EXPENSIVE CHEERS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20646, 19 August 1930, Page 12

EXPENSIVE CHEERS.

POLITICS BY RADIO. SIX POUNDS A MINUTE. [from our own correspondent.] VANCOUVER, July 28. It costs money to cheer a candidate when ho is addressing a meeting nowadays. Cheers take time and the candidate, moro often than not, is having his speech broadcast over the radio at so much an hour. Tho present general election in Canada saw an almost universal use of the radio. There were transcanada broadcasts, provincial broadcasts and local broadcasts. A Dominion-wide broadcast costs £4OO an hour, or over £6 a minute. The result of such a wide use of tho radio is that the elector has heard all tho arguments of the leaders in tho first few days and speakers are hard put to find new arguments. On the other hand, the listener-in has a "grouch" about too much political campaigning on tho radio, especially in tho evening, when ho wants a little bright music or other diversion to ease his riiind and his nerves after a hard day's work. Tho campaign has run six weeks.'There is a' goneral call for the campaign in futuro to. run not more than two weeks. TJio radio was first widely used for political campaigning in tho last Presidential election in the United States. Both Mr. Hoover and Mr. Smith usod it for coast-to-coast broadcasts frequently. Even here in Vancouver time and again wo heard A 1 Smith, simulating a Acked expression,, pleading with his auuiences not. to interrupt'his spoechos with cheers, because.cheers cost money on tho "raddio," as the Happy Warrior pronounces it. "Savo them till tho end,", he would urgo. Broadcasting in the last general election in Great Britain generally followed a different method. Thoro, as tho i-adio is under. a Government-controlled corporation; which gets its revenue: from licences, only limitod radio time is availablo for political speeches.- In Mr. Lloyd George's unemployment campaign especially a series of halls in different towns would bo linked by telephone wires and, tho speech carried by , amplifiers .from one ' hall to tho -rest Properly speaking, although tho audience was multiplied many times, the speaker was not "on tho Air" at all.