The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING "LUCEO NON URO” THURSDAY, JANUARY 13, 1938. The Future Of Radio In New Zealand

Southland Times, Issue 23406, 13 January 1938, Page 4

The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING "LUCEO NON URO” THURSDAY, JANUARY 13, 1938. The Future Of Radio In New Zealand

In a message from Wellington, printed yesterday, the Prime Minister was reported to have confirmed a previous announcement that New Zealand will later be adding a voice to the world’s radio short-wave broadcasts. Mr Savage seems to have said nothing that he did not say before; a certain vagueness lay about his statements and kept the Government’s plans in a comfortable remoteness. “We have to strengthen the position here before we undertake short-wave broadcasting,” he said. “It is the old story that Rome was not built in a day.” No conception of a planned and orderly progress has deterred the Government from advancing at a rapid pace in legislation which is likely to have a far greater effect on the lives of the people—for good or ill—than any programme of cultural development implicit in radio. And there has been nothing in the Government’s activities over the past two years to justify any hope that in this particular case a slower pace will be synonymous thoroughness of method.. There is a touch of the grandiose in the Government’s outlook which tempts it into large and expensive enterprises, too often without relation to economic or social realities. A great deal is done, and there is no Jack of energy and hopeful activity. But in every sphere except that of the severely practical it is difficult to discover the inner cohesion of purpose without which every new advance must be a kind of jerry-built experiment, needing much later patching and revision. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the use of radio. The Government has extended the coverage with undoubted zeal. But it has also followed a policy of headlong expansion in the Commercial Broadcasting Service, opening new stations long before there has been a sufficient revenue to justify their appearance. In the same way the Government made an excellent choice in appointing Professor Shelley as Director of Broadcasting, and then proceeded to burden his task with unexpected difficulties by placing a commercial service in the hands of men who have proved themselves incapable of satisfying any but the poorest taste in entertainment. The idea seems to be to cover as much ground as possible, to build, establish and develop in terms of mechanical equipment, and then to rely hopefully on some mysterious process of fermentation to bring order out of chaos. Presumably the new building for which plans are being prepared is to be the long-awaited conservatorium. In due time there may arise an imposing building, equipped to act as a training centre for New Zealand talent and for its organization in the service of broadcasting. But no speeches of satisfied politicians can convert art empty building into a cultural centre, and the conservatorium can be of no real value until broadcasting in this country has been given something more of plan and direction than can now be found in it. If it is argued that a conservatorium is just what is needed to provide this direction,' and to make possible the integration of new purposes, it should only be necessary to refer to the commercial stations. The use of radio advertising can be accepted in principle. It has been rejected in Britain, although in the United States and in Australia it has been put widely into practice. Radio advertising is completely different from the type that makes use of the printed word, and if it remains objectionable to those who feel that the ear does not escape as quickly as the eye, there are other persons quite willing to welcome it. But there is no reason why the commercial programmes should remain so consistently at low. levels of entertainment. In their present form they seem to aim at that false brightness which is believed to be acceptable to the tired worker. And no doubt it is acceptable to many listeners who feel unequal to more serious matters. But a dead level of brightness must inevitably fall off towards dullness unless there is a background of intellectual effort in the conception of programmes. Professor Shelley once said that the people must have “good” jazz; and if such a thing is possible it can come only from a service which deals also in the higher standards of music. The New Zealand Government stands behind the commercial service; and this means that at the present time its imprimatur is on a cultural activity which never rises beyond mediocrity, and descends too often to lamentable errors in taste. Against this sort of thing Professor Shelley is fighting a losing battle. We do not suggest that brightness should be abandoned, or that it should be replaced by heaviness. But it must be clearly recognized that radio reflects the intellectual life of so-

ciety, and that therefore it should be guided towards higher levels, even in entertainment. No system of education can be altogether revitalized and improved while slovenly or mediocre broadcasts are constantly undoing the work> of the schools. Until these facts are recognized the Government should think twice about a shortwave station. A great deal of work must be done in our own country before we can have any justification for loud talking to the outside world. Even in the elementals of broadcasting there is wide room for improvement. Our announcers are colourless; with a few exceptions our radio speakers are quite without distinction. The best parts of our programmes are invariably records. This is inevitable, and will be for a long time to come. But if the Government seriously believes that a country, which stays outside the propaganda war is at a “considerable disadvantage” it will have to encourage a much wider and more fundamental change in broadcasting than has so far been attempted. The Prime Minister spoke of strengthening the position in New Zealand. If he meant that there is need to discover and foster a quality of radio work that could be recognizable as something native and proper to New Zealand his words could be heartily endorsed. What he probably meant, however, is that there are to be a few more stations, and a new outlay in bricks and mortar.