MORE RADIO LICENSES

Waipa Post, Volume 51, Issue 3694, 6 December 1935, Page 7

MORE RADIO LICENSES

LARGER LISTENING PUBLIC. New Zealand’s broadcasting service on a national basis dates from 1925, when the Radio Broadcasting Company was brought into being under a charter from the Government. In order that the company might have a reasonable chance of operating successfully, an annual license fee for receiving sets was established. In 1931, when the agreement with the company expired, the Government established the Radio Broadcasting Board to take over the stations and service of the Broadcasting Company and develop these on the lines, broadly, of the British Broadcasting corporation.

The phenomenal growth in interest in radio is shown by the fact that, whereas the licenses numbered 60,405 when the board assumed control on January 1, 1932, the number of licenses at present is approximately 176,000. Another interesting comparison is that in hours of transmission. In January, 1932, the hours of transmission from all stations were at the rate of 10,010 a year. To-day the hours are at the rate of approximately 27,000 at year. The Broadcasting Board works in cooperation with the British Broadcasting Corporation in the provision of short-wave broadcasts from England for listeners in New Zealand. With improvements in the efficiency of the short-wave station at Daven Try, rebrcadcasts of short-wave programmes or electrical recordings of them have become increasingly frequent, examples including the descriptions of the matches played by the All Blacks against Scotland and Ulster.