VALUE OF RADIO

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 204, 29 August 1936, Page 11

VALUE OF RADIO

CHILDHOOD STAGE ENDING SOCIAL UTILITY [Per Press Association] CHRISTCHURCH, Aug. 28. “I think the world is only beginning ( to realise the social value of radio. ; Radio is only beginning to struggle 1 out of the period of childhood. It has t in all countries been too much in the nature of variety entertainment,” de- ( dared Professor Shelley in his first I interview since ais appointment as t Director of Broadcasting. t Professor Shehey said tint nc i looked on radio as an instrument, in ] very much the same way as he looked j on books and printing as insXmnents, 1 in the hands of the community, c Those powerful instruments could be t used for good or evil, or they could i be used as mere toys. “The time has t come,” he Said, “when radio :an be c used as a stimulus to raise the stand- c ards of thought and of artistic appre- <. ciation in the whole co.m-iunity j Whether the people as a whole are t equal to the demands of the age in r the way of a sympathetic understanding of modern problems remans to be c seen, but at least they can no longer j deny that they have not access to such < an understanding.” ] Too many subjects had remained ; the preserve of a few specialists be- \ cause ideas had couched in tech- < meal and difficult language in books < said Professor Shelley. Their interest ; hai rever been sufficiently stimu’ated i to stir them to overcome these di.’n- ] cuitits, but even the most difficult ( subject of human inquiry could be inti educed to the man on the street in a living way by the use of the conversational method of the :ad’o. People found both an interesting and c intellectually exciting express »n of { ideas over the air which they would J never dream of searching in beoKs. I “The possibilities of radio are so ' stupor dous that anyone who nas the 1 job of directing its use must feel ( humble and inadequate," added Pro- 1 fessor Shelley. 1 “Before I came to any conclusion I on what I would like to do :n detail, 1 I shall survey the whole field and put forward to the Minister a comprehen- < sive scheme, which may take years 1 to work out, but changes, of course, t would be made consistently, as appor- £ tunity arose, in the direction of build- c ing up a complete structure," he said. £ “Radio is like a new power liberated. ( It is quite easy for it to be dissipated. 2 It is quite easy for it to be regarded as a matter of odds and ends, and 1 something new, perhaps good intro- x duced from time to time. although f ultimately it mav have nothing to do with thg,. complete structure, and no- c thing to do with radio as an instilu- f tion.” t - "S r