NEW RADIO STATION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19691, 18 July 1927, Page 11

NEW RADIO STATION.

POWERFUL BROADCASTING.

CEREMONY AT WELLINGTON.

INAUGURATION OF SERVICE.

[by telegraph.—own correspondent.] WELLINGTON. Sunday. The opening of the powerful new radio broadcasting station at Wellington was performed last evening. The station is the most powerful of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere, and the second most powerful in the British Empire, the station at Daventry, England, alone exceeding it.

In performing the ceremony, the Prime Minister, Mr. Coates, said the station was ten times as po%verful as the existing stations at Auckland and Christchurch. When wireless had made .puch remarkable strides in such a brief period, no limits could be set to its future progress. Scientists said they were only now on the threshold of discoveries that would bring persons at the ends of the earth virtually into each other's presence in a fraction of a second. . "Probably," said the Prime Minister, "when I am addressing by wireless a man who is 100 miles away, my voice will reach him before I am heard at the other end of the hall. That is because wireless, like light, travels more rapidly than sound."

Mr. Coates emphasised the value of wireless as a factor in education, and said he hoped to have arrangements made for the broadcasting of weather forecasts and reports that would be serviceable in many directions. The new station was so powerful that it would speak with ease to any part of New Zealand by day or by night, while at night it could also, with ease, speak to the Pacific Islands and Australia. He congratulated the Broadcasting Company on its achievement. The Postmaster-General, Hon. W. Nosworthy, said he had not been neglecting his duties in watching over the great wireless service. With the majority of complaints he had little sympathy. He was satisfied, from an examination of the accounts, that there was no unnecessary expense in administration by the Broadcasting Company, and that the company gave as good a service as one could expect in the circumstances. The expense of erecting the stations was greater than had been anticipated, and in connection with the Wellington station the Government had lent the company £15,000, realising that a really big station was now a national necessity.

There was every prospect now of better and varied programmes, and listeners-in had been joining up at the rate of 450 a week. 'He looked forward to that figure being doubled next week. The Mayor of Wellington, Mr. G. A. Troup, also spoke. At the conclusion of the ceremony a programme of music was broadcast. Toward the end of the evening radiograms received from Papeete, Suva, Rarotonga, Fanning Island and other Pacific Islands were read. Without exception they all stated that the station was heard with great clarity. A message was also read from Vancouver, stating that the station had been heard but the reception was not good..

RECEPTION HI AUCKLAND.

GREAT SUCCESS ATTAINED. There were few listeners in Auckland on Saturday evening who did not havo their sets tuned in to the new Wellington station, 2YA. Everyone with a receiving set of any description could pick up the transmission, for it was relayed with great success from the Auckland station, IYA. Those with larger sets preferred to pick up the Wellington station direct, but the relay was a boon to those using sets of the crystal variety. Generally speaking, listeners-in were delighted with the reception, and if any faults were to be found they probably lay with the sets rather than with the Wellington station. The speeches, instrumental music, and vocal items, came through with wonderful clarity. There were a few who said the tone was rather harsh, but others again said it was almost perfect. Many experienced the joy of hearing the whole of the three hours' programme without static interference. In fixing upon 420 metres as the wave length, the broadcasting authorities appear to have overcome the interference from Australian stations. Many listeners with powerful sets said they were able to cut Wellington right out and listen-in to any of the Australian stations without disturbance. For part of the evening, the programme from 2YA was relayed for the benefit of Australian listeners by 2FC, Sydney. Owners of selective sets were able, therefore, to hear the new station in at least three ways, direct from Wellington, relayed from Auckland, and relayed from Sydney. An incident of the evening shows how far afield even small sounds in the studio ,of 2YA may have penetrated. An Auckland listener had tuned in to 2FC during the interval observed by the Wellington station. Just before 2YA was about to resume, the announcer at the Sydney station was heard to say, for the benefit of Australian listeners: —''That 'phut' you have just heard was a flashlight photograph being taken in the studio at Wellington." As the "phut did not travel across from Sydney it was impossible to decide whether it was really the sound of the flashlight, or whether the Australian announcer had been drawing upon his imagination.