BROADCASTING HISTORY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21377, 29 December 1932, Page 9

BROADCASTING HISTORY

TEN YEARS OF RADIO ASTONISHING DEVELOPMENT ORDER OUT OF CHAOS During the 10 years in which wireless broadcasting has risen in Britain from what was virtually an experiment to a position as a public service, in entertainment particularly, an astonishing transition has taken place. New Zealand listeners-in, only as recently as Christmas, had the privilege of hearing a connected Empire programme of seasonal greetings, including a message delivered by King George. Such an organised programme would not have been considered a few years ago. As early as 1913 there had been tentative experiments in wireless telephony, but broadcasting, as it is understood to-day, awaited the development of the thermionic wave. It was not until late in 1920 that KDKA, of Pittsburgh, United States, the pioneer broadcasting station, came on the air.

From the British point of view broadcasting was not accomplished for public purposes until two years later. Items from 2LO, London, the first station of the then proposed British Broadcasting Company, were given on September 30, 1922, but the official opening and regular concerts did not eventuate until November 14. Stations at Birmingham and Manchester came officially into existence a day later. In that year the only other broadcasting stations ( in Europe were Radiola and FL, in Paris, and PCGG, in Holland. Election Bulletins at First When the American station KDKA began what became a world-wide activity election bulletins were issued. The audience consisted of amateurs with homemade receivers designed to pick up code messages. It ( was not many months before broadcasting obtained popularity throughout the United States. Stations came into being everywhere, and manufacturers could not meet the demand. By 1921 KDKA had tremendous opposition. The Dempsey-Carpentier fight was broadcast from Jersey City on July 2, and the announcer's voice describing the important sporting event undoubtedly stimulated interest in broadcasting. Station WBZ, of Springfield, Massachusetts, and station WJZ, of Newark, New Jersey, commenced officially on September 21 and October 1 respectively. Station KYW, Chicago, made its appearance on November 11, the day the service at the burial of an unknown American soldier at Arlington and an address by President Harding were broadcast. Commercial Programmes It was not long before wireless broadcasting was considered not only from the point of view of describing events but as a means of providing entertainment. Within several years entertainers, many of whom had previously declined to broadcast, were eager to assist in programmes. The business in America grew at a phenomenal rate, and it is to be noted that, in 1922,.Mr. Herbert Hoover, then United States Secretary of Commerce, who had jurisdiction over radio, called a conference to prevent chaos in the ether and to bring about order in the broadcasting sei'vice. Ln some quarters he v<as criticised, but the motive was farsighted. The first commercially-sponsored programme was heard in the United States on September 7, 1922. Many of the other broadcasters were aghast. They contended that advertising contaminated the air. It was not long before the majority of broadcasters took heed of the commercial side. In this way the new business made another change. Important Radio Events In Britain early in 1922 a certain amount of broadcasting had been carried out by several firms and well-regulated amateur experimental stations, but there was no semblance of the position in America, where existed a chaotic condition brought about by some hundreds of transmitters filling the ether with a medley of sounds without any proper wavelength co-ordination. To prevent this, the British decided upon a unified control. The path of the British Broadcasting Company was, however, anything but an easy one. Until the autumn of 1924 the company had to face the refusal of the great conceit-giving organisations to cooperate in any way. Mr. Leslie McMichael, chairman of the Radio Manufacturers' Association of Britain, recently remarked that the general strike of 1926 perhaps did more to bring home to everyone the importance of broadcasting as a national asset than anything before. With ordinary news services for a time practically nonexistent, the British Broadcasting Company carried on and gave an all-day service. The company came to an end on New Year's Eve, .1926, and the British Broadcasting Corporation came into being as a Government-controlled department. Important events associated with early broadcasting, in Britain were the children's hour and religious addresses, first given in December, 1922, the first "outside" broadcast, a performance of Mozart's "The Magic Flute" at Covent Garden, on January 8, 1923, the first after-dinner speech, given by Mr. G. K. Chesterton on January 25, i 923, and the first broadcasts by the King,, and the Prince of Wales, at the opening of the British Empire Exhibition on April 23, 1924.