Listen In!

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 183, 7 August 1935, Page 10

Listen In!

NOTES AND PR OGRA M M L S V (By *Deuct<

The Broadcasting Board i- con. ider ing the purchase of .100 acres 0. him! at Titahi Bay for th? new 2Y.\ trans initter. Plenty of Static. During last week, and especially (luring the past week-end, static has ma io listening-in very unpleasant. Talks Supervisor. The appointment of Mr. Alan Mui gan, literary editor of the Auckland Star, to the staff of the Ne.. Zealand Broadcasting Board as supervisor of broadcast talks, will no doubt be hailed with pleasure by listeners. 3YA’s Increased Power. The change in the transmitting pow of 3YA from kilowatts, which was put into operation on Sunday f »r th* first time caused listeners in < h >1 church a deal of annoyance throu-h interference with outside staiions. Short-WaVes Poor. The past week has not been too good on short waves and the relays from the auxiliaries were not a very pronounced success. The Empire station has not been up to the usual, but as most of the overseas stations are either testing or experimenting, many unusual broadcasts may be picked up at unusual times on the 9500 to 12,500 band. Heard Testing. The first of the new Australian Com mission’s stations is now testing This is "NT (750 k.c.) at Kelso (Tasmania) and is listed to use 7000 watts. Others are expected on the air shortly, but the majority will not operate until after the reallocation of frequencies on September 1. Christchurch’s Exhibition. According to reports the Radio Exhi bition, which opened a four-day fixture on Tuesday of last week, in the Art Gallery, Christchurch, was successful i 1 every way and good business in the ra dio trade should follow. The exhibition was sponsored by the Christchurch Radio Traders’ Association, and on Tues day last speeches at the official opening, by the Postmaster-General and others, were broadcast over the national network. This was the third radio exhibition held in Christchurch, the last being about five years ago.

Realistic Recording. Immediately following the 7 o’clock chimes on Wednesday night, and before the news session was commenced, the four YA. stations broadcast simultaneously the “farewell” to the All Blacks, who sailed from Wellington by the Rangitane early that morning. As it would have been almost impossible to get all the footballers together on the boat just before it drew out from the wharf, the Broadcasting Board, in order not to disappoint listeners, staged the ‘farewell’ beforehand. The various players and the manager, Mr. V. R. Meredith, visited the board’s up-to-date recording studios, where each spoke into the recording microphone. Farewell messages were broadcast to relatives, football clubs and friends by the All Blacks. 80 realistic was the recording that listeners were unable to pick that it was not the actual scene enacted on the ship. People could be heard cheering, while the announcer’s remarks concerning the players, such as “Here comes Manchester up the gangway,” etc., mode the whole recording so successful. Listeners probably are unaware that the board has a most modern recording laboratory, where original records of talks by distinguished visitors and celebrities, who are unable to visit all stations while they are in the Dominion, are made. Station VK2ME, In addition to its ordinary week-end transmission on a wave-length of 31 metres VK2ME has commenced testing at irregular hours on 28.5 metres. These special transmissions are usually between 11 p.m. and midnight, and are between the Australian station and W2XAF, Schenectady, New York. Another series of test transmissions is in progress between the Japanese, station JVII, operating on 14.600 kilocycles, and the Dutch transmitter. This Japanese station, on the 19-metre band, broadcasts programmes of recordings punctuated by the call sigh and speech in English.

Popular Programmes Needed. The tendency of the YA programmes toward more time on the air for the less popular types of programmes is arousing a good deal of criticism on the part of listeners. There is a long-stand ing complaint that Sunday afternoon programmes should not be so severely classical, especially during the winter months, when many turn to the radio for entertainment. Australian Pianist to Broadcast. Pianist, conductor, and composer, Mr. Percy Grainger is due in New Zealand in October to give a series of recitals under engagement to the Broadcasting Board. He should prove a big attraction, and will no doubt command large radio audiences as he appears at each station. Licence Increase. An increase of 34,076 in the number of radio licences in force on June 30 last, compared with the corresjmnding date of 1934 is reported by the DirectorGeneral of the Postal Department, the latest total being 164,977. This includes listeners’ licences, distributed as fol lows: Auckland. 49,911; ( anterbury, 29,552; Otago, 22.410; Wellington, 60. SS6; total. 162,759. The grand total also includes 823 experimental amateur licences, 346 granted free to blind per sons, and .1,020 dealers’ licences. Radio 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. \ alvcs may bo the cause of.poor reception, so bring them in, and wo will test them free.— D. A. Morrison and Co.. Avenue.*

Too Noisy’. r J'lie wr- sdiiig relay of 1\ A 1 0111 th'* Toon Hall last otek p.u.cd 111 ■ I cxc.l ing and the sporiiiig aniir-uncer <• laialy excel!' d l.im- ?!f in Lis description. OrdiiaLly the i»a« k'_r. mid of uui.se ,-ont ributed by ilie • pe«< al o.s aids eoiisiderably in providing the righi 'broadcast “atmosphere,” but on this occasion the noise was of such a agni tude that on occasions it rendered the comments of the announcer inaudible. It would appear that for fmure wrestling broadcasts it would be advisable to ex periment with partial shielding of the microphone so as to minimise somewhat the noise made by enthusiastic and ex 1 cited speclators. En°,..i. li S,uS. The.-.- remarks, coming as they do [iium a periodical with tjie standing of 1 The Wireless World, indicate a ciirious apathy on the Dart of radio manurac.ur ers in Bri'.nin: “The radio manufacturer in thicount! . with certain rare exemj ions, is so engrossed in the problems O( supply , ing the home market that he neglects, j and in most eases totally ignores, the i overseas and Empire requirements. Al | though these markets are still ouen to j him, with the present rate of foreign j competition and absence of British en terprise they may not long remain so. Prom information which has come to us from different parts of the Empire there is evidence that, whereas a year or two ago sets of British manufacture, would have been welcome and bought in pie ference to all other makes, iLal atti hide scarcely hold today because Americans and other supplier*, have been so enterprising that the -uitabilit? of their products, added to the service which goes with them, loads ihe scales far to-j heavily, even when a large amount of pro-British inclination is added in favour of (he British set.” Paymsnts for Records. Proprietors of B-class stations were naturally alarmed by the reported de maud for 10s for every performance of one side of a gramophone record, plus extortionate sums for retro per live pay incuts; but, at this juncture their alarm seems to have been premature. No direct demand has been made individually upon the various stations, and until such a. demand is received, backed by the threat of legal action to enforce the copyright undoubtedly held by the manufacturers in their products, the B stations may as well carry 011. It would be idle to expect, however, that the gramophone manufacturers will indefinitely permit, the present position to continue. They are paid a substantial sum —or one may assume that it is sub stantial—by the Broadcasting Board; and they would scarcely be human if they did not perceive the inconsistency in being paid handsomely by the Broadcasting Board, while privately-owned stations pay nothing at all. It is all very well for the privately-owned sta tions to claim that, as they receive no State revenues, they should pay no broadcasting rights, but this claim Will cut very little ice with the gramophone companies if there is a reckoning in terms of practical legal rights.

In view of these considerations it seems inevitable that, while the demand of the gramophone companies may in the meantime be purely formal, and perhaps not specifically directed at the New Zealand stations, some action is inevitable sooner or later. In the meantime the B stations arc living in what might be called a fool’s paradise. The gramophone companies must have been hit hard by radio, particularly in the sales of records. The writer owns an excellent gramophone, but has only played it about twice, and has not bought one record for it, since becoming the owner of a radio, though previ ously he used to buy at least one new record a week. There must be thousands of others in the same position.

The validity of the copyright, held by the manufacturers in their records cannot be questioned, and any legal battle on this issue could only end one way. The right of artists and manufacturers to share in any benefits created by tho concession of performing rights is legally and morally indisputable, and radio stations cannot expect to use such rights free of charge. Tho remedy, of course, is that the Broadcasting Board should assist, the B stations out of its revenues, thus enabling them to meet any reasonable demands that may be made upon them.

An Efficient Aerial. From a short, length of ordinary wire netting a very efficient aerial may be built (writes “ B]>ark Gap.” in this ifionth’s Australian Journal.). Three yards should be sufficient. This should be tacked to two light slats of wood slung between two poles, using a length of copper wire soldered to one end of tho wire-netting as a lead-in. This type of aerial has proved very satisfactory for reception where the ordinary single wire aerial lias failed to bring in dis taut stations. An ordinary wire mattress has fre quen-tly been used as an efficient aerial, even with a crystal set, and during the cricket season the writer used such an aerial to bring him in the latest scores as he was lying in bed. It is a. wise plan to overhaul the aerial and earth once every three months. Often it will be found that the aerial has corroded or that, the in sulators are coated with grime, partially short circuiting them. This is more prevalent in late summer than in win ter, as the rain usually washes the insulators clean. Attention should al-o be paid Io the lead in tube, as a bad con nection here will undo the work of the best oC aerials. A New System. It is understood that the Broadcast ing Board has under consideration the question of ascertaining the most suit able equipiiK'iif for the reception of short wave programmes for n'brotideast purpose-. Bost and Toleyr:iph Depart nienl olliei:.ils and an oxersea.- radio authority recently inspected the Brown’s Bay listening post from whence all the short-wave relays by IYA originate. The conclusion reached was that it will be necessary to instal special short-wave receivers in good reception areas remote from power lines and other electrical interferences and to relay by land line. This is the system which has proved in Great .Brif 0