RADIO

Taranaki Daily News, 26 April 1930, Page 13

RADIO

2YE HAS A BIRTHDAY., EXCELLENT RECORD FOR YEAR. There is little to report of distant stations this week owing to very adverse reception conditions. Static has been terrific at times, rendering listening to anything but the most powerful stations almost impossible. Using only a few feet of wire connected to the aerial terminal of the set and disconnecting the outdoor aerial 2YA, IYA, and 2FQ were enjoyed on several bad nights almost free of static. Of course, a receiver with a high radio frequency gain is necessary to be able to bring in stations at speaker strength with so small a pick-up. A year ago yesterday 2YB was first heard by listeners carrying out test transmissions preparatory to the official openings, which took place a year ago to-day or rather to-morrow (Sunday) by dates. Taking things as a whole 2YB in its first year of operation has given a remarkable service for a station which is run voluntarily. The excellence of 2YB studio concerts is well-known throughout New Zealand, while the many outside broadcasts carried out have 'been of a high order. Sports relays have been a big feature during the year and have been relayed by land line from considerable distances. Boxing relays especially have been most successful, the relay from Hawcra on Thursday night of the Donovan-Grime fight being one of the most successful, being perfect from a technical point of view, no extraneous noises or line hum being apparent, while the announcer, Mr. G. Aldridge, is too well known to need praising for his excellent description of the contest.

2YB is to again participate in a long distance relay on May 3. A land line Iras been engaged from Dunedin for the purpose of broadcasting the Dono-van-Sarron fight. It is to be hoped a better line will be available than was the case during the Byrd address to school children.

Although the North Taranaki Radio Society has enjoyed a measure of support from the people of the district who continually enjoy the benefits of 2YB that support has not been by any means what it should have been considering tho great benefit to the district the station. undoubtedly is, and it is to be hoped that the station will enjoy a greater measure of support during its second year of operation. ARRANGEMENT FOR BRITISH TOUR Now that permission has been given to broadcast reports of the matches played during the coming tour of the British Rugby team lovers of sport throughout New Zealand can look forward to an unprecedented year. The visit of the British team will be the greatest event yet in broadcasting in New Zealand.

The Broadcasting Company is making plans for covering the whole tour as completely as possible. These plans, it is stated, are on a scale never before attempted. Contingent on relay linen being availa/ble, practically every match of the tour will be described, whether played in Whangarei or in Invercargill.

The first match of the tour will be played at Wanganui on Wednesday, May 21, and as very.great interest will attach to the first match in which the visitors take part a broadcast will be made by all four main stations and by 2YB New Plymouth. The broadcast of the first match in this way will be of immense publicity value to the New Zealand Rugby Union for the rest of the tour and to the sport in general.

The four tests will also be broad*-' east' from all stations simultaneously, but the other matches will be covered by the nearest station. An announcer and operator will accompany the team throughout the three months’ tour and the relay lines which it is intended to use will total many thousands of miles in length. The Rugby football controversy has been revived, this time by the Canterbury: Rugby Union, which states that no permission will be granted the Radio Broadcasting Company unless it undertakes to broadcast. all the principal matches played in Christchurch. By doing this they apparently hope to prevent simultaneous broadcasts of the test matches which are to be played in various centres during the season. That their attitude is childish and un- I sportsmanlike is apparent to every football enthusiast in the country, and it is to be hoped that public opinion will again assert itself and force the Canterbury Union into a more reasonable frame of mind.

From the publishers a copy of the “New Zealand Radio Handbook Annual” has been received. It is a great improvement on the previous quarterly issues and is well stocked with useful information for the radio enthusiast.

2YB, together with the IYA stations, relayed the Anzac Day service for those who were unable to attend. Thia service was .greatly appreciated by people in the country and those confined to their homes through sickness. AN INNOVATION AT IYA. An innovation in the form of a discussion on an important subject appears on 2YA’s programme for Saturday, May 3, when, speaking under the auspices of the Workers’ Educational Association, Mr. F. G. MarskeU, M.Sc., and Mr. A. E. Campbell, 8.A., both of Victoria College, will discuss the question of “Heredity v. Environment in Human Affairs.” These discussions are a regular feature of 8.8. C. programmes, and this, the first of its kind to be given from 2YA, will no doubt prove of more than passing interest. RADIO TO THE MOON! Dr; Hoyt Taylor, president of the American Institute of Radio Engineers, is going to try and send a message by radio to the moon. He has an idea that such a signal would be reflected back to the earth from the moon’s surface in 2.8 seconds —this being the necessary time for it to journey 250,000 miles to the moon and return at a speed of 186,000 miles per second. The idea of this proposed signal to

the moon is to determine whether there is heavy absorption of wireless waves in the upper levels of the earth’s atmosphere; and although this experiment may sound fantastic, Dr. Taylor’s reputation as an American scientist, is sufficient to guarantee that the experiment is not being made for stunting purposes.

AN ENGLISH LISTENER IN AMERICA

An Englishman who lived for a time in New York and became, as he puts it, a local listener to WEAK, has recorded some of his impressiono in “Popular Wireless.” In the first place, he disposes of the popular idea that, whenever the American listener switches on his radio, his loud-speaker immediately greets him with a vociferous babel of music, talk, running commentaries; advertising, etc,, each emanating individually from a miscellany of closely adjacent broadcasting stations, the separation of which is entirely beyond the capabilities of the listener's set. “Speaking purely as an ordinary listener,” he writes, “I never found the congestion of tho American ether at any time sufficiently troublesome to prevent me from listening to what I wanted to hear when I wanted to, hear it. Neither was mine a set of super-selectivity.” “In reference to th© advertising from American stations, he states that it detracts from the entertainment value of the programmes, but not to the extent that is popularly supposed to be the case. Tho American broadcast advertisement is purely indirect, “A typical programme commences with an announcement something like this (he writes): 'Each week at this hour, ladies and gentlemen, it is our pleasure to present to you the' Homeland Repertory Players, who are sponsored by Hometown Accessories Incorporated, makers of .fittings of distinction for your motor-car. This week the players have chosen for your entertainment a presentation of .’ The programme proceeds, usually for an hour, without further advertising" interruption until its conclusion, when tho annoncer will say: “That, ladies and gentlemen, concludes the Hometown Repertory Players’ contribution to this evening’s programme, which has come to you by courtesy of Hometown Accessories Incorporated, makers of fittings of distinction for your motor-ear.” “Literally dozens of stations will be taking such a programme at one time from the N..T.C. network, and it is often quito impossible to know for certain to what*station you are listening. To overcome this difficulty a system of station identification is adopted which never failed to impress me with its superlative technical excellence. Every quarter of an hour the studio announcer interrupts his programme to say, ‘There will now be n brief pause for station announcements.’ And, without a fraction of a second’s loss of time, each transmitter is connected to its own studio and, almost before the last syllable of the word 'announcements’ has been spoken a freeh voice says, ‘This is WBZB, located at . Our programme continues from New York.’ To me, the faultless precision with which this procedure was invariably carried out was as beautiful as a symphony concert.” “I found the experience of listening in America very refreshing and vastly entertaining, but I do not know that I wan impressed to the extent of wishing for any change in our own system. The effect of advertising is, I feel sure, to over-emphasise the need for ‘popular appeal’ in the programmes, so that they become very generalised in their scope. Still, the radio industry in America is stated to be the third largest in the country, so apparently the American: listener is satisfied.”

TO-NIGHT’S PROGRAMMES NEW ZEALAND STATIONS. 2YB New Ply mouth.—6.3o p.m., children’s session conducted by Aunt Rene and Uncle Ted; 7.30, sports, news and information session, with short musical programme to follow. IYA Auckland.—3 p.m., afternoon session, selected studio items, including literary selection; 4.30 p.m., close down; 5 p.m., children’s session; 6 p.m., dinner session, “Columbia” hour; piano solo, Gil Dech; piano solo, Constance Mering; waltz medley; saxophone, Rudy Wiedoeft; 6.30 p.m., mandoline band, Circle Mandolinistico; waltz, Symphony Orchestra; 6.45 p.m., musical Art Quar-

tet; saxophone, Rudy Wiedoeft; piano, Gil Dcch; Eddie Thomae’ Collegians; 7 p.m., news and market reports; 8 p.m., chimes; relay of concert from the Town Hall by the Auckland Municipal Band; 11 p.m., God Save the King. 2YA Wellington. —3 p.m., chimes; eelected studio items; 3.30 and 4.30 p.m., sportfl results;. 4.55 close down; 5 p.m., children’s session; 6 p.m., dinner

Cathedral, Mulgrave Street, Wellington (preacher, Rev. Percival Jamon, organist 1 and choirmaster, Mr. Robert Parker); 8.15 (approx), relay of the Port Nicholson Silver Band’s second recital of the 1930 season from the Grand Opera House.

3YA Christchurch.—3 p.m., afternoon session; gramophone recital; 4.30 p.m., close down; 5.30 p.m., children’s song service by children of Presbyterian Sunday schools, conducted by Rev. R. Pratt; 6.15 p.m., chimes; 6.30 p.in., relay of evening service from Durham Street Methodist Church (preacher, Rev. W; T. Blight, organist and choirmaster, Mr. Ernest Frith, F.R.C.0.); 7.45 (approx), intermission gramophone recital; 8.15 p.m., overture, Dajos Bela Orchestra; soprano, Miss Betty Sutton; piano, Miss Beatrice tenor, Mr. Harry Francis; 8.32 p.m., harp, Mr. Harry Glaysher; mezzo-soprano, Miss Anita Graham; dramatic recitation, Miss Dorothy Jenkin; trio, Edith Lorand Trio; soprano, Miss Betty Sutton; weather report; 9.1 p.m., piano, Mies Beatrice Claridge; tenor, Mr. Harry Francis; trio, Edith Lorand Trio; recitation, Mi® Dorothy Jenkin; harp, Mr. Harry Glaysher; 9.31 p.m., orchestral,' Berlin State Opera Orchestra; God Save the King.

4YA Dunedin. —3 p.m., chimes, selected gramophone records; 4.30 p.m., close down; 5.30 p.m., children’s song service; 6.30 p.m., relay of evening church service, Trinity Methodist Church, Rev. H. E. Bellhouse, choirmaster, Mr. Simpson; music, “Brunswick”; orchestral, Brunswick Concert Orchestra; orchestral, Anglo-Pcrsians; violin, EYedrie Frad.kin; orchestral, Ray Miller and his Orchestra; 6.30 p.m., orchestral, A. and P. Gipsies; orchestral, Brunswick Concert Orchestra; orchestral, A- and P. Gipsies; orchestral, Ray Miller and his orchestra; orchestral, Brunswick Concert Orchestra; violin, Frederic Fradkin; orchestral, Anglo-Persians; 7 p.m., news session, market reports and sports results; 7.40 p.m., lecturette, Mr. W. M. Jackson, “Gardening”; 8 p.m., chimes; overture, 2,YA Salon Orchestra; quartet, Melodie Four; Hawaiian instrumental, Golden Hula Quartet; violin with obbligato, Mr. Frank Bryant; humour, Mr. Will Bishop will entertain at the piano; 8.36 p.m., instrumental, 2YA Salon Orchestra; baritone, Mr. R. S. Allwright; soprano, Mies Mavis Chamberlain; instrumental, 2YA Salon Orchestra; 9 p.m., weather report and announcements; quartet, Melodie Four; Hawaiian instrumental, Golden Hula. Quartet; tenor, Mr. Sam Duncan; musical comedy selection, 2YA Salon Orchestra; humour, Mr. Will Bishop will again entertain at the piano; 9.35 p.m., bass, Mr. W. W. Marshall; mouth-organ solos, Mr. R. J. G. Smith; soprano, Miss Mavis Chamberlain; quartet, Melodie Four; instrumental, 2YA Salon Orchestra, “Banco Novelties; 10.4 p.m., dance pro- • gramme, “H.M.V.”; 11 p.m., sporting summary; 11.10 p.m., God Save the King. 3YA Christchurch.—3 p.m., afternoon session gramophone recital; 4.25 p.m., sports results; 4.30 p.m., elose down; 5 p.m., children’s hour; 6 p.m., dinner session, “Columbia” hour; instrumental, Ketelbey’s Orchestra; waltz, Jacque Jacobs’ Ensemble; '6.30 p.m., instrumental; Columbia Symphony Orchestra; : waltz, Royal Serbian Tambouritza Orchestra; waltz, Symphony Orchestra; march. H.ML Grenadier Guards Band;

waltz) Royal Philharmonic Orchestra; waltz, Jacque Jacobs’ Ensemble; 7 p.m., news session; 7.30 p.m., sports results; 8 p.m., chimes; vaudeville programme; orchestral, Jack Hylton’s Orchestra; jazz songs at the piano with ukulele, The Melody Maids; ’cello, Mr. Harold Beck; baritone, Mr. W. H. Inkster; steel guitars and ukulele trios, Elaine Moody’s Hawaiian Trio; 8.32 p.m., vaudeville, Mr. Ron Shand and ,Miss Lettie Craydon; instrumental, Christchurch Broadcasting Trio; humour, Mr. W. IL Moses; 9.2 p.m., weather report and announcements; novelty, International Novelty Orchestra; popular songs at the piano and ukulele, The Melody Maids; ’cello, Mr. Harold Beck; baritone, Mr. W. H. Inkster; steel • guitars and ukulele, I Elaine Moody’s Hawaiian Trio; vaudeville, Mr. Ron, and Lettie Craydon; instrumental, Christchurch Broadcasting Trio; humour, Mr. W. H. Moses; dance music until II p.m., “Columbia” hour; 11 p.m., God Save the King. 4YA Dunedin.—3 p.m., chimes; selected gramophone items; 4.30 p.m., close down; 5 p.m.,,children’s hour; 6 p.m., dinner music, “Columbia” hour; violin . and wurlitzer organ, Marmello; Hawaiian, South Sea Islanders; march, Columbia Symphony Orchestra; piano solo, Percy. Grainger; 6.30 p.m., waltz, Eddie Thomas’ Collegians; piccolo duet, Jean and Pierro Gennin; violin and organ, Marrnello; xylophone, W. H. Bennett; Hawaiian, (South Sea Islanders; instrumental, Denza Dance Band; 7 p.m., news session; 8 p.m., chimes; > relay of vaudeville programme from ] I 3YA Christchurch; 10 p.m., dance sesI sion, “H.M.V.”; 11 p.m., God Save the i King. TO-MORROW’S BROADCAST. 2YB New Plymouth—6 p.m., children’s Sunday service conducted by Uncle David and children from Frankley Road Sunday School; 8.15 p.m., concert programme: Orchestral selection, CasseNoisette Suite; baritone solo, Mr. Laurie Stewart (Auckland); pianoforte solo, Miss Frances I. Broad; male choir, Die Nfcht; cornet solo, Mr. Gordon Nunns; soprano solo, Miss M. Thompson; orchestral selection, Liebestraum and Kamennoi; baritone solo, Mr. Vic. Simpson; ’cello solo, The Broken Melody; orchestral selection, Romance; tenor solo, Mr. P. J. Frcdric; pianoforte solo, Miss F. I. Brood; 'baritone solos, Mr. Laurie Stewart (Auckland); male choir, Der Tany; cornet solo, Mr. Gordon Nunns; orchestral selection, Sanctuary of the Heart; soprano solo, Miss M. Thompson; orchestral selection, La Traviata; baritone solo, Mr. Vic Simpson;, ’cello solo, Drink to Me Only; tenor solo, Mr. P. J. Fredric; orchestral selection, Sylvia Ballet. I IYA Auckland—3 p.m., afternoon session, selected studio items, including literary selection; 4.30 p.m., close down; 6 p.m., children’s song service; 0.55 p.m., relay of evening service from the Baptist Tabernacle (preacher, Rev. Joseph Kemp, organist and choirmaster, Mr. , A. E. Wilson; 8.30 (approx), orchestral overture, La Scala Orchestra; instru- ! mental, Studio Trio; soprano, Miss Freda Litherland; piano, Mr. Eric Waters; vocal duet, Miss Freda-Lither-land and Mr. W. E. McMichael; instrumental, Studio Trio; baritone, Mr. W.

E. McMichael; instrumental, Studio Trio; vocal duet, Miss Freda Litherland and Mr. W. E. McMichael; orchestral, San Francisco Symphony Orchestra; 9.30 (approx), God Save the King. 2YA Wellington.—3 to 4.30 p.m., afternoon session; 6 p.m., song service conducted by Uncle George, assisted by the Terrace Congregational Sunday School choir; 7 p.m., relay of evening service of St. Paul’s Pro--7.45 p.in., selection, Milan Symphony Orchestra; negro spirituals, Utica Jubilee Singers; violin, Heifetz; male choir, Don Cossacks; selection, Barbirolli’s Chamber Orchestra; 8.15 p.m., relay of programme from 3YA Christchurch; 9.30 p.m., God. Save , the King.