SUNDAY BROADCASTS

Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21420, 12 March 1935, Page 7

SUNDAY BROADCASTS

TO THE EDITO* Of THE PRESS. Sir, —Probably every radio licensee has asked himself from time to time where the New Zealand Broadcasting Board obtains its supplies of recorded programmes for use on Sundays. I myself have given much thought to this matter. Enquiries among vendors of gramophone records have invariably led to my being told that such recordings will definitely never be for sale in any music store of repute, so long as the purchasing public is able to exercise freewill. I feel sure therefore thai every radio listener will be glad to know that this perplexing problem has at last been solved. A good friend of mine, at present visiting London, had occasion recently to visit a large gramophone record manufacturing compiny. He was amazed to discover that die board directly sponsors a whole separate department in this particular firm. In this section are manufactured all the recordings which the New Zealand YA stations use for Sunday transmission. I will quote a portion of my friend's letter. He writes: —

Over tin? entrance to this section was suspended a largo .sign: "S.'/j. Broadcasting Boardjs Department. Silence." The manager of this large firm, being personally known to me. spared no effort to unsure'that I should become acquainted ivith the work in this section of his lirm. The floors were laid with a heavy soundless felt, this being a necessity where numerous recordings were being simultaneously made, illthough in different rooms. We stopped first ■to hear an eminent professor of biology givspirited account- of the life-cycle of cliarnfil worms, using actual specimens from a nearby cemetery to clarify his discourse. He was" followed in vapid succession by a series of lecturers, each man nil expert in his particular line. Some titles recorded were: "Hangings 1 have witnessed," "-Morgues of many lands," "Famous deathbed scenes," and "Helpful hints 011 laying out a corpse." Wo passed next into a large room where sat a group o£ serious-looking men and women, each at a desk, and each very busy. This room, explained my mentor, housed two separate departments. They were the "Detuning Department" and the "Disinteresting Department." The function of the former was to delete from any given musical score all semblance of tune, ditty, or catchy rhythm. Similarly, the "disinteresting" experts efficiently censored any spoken address, which, it' not drastically expurgated, might tend to hold the interest of the ultimate listener. My friend the manager explained that the New Zealand Broadcasting Board took particular care that this department functioned efficiently. He assured me that so well did these two departments achieve their objects, that in New Zealand, every Sunday, many major surgical operations' 'were performed, not with the aid of ancosthetics, but by means of a radio set in the operating theatre, timed in to any YA station. We then visited the musical library. Here wo found a wonderfully comprehensive selection of fifth symphonies, symphonic fragments, etudes, fugues, second move-

tiifots, funeral marches, dirges, as wll . " many songs without words or _ meaning. Those, I was assured, figured prominently m any YA Sunday programmes. In a large filing cabinet I was showi a list of prohibited persons. If any employee in the New Zealand department o this firm issued for Sunday's use an by any of these performers, he was instantly dismissed, at the special request of tne New Zealand Broadcasting Board. A nasty glimpse at this list sufficed to reveal sucn names as Norman Long, Ronald" Irankau, Gracie Fields, Flotsam and Jetsam, Leyton and Johnstone, Will Fyfe,_ Harry Lauder, Jack Payne, and Paul Whiteman. Still another cabinet contained the names of those composers who wero persona grata" with the board. T. commented on the l'nct that most o Uiese names were unfamiliar to me. -lly friend explained that this list was limited (o unknown composers who had lived lives of privation and misery (these sentiments being the keynotes of their compositions) and who had in due course died of starvation in attics. Also, he said, membership of this particular catalogue was !str , limited to those who had been dead at least 'JUG years. . At the conclusion of this interesting visit my friend mentioned that the weekly output from the board's branch of his business was 12 records for each Sunday. X did some hasty calculations, which led me to ask how this small total supplied the needs of four main YA stations, operating from 9 a.m. till 10 p.m. I was told that each station in New Zealand was supplied with three new recordings each Sunday. These were broadcast continuously under different titles, throughout the day, save between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m., when they were played backwards, still under many separate announced titles. "But," I exclaimed, "surely the listeners would object to that." My friend explained that the Sundays broadcasts, ov ® r a period of years, were designed to be so tunelessly depressing and devoid of interest that nobody listened in anyhow, save those in hospitals and asylums, and these folk were unable to switch off their radio Before taking my departure I enquired uf my informative friend to what use the New Zealand Broadcasting Hoard put used records. He explained that the board very generously sent them to tho various institutes for the. deaf, who were very appreciative of this kindness. So concludes this portion of my letter from London. I trust that your radio-minded readers will appreciate Ihe authoritative information on how our Sunday programmes from YA stations are obtained. —Yours, etc., ANANIAS. Ashburton, March 11, 1935.