LAUGHTER ON THE AIR

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23364, 2 December 1937, Page 4

LAUGHTER ON THE AIR

The conditions in which radiohumour has to make good are indeed stringent, says the Listener in recording the fact that close upon 50,000 British listeners have come forward to accept the invitation originally extended to 1000 to offer themselves for the purpose of listening to light entertainment broadcasts and recording their reactions for the benefit of the 8.8. C. The audience to be amused is not a mass, but a number of more or less isolated units. The number of jokes and humorous situations in the world is, alas, sadly limited; even on the stage and in music halls they are ' apt to be overworked. When it is recollected that broadcast variety has to be drawn mainly from professional sources; that something like half the “ turns ” offered are by their very nature unsuitable for the medium; that only too often “ what the eye does not see the ear cannot appreciate,” and that even a good “ turn ” cannot be repeated on the wireless programme within a period of several months—full allowance will be made for the difficulties which confront those who are trying to meet the needs of the public in providing the nightly stimulus of laughter.