RADIO RECORD

Greymouth Evening Star, 23 July 1936, Page 4

RADIO RECORD

NOTES FOR LISTENERS-IN

(By

“Reception”)

OLYMPIC GAMES.

BROADCA ST I NG ARRAN GEMENTS

Some indications of the importance of the 1936 Olympic Games to be held in Berlin shortly as viewed by the German authorities is gleaned from the extraordinary technical arrangements lor broadcasting being carried out by the German Broadcasting Company i writes IL N. Shaw, in ‘Wireless Weekly’).

it is reckoned that eye-witness commentaries by wireless will be desired by at least 35 countries outside of Germany. As events will lie proceeding simultaneously in practically all parts of the sports grounds with many countries represented directly by several reporters, this wil] means an enormous demand to be met by broadcasting facilities.

It has therefore been arranged for 30 direct transmissions and 38 recording installations to be in operation over the period, and besides that to have in reserve 20 transmitter cars with complete recording outfits. At the main arena there will be 20 speakers’ cabins with 5 to 10 microphones, in addition to the covered-in lobby commanding a view to the 10-metre winning post. In the umpires’ lobby there will be 12 microphones distributed over four vantage points overlooking the arena.

The main amplifier station, into which all microphone connections converge. is situated in the tunnel basement of the stadium. The assembly ground will be furnished with speaking facilities for 10 reporters, and further facilities for five reporters each are provided on every platform of both tiie outlook towers (100 ft high) 1 at the eastern ends of the grounds, from the swimming stadium it will be possible to give 20 eye-witness reports simultaneously. At the hockey stadium up to 15 reports will be able to be transmitted simultaneously. Similar arrangements have been made at the basketball field and sports forum house, whilst at the cycling track there will be speaking facilities for 10 radio speakers. For the rowing fixtures at Grunau, reports can be given at the same time by seven foreign speakers. For the German representatives there has been provided a “conference connect ion. ’’ They will be posted on the starting barge, on the 500-metre barge, on a 10-metre high, wooden staging at the 1,000-metre line, on a landing stage at the 1,500-metre line, and on the roof of the grandstand opposite the winning post. A special boat following the events will also be equipped with a powerful short wave transmitter.

Microphones are also installed on the football and handball fields. Al Die opening of the festival performance. facilities have been provided for JU radio reporters, and details will be broadcast Io every country participating in the Games. For the reception of the reception to be given by Herr Hitler before the opening of the Games, no less than 15 transmissions have been arranged.

THE 8.8.C.’s PART The 8.8. C. will give a series of broadcasts of the games, and through precise details remain to be fixed, arrangements are already well under way. It is at present the intention of the outside broadcasting department io broadcast several evening bulletins from Berlin. These will include three or four of the principal track events, such as the 100-metres race, one or more swimming and rowing events, and perhaps some boxing. But as the lists of entries for the various ■. vents are not at present available, it is impossible precisely to indicate which events will prove of most interest to listeners. No special sporting commentators will be sent out from Home on behalf of the 8.8. C. When it is known who will be going to the (lames, an attempt will be made Io select experts on the various sports and to give them some instruction in microphone technique before they leave for Germany. WIRELESS AND BOOKS A novelist may change his mind. Sinclair Lewis apparently has done just that in regard to radio’s effect on the sale of books, says the New York ‘•Tinies.” Recently, in an address to the American Booksellers’ Association, he scorned "radio culture” and prophesied that no form of radio, television included, ever would threaten the- demand for good books. Only last winter, writing in the Yale “Literary Magazine,” he blamed radio for the slump in book sales. “Many novels which fifteen years ago would have sold 50,000 copies sold only 10,000 copies in 1935,” he wrote. “One might almost declare that books do not sell any more in this country. The movie, automobile, roadhouse, and, most of all, the radio, are enemies of magazine reading, book reading, and homicidally the enemies of book buying.” Speaking to the American Booksellers’ Association, he said:

“I do not believe that anything will altogether supplant the old-fashioned printed book, which has changed so very little since Gutenburg finished printing the first book, a Bible, back in 1455. I do not believe that any nimble television apparatus, any series of phonograph records, any ingenious microscopic gadget whereby you can carry the entire works of Balzac in your cigarette case, will ever take the place of books, just as we know them.” Mr. Lewis agreed that people listen to the radio and go to the motion pictures instead of reading books, but he believes “there are plenty of other Cossacks on our trail, the automobile, the bridge table, and night clubs.” “I do not believe,” he continued,

“that the public will always be completely satisfied with the glaring screen, or that they will forever prefer the unctuous verbal caresses of. radio announcers.” Booth Tarkington, noted novelist.,* recently predicted that the novel and 1 the poem may become extinct in 2001 years, JOO years, or in much less time. “Radio and the talking pictures,” hef said, “already have displaced books] in many homes, and television—near] the threshold of American homes now —will injure the popularity of books.”

TELEVISION PROGRESS ABROAD September is now generally given as the date when public programmes from the 8.8.C.'s new television station at Alexandra. Palace, will start, after about a month of experimental work (says (he London “Observer”). The 8.8. C. is not yet. in a position to make a definite- statement, but those whose information is usually reliable say that there is little hope of a real start before the early autumn. Mr. Gerald Cock, the 8.8. C. Director of Television, has now gathered round him a staff approaching a hundred in strength, including two women announcers and several producers, assistant producers, stage managers, musical directors, and film camera directors of very considerable experience in their own lines.

Among his many activities Mr. Cock has found time to ■write the scenario for, and assist in, the production of a film -with the title “Television Comes to London.” This will be a pictorial history of the vast task of getting London’s high definition station in working order, ft is timed to run about twenty minutes, and, besides- being shown as part of the initial television programmes, it may be released to cinemas all over the country. The Radio Corporation of America expects to start experimental transmission on a wavelength of about six metres this month from the top of Empire State Building. The system will use 343 lines with interlaced scanning, as compared with the 405 lines, interlaced scanning, system to be used on the Marconi-E.M.I. apparatus at Alexandra Palace which is to be used week by week alternatively with the Baird 240 line system. The aerial to be used on top of the Empire State Building is similar to that at the Alexandra Palace. It looks something like a turnstile, and this type of radiator is becoming known by that homely name. If the American system is a success the R.C.A. hopes to start a regular service towards the end of 1937.

In Germany programmes are sent out for two hours each evening, but so far the only receivers available have been those put up by the German Post Office and some others, not more than about seventy in all, in semi-public buildings. The German authorities have refused to allow the trade to sell receivers until they have decided on a policy that is likely to remain unchanged for some years.

Preparations for permanent services are also being made in Australia and in India. In India the Nizam of Hyderabad is planning to install a medium definition transmitter, which will be the first in the sub-continent.

The French official transmissions from the Eiffel Tower have been popular and havo been adversely criticised as to both definition and programme matter. The French authorities are apparently awaiting further developments in Germany and in England before they make changes that will give them a system of real programme value.

8.8. C. “POMPOSITY” Not all writers consider the 8.8. C. a model broadcasting organisation. Here is what a writer in the London 'Daily Mail' has to say about the corporation: “The only way effectively to treat the amazing outlook of the 8.8. C. hierarchy and their utter aloofness from such mundane matters as co-operation with the public is to laugh them out of it. Having, as a corporate body, no sense of humour themselves, they do not understand any listener who refuses to take them seriously. If the 8.8. C. officials would only forget their pomposity for u- moment, scrap all this mania for administration, and frankly announce that they realise they are put in their jobs for the sole purpose of doing what is most wanted by the fellows who pay for front seats —namely, ourselves —we might get a move on.”

RADIO IN INDIA Experts of the Indian State Broadcasting Service who have been studying the reaction of the poorest villagers to the programmes specially transmitted from Delhi have had some amusing experiences. Jn contrast with }£ngland’s millions of receiving sets among a much smaller population, India has only 28,000. This represents a 50 per cent, annual increase in the past three years, but broadcasting to the more remote villages is still in its experimental infancy.

When the Delhi studio was opened a few months ago it was decided to give one communal receiving set to each of five villages in the Gurgaon district of the Punjab, and watch the result of one hour's daily mixture of instructive talks and entertainment. The sets had to be entrusted to those villagers who seemed the most competent to handle them. This] promptly started personal feuds aud jealousies. At one place the set was given to the Zaildar —a petty local! official. The holy man and the school! authorities of the village at once made separate rival claims, and the rival supporters of the Zaildar and the holy man threatened armed resistance if any attempt were made to move the set to the school.

It another village the set was placed in charge of the local moneylender, who is always an important dignitary. The investigators found, however, that he used it for the exclusive entertainment of his own household, and switched it off if people gathered outside his house to hear it. In a third case it was found that the village boasted a gramophone with a single needle, which was preferred to wireless. The villagers asked the broadcasting officials for another needle, as their only one was tired after months or years of use.