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1945 NEW ZEALAND

ANNUAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL BROADCASTING SERVICE FOR THE TWELVE MONTHS ENDED 31st MARCH, 1945

Presented to both Houses of the General Assembly pursuant to the provisions of the Broadcasting Act, 1936

REPORT

I have the honour to submit the annual report on the operations of the National Broadcasting Service for the year ended 31st March, 1945, in accordance with the provisions of section 18 (1) of the Broadcasting Act, 1936. Increased demands continued to be made on the facilities of the Service in furthering the war effort. Listeners were supplied with regular and frequent broadcasts of news commentaries and talks relating to the war, recorded messages from servicemen overseas, and special talks, feature programmes, and announcements in connection with all national war effort campaigns. Consequently, the time available for normal programmes of music and entertainment was still curtailed, but the standard was maintained by the use of the best local performers and the best recorded material from overseas. The programme policies of the National and Commercial stations have been continued, and the pooling of resources has advanced a stage further by the amalgamation of the production, transcription, and accounting systems, as far as possible under the present accommodation conditions. The various sections of the. Service in Wellington are accommodated in seven buildings spread throughout the city, which accentuates the difficulties of administration. Further, none of these premises have been constructed primarily for broadcasting and in consequence have many acoustical limitations. No radical change has been made in the allocation of time to the various types of programmes. At the request of the electric-power authorities, the Service limited the hours of broadcasting to help in the conservation of power at the peak hours. Silent periods were observed as follows Daily, except Saturdays and Sundays— Period 5.15 p.m. to 5,45 p.m. : From Ist April, 1944, to 31st March, 1945. Period 8.15 a.m. to 8.45 a.m. : From Ist May, 1944, to 30th September, 1944. Period 11.00 a.m. to 11.30 a.m. : From 22nd May, 1944, to 30th September, 1944. Period 11.30 a.m. to 12.00 noon : From 22nd May, 1944, to 31st March, 1945. While the power saved at the transmitters is not considerable, the aggregate economy through the turning-off of receiving-sets is substantial. Broadcasting and the War. —Increased use was made of the facilities of all stations to further the war effort. Campaigns included publicity for the Victory Loan, food-production, rehabilitation, salvage drives, electricity conservation, and stabilization. Broadcasts from certain enemy stations were monitored and the information received forwarded to the appropriate authorities. Station IZM, which was handed over to the American Army authorities to operate as an American Expeditionary Force station giving special programmes for the Allied Forces stationed in the Auckland District, was handed back to the Service to operate when the American Forces left New Zealand. From Radio Noumea officers of this Service broadcast a " Kiwi Hour " each day for the New Zealand Forces in New Caledonia. When the New Zealand Forces left New Caledonia, equipment which had been installed at Radio Noumea for our purposes was donated to the French authorities by the New Zealand Government as a mark of appreciation for the unfailing assistance rendered to the New Zealand Forces.