The Northern Advocate Daily “NORTHLAND FIRST” TUESDAY, JANUARY 31, 1939. Radio in New Zealand

Northern Advocate, 31 January 1939, Page 4

The Northern Advocate Daily “NORTHLAND FIRST”

TUESDAY, JANUARY 31, 1939. Radio in New Zealand

Registered for transmission through the post as a Newspaper

A FURTHER increase in radio licenses has been announced with considerable gratification by the Postmaster-General, the Hon. F. Jones. The increase for 1939 was more than 12 per cent. The figure is now extremely high, so that there can be comparatively few homes without the boon of radio a boon, however, that is often sadly misused, and may actually debase public taste and pervert its opinions, instead of bringing culture and enlightenment. -

The increasing interest in radio in New\Zealand will perhaps lead to the claim that listeners generally are satisfied with programmes, and with what is being done for them, but this argument can be countered with the observation that radio, like the indtbr car, is a modern refinement which is gradually permeating the everyday life of the world. The number of radio licensed must be increasing rapidly in every ‘ country and particularly in such countries as New Zealand, where there is high spending power among all classes,

A dispassionate survey of the programmes offered through the various stations in New Zealand does not suggest that they are bad, but it cannot be claimed that they are outstandingly good or even fresh and original. Ranging from the mass of imported material broadcast from the commercial stations, which make little attempt to elevate the standards of taste among their listeners, the programmes go to the other extreme in the dreary and unenterprising technique which is now expected almost as a matter of course from the main Y A stations.

These, for over three years now, have been under the direction of Professor J. Shelley, wlio was plucked from an academic post at a very high salary to inaugurate a new era in New Zealand radio, but so far only the professor’s warmest admirers, or those who participate in the largesse distributed in the form of fees to those who produce and act in the numerous plays featured by these stations, would claim'that he has been outstandingly successful.

Had a campaign been initiated to drive listeners to the commercial stations, it could; not have been more effective than in the manner in which the Y A stations cling to an antiquated style of presentation, and, with few notable variations, continue to plod unimaginatively along their old familiar path.

Surely it should be possible to combine, in the Y A stations, some of those excellent ideals so dear to the director’s heart, with a more refreshing note, and with a greater spirit of enterprise.

Surely, too, if the commercial stations are as prosperous as Mr. C. (i. Scrimgeour says they are, and if the increasing number if licenses is yielding an enormous and growing revenue, it should be possible to make a substantial reduction in the licensee fee.

Such a course would'appeal to listeners far more than the publication of magazines or the erection of elaborate and ostentatious buildings..