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DEVELOPMENT OF SERVICE New Stations and Improvements of Coverage Equipment for new stations and replacements for worn-out parts of existing stations continued to come to hand. Difficulty was experienced in obtaining building permits for the alteration of existing premises to suit broadcasting needs, and no permits at all were granted the Service for the erection of new buildings. It is recognized that there are many demands being made on New Zealand's building resources, many of which have a higher priority than broadcasting. However, by the adaptation of existing premises for permanent or temporary use, a number of new stations should be in operation next year. PROGRAMMES Allocation of Programme Time The following analysis of programmes for the week ended 29th February, 1948, was prepared in order to illustrate on a percentage basis the amount of time allocated to various types of programmes Per Cent. Serious music .. .. .. .. .. 20.21 Light music .. .. .. .. .. 44*50 Modern dance music .. .. .. .. 8 • 95 Plays, sketches, and dramatic serials .. .. 6-29 Sporting commentaries .. .. .. .. 1-78 Talks : General, educative .. .. .. 7* 08 News and commentaries .. .. .. 7-64 Church and devotional .. .. .. .. 2-09 Children's session .. .. .. .. 1*46 This analysis reflects the increased educational facilities provided during the poliomyelitis epidemic, when school broadcast programmes were extended considerably. Otherwise the analysis would differ only very slightly from that for any other week in the year. Serious Music The increased interest which has been taken in serious music over the past few years was maintained during the year, and musical activities throughout the Dominion showed healthy growth. A considerable proportion of programme time was devoted to serious music. Selections from the work of the world's greatest composers and artists were presented, and listeners were provided with a wide and varied choice of programmes, both recorded and " live." The National Orchestra and the engagement of overseas celebrity artists provided an added stimulus for listeners to serious musical programmes. There were eighty-four broadcasts of complete recorded operas, including the new work " Alexander Nevskv," by Prokofieff, and Beethoven's only opera, " Fidelio." Special Programmes compiled in New Zealand. —Specially designed to be informative as well as entertaining, several recorded classical programmes were presented as a weekly series. " Form in Music," with each presentation in the series of sixteen programmes being preceded by an appropriate article in the New Zealand Listener, was featured from one station and subsequently repeated from another. On similar lines, the series " The Concerto " traced the history and development of that particular form. Overseas Programmes.—New Zealand listeners benefited considerably from these programmes as the works featured were in the main not recorded commercially, and otherwise would not have been heard here.

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