RADIO

Southland Times, Issue 20834, 24 July 1929, Page 15

RADIO

RADIO EXHIBITION WELLINGTON ENTERPRISE. Commendable enterprise has been shown by radio interests in Wellington in staging the Radio Exhibition which is to be opened in the Wellington Town Hall on Thursday, July 25, by the Postmaster-General, the Hon. J. B. Donald. Dunedin is making arrangements for such an exhibition as well. The idea is one that has become very popular in Australia, and the’ past autumn has been notable for the number conducted there. The Wellington Radio Society has taken a prominent part in the arrangements for the Wellington exhibition, and it is to be expected that when the recently-formed band of local enthusiasts gains sufficient numerical strength, something of a similar type will be attempted in Auckland. In Australia it has been found worth while to join forces with electrical trades, and their co-operation might well be enlisted in New Zealand efforts. The Waitemata Power Board a few weeks ago vetoed the idea of a purely electrical exhibition, but had an electric and radio exhibition been suggested it would no doubt have taken a more favourable view. The cooperation of the Auckland Electric-Power Board and traders generally would be required. The two sciences of electricity and wireless are so closely intermingled that it seems only natural for the two trades to work together. Special programmes will be relayed from the exhibition on the three nights it will be held, and those who are unable to visit it will be able to share in the pleasure by listening-in then. , THE DUNEDIN SHOW. Interest is rapidly growing in the radio exhibition to be held in the Early Settlers’ and Pioneer Halls at the end of this month reports the Dunedin Evening Star. People who took nothing but a passing interest in radio are now talking of the exhibition and announcing their intention of being in attendance to see and hear the very latest in wireless equipment. There is every indication that the exhibition is to be run on the right lines, and will therefore claim the attention of all. The event should give radio in Otago a helping hand, and increase the number of licenses here. The Otago Radio Association, organisers of the exhibition, are keeping the form to be used at the opening to themselves in the meantime, but it is said that the opening will be of a most unique character. It is hoped to publish full details at a later date. WHO WAS FIB ST? The first regular broadcasting service was generally considered to have been inaugurated in America, but Holland now claims the first regular service. KDKA, America, started its regular transmissions with election returns of the Harding-Cox contest in the fall of 1920. Strangely enough, the tube used in the Dutch work was made by the same Phillips lamp works who are now making short-wave history with their world-wide short-wave transmission from PCJ, this having been used by the League of Nations for broadcasting to all nations. H. 11. S. Steringa Idzera, of The Hague, was the amateur who started broadcasting, according to an Amsterdam despatch. He built the first radio tube in Holland in 1917, tried transmitting tubes in 1918, and in the fall of that year succeeded in telephony by radio. In 1919 came public demonstrations in Utrecht at the Third Dutch Trade and Industries Pair. From a room in one end of the town he transmitted and was heard in a room in. the other end, using a three-electrode tube of only eight watts power The first number was a flute solo, “Turk in your knapsack,” an old soldier song. With an aerial energy of only five watts, 100 kilometers had been bridged. Regular programmes were soon arranged. Then came a license on February 7, 1919, and the call letters PCGG. Marconi operators on the ships, enthusiastic over the idea, carried it to the United States. PCGG closed in 1924, having served its purpose in starting this great movement. HOME-MADE BUSHINGS A METAL PANEL HINT. Now that metal and even wooden panels are more popular than in former days the subject of terminal bushings has naturally assumed greater importance says the New Zealand Herald. Ebonite terminal bushings can, of course, be obtained from most dealers at reasonable prices. Nevertheless, such articles can be made very cheaply indeed from a piece of ebonite tubing whose internal diameter is just sufficient to take the shaft of the terminal. In order to convert such a piece of ebonite tubing into efficient bushes for use with metal or wooden panels, cut sections from the tubing, each section being long enough to enable approximately sin. of it to protrude on each side of the panel. Such sections will now constitute the terminal bushes. For use, the bushes should be soaked in hot water for a few minutes, in order to soften them. They should then be inserted quickly into position, and the terminal nuts screwed home as rapidly as possible. In this way, the tightening pressure of the nuts will compress the Jin. of the bush which protrudes at each side of the panel, thereby creating a flange which will effectively insulate the terminal from its surroundings. WHEN BADIO DIDN’T HELP Much has been said in the past concerning the great help radio has been to police officials, but an American paper gives the following as an example of how wireless beat the police:— A woman, observing a burglar leisurely looting the third floor apartment at 5,737 Prairie Avenue, telephoned the police. Police notified the radio station WGN, so that word might be flashed to touring squad cars equipped with receiving sets. A moment later listeners on the WGN programme heard this: “Detective squads, attention. There’s a burglar on the third floor at 5,737 Prairie Avenue.” The squad of Lieutenant Walter Storms heard the call, and sped towards the address given. They entered the apartment, and found the robber gone. In a corner a radio was going full blast. Tucked under the lid was this note: “Dear Mr Radio Man.—Thanks for the tip-off. You’re a swell announcer. I’m now signing off.” CRYSTAL JOTTINGS '

The term "as clear as crystal” is peculiarly apt when the attractions of the humbler sets are compared with the varied advantages of the valve set. Those who are content with their local stations can still remember that small items do much to keep even crystal reception, in its foolproof way, at the highest pitch. The following hints, which should only be reminders, may prove of interest and value:—

When a crystal seems to have become insensitive there is no need to throw it away, for it can be broken in order to expose a new surface on it.' Good, clean contacts are especially important in a crystal set. If you use a cat’s whisker crystal detector be sure to keep the cat’s whisker sharply pointed if you want to get the maximum volume of which a act is wablc.

THE RADIO PLAY PRODUCING REALISM.

(By

Scott Alexander.)

The radio play is still in its infancy. It has never been fully developed; and it will be a long time before it will rival in any way the old theatre model. It is such a different proposition. In the theatre we can see the artists, the dresses (not much nowadays, I confess), the beautiful scenery, and the hundred and one things that are necessary to create atmosphere—a dismally-lighted, poverty-striken room, an old man breaking his heart over the head of his dying child; the housetops showing through the dismal garret window; the melancholy moon; the guttering candle —then, a flash of lightning, a roar of thunder or the soft moaning of the wind, or flakes of snow falling outside, there we have atmosphere—an atmosphere of misery, poverty, and icy hopelessness. Here is the studio version of the same setting. As there is nothing we can show the listener, we must describe the scene for him. But we must always remember that Mr. Listener is an impatient fellow. If we do too much explaining he switches his dial over to something else. So we briefly outline our setting, and leave the rest to the actor’s vocal atmospheric work. He must, in his voice, give you the old man s agony. At the same time he must denote the class of man who is speaking, either by soft or harsh tones! and he must denote the class to which the character belongs by his educated or uneducated manner of speech. This is where most of the radio actors fail; for as soon as they attempt characterization they become hopelessly indistinct. Most of the more romantic actors speak in an unusually strained manner; others simply elocute, which is the very worst sin or all.

The remedy is simple. Cast the play by careful selection. Each character should be personated by the person possessing the exact voice and culture of the part he is to depict. “Oh, yes,” you say, “but who is going to do this?” I will tell you. Later on, when radio plays have advanced out of the chrysalis stage a list of artists will be kept by the play producer, in the same way as film producers keep books of photographs of types, with descriptive notes attached, and when a play is to be presented the producer will make his selection from this register. But, first of all, a studio play producer will have to be appointed; and plays be rehearsed until they are perfect. They will not be hurried through as they are now, unrehearsed, and delivered to the listeners in the form of a more or less blase reading.

Realism is often attempted, and when I first came on the air I thought any old effect would do. For a cannon shot I hit a big drum, as we did in the theatre. But the drum effect in the studio is a joke. The sound of a drum being hit by an ordinary drum stick, instead of a deep-noted boom, is simply “poof” to the listeners. A revolver shot or a gun shot has a similar effect, only more jarring; but no one lis-tening-in to a loud speaker would ever think it was a pistol that has been fired. Water effects are made in the theatre by a long box containing peas, which rattle as the box is revolved; but the mike wont accept this, so we use a hose in the open air on the studio roof. The engineer brings the sound in carefully on a separate mike, and dilutes according to requirements. A waterfall is made by pouring water from a jug into a glass, close up to the mike. In my many experiments I found that many effects that sounded least what I wanted in the studio went best over the air. After all, it is mere suggestion; and if the effect is labelled the listener will aid in the deception; for he will know by the label what the effect is supposed to represent.

A house on fire, we found, could be best suggested by the crackling of dead leaves under the nostrils of the microphone. We raised a storm with a revolving barrel. The speed of the revolutions gave the varying screams and yells of the stormy petrel, while the studio organist assisted us by growling on the deep notes of his organ. Those not actually speaking at the time of the storm rendered valuable assistance by whistling through their teeth in imitation of wind screaming through narrow crevices. Storms are always effective; but it takes the entire studio staff to work a good storm. When we did the “Old Ironsides” night we had a staff of thirty workers, and the roof garden at Farmer’s was the battle ground. Here we had all sorts of effects. Sails were being beaten, timber cracked, a trumpeter blew signals, men were tapping parchment to get the shot effects, ropes were creaking through massive ships’ blocks, waters were roaring—then there were the shouts of the victors, and the groans of the vanquished in the great battle. It was a most thrilling night for all of us, and we got through without one man injured.

In my “Chang” presentation I gave a vivid description of a night in the jungle. I had to use the effect of a roaring tiger. I am told that I succeeded in giving many listeners quite a Taronga thrill. Not only did I give the tiger’s ferocious roar as it attacked a photographer; but I shot the massive brute and presented with all by radio knowledge the death throes and last gasps of the yellow striped monster of the jungle.

I worked myself up to such a pitch that I felt as if I were really up a tree with the growling man-eater trying to shake me down; and I was quite relieved when I gave the last dying groan of the beast. Some -people thought the organist did it. He didn’t. The fact is, I had an ordinary lamp chimney glass, and trumpeted and roared through that. Another secret. Some two years ago, when I was working a series of domestic comedies with Miss Nellie Ferguson from Studio 2FC we usually had a violent quarrel. We used to hurl all sorts of abuse at one another—as well as crockery. We broke panes of class, plates, and cups and saucers—in fact, we behaved so much as real people do that listeners wrote asking me not to do so many of this kind of play, as either the wife or husband of the writer considered it a personal insult. One night a Salvation Army captain watched us through the glass partition of the studio. He saw Miss Ferguson and myself seated side by side at the studio desk, with the various articles we had to hit or break by our sides, comfortably reading from the written manuscript. He gasped with surprise. He said we had killed another illusion! Poor man! Of course, the radio drama is THE thing of the future. The RADIO TELEVISION THEATRE will be an established fact in a few year’s time; and then let the theatres and picture houses tremble! It will be the greatest marvel of this great age of miracles; for nothing, except, perhaps, Belshazzar’s dream, has been seen like it in the past. The future is full of magic shapes that will be carried into the homes of the people, as well as into specially built theatres with vast holding capacities, where, for a few coppers, we shall SEE and HEAR the world’s greatest stars in plays and operas; broadcast from the world’s largest cities and radioed all over the world. I know it will be a shock for the flappers when they see me.—ln the Wireless Weekly. TARANAKI’S SERVICE There has been an increase in the broadcasting hours of 2YB, the Radio Broadcasting Company’s station in the Taranaki district. A two-hour dance programme is now given every Saturday night in response to many requests. This means that the station is on the air for about eight and a half hours continuously every Saturday, as the sporting broadcasts generally commence at 1.30 in the afternoon.

THE AMERICAN TRADE

HUGE TURNOVER. The American radio industry, including broadcasting, is taking in money at the rate of neariy £4OO,UuO. a day, according to a recent statement by Mr A. H. Caldwell, chairman of the Federal Radio Commission, and it has an annual pay-roll of £43,000, 000. Sales this year will total about £l2O, 000,000 at retail prices. Broadcasting stations and chains have an annual revenue of £6,000,000 and a pay-roll of about half that amount. It is estimated that 100,000 persons, earning £40,000,000 a year, are engaged in the manufacture and distribution of radio sets and accessories. The average cost of a radio set in America rose from £3l 12/- at the end of 1928 to £33 in the early part of this year. The figures were obtained from questionnaires issued by the National Electrical Manufacturers’ Association to some 30,000 dealers of whom between 6000 and 7000 returned answers. The dealers reported that during the first quarter of this year they had sold 140,000 mains-operated and 16,000 battery-operated sets —a good indication of the trend of public favour. SLUMBER MUSIC SYDNEY STATION’S INNOVATION. Station 2FC, Sydney, introduced to listeners recently what the announcer chose to term “slumber music,” which took the place of the usual dance items in the latter portion of the night programme. It. was split into two sections —those who wished to hear bright and lively music late at night, and those who wanted soft, soothing melodics. The former section of listeners could receive the dance music from 2BL. For half an hour before closing down, 2FC played continuously specially chosen music which had a soothing influence on its hearers. It was explained by the announcer that if the slumber music was being received too loudly the set could easily be detuned to allow the listener to read or sit and meditate without the loud-speaker breaking through his thoughts. The slumber music session seems quite a good one for some people, but would have to be played in a town where two stations are operating. The second station could then supply the popular music for those who revel in that class of tune. TECHNICAL HINTS Although most soldering-tags are supposed to be ready “tinned,” it is better to re-tin them than to trust to the original coating, which is generally too thin or old to be of much use. Every effort should be made to wash out all traces' of battery acid that may accidentally enter the eye, during battery-acid-mixing, and an ordinary eye-bath will prove helpful for this. Do not use twisted wire for long loudspeaker leads round the house, as undesirable capacity is induced' by this method. A good wire for loud-speaker extensions which is practically invisible is the No. 16 D.C.C. wire.