ON THE BROADCAST BAND

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 19959, 17 November 1934, Page 14

ON THE BROADCAST BAND

CHURCH RELAYS Morning—2 YA. Methodist; 3YA. Baptist; 4YA. St. Paul’s Cathedral. Evening—lYA. All Saints Anglican; 2YA. Church of Christ; 3YA, Christ’s College Chapel; 4YA Baptist. Since the Broadcasting Board took over the YA stations just on three years ago, the number of licenses and the number of transmitting hours have more than doubled. The license roll will reach 150,000 before Christmas. Technically at least the Broadcasting Board gave listeners good service in its coverage of sporting events last week. Whether the service is as good in other respects is a question on which there seems to be diversity of opinion. The amplifier and broadcasting apparatus which was used at the Timaru Show was in commission again at the Christchurch Show at Addington, and seems likely to build up an extensive connection at similar gatherings. The statement published recently in this column that the Timaru Association pioneered the use of a public address system, is contested by

a Fairlie correspondent, who points out that loud-speakers were used to broadcast results the last Mackenzie Show. Much the best “talk” from a YA station this week was that given from Dunedin on Armistice Sunday, describing the burial in Westminster Abbey of the Unknown Warrior. The matter was appropriate and dignified. The YA stations on Sunday night carried out a rebroadcast from the Empire station of part of the Armistice Day ceremony at the Cenotaph in London. The results were no better than usual, and great improvement will have to be effected before rebroadcasts from Daventry are regularly undertaken. It is only on rare occasions that any of the Australian stations bother with Daventry. Another move in the anti-interfer-ence campaign seems to have been made in the appointment of the appeal committee. Listeners should not. ! however, be unduly optimistic, until the Department comes out into the open. The balance of power rests in the chairman’s casting vote, and the chairman is an officer of the Department. The committee’s decisions even then are subject to the approval of the Postmaster-General, and we thus get back to the starting point. The crux of the question lies in the attitude of the Department, and in the nature of the instructions it issues to radio inspectors regarding enforcement of the regulations. Probably the least satisfactory feature of the New Zealand radio service is the “news” sessions, which must be about the worst in the world. Bearing this in mind, it is remarkable how the stations and their boosters pride themselves in what is a poor session. The Wellington unofficial organ of the Board perpetrates the following:—“The air race broadcasts demonstrated just how easily radio can steal the thunder of the newspapers. Every newspaper edition was a leg or two behind the wireless edition, and New Zealanders were able to judge for themselves the advantage that the spoken word had over the written word ... In one or two cases the bulletins were even ahead of the Australian announcements.” All the New Zealand bulletins were based on Australian broadcasts, and were always an hour and often longer behind 3LO or 3AR. They were at times hopelessly tangled and sketchy, and some flyers seemed to be going round in a circle, while one machine was reported to be as Perth, and another at Newcastle. The truth is that the Board has no news service. 90 per cent, of its “news” being poached from the Press, and broadcast often

long after publication. Its only really original news is part of the sports summary. The Board could not run a comprehensive news service on £50.000 a year, and is unlikely to make the attempt. The idea that radio would oust newspapers is exploded. The two have quite different functions to perform, and so far from wireless injuring the papers, proprietors all over the world are employing radio to advertise their journals.