WEAKNESSES IN NEW ZEALAND RADIO

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22464, 20 October 1947, Page 4

WEAKNESSES IN NEW ZEALAND RADIO

ALTHOUGH the Parliamentary Opposition’s barrage of criticism against the National Broadcasting Service was hardly justified right down to the last detail, it at least reflected a measure of public discontent with New Zealand radio offerings. At the head of the service there is undoubted organising talent; there also appears to be a genuine desire to attain the utmost efficiency in pleasing the people. Yet there is something wrong—something that is hard to define. It may be the general effect of the cold, dead hand of the State.

In the past, at any rate, there has been a negative ambition on the part of the authorities to protect the ears of radio listeners from anything controversial other than the political arguments bellowed forth from Parliament itself. It may be that this particular position will improve with the promised development of the “open forum” method of handling subjects which lend themselves to the expression of differences of opinion. In this respect the British Broadcasting Corporation is imparting much life and colour to its programmes. Scientific and philosophical debates are proving very popular while, to the entertainment of listeners, leading writers and artists are allowed to argue with considerable persistence. It is a healthy development, and it is to be hoped that the N.B.S. policy will follow somewhat similar lines.

For the rest, there are -weaknesses in the New Zealand variety programmes and in the standard of announcing. The Minister of Broadcasting, Mr. Jones, has referred to the difficulty of pleasing all tastes. That difficulty is admitted. But surely it would be preferable to seek the variety from evening to evening instead from item to item on any one evening. With something new coming over the air every quarter of an hour or every half-hour at the most, listeners are being given a bewildering miscellany which certainly does not soothe the person who wishes to relax in comfort after a day’s work. The theme programme is more likely to win favour—the sort of thing a listener can settle down to and enjoy for the better part of two hours. For example, an hour and a half of Gilbert and Sullivan, or of any opera, light opera, or musical comedy can be eminently satisfying. Also, longish plays in preference to quarter-hour serial snippets would be welcome. Nobody really wants to listen to the radio every night in the week. Most people prefer to relax once or twice a week under the influence of fare they feel sure they will enjoy. .... A school for radio announcers is almost essential. The pedantic style of many New Zealand professional broadcasters is irritating. The gift of expression and light and shade in enunciation is not in them. Words simply ooze forth in a dreadful monotone which makes one feel with an element of shame that there is no such thing as an individualistic New Zealand version of the mother tongue.