FRENCH RADIO FINDS A NEW HOME

New Zealand Listener, Volume 1, Issue 23, 1 December 1939, Page 24

FRENCH RADIO FINDS A NEW HOME

HREE months have passed since the Fuehrer plunged Europe into war. In those three months, preparations against any emergency have gone ahead with terrific speed in London and Paris. Radio, by no means least among lines of defence, has been properly protected. The BBC has made its plans, and the French national broadcasting system, temporarily upset, is now getting into its stride once more. About 600 technical experts, musicians, singers and others have gone to a centre in the provinces. Here one of the orchestras has been formed again, mostly with instrumentalists from the provinces. All literary material accumulated before the war began has been scrapped, and RadioParis has prepared an entirely new programme. For the troops — Tommy and Poilu — there is plenty of light, jolly music — opera, comic opera, and popular songs. Foreign compositions are not barred except in the case of "musicians who are declared enemies of France." The folk-lore of Britain and Poland is being featured in the programmes, as well as music from the Cameroons, Madagascar, Indo-China, and other parts of the French Colonial Empire. As for subjects for talks — they are varied and aim at all tastes. Talks on subjects such as life in Germany before the war, the removal from French public galleries of works of art, and of ancient stained-glass windows from cathedrals are being given. There is, too, information on surgical treatment for wounded, the part women can play in our disorganised existence; the stories of modern French heroes, and the histories of many invasions. Instruction is to be given at regular periods in the English and Italian languages, gardening, the principles of public hygiene in war-time, and hints for air-raid precautions for workers and nurses,