Radio

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLVIII, Issue 21735, 17 August 1940, Page 14

Radio

“The zoological readings from the magnetic observatory” was an amusing slip made recently by a YA announcer.

Some new wartime recordings have been heard lately. These are more appropriate than “Siegfried Line” and “This Time is Gonna be the Last Time.”

America is the home of commercial broadcasting, but it lies been outstripped in one particular by Australia, whose hundred commercials, on a population basis, outnumber America’s by two to one.

“Listeners will hear talks by Herbert Morrison. Minister of Supply, and David Lloyd George,” quoth a 2YA announcer. Fancy a New Zealand Minister being introduced without a handle. And Mr Lloyd George is entitled to Right Honourable.

The Australian Postmaster-General. Mr Thorby, recently issued a prohibition on enemy aliens- owning or even listening to a radio set. Now he has announced that he is willing to consider applications for individuals to be allowed to use receivers for local reception only. Shortwave apparatus must be sealed or dismantled.

The Australian Jockey Club has presented radio receiving and amplifying apparatus to military camps at eight points in New South Wales. A portable amplifying outfit which can be carried into the field, is included. Previously the A.J.C. gave six sets for the use of the Australian troops in Palestine.

“The station turns on atmosphere, from the buzz of voices in the theatre, the tuning-up of the orchestra, the swish of the rising curtain and the sudden hush of the crowd, to th» applause of a vast audience.” That was all right three or four years ago as a novelty, but now these synthetic effects are a good deal of a nuisance.

Recent recordings by Tauber indicate that his English is much improved. His newest stunt is Irish songs. "Mother Machree” among them. With better English, he is less prone to use those head notes his admirers admire, but a lot of his numbers could be correctly described as “arranged by Tauber.”

Not unconnected with the measures to prevent aliens from listening to overseas broadcasts, the Australian authorities have discovered that there are tens of thousands of pirates. As a result of a hundred prosecutions in a Sydney metropolitan area, thousands of people have rushed to the registration office. The Department now threatens to use its authority to confiscate unlicensed sets if the position does not improve.

The 11 p.m. news sessions relayed by 2YA are often very imperfect, and it is suspected that this is due to the rebroadcast being made from the lowpowered Australian shortwave station instead of direct from “Daventry,” wherever that may be now. This suspicion is prompted by the occasional playing of "British Grenadiers” prior to the announcement: "We are now going over to Daventry. . . It may be a coincidence, but that is the introduction to the news made by the ABC.

An A.B.C. National talk gave some amusing contradictions in English proverbs, such as:—Look before you leap. . . He who hesitates is lost. Many hands make light work. . . . Too sight, out of mind. . . . Absence makes the heart grow fonder. Never put all your eggs in one basket. . . . Too many irons in the fire. Dear is honey licked off the thorn. . . . Stolen fruits are sweetest. Temper justice with mercy. . . . Spare the rod and spoil the child. It’s never too late to mend. . . . No use crying over spilt milk. Charity begets beggars. . . . ’Tis more blessed to give than to receive.

Commercial television is not to be licensed in the United States until one of the competing systems is regarded as good enough to be declared the standard system. In support of the ban, the authorities contend that the public should not be saddled with a medley of different systems, and with expensive sets which might soon become obsolete because of changes. It is argued also that big sales of sets now might lead to the adoption of the system which was most widely used — irrespective of whether it was the best. In the meantime experimental stations are being licensed, but are in carefully selected parts of the country so as to avoid the creation of a monopoly.

The Australian Department of Information quickly fell down on its compulsory "news” sessions, and from the beginning of the month the A.B.C. has again had control of its news, and advertising stations have been relieved of the necessity of relaying the “official” version. In place of the paraphrase of 8.8. C. bulletins, with comment by the Department, the Commission presents 10 minutes of overseas news, and the Departmental commentator is allowed eight minutes to give his interpretation. The commercial stations are no longer required to participate in the Sunday night hook-up. It is strange how governments. the world over, seem to blunder in their use of radio facilities.

The 8.8. C. was off the air “in the interests of national security,” for half an hour during a recent air raid. Apparently the enemy got rather close to one of the emergency transmitting sites. Since the outbreak of war the studios have been scattered over various parts of England, and the localities of the variety, drama and other studios are fairly well known, but it is probable that there is more secrecy about the wartime transmitting sites, and that Daventry is no more than a name. Daventry. when the Empire stations were situated in Northamptonshire, was a good way from London. The buildings and the directional aerial systems (30 in number) covered over 150 acres, and would have made a nice target for bombers.

The appointment of Mr Duff Cooper as Minister for Information appeared to be an admission of the justice of the criticism directed at the censorship of news. Mr Cooper’s first broadcasts seemed to be designed to correct the impressions given by the 8.8. C. regarding land fighting. He announced that the public were entitled to hear the facts, and were able to stand up to them. But soon the system proved too strong, and before long the Department was proposing to impose an even stricter censorship on the press and radio. Mr Cooper set out to form a Silent Column, whose aim was to discourage defeatism by refusing to discuss the war. This coincided with a

number of arrests made by the Ministry for Home Security, of persons charged with loose talk and defeatism. Mr Cooper’s position is now embarrassing as in the House of Commons Mr Churchill dispersed the Silent Column by ridiculing it. He said th* 1 Government desired that general aspects of the war should be discussed, and he practically ordered that sentences for defeatists should be reduced or remitted. Since then the DirectorGeneral has resigned, and presumably he, and not the Minister, was the person rebuked by the Prime Minister.