WIRELESS NOTES

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXI, 1 May 1937, Page 3

WIRELESS NOTES

NEWS AND NOTES | Wellington’s New Station. Wellington’s new commercial station, ; 2ZB, operating on a frequency of 1120 i kilocycles, was officially opened on i Wednesday night by the Hon. F. Jones.! Acting-Minister of Bioadcasting. This station, which is received well in Nelson is on the air every evening. Visiting ’Cellist. A world-renowed artist, Edmund Kurtz, the Russian ’cellist, of the Spivakovsky-Kurtz Trio, which toured the Dominion some time ago, has been engaged by the National Broadcasting Service to tour the main stations, commencing at 2YA on Sunday, lGth May. Mr Kurtz left the trio on conclusion j of a long engagement with the Australian Broadcasting Commission. In thejj United States he was greeted withj ( much acclaim, and for some time was i first ’cellist of the Chicago Symphony!, Orchestra. He is acknowledged to have facile mastery of his instrument.

High Powers for United States. A report drawn up by the Federal Communications Commission—the controlling body of radio in U.S.A.—suggests the assignment of 500,000 watts; licences to 15 stations. Those recom-! mended for super-power are KF't, j Los Angeles; KDKA, Pittsburg; WLW,j Cincinnati; IVHAS, Louisville; WSB, Atlanta; WHO, Des Moines; WGN, Chicago; WJZ, New York; WJR, Detroit; WOR, Newark; WOAI, San Antonio; WCIY, Schenectady; KSL, Salt; Lake City; WSM' Nashville; and one; other. . .

The German propaganda stations at Zcesen have been very powerful lately, and are easily the best of the world’s short-wavers. Their power is three or four times that of the Empire transmitters at Daventry—though that will not be the case a few weeks hence—and even music has been quite listenablc at times. The propaganda sessions are broadcast in Spanish for South Americans, and in English for North America, Africa, Australia and New Zealand. The news sessions in German are obviously different from those in English, as they contain constant references to England and the Soviet.

Programme organisers in France are apparently elected by popular vote—at least an announcement has just been made that last year’s officials have been re-elected by listeners for another year.

The appointment of Mr S. R. Evison as manager of the National Broadcasting Journal is announced. Nothing official is forthcoming regarding control of the literary side of the new publication, but it seems to be assumed that this department will be run by an exjournalist at present on the staff of the service.

Radio sets which are believed to be the most costly and luxurious ever built have been sent to the palace, in India, of the Maharajah of Patiala. They were made in England, and the Maharajah required technical perfection and the most beautiful workmanship. The cabinets had to be made of the finest and costliest woods. The dial holders and control knobs are of carved ivory. To make the sets easily transportable in the halld of the palace, they are placed on chromium sledges provided with small wheels. Expensive leather has been used for the handles on the sledges. The rear panels of the sets except for the control knobs, are identical with the front panel. The receivers thus have the same beautiful appearance when viewed from all sides. The sets have been built on low sledges to adapt them to the household customs of Patiala, where no chairs are used and people sit on carpets or cushions.

STRANGE REQUESTS IN THE BBC POST BAG QUESTIONS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD “My wife has asked me if you will be so kind as to send her the recipe for pork pies and faggots. She can’t get it here.” Can you supply me with the recipe on how to prepare fish and chips—the way only you folks can?” “Can you give me the name of a concern that manufactures cookies—biscuits—or crackers that sell at a reasonabe price?” That listeners to the BBC Empire

DEMONSTRATING SETS PROBLEM OF THE SALESMAN A problem always facing those whose business it is to sell wireless sets is how to make the prospective purchaser realise that a new set is better than an old one (says the "Wireless World”), It is comparatively easy to demonstrate advances in the way of ease of control, advantages of automatic volume control, tone control, and other refinements, but in the all-important matter of quality of reproduction demonstration without strict comparison is very difficult.

To aid the salesman American set manufacturers have devised a special demonstration set which attempts to reproduce the performance of sets of various vintage by means of special controls. A dial is provided, marked with successive years from 1926 to 1936. On turning the dial to any of these figures the loud speaker reproduces the broadcast programmes as would an average set of that date. In this way the year-by-year progress can be demonstrated in a practical manner.

EDUCATIONAL EXPERIMENT NEW YORK’S RADIO WORKSHOP A novel experiment in educational broadcasting is being made in New York City in the Radio Workshop. . It is sponsored jointly by the educational radio project of the United States Office of Education and the general education division of New York University. The workshop is the first designed to give teachers and directors of educational broadcasting training in professional radio technique. All are workers in radio education, some with long experience in local school broadcasting. The teaching staff includes New York University lecturers with active radio experience and members of the Office of Education’s radio project. The course provides lectures on fundamentals—from the writing of the script to its piesentation on the air with music and sound effects. As a supplement to classroom instruction the studies of the large broadcasting concerns serve as laboratories in which the students not only observe broadcasting methods, but produce pi ogrammes written, cast, and rehearsed by themselves. In short, the workshop, as its name implies, is approaching the study of radio technique by the only possible means—working experience in radio. I

I Service place no limited interpretation lon the word “service’ ’is shown by the I hundreds of unusual requests that come Ito Broadcasting House, London, from ' j all over the world. Not only is food the subject of special enquiry—the BBC I i has been asked to undertake the tracing ' i of quotations, of relations, friends, and I I the origin of specified families, to exj plain English sports such as cricket and | bumping races, and to supply tourist 'guides, silk flags, samples of Australian woods, and lottery tickets. [ Requests have been received to in- ! elude in the programmes from Daventry a wedding march designed to fit into a wedding three thousand miles from London, to broadcast an announcement of a wedding in a distant part of the British Empire, to find pen friends, and to exchange postage stamps. The overseas mail has brought, jtoo, an appeal for help in the obtaining lof a patent for a cake recipe and in | the establishment of contact with a i thoroughbred-rabbit dealer. The Corporation has also been invited to suggest a recitation “suitable for performances by a lady before the local doctor and society,” and, in another letiter, to give its impressions of suggestions to reform “the oddities of the | Act of Parliament fixing the calendar.” It has also been asked to recommend i literature or books on wine. “What is a barrel-organ?” and “What does it cost !to send a post-card from England to Newfoundland?” was the questions of other listeners. Papers or references to the “structural and mechanics aspects of tennis or other athletic games” have been asked for, as have details of books on popular astronomy likely to be of use to one who gives “open-air demonstrations through the telescope.” The BBC makes every effort to be of service to correspondents in matters arising out of the programme from Daventry, but it may be found impracticable or impossible to comply with requesting relating to questions not concerned with broadcasting.