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A survey of the chief week-end events in all fields of sport was broadcast each week. Particulars were supplied to Radio Australia for transmitting by short-wave to the Occupation Force in Japan, and recorded commentaries on sporting events were sent direct'to the New Zealand Broadcasting Station there for presentation. An innovation was the introduction by Station 2YA of a " Sporting Round-up " at holiday and other times when exceptionally large numbers of events of national interest were being held. In this programme listeners were provided with resumes and rebroadcasts of the highlights of all sporting activities throughout New Zealand. Broadcasting and the Forces Towards the end of 1946 the New Zealand Broadcasting Unit in Japan acquired facilities for the establishment of a broadcasting station to provide programmes for Jay Force. The station commenced operating on the 15th January, 1947, under the call sign of WLKW, later changed to AKAA. It was officially opened by Brigadier L. Potter, Commander, 2nd N.Z.E.F. (Japan). During the ceremony recorded speeches by His Excellency the Governor-General, Sir Bernard Freyberg, and the Commander-in-Chief, Lieutenant-General H. C. H. Robertson, were broadcast. The programmes have attracted the widest interest, and reports prove that the station is very much appreciated by New Zealanders in Japan. AKAA transmits for nine and a half hours per day : 7 a.m. to 9 a.m., noon to 2 p.m., and 5 p.m. to 10.30 p.m. In collaboration with the Army authorities, a small concert party of New Zealand artists, organized and managed by the Service, was sent to Japan. It arrived on the 23rd March, and during its first week on the road in the New Zealand area delighted audiences with its presentation of singing, instrumental items, and comedy. During the party's tour it will play to all 8.C.0.F. Component Forces, including the R.A.F. and the R.A.A.F. Thirty-eight programmes of the series " With the Kiwis in Japan," consisting mainly of talks, interviews, sketches, and messages from personnel, were recorded in Japan and despatched by air-mail for broadcasting in New Zealand. Some three hundred members of Jay Force have taken part in the programmes already received. A programme of particular interest to ex-servicemen was broadcast by all main National stations on Anzac Day. It was entitled " Anzac Comradeship," and consisted of an exchange of greetings between New Zealand and Australian ex-servicemen. A special Anzac message from His Majesty the King was also heard on Anzac Day. Religious Broadcasts National policy governing religious broadcasts is determined by the Central Religious Advisory Committee, which is representative of the national bodies of all churches broadcasting regular services. In the four main centres there are also local church committees whose main function is to decide how national policy can best be adapted to meet local requirements. The Service desires to place on record its appreciation of the work of these Committees and the helpful co-operation received from them during the past year. Relays of Church services each Sunday morning and evening, broadcast devotional services each week-day morning, and the observance of a silent prayer period during the chiming of Big Ben at 9 o'clock each evening were continued. In addition to these regular broadcasts, a number of special services were relayed to listeners. These included Anzac Commemoration and Armistice Day Remembrance Services, the Annual Toe H Service of Re-dedication, a Memorial Service from the United States Cemetery in Auckland, a St. David's Day Service in Christchurch, and the Christmas Service by Combined Churches in Dunedin. Sunday evening church relays included two services in Maori, one from St. John's Cathedral Church, Napier, conducted by the Right Rev. F. A. Bennett, Bishop of Aotearoa, and one from St. Joseph's Girls' College Chapel, Greenmeadows.

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