THE ROYAL TOUR

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 77, Issue 6558, 27 August 1948, Page 5

THE ROYAL TOUR

8.8. C. COVERAGE OF EVENTS SENIOR OFFICIAL IN NEW ZEALAND During their tour of South Africa last year, Their Majesties the King and Queen had spent as much time as possible in meeting ordinary, every-day people, and the more informal proceedings were the betterpleased they had appeared, said Mr D. G. Bridson, senior features producer for the 8.8. C., in an interview-

Mr Bridson was intimately concerned with the broadcasting coverage of the Royal tour of South Africa and he is now visiting New Zealand to gather material for background programmes to be broadcast from London during the forthcoming New Zealand tour by the King and Queen. He said there would probably be three 8.8. C. news commentators to cover the New Zealand tour, but no decision had yet been made about the men to be employed. On the South African tour, there had also been three news commentators, and in addition, he (Mr Bridson) had compiled four or five big broadcasts during the actual tour. In the present instance, he was gathering his background material before the Royal tour began, and he would probably be in London to supervise production while the tour was in progress. “I am gathering largely descriptive material, by chatting to New Zealanders, for instance farmers, old residents, and so on,” said Mr Bridson. “Out of these conversations, I shall construct programmes, which will be played by-actors. I shall make recordings of Maori music and dances in Rotorua, partly for use in the programmes on the Royal tour, and partly for an exclusively Maori programme.” ] On the South African tour, the King and Queen had travelled by train, said Mr Bridson, but he understood that in Australia they would not do so. Members of the press and radio staffs travelled in the pilot train in South Africa. The 8.8. C. had had a news commentator on the Royal train, and two others covering day-to-day events in recording cars, which went ahead of the Royal train to record background material. These recordings had been flown to London and broadcast when the King actually' arrived at the places they covered. Other recordings had been used in magazine-form programmes, under the title “Royal Progress.” This system of recordings was likely to be adopted in Australia and New Zealand. In South Africa, no matter what people’s politics were, the Royal party had received a tremendous welcome, added Mr Bridson. He is spending six weeks in New Zealand, but will devote only two weeks and a half to touring the country, the remainder of the time being spent in Wellington.