EMPIRE BROADCASTS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXX, 23 May 1936, Page 3

EMPIRE BROADCASTS

NEWS AND NOTES BROADCASTING IN NEW ZEALAND New Zealand has made great strides in broadcasting, as borne out by recent licence returns. There are now 185,0(13 listeners registered in (lie Dominion, representing 11.8 per 10() of (he total population. ’lbis percentage is slightly higher than that for the Commonwealth of Australia. The increase in licences since the broadcasting system was taken over from private enterprise by the official New Zealand Broadcasting Board is 11.3, (m2. Such figures tell a tale. SARDINES BEAT I S From our mail bag emerged recently a letter, from Southern Rhodesia. ■•When we got our wireless on the. farm about a year ago,” our correspondent wrote. "1 thought 1 would give some of my native servants a treat, and allow them to listen to a programme from the BBC Empire Station. I asked one ‘bo.v’ afterwards if lie thought it was very wonderful. He replied, ‘lf the white man wants to listen to England, there’s no reason why he shouldn’t. If the white man wants to lly, why not? The most wonderful thing the white mail does, 1 think, is to get sardines into a dosed tin.’ ” WE LCOAIE, LI SNA(i AE VE Y In future the new Northern Ireland transmitting station will lie officially known not as Lisburn but as Lisnagarvey, which is the name of the actual site. At least, it is the old name for the part of Lisburn where the station stands, which is in County Down, though the town of Lisburn is in County Antrim. We welcome the change. Lisnagarvey is a beautiful name, and it will adorn the list of BBC stations. We wonder some poet with a_\Yhitinaiies<|uc taste for names has not made a song out of those stations’ names —Droitwich and Westerglen. Stagshaw and Washford Cross, Aioorside Edge and Brookman’s Park, Burgh Head and Lisnagarvey. JERUSALEM CALLING Greetings to the new Palestine broadcasting service on the occasion of the opening of the new broadcasting station at Jerusalem. The inaugural ceremony was performed by His Excellency the High Commissioner for Palestine and Transjordan, Lieut.-Gen-eral Sir Arthur Grenfell Waucliope, G.C.AI.G. Tlie new service will be under Government control and for engineering and administrative purposes will be a branch of tlie Department of Posts and 'Telegraphs of the Palestine Government. ’the new transmitter, supplied by Marconi's Wireless Telegraph Company, Ltd., is situated in a, building one miie north of Uauinlluli, a small town ten miles northward of Jerusalem. This building provides room for a second transmitter to operate an alternative service. The transmitter lias an unmodulated aerial imput of 20kw and operates cm a wavelength of 449.1 metres, the same wavelength as the north regional transmitter of the BBC. Steps have been taken to ensure the absence of mutual interference. The three permanent studios have not yet been completed, and in the meantime two temporary studios have been provided in the former Palace. Hotel in Jerusalem.

Preparation of broadcast programmes in Palestine presents u number of special difficulties. There are three official languages—English, Arabic and Hebrew. There are also devotees of both European and Oriental music. At the start it is proposed to broadcast a programme for live hours daily. The new service lias had the assistance of -Mr R. A. Kendall, who was seconded by the JSBC as adviser on broadcast programme organisation, and of .Mr G. C. Kenworthy, formerly programme manager of the Nairobi broadcasting station. During the early months of the service a special State-aided scheme for village listening will he organised. The Palestine Government has bought 100 community receivers which will be installed in villages that would not otherwise he able to enjoy the advantage of the broadcasting service. A special programme lor rural listeners will he given in the early evening, and will contain, together with musical performances, occasional talks designed to supplement agricultural and health services. The rural programme will also include a special reading of the news in Arabic at a time earlier in the evening than the ordinary news bulletin, which will, of course, be read in the three official languages. THE NEW EMPIRE STATION Wo hear that considerable progress 'has been made in the erection of the building which is to house the new Empire transmitters. One additional high-power transmitter inis now been ordered, bringing the total number of new transmitters lip to three. The future of the present transmitters has not yet been decided. It is possible that they may be combined to form one transmitter of high power, or they may be retained in their present form in order to serve the nearer parts of the Empire. A contract for the erection of eight new masts with an average height of 800 ft, will"shortly lie awarded. At present there are two masts with a height of oOOft, and two with a height of OfiOft. ft is contemplated that when the new scheme of transmission lias been completed, there will lie altogether twenty-two different aerial arrays. lIA DIO-U EAT El) POLICEMEN Electrical heating of airmen’s clothing lias been successfully practised for some time. A correspondent of “WorldRadio" —the official foreign and technical journal of the BBC—now describes a proposal to render the lives of Moscow "traffic cops” more bearable, in a somewhat similar manner, (luring the appalling cold in which they have to perform their duties. It is suggested that they shall lie provided with greatcoats interlined with wire netting, which will be heated by wireless from a neighbouring station. The account which we have read concludes with the naive remark: “The results of such an

experiment will be interesting to watch.” Wo can imagine that a policeman who was endeavouring to deal with a bad traffic jam what time an engineer at the station made an error in the freipieney or power be was putting out, would be intensely interesting to watidi.—“The Empire Broadcasters.”