MARVEL OF RADIO

Hokitika Guardian, 17 June 1931, Page 8

MARVEL OF RADIO

BROADCASTING IN N.Z. SERVICE TO COMMUNITY. 4 As you sit by your cosy firesides enjoying the music that comes to you out of the void, ponder the marvel of it! But yesterday;, a dream new-born to human genius; to-day a wonderous reality of inestimable value to all the peoples of the earth! Science and invention have given the world no greater boon.

New Zealand has indeed been both wise and fortunate in the foundation of her national broadcasting service—fortunate in having the experiences of older countries to guide her, and wise in her determination to profit by tTieir experiences. She did not attempt to ape her elders, but instead set out to establish a broadcasting service ideally suited to her conditions and requirements.

Unquestionably the most momentous problem which had to he solved in the national interests was that of the policy under which the service was To be established and developed. This was the responsibility of the Government. The tremendous potentialities of broadcasting as a national service was clearly visioned, and it was wisely determined that the usefulness and efficiency of such a service must uot be endangered by allowing it to become a mere money-making. plaything ot competitive vested interests. Accordingly the foundations of the service were well

and truly laid on the principle ot mr.fied control by private management under Government regulation, supplemented by tKe stipulation of a limited dividend and a proviso that all profits in excess thereof must he devoted .to the improvement and extension of the service.

Listeners have reason to be grateful for the wisdom which affirmed this policy as being vital to the protection of their own best interests. It* has made possible the building-up of a radio' broadcasting service of which the Dominion may well be proud. Broadcasting is now firmly and permanently entrenched as a great community service. Scan the summarised catalogue of happenings of tlie moment. Literally, the world is being combed for your edification and enlightenment! You sit at home in actual living touch with the things that matter! it our ouciook is Widened, your interests enlarged; you are no longer an isolated uniniormed unit, but a keenly interested listener well acquainted With what is go.rig on in the world about you, and fam.liar with the voices of the men and women who are he ip nig to shape its destines. All .this is iar removed from mere entertainment. So, too, is the wealth of iniormation which reaches you through the daily news’ sessions—the fluctuations of the markets, .the weather forecasts, the results of the day s sporting events, the reports of ■ British and foreign happenings, and the summarised budget of general news from all parts of the Dominion. And what of the informative and instructional lecturettes on widely diversified subjects; what of the impressive Sunday evening services; what ot that hour of delight dedicated to thousands of listening children? These things far transcend mere entertainment. (They are, as it were, direct contacts with the vital issues of our every day life, and symbolic of the far-reaching, all-embracing functions of the broadcast service.