Haven, the station which played so groat a part in the development of wireless. It was there that Marconi gathered round him a small band of engineers many of whom grew up with the Marconi Company | and became its leading experts.