RADIO BROADCASTING

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21601, 23 March 1932, Page 4

RADIO BROADCASTING

SATISFYING THE LISTENERS FUNCTIONS OF THE BOARD ADDRESS BY MR H. BOOTH An interesting and informative review of the work of the newly-formed Broadcasting Board and its Advisory Council, formed the subject of an address delivered last evening at the first annual meeting of the Otago branch of the New Zealand Listeners’ League by the secretary (Mr H. Booth), who was recently appointed Otago representative on the Advisory Council of the board. After traversing the events leading up to the appointment of the board, Mr Booth said that he wished to make it quite clear that the board, as now set up, was not a Government department. He wished, first of all, to impress upon listeners the importance of listeners’ organisations, because the Bill provided that listeners’ representatives were to be appointed through those organisations, and it was in this way that the Advisory Council became the mouthpiece of the individual listener. If listeners’ organisations were not maintained, the time would come when the Government itself would nominate the members of the Advisory Council, and listeners would lose one of the greatest privileges that the Broadcasting Bill provided for them. COUNCIL’S FIRST MEETING, The council’s first meeting lasted two days, and many important matters were discussed, and he was particularly impressed with the quality of the personnel of the various members of the council. He believed that all of them were men of ability, and they were all filled with a desire to do their utmost in the interests of listeners, and that they were all anxiously hoping for the earnest support and backing of those whom they represented. He was also impressed during the meetings with the absence of inter-island jealousy and selfinterest. The members of the council were all broadminded in their views, and the national interest was very much in evidence with all of them. As a result of the members’ contact with the chairman of the board (Mr H. D. Vickery), and also with Mr Hands, the general manager of the board, they were satisfied that the board was right out to give the radio listeners in New Zealand a square deal, and the absolute maximum of satisfaction and value for the license he paid, consistent with the means which the board had at its disposal. THE FINANCIAL POSITION.

Mr Booth said he wished to make it quite clear that the financial aspect was one which would seriously handicap the board for some considerable time. As they were aware the purchase price of the Broadcasting Company’s assets had been fixed at £59,000 approximately. This amount of money had to be found by the Government for the purchase of these assets before they could be handed over to the board, and, until it was ascertained what were the terms of repayment that the board would have to face, it could not estimate clearly the amount of revenue that it would have at its disposal, and there w r as no question but what there would be heavy interest demands until the amount was fully liquidated. Further, the matter of renewal of licenses was another question which was influencing the board at this time owing to the serious depression in which the country was involved. There was no doubt that many listeners would find it difficult to renew their licenses, and the board had received requests from listeners suggesting that they should be allowed to pay these licenses quarterly or half-yearly, but unfortunately this was a matter which was solely in the hands of the Post and Telegraph Department.

COVERAGE. The question of coverage was a technical matter upon which he could not give an opinion, said the speaker, but the board had taken the matter in hand and had appointed Mr A. Gibbs, chief telegraph engineer of the Post and Telegraph Department, and Dr M. A. F. Barnett, of the Scientific and Industrial Research Department, ns a coverage commission. They had commenced their work and they wore at present in the South Island investigating and taking evidence in preparation for their report. The three main points to be decided by the commission were (1) the adequacy of the power of the existing stations; (2) the practicability of one or more super-power national stations; (3) the desirability of relay stations in provincial centres. The recommendation of the council in this matter was “ that the policy of the board should ultimately be to increase the power and coverage of the YA stations lather than to build numerous small stations.” This matter of coverage was one in which listeners in the main centres were not so much interested as were those living in the outlying places, but it must be viewed broadmindedly and nationally. In the centres they had not much to complain of. They must remember that country listeners paid the same license as those in the towns, consequently they were entitled to the same service as the townspeople got. They must therefore feel gratified that the board had tackled this all-important matter in the manner it had. FUTURE OP B STATIONS.

The future of the B Class stations, Mr Booth said, was a matter in which all listeners were interested more or less, and this fact was realised both by the board and the members of the Advisory Council. The B stations in New Zealand had rendered a noble service to New Zealand broadcasting, and he did not think the board would interfere with them. As a matter of fact, the B stations were still under the control of the Post and Telegraph Department, and, provided they continued to carry on in the way they had done in the past, and provided they did not infringe the regulations, they would not be interfered with. The question of subsidising those stations was quite another matter, and one which had already been considered by the board, and no definite action could be taken until the report of the coverage commission had been received. In the meantime the Advisory Council had recommended that certain temporary arrangements should bo made in connection with B Class stations in districts that were ill-served by the A stations —such places as Southland, Central Otago, South Canterbury, the West Coast, Nelson, Wairarapu Napier, Hastings, Gisborne, Palmerston North, North Taranaki, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, and Rotorua. These districts were all ill-served, and the council had recommended that where B stations existed in any of the places mentioned, the board should co-operate and assist in maintaining a service at least equal to that in the past. There was a number of places included in those mentioned where there was no B station in existence, and the council recommended to the board to consider, as soon as practicable, the places that at present had no station, and to consider the possibility of meeting the position by increasing the power of the adjacent YA stations or by subsidising any station that might be privately established in the locality. PROGRAMMES. Dealing with the question of programmes, Mr Bootli said that as each listener renewed his license, he would

be handed a questionnaire. This was for the purpose of ascertaining listeners’ views regarding programmes. As evidence that the board itself was anxious to please listeners with regard to programmes, the questionnaire had been issued by the board with the object of obtaining an expression of opinion from listeners as to their views on this allimportant problem. Important changes in programme organisation might be the result of the plebiscite, but here again listeners must not expect too many radical changes to take place all at once as the matter of cost would again enter into the matter. They might rest assured that the board was quite in earnest in its endeavour to please them, and it was recommended by the council that more elasticity should be provided by permitting free broadcasts of unannounced items. The question of the broadcasting of sporting results was a matter that was being considered, also the matter of improvement in the news sessions. SUPPORT FOR YA STATIONS. Mr Booth went on to appeal to listeners to be loyal to the YA stations. It was certainly true that to some extent the B stations had become more popular than the A stations, and this was, no doubt, due to the fact that the B stations enjoyed more freedom in regard to programme matter. The B stations deserved great praise for what they had done, and he would not like their activities to be restricted in any way, but at the same time the YA stations belonged to the listeners, and were a national asset. The board was making a genuine attempt to give popular programme matter. It is up to the listeners to forget the past, in which bias had been developed against the A stations. THE COPYRIGHT PROBLEM. With regard to the record trouble, Mr Booth said he was sure that listeners who had been following events in connection with copyright matters would realise the seriousness of the position. The trouble first commenced in 1929, when the Australasian Performing Rights Association made a demand upon the B class stations for payment of copyright fees in connection with the broadcasting of music per gramophone records. The dispute was fixed up temporarily, the B class stations having to pay a copyright fee of £lO 10s per annum, but the arrangement was to last only until December, 1931. No agreement was entered into with the Copyright Association after that date. Since then two other demands had appeared on the horizon, one being the demand from the manufacturers of records, for the payment of a fee for permission to broadcast the record and a further demand in connection with the patent rights on the records. Thus it would be seen that stations were now faced with demands from three sources. The position was very unsatisfactory, and presented a menace to the future of all stations, and it was fairly certain that the gramophone companies would, in the near future, take some action, but in what form it was difficult to say. He thought that these matters were for the Governments of the countries affected to settle, and he wished to emphasise the need for intense organisation on the part of listeners, as, if the Government knew that they had a strong backing of the listeners demanding that the rights of their stations should be protected, it would held the matter very considerably. At the conclusion of his address, Mr Booth answered a number of questions, and was accorded a hearty vote of thanks.