"THE GUEST ANNOUNCER"

New Zealand Listener, Volume 3, Issue 56, 19 July 1940, Page 47

"THE GUEST ANNOUNCER"

Invitation To Broadcast From CBS HAT do you listeners really want in the programmes presented by the NCBS? Listeners have, from time to time, submitted some very good " requests" in the ZB Request Sessions, but these only deal with individual items. Other ideas have been suggested by the amount and type of mail received, but again, this usually applies only to regular serial features. Straw polls, plebiscites, listeners’ votes, all assist in obtaining views on the programmes, and the favourite types of programmes, such as comedy, band music, dramatic presentations, etc., but these are all associated with "* general" ideas-so the Production Department of the NCBS has been wondering what could be done to obtain specialised ideas. Then another bright idea struck them-the brightest of all. Let listeners provide their own programmes, come into the studio and do the announcing themselves-and what is more, let them be paid to do it! And so was germinated the new programme that twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 8 p.m. will be broadcast from all ZB Stations under the title of "The Guest Announcer," "And what’s it all about?" you ask. Well, it’s like this. The Commercial Broadcasting Service invites listeners to provide a half-hour programme of their favourite type, complete with a few remarks introducing each number. These programmes may concentrate on one particular type of entertainment, or they may comprise items from many different types. They may range from Stravinski to Strauss, from Bing Crosby to Beethoven; they may concentrate on Chopin or Chopsticks, on Robeson or Ronald Frankau; they may vary from "The Magic Flute" to Flanagan and Allen-whatever you fancy in the way of a half-hour’s programme-set it down-intro-duce each number with explanatory or descriptive remarks-or if it calls for such a thing, with humorous comment-and send it in to your nearest ZB station with your name and address and telephone number, if you have one. Remember that, including say from 10 to $0 words of introduction, you will require from seven to ten 10in. records, to fill out your half-hour, "And what was that about being paid for it?" says you. The provider of the programme selected for presentation at 8 p.m. each Tuesday and Thursday night will receive a guinea, In fact, you should have a try, both for your own satisfaction, and also because the competition may be worth a guinea to you. , Tune in next Thursday, the 25th of July, at 8.0 p.m., and listen to a programme presented by one of you