BETTER BROADCASTING

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19965, 6 December 1926, Page 7

BETTER BROADCASTING

RADIO DEALERS’ COMPLAINT. UNSATISFACTORY PROGRAMMES. CRITICISM OF COMPANY. (Special to Daily Times.) WELLINGTON, December 4. A complaint regarding the present position of broadcasting in New Zealand was made by a deputation which upon the Secretary of the Post and Telegraph Department (Mr G. M’Naraara) this week. An official report of the interview has been supplied for publication as follows: Mr Fleming said that he desired that it be clearly understood that those present represented a section of the New Zealand Electrical Federation, and were speaking on behalf of the radio dealers throughout the Dominion. Mr Wyles stated that it would be recognised that good stations and bad prorammes, or good programmes and bad stations, were both detrimental to general broadcasting. New Zealand had at present two good stations erected by a recognised firm of experts under the supervision of a first-class engineer. Since the Broadcast, ing Company had taken over the running of the stations the technical efficiency had decreased particularly in the case of the Christchurch station. It was recognised that a man of practical knowledge should bo employed by the company to maintain the existing stations at their proper efficiency and to carry v out the installation of the new stations to be erected in Wellington and Dunedin. A precedent in this direction had been set by the appointment of Mr J. M. Prentice to the position of programme organiser and general supervisor, and great, things were expected of his efforts. A trained technical man would put the same professional finish on the transmission as Mr Prentice would certainly put on the programme side. It is considered that the crux of the matter lies in the necessity for the furnishing of better programmes, and it is hard to understand why the company states it cannot put on bettor artists because of lack of funds The opinion of the trade is that there are thousands of discriminating people who are not prepared to buy sets until the programmes are considerably improved The present policy will only carry the company up to the receipt of a certain revenue, and then no progress will be made until highgrade programmes are substituted and the four stations are in operation. The first thing the company should do is to pay its artists, and pav ihem reasonably. He continued: “It ,s understood that the Auckland station s paying its artists at the rate of 10s 6d per programme, and that elsewhere in the Dominion artists give their services voluntarily. The services given by volunteer artists never will be satisfactory, and professionals who give their services for 10s 6d per night will not give programmes satisfactory to discriminating 'isteners. The artists are paid at least 20s per by the Australian stations, and many receive four and fivt, guineas, and some as high as 10 ginneau and over, according to their standing. Rehearsals are compulsory. The Broadcasting Company has a capital of £20,000, and it is understood that only £4OOO of this has been called up so that the installations of the existing stations and the carrying on of the service is met by license fees. To plead poverty, therefore, does not seem logical. The existing stations at Wellington and Dunedin are unsatisfactory, and the new stations should be built immediately and due notice given to the trade of the date of their opening to enable adequate stocks to be available to meet the demand for sets which invariably follows the opening of a new station. In this connection it was pointed out from the commencement that there was an atmosphere of suspicion due to the very indefinite information granted t© the trade and the public Since its inception the company has been criticised because of its lack of frankness. It is not expected that the company should disclose its private business, but as a public company controlling a public service it is responsible to the and, therefore, to the public, and it should make available'all the matters of general interest, and, in particular, its proposals for the future." . Mr M’Namara said he could at once assure those present that very effort would be made in so far. as broadcasting was concerned to bring the position to a satisfactory conclusion. He would point out that rightly or wrongly an endeavour was being made by certain writers in the daily press to force the company into an awkward position. The criticism that was being levelled was entirely destructive, and did not tend to assist either the Government, the company, or the public. During the first year the net loss to the company had been approximately £IOOO, and since then it had lost between £3OO and £SOO per month. In his opinion the company had made every reasonable effort to give a satisfactory seivice, but whilst pirating continued on its present scale it would be impossible for the company to progress as it should. Unfortunately, it appeared that the average listener-in had no sympathy with the compuny, which, under the present conditions, could not afford to render a better service. It had in fact reached the stage when a further immediate expenditure to improve programmes was almost out of the question. Unfortunately, the department could not give a guarantee that pirating would be effectively stopped, and it could not be expected that the company should make further expenditure of capital until a reasonable return was in sight. The department realised that a better service was necessary, and in this connection it had called upon the company to proceed with the erection of the Wellington station, ana they could look forward to having u good station at Wellington in about six months time. He would draw the company s attention to the technical faults mentioned, and no doubt a remedy would be found. On August 1 last Mr M’Namara explained there were approximately 4000 licensed listeners-in from whom a revenue of nearly £4OOO was forthcoming. He was pleased to say that this figure had considerably increased until at the present moment over 10,000 listeners-in were licensed. It was estimated that at least 32,000 licenses would be issued, and no doubt when this “Sure was within sight programmes suitable to the demands of all sections could be guaranteed. Whilst admitting that the department was not enforsing the full conditions of the contract with the company it was at the same time requiring at least an adequate return for the money invested. It must not be overlooked that the, income was small. When every listener-in regarded it as a duty to pay his fees much more could be provided. With reference to the Australian conference the deputation would realise that the matter was one of policv, and would he duly represented to the Government. He assured the deputation that the matter was receiving full consideration, and he requested further th. , the trade should give full co-operation both to the department and the company.