RADIO

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIII, Issue 20926, 4 January 1938, Page 5

RADIO

ON THE BROADCAST BAND

At times the new IZM Auckland comes in at greater strength than either 3ZB or 4ZB. This no doubt is due to its clearer radio channel.

One night recently two features—the Comedy Harmonists and Sidney MacEwan—relieved four pretty stodgy YA programmes. The N.B.S. arranged for each to start at the same minute. 9.16. whereas a little co-ordination would have enabled listeners to enjoy both.

December and January are the worst months for Australian stations, and reception of these lately has been patchy. Occasionally it has been as late as 11 p.m. before anything worth while has been obtainable from across the Tasman, and even at that hour signal strength has varied greatly from night to night. It is usually midFebruary before much improvement is noticeable. The Broadcasting Service has to cater for so many tastes that it is meet and right that a certain amount —possibly a large amount —of the syncopated types of dance “music” should be provided. It is altogether wrong, however, for so much of this stuff to be broadcast on Saturday nights, when the people it is designed to please are not listening, particularly during the summer season! This is just one more illustration of the faculty of N.B.S. programme arrangers doing the right thing at the wrong time. There is still a certain amount of novelty attached to the commercial stations, and it will be a few months yet before it is possible to estimate the popularity or otherwise of their programmes. The claims that 80 or 90 per cent, of New Zealanders listen regularly to them are too ridiculous to be treated seriously, and it is probable that during the day not more than 20 per cent, of receivers are tuned in to them. But it is probably no exaggeration to say that, unless there is a special YA feature, a majority of lis- ' teners switch over to the auxiliaries or the B’s as the clock chimes seven, and that most of them stay there until 10 pm. When one considers the amount of clatter, poisonality and Ammuricanism that characterises commercial programmes, quite apart from the advertising hooey it is abundantly clear that the National Broadcasting Service is not satisfying the public taste.

Somebody once defined a literary classic as something that everybody professed to revere but that few read. This is only partly true of music, as in this realm of art there are melodies that have become so popular that most people fail to realise that they are classical in origin, and to apply the term classical only to heavy music. It is a common complaint that too much heavy stuff is broadcast by National stations not only in New Zealand but throughout the Empire, but in one respect New Zealand programme organisers appear to have missed a point that is appreciated by overseas colleagues. This is that much "heavy” music of sacred or semi-sacred character is acceptable to most listeners. There is a quality in much of the best church music that appeals to the ear and the senses and that goes deeper than mere tunefulness, without demanding that the listener shall worry himself concerning the conception of the message of the composer. YA Sunday afternoon programmes could be made inspiring without being unpopular, and it would not be necessary to exclude Bach and the other masters. Sir John Simon, Chancellor of the Exchequer, has issued an official statement of the British Government’s intentions regarding counter-propa-ganda. In this it was stated:

“The Government has had under review for some time the question of broadcasts in languages other than English. The Ullswater Committee on broadcasting made a recommendation to this effect, that the appropriate use of languages other than English should be encouraged, and inquiries since made of British representatives abroad have lead to the conclusion that broadcasts from this country would be welcomed. particularly by listeners in Spanish and Portuguese in South American countries, and in Arabic by listeners in the Near East. Reports from other countries point in the same direction. “The 8.8. C., fully realising the importance of the issue involved, had already also for some time been examining the problem and they made it clear that if the Government decided that action on the lines of the Ullswater Committee’s recommendations was desirable, then the Corporation itself would undertake to provide a satisfactory service as speedly as circumstances would permit. The Government have now requested the Corporation to take action in the matter. It has been agreed that nothing should be done which would prejudice or interfere in any way with the exist-

ing Empire service from Daventry. New transmitters are needed. Until they are constructed and brought into use, only a limited service will be possible.”

The distinction of putting over the neatest thing during the last year has been awarded by a wireless periodical to the following by a Sydney announcer:—“Latest news from England is that the King’s intention to marry Mrs Simpson is unchanged. Now v/e are to hear the overture frem ‘Merry Wives of Windsor.’ ” Actually there was nothing very clever about that. The joke had become hoary before this announcement was made. Neither was there anything particularly witty, as has been claimed, about the advertisement for women’s knickers "at sixpence a leg with the seats thrown in.” Sometimes there is unconscious humour in announcements, but usually these apparent slips especially the suggestive ones—of which there are many in Australia—are too smart to be accidental. Recent examples from over the Tasman illustrate that very often a true word is spoken by inadvertence :

Considering the weather there is a large crowd present, although since the Governor-General commenced speaking, the number has diminished. He was admitted to hospital suffering from eternal injuries.

She left on Wednesday for a destitution unknown. There was a threatened sensation of work at the waterfront. The next meeting of the National Cursing Association. Now, all you wives what better present for your husband or sweetheart than a suit of silk pyjamas? Brown’s laundry guarantees to return your clothes in exactly the same condition as they received them What we need is more milk for our children, and the country should take the bull by the horns and demand it.

The International Broadcasting Union has asked its members to report what they are doing towards creation of a better understanding between peoples. It apparently feels that the growth of propaganda broadcasts, particularly in Europe, requires some antidote. and is seeking a way to suggest to its members how they could improve matters. Its efforts, however well-meaning they may be, cannot meet with much success, as it has no means of disciplining members.