COMMERCIAL RADIO.

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 336, 18 January 1937, Page 4

COMMERCIAL RADIO.

AUSTRALIAN METHODS.

Information and Advice From Mr. Vincent Ryan.

The intricacies o£ the commercial radio business in Australia hold no mysteries of the Australian comedian, Mr. Vincent Ryan, who with Senia Chostiakoff delighted a more than capacity house at the Stratford Town Hall on Saturday night. After the show Mr Ryan was in an expansive mood and had quite a lot to tell a “Central Press” representative about broadcasting matters. In spite of his inside knowledge he is somewhat mystified about the present activities of the Auckland “Friendly Road” organisation. A number of Sydney commercial stations seem to be becoming incorporated with it, said Mr Ryan, particularly the well-known 2GB, Sydney, which is at present supplying mechanics and announcers and artists to the Auckland station. Huge Profits. Commercial stations in Australia were making huge profits, said Mr Ryan. The prominent stations showed their prosperity by the elaborate studio furnishings and equipment. In many studios it was the practice to completely renew the interior decoration every few months. Competition was always fierce and each station worked to defeat the other. If one station had planned a particularly brilliant session which would be likely to please the public any other station that heard of this would make a point of putting over a similar session at an earlier hour in order to "steal the thunder” of its rival. American Methods. Short period advertising became very boring, remarked Mr Ryan. People were Inclined to become ex asperated when after each three minutes entertainment they were compelled to listen to lyrical eulogies of somebody’s flour, stockings or cigarettes. Australia was tending lately more to the American methods In U.S.A, commercial stations were linked up so that a programme could be heard throughout the nation simultaneously. Large organisations using Ihis medium of advertisement were thus able to spend considerable sums on each programme. A com-

pany would take an hour of time and would arrange for a programme to be given by famous artists and the only propaganda that the public were called on to listen to would be the mention of the name of the company as the sponsor of the programme. This practice was now con sidered ter have better advertising value than the system of loading grammes with blatant publicity mat ter. Free Advertising. There are pitfalls in every proles sion, however, and even broadcasting companies do not always escape victimisation. Chartering a daily hour for a period of months is naturally a very much more economical method of buying radio time than merely securing odd minutes. Several Australian firms were quick to notice this and having secured contracts for long periods tlyey proceeded to sub-let portions of their time at rates below those charged by the station. By this means they were able to get their own advertising for nothing and perhaps make a profit as well at the expense, of course, of the radio station. “No sub-letting” is now a clause in every contract. New Zealand Problems. Having met Professor Shelley Mr Ryan has immense respect for him and thinks he will do a great deal for the radio in New Zealand New Zealand people, he thought, however, should not expect big changes to happen all at once. Under Professor Shelley’s leadership there would undoubtedly be many new features introduced but they would be introduced gradually. The chief weakness of New Zealand National programmes at present was that of a lack of artists. Those who were available were of a very high standard but there was not the variety to call on that they had :n | Australia. As a result New programmes had to be filled up with recordings. Many of those used, he' noticed, had come originally from Australian commercial programmes.