SELECTING PROGRAMMES

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 937, 2 April 1930, Page 7

SELECTING PROGRAMMES

INTELLIGENT LISTENING The British Broadcasting Company, in its year book for 1930, devotes a chapter to “Intelligent listening,”! in which it states that one of the j reasons why broadcasting is not universally cultivated by people who are most able to avail themselves of its services is that we do not sufficiently Use discrimination in our listening. “We have attempted time out of number to explain to listeners that broadcasting has to cover so many phases in which not an individual but a million listeners have to be reached in a day's broadcasting activities," says an exchange on the same su> j ject. “It stands to reason that we are wanting a classic programme and a broadcasting programme will not always measure up to expectations.; When we are being treated to a song scena. instead, it does not do immediately to castigate the broadcasting programmes, because our particular taste is not being catered for on that occasion. Our turn will come another time. A good plan is to treat our broadcasting programme as we do oar theatrical entertainment. Before we go to a theatre we do not as a rule choose a talkie or a play

haphazardly, without first having ascertained something about either, so with our broadcasting. Before we listen-in to an evening’s entertainment it would behove us to scan the daily programme and find out what is on for our entertainment. After having selected the items we want, tune into them at the times prescribed, and tune out of them when they are finished. That is the secrel of the success of intelligent listening.” The 8.8. C. states: “It is a very common failure to exercise intelligently this privilege of selection that has kept so many intelligent people from giving broadcasting a regular and appointed place in their hours of leisure.” AERIALS ON TREES A glance round any suburban area makes it obvious tbat many radio enthusiasts make use of a handy tree for an aerial mast. The idea is quite sound and decidedly economical. Care should be taken, however, not to run the aerial nearer than 10 or 15 feet of the nearest branch of the tree. An aerial almost hidden at one end by leaves, although, perhaps, longei is not necessarily the best aerial that conditions iiermit. Trees themselves absorb radio energy and take that much away from the aerial they support. Therefore, keep your aerial well clear of them at both ends. The swaying of a tree in a gale, besides tending to snap an aerial, may cause variations in tuning, particularly on short-wave lengths. A useful tip is to obtain a small pulley and to attach it close to the top of the tree. Run a piece of rope or stout string from the aerial insulator through the pulley and tie the lowest end of the rope to a dangling weight A sash weight is generally suitable for a short aerial. When the tree sways the pulley allows the w'eight to ride up and down and the aerial keeps at an almost constant tension.