CONCERT BY TELEGRAPH

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20241, 29 April 1929, Page 10

CONCERT BY TELEGRAPH

BROADCAST OF LONG RELAY,

WELLINGTON TO AUCKLAND. EXPERIMENT SUCCESSFUL. Over 450 miles of telegraph line a Wellington band concert was transmitted from Wellington to Auckland last evening and broadcast to wireless listeners by station IYA. This is the longest relay ever attempted in the history of New Zealand broadcasting, but tho transmission was so good that for all practical purposes the concert might have been given in tho Auckland Town Hall. Some listeners with loudspeaker sets noticed a slight continuous hum, but tho average crystal set owner heard no " line-noises " whatever. Every word of the announcements came through with perfect clarify. The concert was given in the Grand Opera House, Wellington, by the Port Nicholson Silver Band, and was broadcast by station 2Y.\, Wellington. The relay, which lasted from 8.30 to 9.30 > reflected great credit on the telegraph engineers concerned. It also served to show that the trunk telegraph circuit used was first-class in design, construction and maintenance. 'J he longest relay previously carried out by the Broadcasting Company and the department was between Wanganui and Wellington, 125 miles. Land-line transmissions are in daily, even hourly, use in the broadcasting systems of Great Britain, the United States and European countries. At tho recent inauguration of Mr. H. C. Hoover, President of the United States, it was estimated that by this means 60,000,000 people in the United States and Canada were able to listen-in.

If suitable arrangements can be made, it is hoped occasionally to relay programmes between Auckland and Wellington, and between Christchurch and Dunedin. The Cook Strait cables do not yet provide enough channels to allow of one being used for the purpose. The Broadcasting Company's ideal is ultimately to provide relay stations in provincial centres, such as Invercargill, New Plymouth and Napier, drawing most of their programmes from the main stations. On Saturday evening IYA carried out a rebroadcast of part.of the opening concert at station 2YB, New Plymouth, which tho company has established in co-operation with the North Taranaki Radio Society. Atmospheric conditions were not good, and the transmission, which lasted half-an-hour, was marred by a good deal of extraneous noise. However, transmission was clearer toward the end of the period, and some of ths speeches could be heard fairly well.