RADIO BOARD

Hokitika Guardian, 14 March 1932, Page 6

RADIO BOARD

ADVISORY COUNCIL MEETS. COVERAGE PROBLEMS. (By Telegraph —Per Brest Association) WELLINGTON, March 12. The first meeting of the Advisory Council appointed to make recommendations to the New Zealand Bioadcasting Hoard was concluded to-day. Mr J." H. Owen, of Wellington, was appointed chairman of the Council. The deliberations were in private but the whole field of broadcasting was discussed. In was indicated that in the opinion of the Council certain localities were ,at present ill-served by the YA stations these districts being Southland, Stewart island, Central Otago, South Canterbury, West Coast, Nelson. Wairarapa, Napier-Hastings, Gisborne, Bay of Plenty-Rotorua, Palmerston North, North Taranaki and Waikato. In this connection it was resolved, that the next step to be taken might advantageously be co-operation * with existing stations in the folowing places: —lnvercargill, Grey mouth, Masterton, Hastings, Gisborne, Palmerston North, New Plymouth, and Hamilton. The Board was recommended to consider as soon as practicable cases not included in this list as they have at present no stations. The possibility of meeting the position either by increasing the*power of the adjacent YA stations or by subsidising any station to be privately established in the locality, or by other means was discussed, . but the Council thought the policy of tlie Board should ultimately be to increase'the power and coverage of the YA stations rather than build numerous small stations.

The Council considered that the suppression of serious radio interference should be the subject of Government regulation. In connection with the issue to listeners of a questionnaire on programme preferences, the Council expressed its approval of the effort- to get an opinion directly expressed in this way. The Board was asked to consider the possibility of doing something for New Zealand by way of a standard guide of pronunciation for announcers, not necessarily on the lines of “Broadcast English,” issued by the British Broadcasting Corporation.