RADIO AND RECEPTION

Waipawa Mail, Volume LXVI, Issue 68, 25 February 1938, Page 4

RADIO AND RECEPTION

“There is something deliciously madcap and irresponsible about these adventures. The things they do belong- to a world all their own. ’ ’ That sounded intriguing, until the announcement (from Sydney) concluded with the intimation that it concerned the Hon. Archie’s latest venture — with the fat black chief and his precious pearls.

Station IYA Auckland arranged to broadcast on relay the main features of the Catholic Centenary celebrations. The tirst, the Pontifical High Mass in St. Patrick’s Cathedral at 11 a.m. on Sunday, February 27th, at which his Lordship Bishop Liston will be the preacher, will be described by the Rev. Father J. A. Higgins, S.M., and in the evening a,t seven o’clock vespers and the sermon to be preached by the Rev. Father Ryan, professor of philosophy at Queen’s University, Dublin, will be relayed. The remaining functions to be broadcast are as follows: —Monday, February 28th: The civic reception and welcome to Catholic dignitaries in the concert chamber of the Town Hall at noon. Tuesday, March Ist: The combined Maori concert in the Town Hall. Saturday, March sth: From 8 to 10 p.m., the religious play, “Credo,” from Western Spring-s, when Mr Colin Muston will conduct an orchestra and a choir of 120 voices. Sunday, March 6th: The centenary procession at 2.30 p.m. The commentator will be the Rev. Father Higgins.

A musical presentation of unusual interest will’ be heard from IYA Auckland at 0.35 this evening, when the studio orchestra, with Vincent Aspev as the soloist, will play Max Bruch’s “Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in G Minor.” Max Bruch is one of the dozens of composers who wrote voluminously. He wrote over 100 works, yet all we hear are a couple of violin concertos and ‘ ‘ Kol Nedrei” —the composer put fnto this composition his racial spirit. The. Concerto to be played by Mr Aspev is a favorite with violin virtuosos and it was the playing of this piece which largely contributed to the early success of Yehudi Menuhin. It combines great expressiveness and a fine opportunity for technical display. It is the finale in which the soloist is afforded a great opportunity.

A correspondent signing himself “A Reader,” of Avondale, writes as follows to the Auckland “Star”: — “While listening to the German shortwave station to-night I had the pleasure of listening to Miss Hamson, of Auckland, broadcasting her impressions of life and customs of Germany, especially in and around Hamburg. Miss Harrison has been living with a German family near the Kiel Canal. She stressed the wonderful friendliness of the people, particularly to her as a New Zealander. Miss Harrison said she saw- all ships of all nations pass through the canal. She also went on to say that the young Germans were wonderfully keen on the ideals of their country and further that she had not seen a really shabbily dressed person. Also she had visited the labor camps, for young men and girls. Everybody seemed keen and contented to do his or her bit. I send you this report in case her family and friends (to whom she sent love and greetings) were not listening in.”

Listeners to the B.B.C’.’s oversea programmes will soon he able to hear at first hand something- about the problems which are confronting the people of America. In a new series of talks, under the title “America Speaks,” the 8.8.. C. has arranged.for speakers in the United States to give the British Empire a broad outline of the problems which have to be faced in America and of the solutions to them which are being tried and proposed. Well-known figures in the public life of the United States are being invited to take part.

11. B. T. Wakelam should find a subject after his own heart when he describes the Rugby International match between Scotland and Ireland, to he played at Murrayfteld, Edinburgh, from Daventry. Ireland lias won on the last two occasions, so Scotland can be expected to make a desperate effort to secure a victory on their home ground. Listeners may hear this broadcast at 8.15 p.m. to-morrow night, RADIO IN SCHOOLS. AMERICA’S ATTITUDE. Education is not be “viewed in isolation,” but as a section of general broadcasting, says a writer in a recent issue of the “New York Times.” Radio’s main objective in education is to broadcast food for thought. With this in mind Dr. James Rowland Angell, retired president of Yale

University, has been engaged as radio counsellor by the National Broadcasting Company at a salary of £SOOO, and he has begun work at his new post. With the advent of broadcasting there were some who foresaw radio supplanting the blackboard, textbook, and even the teacher. But the saner prophets envisaged no such revolution in education; radio would be merely supplementary. Sixteen years of experience in broadcasting has taught that radio's chief role as a teacher is to stimulate thinking; to inspire listeners to study and follow up what the unseen teacher can merely call to their attention.

And in addition radio brings authoritative speakers to listeners at school and at home; voices and events they otherwise might never hear. For example, the Presidential campaign and national political conventions are looked, upon as outstanding lessons in civics. Radio, in overcoming the narrowing influence of four classroom walls, has no rigid curriculum.

To-day it is estimated that at least 40,000 American schools are radioequipped. Nevertheless, when the idea was first suggested those who sought to promote the installations of loud-speakers in classrooms and assembly halls found the teacher one of the main barriers to the plan. She seemed to believe there was some truth in the theory that radio was a new branch of labor-saving machinery in this modern age of electricity destined to reduce the number oL* school teachers. The fallacy of the thought is now clearly seen. Radio, if for no other reason, could never supplant the teacher, for wave-lengths lack discipline; so will television. The distant, unseen teacher needs the visible teacher alongside the loud-speaker to guide reception, for the fleeting radio waves flashing into the school at the speed of light require a higher degree of concentration on the part of the student than does a book. The text can be re-read; radio is gone the instant it is spoken. Furthermore, broadcasts assume every mind in tune is equally quick to function and comprehend. The teacher knows this is not true; she can drill and concentrate on pupils who fail to understand the first time and can take additional steps to clarify a problem. Radio is a flash teacher; it has no time to stop and explain or repeat. Broadcasting becomes a new sort of extension course that puts much up to the student whether or not be gleans anything fruitful from listening. The invisible pedagogue aims to nourish the mind; to send the listener scampering to the library in quest of knowledge. Radio is essentially an entertainment medium. It is a show business, and therefore programme directors have suggested to educators that they must first of all recognise this fact and use showmanship to teach effectively on the air. “If education by radio is to reach its highest degree of value, it must conform to the practices of the show business,” a representative of the National Broadcasting Company once warned the Institute for Education by Radio. “Information to be popularly received must be sugar-coated.”