WIRELESS NOTES

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXVI, 18 June 1932, Page 4

WIRELESS NOTES

AUSTRALIAN FEDERATION THE COPYRIGHT POSITION INTERESTING INFORMATION Arising out of a letter sent to Australia by Mr H. Booth, of Dunedin, stating that it was considered by many listeners here that the Australian B stations did not announce their call signs frequently enough, thus keeping New Zealand listeners in suspense too long, the secretary of the Australian Federation of Broadcasting Stations, Mr G. L. Chilvers, has promised to look into the matter. With his reply Mr Chilvers enclosed much valuable information regarding broadcasting in Australia, and so far as is known the enclosed federation’s handbook on the constitution of the federation, wireless regulations, and copyright matters, along with a Bill for an Act relating to broadcasting are the only copies in New Zealand.

The Bill, dated 9th March, 1932, provides for the establishment and constitution of an Australian Broadcasting Commission, and details its powers and functions. Finance is fully covered, and the technical services to be provided by tlie commission’s expense, the power to require the commission to refrain from broadcasting any matter, and tho control of broadcasting in, cases of emergency. The handbook of (lie federation sets out the policy adopted by that body and the regulations formed. Copyright matters are also included. Repeated attempts by the secretary to obtain precise information concerning the extent of copyright in the music which is broadcast from gramophone records by members of the federation have met with only partial success. Nevertheless, as a result of the efforts made the extent of the “terra incognita” has been very much narrowed. Somewhat lengthy correspondence between the secretary and the Australian and New Zealand Performing Right Association, Nicholson and Co., and J. G. Williamson Ltd. took place, and the very condensed result seems to be that the rights of the three parties are together sufficiently wide to justify broadcasting with confidence within limitations. Under license from the A.P.R.A., stations are permitted to broadcast any ,music over which the A.P.R.A. holds the copyright, with tho exception of certain prohibited items regarding which the position is clearly set out in the agreements entered into with the association. The A.P.R.A. is not authorised to permit the public performance by vocal rendition of numbers from musical plays, whether by an artist or by mechanical production, and permission is necessary from some other quarter. In the case of a play performed, or to be performed in Aus-' tralia the rights will usually be held by tho producer, and application for permission to broadcast should be made to him. The Australian rights of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas are controlled by J.C.W., and the position is that instrumental performances of any of these operas may be broadcast without payment of any fee or any express permission; but the vocal rendition of any items is not permitted in any circumstances. If a song or musical item is composed specially for a picture it may be broadcast without special permission.

Interest of Royalty King George is showing a keen interest in portable radio receivers. His latest purchase is a new type of portable, finished in a crocodile skin, and foreign royalties who have heard it have also placed orders for similar sets. The Duchess of York was one of the first members of the Royal Family to succumb to the portable craze. Although she possessed a large family receiver built by the Duke, she wanted a more intimate wireless set for her boudoir. A copy of the King’s five-valve receiver was prepared for her so that it would match the rosewood furniture in her sitting room; it was finished in dark brown leather instead of crocodile skin.

Prince George and the Duke of Gloucester also have bought replicas of the King’s latest set, while the Prince of Wales besides having a portable set, also possesses a transportable for which all current requirements are obtained from the electric mains. Behind the Microphone A psychological glimpse of the persons on the broadcasting side of the microphone was afforded to delegates attending the annual conference at Bristol on Dth April of the Industrial Welfare Society. An address was given by Mr C. A. Siepmann, 8.8. C., Director of Talks. He made complaint of listeners who leave their instruments on, not for the purpose of listening, but just to provide a background of sound. “To have an infernal loud-speaker dribbling along continuously throughout the whole evening while people in the room play or talk or read, completely disregarding it, is both disgusting and annoying,” declared Mr Siepmann. “The instrument seems to be left on in such homes just to provide. a sort of nervous background to life. To feel that this sort of* thing may be happening at the other end of the microphone is discouraging, to say the last.”

Mr Siepmann said that one of the problems they had to face was the rather awesome factor of the absolute caprice of the individual listener, who could switch off at a moment’s notice. “Our great difficulty,” he said, “is that we cannot see how people arc taking things. “The first lesson we have learned is that we can turn our backs for ever upon the whole academic world in its academic sense. The only means of getting through to the audience which listens to you of its own volition is to reach it in terms of its own immediate) human experience.” One delegate said that in his experience the average industrial worker immediately switched off when a talk was announced. Swiss Regional Station , r p]ie Swiss Telegraph Administration has placed an order in England for a ]skw. broadcast transmitter, to be erected at Monte Cencri in Tessin. This station is intended to be the regional station for Italian-speaking Switzerland, and when working it will complete the regional broadcasting system planned by the Swiss Telegraph Administration, providing for broadcastin,r stations in the German, French, and Italian speaking parts of the country. The new station is expected to be in operation this year, and its completion will give the Swiss people a regional broadcasting system which, notwithstanding the difficult conditions

owing to the geographical 'formation of the country, will rank amongst the most efficient in Europe. Pronunciation of B Class Stations In the last few months the B class station announcers have brushed up their pronunciation of musical names, and now they have reached a generally fair standard, but every now and then one of them will fall down badly. For instance, the other night a military band march was played by a certain station, and at its conclusion the announcer astounded his listeners by telling them that it was “Semper Feedless” they had just heard. In the case of some it took a few seconds to realise that it was the “Semper Fidelis” march. The same announcer follewed this up with the “Soldiers’ Chorus,” by “Fawst,” but no more was heard from him that night, as one of the regular announcers then took over the microphone for the night. At times there ■are similar bad 'slips, but so far no on j appears to have made the “faux pas ihat a young man once made im his own home when he hastily glanced at the name, Waldteufel, on the label of a gramophone record, and then pronounced it as “Waddletuflel.” The “Radio Record” draws attention to two mistakes made by a B station announcer, who spoke of the “Missisouri Waltz” and “The Belly of New York.”