WIRELESS IN SCHOOLS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19808, 1 December 1927, Page 17

WIRELESS IN SCHOOLS.

BY THERMION.

FORTHCOMING EXPERIMENTS

The announcement that a trial of the possibilities of broadcasting for giving instruction to school chil .ren will be made on December 13 will meet with the approval of all'who desire to see the facilities offered by radio for educational purposes exploited to their fullest extent. Teaching by radio has been attempted already by the British Broadcasting Corporation, and some of the Australian broacasting interests. The experiments have not been an unqualified success since the experimental stage has not yet been passed, but the results have shown' that if the particular broadcasts are conducted properly at both the transmitting and receiving ends, they are distinctly useful as adjuncts to tho usual school-teaching routine. Tho advantage offered by radio instruction lies chiefly in the possibility of an authority on a particular subject being able to speak to a large number of children simultaneously, but unless the speaker has that elusive and somewhat rare possession of a microphone personality, absence of real personal contact may result in the interest of the children not be:"ng held. For this reason care is necessary in the choice of radio teachera as well as in the subject matter to be broadcast. Equally important, perhaps more so, is the necessity fo* having ideal reception conditions, and it is the writer's opinion that it is unwise that an endeavour should be made for the educational programme from 2YA, Wellington, to be heard all over New Zealand in midafternoon. , Reception of 2YA in daylight is extremely difficult in Auckland, and can be accomplished only by the use of extremely sensitive receiving sets. The correspondingly high amplification necessary results in the picking up of many extraneous noises which may completely mar the reception. The British Broadcasting Corporation with its wide experience has laid it down as an axiom that any noise or distortion in the reception is fatal to the success of wireless classes for children. The New Zealand tests this month would therefore seem to be too ambitious. AUSTRALIAN PATENTS. AN IMPORTANT AGREEMENT.

In view of the somewhat scathing indictment by the Australian Royal Commission on Wireless of the royalties charged for. the use of patents held in Australia, interest attaches to the introduction of a bill in the Federal House of Representatives by the Prime Minister, Mr. Bruce, to ratify a new agreement between the Commonwealth Government and Amalgamated Wireless, Limited. " The Government has discussed the whole position fully with the directors of Amalgamated Wireless," stated Mr. Bruce. "In fairness to the company, it must be 1 stated they have made a genuine 'endeavour to meet the Government's wishes. An arrangement has been come to by which the company's patent rights will, for a period of "five years, no made available free of charge to all wireless traders, broadcasting companies, and to listeners. Under this arrangement the company will waive its present charge on broadcasting stations of 5s a year in respect of every listener's licence, mq will also waive its charge, amounting to an average of £2 10s. on every valve receiving set. This arnounl of 5s a licence on 250,000 licences equals and 12s 6d a valve on 25.0C0 four-valve sets equals £62,500. They further waive tiieir charges on up to 25 per cent, on revenue to B class stations, say. BlOOft, or a grand total of £126.000 "In consideration for this the com pany wii3 receive from the Government a payment of 3d a month, or an average of 3s a year, in respect of every licence issued by the Government. On a basis of 250,000 licences the amount received by the company under the new arrangement will be £37,500, or £38,000 less than was originally claimed. The recommendations of the Royal Commission would have brought the company in a revenue of £50,000, ■so thai under the agreement they receive £12,500 less than the Royal Commission recommended. The company also agrees to make available to the Commonwealth Government all its patent rights free of charge for the manufacture or use of any plant or apparatus manufactured by the Commonwealth or by the British Government, or purchased from the company. " The company also agrees to grant a licence for or royalty to every newspaper published in the Commonwealth, and to each wireless broadcasting station, for the purpose of receiving the official newn bulletin issued by the Brittiish Government. " I submit that there was no other method of granting immediate relief to the listening public than is proposed in this agreement. For tho Commonwealth to take over the whole of Amalgamated Wireless, Ltd., and put it into liquidation wpuld have advanced the position no further, and so far as Australia is concerned the right to the patented inventions of the large overseas wireless companies would disappear and control would pass from Australia to Britain or a foreign country."

WHY PROGRAMMES FAIL. BRISBANE EXPERIENCE. In Brisbane to-day there are hundreds of silent sets, and radio dealers complain that the retail trade is at a standstill. The reasons for this state of affairs have been given by a Brisbane radio dealer, and the statement below may welt be studied with a view to preventing similar conditions obtaining here. The dealer says: "Station 4QG does not cater enough for the popular taste It arranges excellent programmes of a kind, but they are not the programme that appeal to people night after night There is not enough variety. The programmes seldom vary from the concert hall type. Night after night there are soprano solos, contralto solos, a baritone or a tenor solo. Good songs are sung, but they become monotonous by repetition. "The people want dance music; they want a sprinkling of the light syncopated music which all the world is jazz?nft to. They also want the better and richer class of music, but not in such doses as to cause musical indigestion, from which many people are now suffering. Yc-i will 'search tho programmes in vain to discover an entertaining item of the humorous kind—seldom is an item given by a comedian, a soubrette, or by one of those entertainers who can sit down at the piano and reel off music, song and patter of a diverting character. Because of the expense entailed. 1 suppose it wo ild bo difficult for 4QG to arrange studio presentations of operas, but there seems to be no reason why excerpts from the light musical comedies should not be presented. " Ft is all very well to say that one of the chief functions of radio broadcasting stations is to educate; the public pay their licence fees to listen-in and be entertained. And one only has to look round with his ears and eyes open to ascertain from what forms of entertainment.. th« people now obtain most diversion &nd entertainment.' j