RADIO BROADCASTING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19092, 10 August 1925, Page 11

RADIO BROADCASTING.

COMPANY'S DOMINION RIGHTS

OUTLINE OF THE SCHEME.

STATIONS IN THE FOUR . CITIES.

(bx telegraph.—own correspondent. J

HAMILTON, Sunday. Tho Dominion rights for radio broadcasting have been granted by tho Government to Mr. W. Goodfellow, of Hamilton, and Mr. A. R. Harris,. of Christcliurch, and arrangements are now. being made for the establishment of high-powered stations at Auckland, Christcliurch, Hamilton and Dunedin. The benefits.of the scheme giving the exclusive rights of radio broadcasting, which will' inciude concert programmes, lectures and a news service, aro provided for under the agreement with the Government, and will apply to the community generally. The signing of the agreement probably is tho most important development since wireless was introduced into .the Dominion. Mr. Goodfellow, in an interview, said that tho preliminary work was rapidly being carried out, and no insurmountable difficulties were anticipated with tho erection of tho first stations. The cost of these stations would be underwritten by the trustees, who were himself , and JJr. Harris, while the, position relative to patent rights was already provided for in recent Government legislation. All that remained to bo done now was to obtain the earliest'possible delivery of the most suitable equipment. In "this matter the Post and Telegraph Department was cooperating with tho trustees, and the matter was well, in hand. Offers of sites for a station already had been received from Auckland and from Christcliurch. It was anticipated that further offers would be forthcoming, in which case the merits as applied to broadcasting would bo carefully examined. Not only was it very important to obtain sufficient distance between masts to confojm with the characteristics of the length of wave specified by tho Post and Telegraph Department for tho specific locality, but it also was necessary to construct tho aerial directional with the lie of the country, so that the maximum power was radiated over the districts to be served. These, however, were only minor details. Framing Regulations. By far the greatest difficulty had been the framing of tlae broadcasting legislation. . There had been no precedent to go upon except recent developments , in North, America, England and Australia. These developments had not been altogether satisfactory. In North America there had been little, if any, control ei,ther of the broadcasting or of tho lis-teners-in, and this had resulted in a great deal. of dissatisfaction to all parties. In England the broadcasting was efficiently controlled and highly satisfactory, but the listeners-in were penalised to the extent of, being restricted to tho use of equipments manufactured by members of tho broadcasting company. This, to somo extent, was offset by the fact that tho listeners-in paid a nominal license fee of 10s per annum, but it. was a matter of opinion as to whether it would prove more equitable to charge the : listeners-in a higher fee and allow them to uso whatever make of apparatus they preferred. As it was, X largs number of listeners-in were making up their own sets, on which no royalty was paid to the broadcasting company, and tho company in this way lost considerable revenue. Whether this condition could be overcome had yet to be proved, but it would seem almost impracticable to stop any persons from making, their own apparatus so long as they did not resell. In Australia broadcasting was on a par with tho broadcasting in England. However, in Australia the listeners-in had been hampered by the innovation of scaled sets working within a narrow wave band, that had far from enhanced tho utility of tho apparatus for operation on outside stations. ' '

Interests of Community. These factors and the impossibility of controlling or tracing the ether waves after they once left the aerials had made it very difficult for tno Post and Telegraph Department to overcome such shortcomings, and at the sa,me time protect the broadcasting company from tho listeners-in who would persist in enjoying all tho privileges of broadcasting without bearing a small proportion of the heavy expenses involved in operating such a service. The trustees' negotiations with the Government dated' back to the early part of 1923, the Postmaster-General at the time being tho Hon. J. G. Coates, who apparently had given a great deal of thought to the question involved in the pioneering work of radio broadcasting in New Zealand; and who evidently had thoroughly analysed -the broadcasting difficulties that beset the other countries. As he .was adamant at the outset - that radio telephony broadcasting was a community proposition, and to be successful would have to be operated in the interests of the community, and not for profit, ho insisted that, the broadcasting company should not in any way restrict tho free and competitive sale of approved apparatus to the listeners-in, and that the person receiving the benefits of the broadcasting should pay tho cost of the service. These decisions had now been provided for in tho agreement made with tho department. Limitation of Profits. A public company was being registered with provisos restricting dividends to 7£ per cent., and stipulating that, surplus profits must be expended on improvements to broadcasting equipment and service. Tho sale of receiving sets was entirely outside tho powers of tho broadcasting company, and any persons or person would be at liberty to compete in the open market on any makes of approved apparatus under license from the Post and Telegraph Department. ' On'being asked for particulars of the station to-bo erected in Auckland and Hamilton, Mr. Goodfellow stated it was premature to give details of tho proposed outfits, but in the matter of size tho Minister for Telegraphs had stipulated that the equipments installed should be designed to deliver at least 500 watts of radio frequency power to the "aerials. He believed the system would play an important part'in the education and entertainment of tho community. Broadcasting stations were expensive to instal, as well as to operate, and there had been little likelihood of launching a scheme that would bo satisfactory to the general public unless some form cf protection were granted by.the Government. Radio telephony once broadcasted could be tapped by anyone within range, and therefore as a business venture the commercial prospects were very ..doubtful unless the exclusive rights to broadcast were given by the State. ( These facts were obvious to the Government, and the present arrangement was the outcome. Mr. Goodfellow said that; Mr. Harris would be manager of the company. Mr. Harris was a New Zealander, and an electrical engineor of prominence. A broadcasting station would be established in Auckland shortly, and a little later a relav station would be installed in Hamilton. • ,