MAKING HISTORY OUT OF HISTORY

New Zealand Listener, Volume 2, Issue 33, 9 February 1940, Page 48

MAKING HISTORY OUT OF HISTORY

ZB Stations Relay Treaty of Waitangi Centennial Celebrations

Y the time this is read, broadcasting history will have been made in New Zealand, appropriately on the same spot and at the same time that New Zealand’s history as a nation really began.

The occasion, of course was the Centennial celebrations on February 6, in connection with the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, when arrangements were made for the proceedings at Waitangi, in the Bay of Islands,.to be relayed through the whole ZB network. In deciding to make the broadcast the Commercial Broadcasting Service was impressed by the growing public interest in the historic ceremonies at Waitangi on that date, and, despite the technical difficulties in the way, it was felt that the effort would, from the public point of view, be thoroughly worth while. Waitangi itself is an isolated spot on the far side of the Bay of Islands opposite to Russell (formerly known as Kororareka), and one of the chief problems was that of relaying the proceedings from this point to Auckland and 1ZB, from where the broadcast could be relayed by land line to the ZB network and re-broadcast throughout New Zealand. Eventually it was decided that the most satisfactory method of bridying the gap between Waitangi and Auckland would be by short-wave, and for this purpose the 2ZB sound truck was pressed into service. ° It was arranged that a. short-wave transmitter would broadcast the relay

from the scene of the celebrations. This broadcast was to be picked up in Auckland, re-broadcast by 1ZB, and relayed by land line to the other ZB stations throughout New Zealand, and so brought to listeners in every part of the Dominion. The 2ZB sound truck, a familiar sight around Wellington, and particularly at the Centennial Exhibition, where many unusual relays have been carried out, travelled from Wellington to Waitangi a few days before the broadcast was dué, arousing great interest en route. The schedule was as follows: Leave Wellington on Tuesday, January 30; at Palmerston North that night, where a special broadcast was made from 2ZA; then on to Wanganui, Hawera, and New Plymouth; finally stopping the night at Te Kuiti. On February 1, the next day, the sound truck left for Auckland via Hamilton, Huntly, and Mercer, arriving at Auckland later in the afternoon, After a stop at Auckland for technical adjustments and final arrangements for the broadcast, the sound truck went on to Waitangi. The broadcast was supervised by K. W. Kilpatrick, national programme director, with Kingi Tahiwi (2ZB), Lou Paul (1ZB), and Ari Pitama (3ZB), and Engineer Illingworth (1ZB), attending to the technical details. Incidentally, the party tasted something of the joys of camping life, sleeping in tents beside the sound truck.