BROADCASTING

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 3, Issue 721, 22 December 1933, Page 5

BROADCASTING

(Press Assn.

RECENT CHANGES MINISTER ISSUES STATEMENT EXPLAINING THE POSITION ACTIONS DEFENDED

— By Telegraph — Copyright).

Wellington, Thursday. In a statement regarding the recent chan'ges in the technique of broadcastirig the Postm'aSter-General Said tliele had hCeh a certain amount of driticlsm of the changes in the transmi'tting frequehcies allotted to fc, number o'f s'tatioris in the Dominion p'arti'culariy those * allotted to the statio'ns operated by the Broadcasting Board. Many listeners were disturhed hecause their reception frhm sofn'e particular overseas stations had been prejudiced. "The pdsition is that my department is concCrned with assisting the Broadcasting B to proVide an ad'equate service throughout approximately sixteen hours of the day and as far as possible over the' whole Dominion," th'e Minister said. "The fact that many efithusiasts delight in the reception of foreign stations , duting a few hours of the day, particularly' in the winter months, is appreciated, but it is obviously impossible to sacrifice the regular national service in order to cater for this spas-. riiodic "r'eception. "At the s'a'me time it should be remembefed that no one centr'e will be deprived of reasonable reception facilities from more than a few overseas stations. The same wave-band is used in all countries for broadcasting, and the same conditions lead to the necesSitV for the most powerful stations in each count'ry beirig allotted' waves more or less in the same position, and it therefbi'e follows that in each centre di'fficulty will be experienced in rec'eiyin'g particular stations. Impiroving the Service "lt has been realised for some time," the Minister continued, "that the service to outlying districts could be improved during the daylight periods and made more free of fading arid distortion d(uring the evening session if lower frequencies were employ ed by the New Zealand statiops responsible for the national service. It wa? therefore decided to negqtiate with the Australian administration, with a view to the reservafion of four suitable frequencies at the, low frequency end of the broadcasting Land. The , frequencies which were finally decided on are at present the only four exclusive channels whieh the Australian administration has been abTe to haye unoccujied for use in thfs "country. In selec'ting them an e'ndeaYour has been made to keep the separation between the four main Nnw Zealand stations sufficient to enatle listeners in the four cefitres fe'adiiy t'o receive broadcasts from the other centres without suffering interf erence from their powerful local statioA. "To enthusiasts in remote overseas reception I would say," the Minister concluded, "outside of your two local stations there are over ninety broadcasting channels on which you can at times locate distant stations. Of these fewer than thirty are used by New Zealand stations, and there is adequate sco'pe for those to whom overseas reception is a definite hobby. Further special short-wave bands have been allotted for the purpose of overseas broadcasting, and consistent results can be obtained from such stations as FYA, Paris; GSD, Rugby; and 2ME Sydney. Inconvenience Minimised "Changes always cause some regrets, anfi I sympathise with those who find that they can no longer receive some favourite overseas station, but 1 can assure listeners-in generally that inconvenience has been minimised consistent with the provision of facilities for improvihg the national broadcasting "service of this country."