LISTENING, THE NEW ART.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20564, 15 May 1930, Page 3

LISTENING, THE NEW ART.

NEED OF SELECTING ITEMS.

TECHNIQUE OF BROADCASTING

Now that wireless lias cast off its swaddling clothes, it becomes increasingly evident that it has brought into beine a new art— the art of listening. It is'an art which has to bo cultivated by radio listeners so that they may make the most of the programmes offered to them without surfeit or boredom or unjustifiable complaint. And while every day listeners are realising the necessity of turning their wireless listening into an art., and steaailv discovering its technique for themselves, many others still continue f.o listen-in in a haphazard, unorganised fashion which brings only dissatisfaction and disappointment in its train. As a new ait, uith a new medium and a, new technique—that of sound without vision—ladio demands a new kind of appreciation I li'oin its adherents. This new sort of appreciation is nothing more than the art of listening. If more people were to realise the necessity of this new art, there would be far fewer complaints concerning the wireless programmes. The Maximum of Enjoyment.

Ihe first step for the listener who really wants to get the maximum of enjoyment fiom radio is selection—selection of those items which really interest him, and an avoidance of those which he knows will seriously annoy him. It seems almost a fatal attraction for the jazz fiend to know that classical music is being broadcast, or for the symphony lover to realise that fiance music, if anything, would make itself heard from his loud-speaker! They are not content not to listen. On the contrary, they seem unable to dra# themselves away from the hated symphony or dance music. Almost glorying in their martyrdom, they suffer. This, of course, is in direct contradiction to the rules of the art of listening. There must be selection, or one will be swamped and bewildered bv the variety of material broadcast. And there must be tolerance of the point of view of others. No two listeners have the same tastes, and so for every radio enthusiast there is a personal art of listening which he must develop for himself, subject to certain broad rules created by the very nature of broadcasting. Every wireless listener makes one discovery at some point in his career which henceforth alters his whole conception of what wireless is and what it can do. He probably starts with the notion that it is a substitute for the theatre, for the concert hall, or for the music hall; he may even co so far as to suggest that it superseded them. Wireless Not a Substitute. It is a natural enough assumption. But then, one day, he suddenly realises that wireless is neither of these things; neither is it a substitute for them, nor does it supersede them. It suddenly comes homo to him that wireless is something entirely new which happens to have borrowed theatrical and other material, temporarily, for the sake of convenience. The realisation of this fundamental fact is a further great step in his mastery of the art of listening. He listens henceforth with a new understanding. Because broadcasting is young, and, as it were, uncharted, he listens with interest to experiments which may be hopeless failures, or may, on the other hand lead to important developments. He appreciates that there is a vast difference between a thing seen and heard, and a thing merelv heard.

There is one class of listener that is likely to hinder the forward march of wireless unless it can be persuaded to practise the art of listening. There are those who " switch on the wireless" merely as a background for whatever they happen to be doing, and do not listen afc all in the real sense of the word. They are simply aware that something is happening. This is manifestly unfair to the artist, for no fair criticism can be based on inattention. Unless the art of listening is practised the maximum of enjoyment from radio will not be derived.