ON THE BROADCAST BAND

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 19523, 24 June 1933, Page 12

ON THE BROADCAST BAND

Church services to be relayed tomorrow night are:—lYA, Baptist 2YA, St. Peter’s Anglican; 3YA, St. Andrew’s Presbyterian; 4YA, St. John’s Anglican.

A northern journal is claiming “copyright” for extracts it publishes from advance programmes of Australian stations. The full programmes are available in a Sydney radio weekly, which makes no claim to copyright, and can be secured by any newspaper from the Australian Broadcasting Commission.

Reception lately has been good. At the beginning of the week it was extraordinarily so during daylight hours.

On Tuesday night 2FC, will broadcast a repeat of Galsworthy’s “Skin Game,” and on Wednesday will relay “Girls of Gottenburg” from 3LO. The community sing on Thursday night through 2BL will feature Maori songs, led by the Rotorua contralto “Princess” Wiki who has been on the air frequently of late.

The Australian Broadeacsting Commission lost about £6OOO last year on the running of its Westralian station 6WF.

South Island stations are' not .to have the first of the 8.8. C. plays, “Christopher Wren,” until July.

The suggestion that application be made to tha Broadcasting Board for permission to transmit services on a population basis was made at a meeting of the Auckland Presbytery by the Rev. R. E. Evans. He pointed out that, whereas a representative of one denomination in Wellington broadcasted 12 services, it should be entitled, on a population basis, to broadcast 18. (There is no doubt that if a membership basis were adopted one or two denominations would have their quota considerably reduced).

An application from the Ashburton Rugby Union for the broadcasting of the Ashburton-Canterbury match for the Ranfurly Shield, to be played at Christchurch on August 2, was refused by the Canterbury Union. The matter was discussed in committee and on resuming in open meeting the chairman (Mr. A. E. McPhail) said the request could not be granted.

2UW Sydney will shortly improve its aerial andtransmitter, and promises to increase its volume as a result. This enterprising station lately has been less powerful than some of the other Sydney B graders. It would be an advantage if it changed its wavelength, as older type receivers are unable to separate it from 2UW.

Following a suggestion made at a meeting of the Board of Governors of Canterbury Agricultural College, Lincoln, it is possible that the college may establish a transmitting broadcasting station. In the meantime the chairman of the board (Dr. H. G. Denham) will consult with some members of the college staff. The assistant-lecturer in chemistry Mr E. W. Hullett, has stated that he is willing to organise the establishment of a transmitting station, and he asked permission of the board to continue with that work. The director (Professor R. E. Alexander) explained during the discussion that with a transmitting station members of the college staff would be able to give lectures of interest to farmers at specified times each week. The meeting decided that full information should be obtained of the possibilities of the suggestion made, and the question will be discussed again next month.

The company responsible for the 8 to 9 programmes from 4ZL on Monday nights has secured a series of gramophone records entitled ‘Viennese Nights,’ recorded in the atmosphere of a European beer garden. Each record will be played on Monday nights at 8.45. Each reeord measures 16in, and takes approximately 15min to play. The series will be continued throughout a period of approximately six months.

Just how much local electrical background affects reception was illustrated on one day this week. At about 12.30 p.m„ when operators of most of the electrically driven appliances were at lunch, 2FC, 2UE and several other Australian stations could be picked up at reasonably good strength. At 2.30, when the machines were at work again, it was impossible to distinguish anything that was played from Sydney, and only a couple of the stations could be heard at all.

2CH Sydney is making a feature of broadcasts by politicians. On Monday night last it put on the air an address by the State Premier (Mr. Stevens), and on Wednesday an account by a state Labour man of the cause of the party split. It has also made arrangements for the Federal Prime Minister (Mr. J. A. Lyons) to broadcast a political talk every Thursday night at 8.45 (N.Z. time). Heterodyning has been rather a nuisance in the evenings lately, but that is one of the penalties of the early appearance of Australians and of winter strength of Americans. KDKA has set up a whistle behind 3YA at times, and IZR is affected by another American.

The funniest thing on the air during the last week was a wrestling relay from Adelaide through SCK. It was not the announcer that provided the fun, but some female fans near the mike. One of these was evidently a friend of a native son who was engaged with a Frenchman, and her cries to the referee and her advice to her friend “Billy” were unique. “Put in the rabbitkiller, Billy,” “Stun him, Billy,” she screamed when the Australian was on top. “He's choking him, he’s choking him!” was her agonised wail when the Frenchman applied a stranglehold. This went on through the event, and had to be heard to be appreciated.