RADIO SERIALS.

Evening Star, Issue 23685, 19 September 1940, Page 8

RADIO SERIALS.

Inasmuch as it had the welfare of the rising generation at heart, the Otago Education Board made a safe enough decision when, at its .meeting yesterday, it gave general support to the appeal of the Hawke’s Bay Education Board to the Ministers of Education and Broadcasting for a strict censorship over radio programmes. Whether the decision was fair in its every aspect to the official organisers of these radio programmes may be regarded as another matter. The Hawke’s Bay Board has taken particular exception to crime thrillers of a type classified under the titles 1 Piccadilly,’ ‘ Detective Scott of Scotland Yard,’ ‘The Black Moth,’ etc. Apparently the members of the Otago Board wore not familiar with the offerings mentioned, and what the “ etc.” stands for can be ascertained only by a study of the programmes as given for a recent week by the ‘ New Zealander Listener.’ As far ns can bo gathered from the lengthy list of presentations * The Black Moth ’ seems to have flitted away from New Zealand to torment education boards in some other part of the Empire, while ‘ Inspector Scott,’ who has already visited Dunedin, is to be found only at a Wellington “ B ” station. ‘ Piccadilly,’ if it be an infliction (and wo take the word of the Hawke’s Bay Education Board that it is), is now inflicting itself on listeners somewhere north of the Waitaki. It is the largo. “ etc.” group, however. and the time of their recording in the evenings that should keenly interest the public, especially parents and educational authorities. Our analysis

of the programmes shows that for the week ended August 3 no fewer than 50 serials (instalments of some appearing in different towns) were broadcast from YA stations throughout New Zealand and their associate B stations. Of these 50 a total of 19 were given after 9 p.m. and 20 after 8 p.m., leaving only 11 which could bo heard between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. Of these 11, which, coming before 8 p.m., should be declared the only features available to children of impressionable age, six, if properly produced to suit a juvenile audience, surely contained some merit. They were ‘ John Halifax,’ ‘ Adventures of Marco Polo,’ 1 The Sentimental Bloke,’ 1 Birth of the British Nation,’ ‘ Search for a Playwright,’ and 1 The Story of Marie Antoinette.’ Thus there are live loft which might worry parents solicitous for the well-being of their offspring. Included in the group is 1 Dad and Dave ’ (which is at least quite ingenuous), 1 The Life of Cleopatra ’ (admittedly anything can happen in the life of Cleopatra), 1 The Circle of Shiva,’ and the ‘ Crimson Trail.’ In spite of possible blemishes, therefore, the record of the national broadcasting stations in this particular matter which has prompted complaint is, on the whole, not a bad one, and criticism of some items which may be termed “ wild and woolly 1 ’ should bo tempered byrecognition of others that have merits. A point which must be made is that, while no harm can be done by public bodies maintaining some kind of unofficial censorship over radio programmes, much of the onus for protecting children from the effects of objectionable offerings must bo borne byparents. In the interests of the whole community programmes should be kept wholesome and educational as well as entertaining, but parents who lack the backbone to take charge of the radio in their own homes are lacking in the qualities that mould a worthy nation.