The Southland Times. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1940. Children and Radio Serials

Southland Times, Issue 24244, 30 September 1940, Page 4

The Southland Times. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1940. Children and Radio Serials

ATA MEETING of the Southland A Education Board on Friday it was decided to support a complaint made recently in Hawke’s BAy about the type of some of the radio serials broadcast in New Zealand. The main objection, which has been raised more than once in different parts of the country, is to what is called the “blood-and-thunder” serial; but the chairman (Mr S. Rice) went a little further in complaining that many items are broadcast “which are of no educational value at all.” It is only fair to point out, perhaps, that the broadcasting service is not intended merely as an educational influence. Most persons, indeed, regard it as a source of entertainment, and are inclined to resent the amount of attention given to tastes which differ from their own. In some ways the programmes from the national stations are showing a definite improvement. On Saturday night, for instance, the “session for the music-lover” from 4YZ was a really balanced presentation of good music, and the local station has shown enterprise and judgment in its use of new releases. But the talks cannot be said to reach a high level, and the serials are an extremely mixed lot. There can be little doubt that radio serials are popular with the average listener. Inevitably they have to be presented at the time of day when men and women, relaxed by their firesides, are free to hear them; and this is also the time when school children are supposed to be doing their home-work, or at least to be spending their leisure in suitable occupations. Wise parents will see that their children’s studies are not interrupted by t]ie radio, and this applies to music as well as to serials. It can be argued, indeed, that the crux of the problem is to be found in the temperate or selective use of radio. And this is a matter which is entirely in the hands of parents. In too many homes the radio is allowed to murmur, to shout or to blare throughout the evening. Children have to go about their affairs in a stream of sound. If they are intent on something which interests them, they will probably shut it out; but if lessons are being done there is a constant temptation to wandering thoughts. The best programmes in the world can be bad from this point of view: they are irrelevancies and intrusions. Parents can find a corrective in planned listening. The programmes are published in advance, and it is a simple matter to arrange an evening’s entertainment from which redundant or undesirable items are excluded. It is equally simple to make sure that the evening has periods of silence, and in these days of unrelenting nerve strain the importance of silence can scarcely be over-estimated. But although the broadcasting authorities cannot be blamed for the errors of listeners, they can at least protect the standards of entertainment. If children cannot be stopped from hearing serials, they should be able to hear something which will not increase the number of doubtful influences to which they are exposed in daily life. The worst radio serial may be no worse than the “penny dreadful” which most children read with avidity. But this cannot be regarded as a justification for nonsense. Radio is a powerful influence in that it uses the spoken word. It is depressing to hear the nasal twang and the bad grammar used by characters in an Australian serial and reflect on the quickness with which such faults are echoed in the school ground. If there must be serials, they should be as good as possible, and at present a good story, cleverly presented, is a rare exception. Fewer and better serials would be a useful slogan for those who now select the programme materials in Wellington.