Listen In!

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 77, Issue 150, 27 June 1934, Page 10

Listen In!

I k-J -- - - j I ■•ww’ | I ■W NOTES AND PROGRAMMES «

(B?

“Detector.”)

3YA Testing. 3YA, Christchurch, lias been testing at all unearthly hours lately, apparently trying to remedy the ‘,’r,ushiness" that has set in curing the past few weeks. Community Singing, Community singing is now in full swing. It can be heard at Wellington, on Wednesdays, Christchurch Thursday, and Dunedin Fridays. In Australia SCK Crystal Brook relays the Sings on Monday evenings and 2BL on Thursday evenings. News Sense Essential. I After listening to Australian programmes, it is evident that the authorities controlling some of the Australian stations have developed a news sense and entertainment value far beyond what appears on the surface in New Zealand broadcasting.'To take one concerto example—a “B” class station in Sydney operates from 7 a.m. until midnight every day in the week, Sundays included, and perusal of a weekly programme from this station shows how completely almost every listener interest is catered for. Is there any reason why news of local events of importance should not be , broadcast at the time of the occurrence? Is it desirable for listeners to have to wait until the 7 o’clock “news" session to learn that the Sydney steamer arrived at 9 o’clock that morning? And those “news” .sessions! How often are listeners informed of anything that they have not already read in their morning or evening daily? Would items of news, in tabloid form, be more acceptable if “sandwiched" in between musical numbers during the other sessions? A “Difference” “Has the Test broadcasting service made much difference to your business during the past fortnight?” was the question put to a dealer this week: “It certainly has," was the reply. “I have had numerous requests from friends and customers for the loan of sets for brief but exactly specified periods. Needless to say, the requests have been declined.”

Royalty Payments. A notification issued by the New Zealand Radio Traders’ Federation indicates that ir. will be necessary for all importers and manufacturers to sign the agreement submitted by the patent right-holders for New Zealand. {The Post and Telegraph Department has definitely intimated that the Government • will not be prepared to extend its present payment covering claims of pa- 1 tentees beyond June 30. This means ' that all dealers and manufacturers will be required to pay the claims to cover royalties on all sets held by them on July 1. In consequence, it is anticipated that se’ts will rise in retail price at the end of next week, and that all sets sold thereafter will have affixed to them the special plates showing royalty payment. For sets purchased prior to July 1 there will be no pla'tes, as the royalty charges on them have been defrayed from the Government payment of 3/- per license, which expires on July 1. It is stated that the patents situation is receiving further consideration, and that further arrangements are hoped for before the end of the mouth, but that these will have no effect upon the new agreement. Nothing is disclosed as to how the claims upon national and private broadcasting plants are 'to be adjusted. The Second Test. Late hours commenced again last Fri- < day and continued up till Tuesday ] morning when the second Test was on < the air. It can be confidently stated f that little attention was paid to the 1 latter half of New Zealand programmes i during the Test period.

New Stations. Provision will be made in the Federal estimates for 1934-35 for the expenditure of approximately £250,000 on the establishment of seven regional wireless stations in Australia. It has already been decided that stations will be built at Grafton (N.S.W.), Nhill (Victoria), Sale (Victoria), Townsville (Queensland), Katanning (West Australia). The location of the remaining two has not yet been fixed, but it is expected that one will be placed in the Nhill-Murtoa area and- the other at Orange, in New South Wales.* The decision to build the stations was made by the Government a few months ago, ami for some time extensive research work has been carried out in the localities in which it is proposed to establish them. Constructional.work will he commenced as soon as the expenditure has been approved by Parliament, and it is anticipated that all the stations will be operating by the end of June next year. Tn a recen’t speech the Prime Minister of the Commonwealth, Mr. Lyons, said the Federal Government- realised the value of broadcasting, and in consequence followed a progressive policy which was aimed at the provision of better programmes and wider facilities. New stations had been or were being erected in remote centres, and to-day Australia was probably better catered for in tfts broadcasting services than any other country of similar size and population. Tn 1928-29 there were eight A class and twelve R class stations in the Commonwealth. To-day there were twelve A class and 52 B class. besides 1000 experimental stations. >: :: :: Analysis in America. Ananalysis of the programmes broadcast by the American National Broadcasting Company during 1933 shows that of 13.555 programme hours 67.3 per cent were musical, 11.2 per cent religious, 1.7 per cent “extraordinary events." About 20 per cent of the total were classed by the company as cationalRadio Repair Service. Make use of our Radio Repair Service. Radio is our specialty, therefore bring your repairs to the firm who specialise in this work. All and any classes of sets repaired. Valves may be the cause of poor reception, so bring them in. and we will test Them free.—D. A. Morrison and Co., Avenue."

Government Grant to BBC. I An official return shows that the Government grant to the British Broad- ■ casting Corporation for this year is - £1,950,000. Of this the corporation has agreed to forego £250,000 by way of contribution to the exchequer, the actual payment amounting to £1.700,000 compared with £1,518,000 for 1933. , Los Angeles Broadcasts. A letter covering a few news notes has been received by the Wellington Manufacturers’ Association from the president of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce. Under the heading of wireless broadcasts, it states that at a meeting of one of the organisations in • Los Angeles, Miss Lola Luxford, a New Zealander who lives in Los Angeles, gave an interesting address on the sub--1 ject of international broadcast. Many New Zealanders have heard programmes which Miss Luxford has conducted over Radio Station KFI. It was reported that a local station in New Zealand had been placed so close to the KFI wave-length that it was now difficult to hear the Los Angeles station. The Wellington Manufacturers’ Association passed a resolution that, the matter be brought under the notice of the Broadcasting Board. Bigger Station for Dunedin. It is understood that work is progressing according to plan on the transmitter and studio sites at Auckland. If progress continues in the future as it has in the past, there is every reason to anticipate that the new station will be in operation well before the year is out. Tn fact, the testing period of the new station may come on listeners by surprise. While on the subject of new slations, it is stated that rhe engineers of the Radio Broadcasting Board are at present engaged on making a series of tests in the vicinity of Dunedin to determine a site for a new transmitter. When a suitable site has been found it is understood that work will commence of giving Dunedin a new and up-to-date station of considerably greater power than the present one- Judging by past experiences at Christchurch and elsewhere, Dunedin should have its new station toward the middle of next year, or possibly a little later. When that work is completed the city of Wellington will be the only main centre without a new station. It is understood that ‘this will be attended to when the time comes.

THE TESTS BROADCASTS | BALL-TO-BALL DESCRIPTIONS STU DI O ■ ‘TRANSLATIONS” HOW THEY ARE ACCOMPLISHED Although it has frequently been announced that, the broadcast ball-to-ball descriptions of play in the cricket Tests are nut relayed direct from the ground, but is “dressed up" by experts in the Australian studios and rebroadcast, thousands of radio listeners in Australia and New Zealand are still under a misapprehension. The studio translation of play, perfectly reproduced and bolstered with sound effects, is made possible by a splendid organisation, and the description is pieced together by some of Australia’s leading sporting commentators. The manner in which this is accomplished is fully described by the Australian Wireless‘ Weekly of -lune 22. There is a group of special reporters ( on the ground where the. match is being , played says the Wireless Weekly. As , each ball is bowled they send a message , giving the number of the over, the j bowler’s name, the number of the ball in the over, the batsman’s name, the t part of the field to which the ball was . hit, who lie’ I’d J i* number of runs ( made, and Jiing that happened < worthy of • .lent. j For instance, a complete over:— < Crowd Tense Thirty-Two Minutes 'j Left O’Reilly Leyland Blocked Blocked , Bowler Blocked Blocked Blocked Fieldsmen Like Terriers Round Rat , Holes. ! And this means that Chipperfield was , caught by Hammond from the fourth ] ball of Fame’s over:— ( Fames Chipperfield Mid-on One Short Mid-on Stolen Sqleg Mitchell Chipperfield Caught Hammond. This message is telegraphed to London, ami thence it goes in code either by cable or beam wireless to Australia. Up till 11.30 in the evening it goes by cable, and is received at Adelaide. From 11-30 p.m- onwards, the beam service becomes commercially practicable, and the messages are received by beam at Rockbank, Victoria. T •■•se messages, whether received by cable or beam, are collected at the Post. Office, deciphered, and made available to those who have subscribed to the service, simultaneously, in Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. Three broadcasting organisations subscribe to the service: The Commission (2BL and national stations’), 3DB-2UW, and 2UE. The message, as it is received at the Sydney G.P.0., is ’phoned on an open line to the studios of the Commission in Marke't Street. It is received by boys with headphones clamped, on their heads, and writing on pads as fast as they can. At the side of the table sits Mr. a’Beckett, the well-known cricketer, who fills out a specially prepared form in duplicate, looking over the boys’ shoulders while they are writing. The form is an analysis of each over giving the number of the message, the number of the over, the bowler’s name, the batsman’s name, where the ball was hit. who fielded it. the score, and comments.

Putting in Details. When he has finished writing out the form for the six balls of the over, he pushes it on to Mr. Mel Morris, the well-known Melbourne commentator, who has before him several sketches showing the disposition of the field under various bowlers, and which is the north and which is the south end; and Mr. Morris puts in any details that can be mapped out from those sketches tears off the sheet and the duplicate sheet, hands them to the boy who is waiting, and they are rushed into the main studio. The boy puts one copy

of the message on to the commentator’s table in the middle of the studio, and other on the gramophone turn-table, where Mr. Dion Wheeler is working the sound effects. This is the method they began with; it took two or three minutes. Since the first few nights, they have speeded up by working out the first balls of an over immediately, then the first three, then following with the complete over. They calculate they have the first ball on the commentator’s table within thirty seconds of receiving the message. Wha't follows i.s not so much cricket as drama. The commentator’s table is in the middle of the studio, towards the far end. In the corner opposite the table is a complete score-board, attended by an expert operator from the Sydney cricket ground score-board. He hangs tin numerals on a board on hooks. As the commentary goes on he marks up the score, as though he were watching the game himself. Against the wall, the official scorer works at his books, watching the score-board, and listening to the commentary. The commentator has before him a microphone with a metal hood which prevents echoes, and makes 'the commentary sound as though it were in the open air. Beside him, he has a board fitted with three blocks of wood which are supposed to make different noises when tapped with a pencil; these noises were meant to represent ths various sounds a bat makes hitting a ball in different ways. ’The commentator has also before him diagrams of the field showing where the various players are fielding, and a photograph of the fieldWith these what you might call stage properties, the show begins. The commentator takes up his message, sees the bonder’s name is Grimmett and says: “Woodfull has just tossed the ball to Grimmett, who is peeling off his sweater and is just about to make his run. Ah. a fine ball, just off the off stump and tapped to Ponsford at silly point, who returns it to the bowler. Hendren made no attempt lo run.’’ You will see what has been added. Neither Woodfull tossing the ball, nor Grimmett peeling off his sweater, nor the ball pitched off the off stump, appear in the message; but it. is natural that Woodfull should toss the ball to Grimmett, that Grimmett should take off his sweater on a hot day, and that a ball played to silly point should have been more towards the off stump than the leg stump. And at the same time as he is saying “Ah, a nice ball." he taps the piece of wood in front of him with the butt end of a pencil. That is the bat hitting the ball, and registers a sharp but distant click in the loudspeaker of the victim of all-night sittings. Now. if Hendren had driven the ball to the boundary, the commentator would have raised his pencil as he said, “Ah, a nice ball.” and looked at Mr. Dion Wheeler, who, with headphones on. is standing at the gramophone turntables with the “Applause’* record, and the dial under his hand.

“Applause" Introduced. The operator knows, from the duplicate message, before him what the next announcement will be, that Hendren has hit a four, and a second or so after lie hears the click of the ball hitting the ha't, he twists the dial controlling the “Applause" record, and the cheering and handclapping goes on to the same lines as the commentary is going on. The commentator proceeds with this background to describe the valiant efforts of the Australian outfielder as he dashes after the ball towards the boundary, slips, turns over in the air, picks up the ball, and makes a perfect return to the bowler—“a fine effort of a fine fieldsman; he just missed it, but made a splendid return to Grimmett, who is now preparing for his next ball. Ah! beautiful ball, etc.” ft is claimed that this method of giving a “ball-to-ball" description of a Test match is all apple-sauce; but the point is that the Commission makes no attempt, to disguise the fact that the description is from the studio- It has told hundreds of listeners who have rung up that the broadcast is merely a reconst ruction of the match, and it is as a reconstruction that the broadcasts appeal to listeners. Very few listeners would be. much the wiser if the cabled messages were read out exactly as they were received; and such messages gain in interest as they are amplified. From the Commission’s stations lis- j teners get something very close to an j accurate description of the match from the ground-, because the description is supervised and constructed by men who know the ground and the players, the game, where everyone will be in the field, what the field is like on clear days, on cloudy days, and on rainy days, where the will go if it is pitched well up on a wet wicket, why Woodfull took Grimmett off, how Wail runs half-way down the pitch waving his arms after he has bowled, and sc» on, etc. Indeed, the way they can keep up the atmosphere of the ground, and the way 'they use their imagination to fill out the forms, are beyond all praise.