B CLASS BROADCASTS

Hawera Star, Volume LIV, 23 August 1935, Page 8

B CLASS BROADCASTS

USE OF RECORDED ITEMS. • ' NO REPRESENTATIONS (MADE. Asked was being given by the Government to the difficulties of B class broadcasting stations in regard to performing rights and copyright in connection with gramophone records, the PostmasterGeneral (the Hon. Adam Hamilton) said that he had not yet gone into the question as he had been expecting representations to be made on behalf of the B iclass stations, and none had been made. If a deputation waited on him he would give the fullest consideration to any questions it might raise. “The whole case is a question of what is an economic broadcasting service, ” said Mr Hamilton. “There are about twenty B stations and, apart from six or seven that the Broadcasting Board subsidises, they are in the anomalous position of having no revenue and no rights. We must consider how many stations New Zealand can afford and we must guard against overcrowding. “Then there is the question of coverage,’’ t*he Minister continued. “We had a commission to decide how many stations -were needed, and it is the authority, not the Minister -or the Broadcasting Board. “I am sure that our policy is the best one for New Zealand. It is infinitely preferable to the commercialised systems of Australia and America,” the Minister concluded.