RADIO TELEPHONE SERVICE

Timaru Herald, Volume CLI, Issue 22214, 6 March 1942, Page 4

RADIO TELEPHONE SERVICE

New Zealand And U.S.A. . Americans Clamouring For News <P.A > AUCKLAND. March 5. The intention of the National Broadcasting Company of New York to establish a radio telephone service in New Zealand for the purpose of giving American people a Dominion news service by radio, was revealed by Mr Mervin K. Slosberg, one of its correspondents, who has arrived in Auckland. A similar service has been operating in Australia for a year, said Mr Slosberg, and it had increased its activities considerably since the extension of the war to the Pacific zones. “The people in the United States are clamouring for news of New Zealand, especially since the creation of the Anzac area,” he stated. ‘There is a dearth of New Zealand news in the States, and it is to correct that lack that this service is proposed. We want to find out what you New Zealanders are doing, and what you want, and to put the whole of the New Zealand story before the American people.” The National Broadcasting Company organisation in Australia was headed by Mr Martin Agronsky. who was in Singapore and the Netherlands East Indies for some time and in the Middle East theatre of hostilities before that, continued Mr Slosberg. The radio telephone news service in Sydney had been extended since the beginning of this year and was now on a regular basis of from four to seven broadcasts a week. The actual talk given by the company's representative lasted from two to 10 minutes, the average being about four minutes. Reception by American listeners was reported to be very satisfactory. The talks were given in Sydney and picked up in San Francisco and broadcast to about 40,000,000 listeners Every prominent angle of Australian news was covered, with special attention being given to the war effort of the Commonwealth and the situation arising from the war. Provided the same facilities could be arranged in New Zealand, the news of the part its people were playing in the war would be eagerly received by the American listening public. The service would be a further link in the relationship between the peoples engaged in a common purpose.