MUSIC BY WIRELESS

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 16174, 10 July 1923, Page 6

MUSIC BY WIRELESS

MENACE TO ENTERTAINERS,

ANNIHILATING DISTANCE. LONDON, May 16.—-Rapid progress is Doing made m Great Britain wan wiruiess uroauensting, alihougli it is omy a lew months since ttio Brinsti Broadcasting Company began us operations, under license lr-om ttio Bosimaster-Gen-eral. it is estimated that there are now about 2t>o,U<x) people here who possess listening-in sets, which enabio them to hear the programmes, of entertainment daily provided irom the oroadcasimg stations. A listeutin-in set, bearing the stamp of the British Broaucustmg Company costs £5 to £25, but “pans” are on sale in thousands of simps throughout tlie country, and anyone with a little mechanical knowledge can make a set, oy purchasing "pans ’ at an expenditure considerably below £5. The day is not far distant when tho number oi people lislenuig-iii in Great Britain will be ten times greater than it is to-day. There are six broadcasting stations in Great Britain, and each oi these provides entertainments for listening-in within a radius of about a hundred miles. These stations are situated at London, Cardiff, Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle and Glasgow. 'I ho British Broadcasting Company has erected tho six broadcasting stations, and it provides Urn daily programmes, free of charge, to listeners-in. Its revenue is derived from a 50 per cent, share of tho uumiui license fee of 10s which the Bostmaster-General charges to everyone who possesses a set.

WHERE TROUBLE THREATENS. There is a dispute going on between the company and those associated with other forms of entertainment. Theatrical managers, actors, actresses, music hall stars, singers, musicians, and other, are opposing broadcasting, as they fear that the development of this new form of entertainment, if unchecked, will soon rob them of their means of livelihood. They ask why should people pay to go to a concert hall in order to hear a good concert, or to a theatre, in order to sec a musical play, if they can stay at home and hear all the music, free of charge. Theatrical managers, concert managers, and other people controlling the existing forms of entertainment, aro inserting in the contracts they make with actors, musicians, singers and others, a clause forbidding the artist to participate in any broadcasted programme. According to .Sir Oswald Stoll, the head of a big theatrical syndicate which controls variety theatres in a number of the chief cities of Great Britain, the threat which broadcasting holds over existing forms of entertainment is one of ultimate extinction. “When broadcasting reaches a high state of perfection, there is little doubt that it will have great interest for large numbers of jTQoplo in every city, town and borough in tho country,” lie slates, “The best singers, actors, lecturers, and orators will be listened to by 10,000,000 people at a time. But all the lesser fry in artistry will be wiped out. No one will havo any use for them. Theatres, concert halls, lecture-rooms, restaurants, pubic-houses, and so forth will become listening-in centres, where only the grpat ones in every lino will bo tolerated. The monopoly will exclude many artists from employment. The British Broadcasting Company will then become the only outlet for nil tho talents. It will become the concentrated essence of all entertainment. No artist will bo able to live without it; only the best, of artists will be ablo to live with it.”

OPERA IN THE. BACKBLOCKS. But nothing that those who aro opposed to broadcasting can do will prevent (he extensive development of this pew form of entertainment, which annihilates distance. Before long the development of wireless will reach such a stage that people in Australia will be able to listen-in to tho best operas apd concerts provided ip London, Paris, New York, and elsewhere. Grand opera produced at Covent Garden, in London, or at the Metropolitan Opera House, in Now York, with the best singers in tho world in the cast, will ho heard by those who live out jn the backblocks and the Never-Never Land. There will bo no spot too lonely or too remote (p be reached hy wireless. The shepherd in his hut, and tho lighthouse-keeper stationed off the rock-bound coast, who is visited only at long intervals, will bo in

j daily contact with the best that the big cities of the world provide in tho way of • entertainment.

The British Prime Minister, speaking in his place in the House of Commons, will ho heal'd simultaneously by the assembled Parliament of the Commonwealth in times of international crisis, when the fate of tho Empire is involved. Ho will be heard not only in the Commonwealth Parliament, but. in every Parliament, of tbo Empiro. The question of the participation of the overseas Dominions in tho foreign policy of the Empire, and many other important Imperial problems will bo solved by wireless.—Sydney Sun Special.