(9) S. J. Hayden, of NBS Headquarters

New Zealand Listener, Volume 2, Issue 27, 29 December 1939, Page 12

(9) S. J. Hayden, of NBS Headquarters

broadcasting will end next month, when S. A LONG term of service to New Zealand J. Hayden leaves Wellington for Australia. Three months after the A. R. Harris-William Goodfellow Company opened its Auckland studio, in 1926, he began his work for radio. He saw the Radio Broadcasting Company become the Broadcasting Board, and the Board become the National Broadcasting Service. Now that he has seen all there is to see here he is going to look at other countries and other methods. Almost every branch of radio work has had his attention. He started in Auckland as musician, became Station Director, and in Wellington, in 1928, was Musical Director until he had to go to Dunedin to supervise the installation of 4YA.

When W. H. Claxton resigned the Company secretaryship in Christchurch in 1929 Mr. Hayden was given the job and acted as general manager for four months while A. R. Harris visited America. When the Broadcasting Board was formed, with E. C. Hands as manager, Mr. Hayden became assistant manager, and with the formation of the National Broadcasting Service he became Superviser of Recorded Productions. The Technical Side Busy in all these responsible positions, he still found time to learn a good deal. about the technical side of radio, about the many different details of programme planning and feature production, to cover all sorts of subjects with talks and commentary, and to maintain his interest in music. He is very much at home on the pianos in the Wellington

studios, Still not content, he plans to make Australia his first stop in a quest for éven wider experience overseas. Next, perhaps, will come South Africa, where broadcasting is’ still in its ‘teens and, he hopes, will offer many opportunities. No memories of the London where he was born remain’ with him. He came to New Zealand when he was two years of age. Until broadcasting took him elsewhere, Taranaki was his home in New Zealand, and he was educated at New Plymouth Boys’ High School, where, at that time, his proposal to take Music as a Matriculation subject was viewed with dismay, and refused. However, he retained his interest, and it secured him his first radio job. His First Programme He had played for T. Venables (now in the Service in Wellington) and was asked by him to make up a programme for broadcast. This, he was assured, would be picked up by the Company’s officers in Christchurch and considered as a sample of his work with the idea of giving him an appointment. ; Still enjoying the joke, Mr. Venables tells how that night the power over the transmitter was less than ever, and the Hayden programme was heard only six miles away from the studio in Auckland. However, the appointment finally did turn up, not, as Mr. Hayden had wanted, as announcer, but as station musician. R. J. Crago, the first officially appointed radio announcer in New Zealand, had the job Mr. Hayden had been after, and Crago was

followed by J. M. Prentice, who came to Auckland from 2GB, Australia, as the first imported radio expert and a famous "uncle" for the children. Strenuous nights followed. Three afternoons and three evenings a week they were on the air for one and a-half and two hours respectively; not a big total of transmitting time, but a lot of time for two men to fill more or less by themselves. Much for Little With 970 listeners paying licence fees, the Company was by no means well off. It had to establish studios and stations in the four centres, keep them staffed, maintain equipment, and have something over for buying programme material, with an income derived from less than a thousand people paying 30/. annually. Crystal sets were the common style of receiver,

and possibly more listeners listened than paid fees, for the Post and Telegraph Department did not then possess the elaborate organisation now available for keeping sets checked up. At the end of 1926, 1YA was allowed £11 a week for buying items. All artists performed ‘free of charge. They were allowed to use records for 25 per cent. of their programme time. Otherwise, if the pianola rolls became too monotonous, the Venables-Hayden combination did the broadcasting, Mr. Venables would sing, accompanied by Mr. Hayden. Then Mr. Hayden would play the piano, Then Mr. Hayden would sing, accompanied by Mr. Venables. Then Mr. Venables would contribute a solo. Then possibly Mr. Hayden, by now almost distracted for ideas, with the record allotment used up, the pianola overworked, and no artists in the ante-room, would

give himself another name and a different voice, snatch up a magazine lying handy, and proceed to lecture listeners on whatever subject came to his notice. Perhaps, when Mr. Venables had similarly changed his spots, it would be close to 10 p.m., and the sweating entertainers would thankfully put the clock on for timely relief. Growing Up Fast "Bolting away from us" is Mr. Hayden’s description of the progress radio was making then. Their studio, when first built, was considered the last word. In a matter of months they had grown out of it. For a stunt, they produced a programme, costing the magnificent sum of £50, to show the thousand listeners what they would get if they were 20,000. They were very proud of this special effort. In a flash, it seemed, the thousand was twenty thousand, and the programme which had _ seemed so wonderful was back in the poor past. Two technicians looked after their plant. W. P. Huggins is now a constructional technician in Wellington. L. Halcrow is an engineer in Dunedin, They had none of the relays of operators available nowadays, so it was common enough for the Station Director to take a turn at the controls. If radio has travelled fast during the last fourteen years, Mr. Hayden seems to have been able to keep pace. He is still full of new ideas, still examining new theories about radio service, still looking for clues to the phantom of listeners’ tastes, and wondering how all the different problems of modern broadcasting can best be met. j On another page we print a discussion of his views.