RADIO STATION

Taupo Times, Volume XIV, Issue 57, 22 July 1965, Page 2

RADIO STATION

Sir, — Hansard recently quoting Mrs Stevenson, M.P., reported — "Now with a population of 10,000 the people of the town of Taupo are grateful for the new radio station recently opened. Previously radio reception was almost nil and the new station is now making radio listening possible." Allowing for the customary poJitical manipulation of facts and figures this extract remains an extraordinary amalgam of error, generalisation, and question begging. An examination of the facts will show that not even Mrs Stevenson's enhanced estimate of our fertility can raise the borough's 1964 population of 6520 to the 10,000 plus she quotes. At no time was Taupo's radio reception "almost nil", it was often bad, particularly for national broadcasts and many complaints were lodged to this effect. Few people in those days expected their protests to be met with more than an unmanned booster similar to the present Tv. translator and I believe this would have given satisfaction to the majority. Perhaps this was technically impossible, but we were never to know, for out of the blue came the news announcing a radio station for Taupo. It wasn't until sometime later when the nature and hours of lZA's broadcasting became known — i.e., a commercial 3-hour breakfast pro-. gramme and a ll-hour Saturday evening session — that our first' delight turned to puzzled dismay. The new station was clearly superfiuous and the original problem remained unsolved. Moreover, 2YA, the strongest national station on my own and many .other Taupo radios, is completely obliterated when 1ZA is on the air. I can assure Mrs Stevenson that niany of her potential electors are most ungrateful for the new radio station, for far from improving conditions it has, in fact, caused the deterioration of national programme reception in which place we now have commercially sponsored broadcasts. It is not impossible to infer several sinister implications from this situation. — Yours, faithfully,

LEWIS

KLYEN.

Mr Klyen: Mrs Stevenson was understood to be referring to the population in the immediate vicinity of Taupo borough when she quoted 10,000 people — a figure often used for this area. Many people would disagree on the question of reception; often it was so bad as to be virtually "nil." The present hours of the station are as originally announced by the N.Z.B.C. and there are technical difficulties in rebroadcasting other programmes — namely the almost "nil" reception at Taupo. This problem may be overcome at some time in the future. The best technical advice available suggests that sets in which 2YA is affected by 1ZA require adjustment by a eompetent radio technician. — The Editor.