NEWS FOR ALL LISTENERS

New Zealand Listener, Volume 3, Issue 66, 27 September 1940, Page 8

NEWS FOR ALL LISTENERS

Innovations And Changes At The National Stations

The programmes published in this issue demand the close attention of listeners. Several alterations to the timing schedule have been made. Summarised, the points to note are: The new timing of re-broadcasts of news from Daventry. The extension of the broadcasting times of auxiliary stations to cover the period 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. so that they can be used as alternatives to re-broadcasts from Daventry. The new timing for the broadcast of official news supplied by the Prime Minister's Department and British Official Wireless News, and the substitution between 7 p.m. and 7.10-15 p.m. of local news services compiled and broadcast individually by each of the four main stations. Following this will come the regular weekly book and garden talks, etc., from 7.15 until 7.30 p.m. The new timing for the beginning of the evening programme7.30 p.m. instead of 8 p.m. The substitution for the Daventry news summary previously broadcast at 9 p.m. of the new twenty-minute "Newsreel" compiled by the NBS from all news received throughout the day: Daventry bulletins, British Official Wireless, news from the Prime Minister's Department, Press Association cables, extracts from talks, and official statements. The new closing time, 11.30 p.m., instead of midnight. The new method of treating programme arrangement during the day.

authorities put out programmes only as evening concerts, from 8 p.m. until 10 p.m. Then dealers complained that they were unable to demonstrate their sets to the growing market during the daylight heurs. For their convenience a mid-day session was put on. So they carried on. Housewives complained that no attention was paid to their needs. Sessions were introduced in the mornings and afternoons. Breakfast sessions followed. Farmers voiced complaints. The gaps between each session were bridged. The system became a conglomerate of sessions separately established and separately identified. Under the old system, where the daytime programmes, and what may be called "in-between" sessions were regarded from habit as gap-fillers, "recordings" was an often repeated item in the programmes. Different sorts of music came to be mixed. Listeners would hear a song one minute and a monologue the next. [’: the beginning the broadcasting

Continuous Appeal That has now been eliminated. During each day there will be set times for special sessions. The same balance between various types of music will be maintained, but each session of music, whether it covers fifteen minutes, or thirty, or an hour, will be continuous in its appeal. From its title, from the announcer’s introduction, and from the music itself the listener will be able to tell immediately whether or no it is to his taste. If he likes it, he can be sure of getting the same sort of programme material over a definite space of time. If he does not like it, he or she can know to switch off or tune elsewhere. The advantages of the new method of re-broadcasting news, or originating internal broadcasts of news and commentary, are discussed separately for the sake of clarity. Alternative to Daventry Until now, for listeners who have heard the news or want-a rest from it,

there has been a hiatus between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. The NBS auxiliaries have been off the air. It was the news or nothing. In recent weeks 1ZM, 2YC and 3YL have been on the air during this period with the broadcasts of lessons in the Morse Code. The time for this special 25 minute programme from these three stations has now been altered to 10 p.m., and 1ZM, 1YX, 2YC, 3YL and 4Y0 will all be on continuously with music between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. At 7 p.m. another half-hour without music will begin at the YA stations, but here, as before, the auxiliaries will provide alternative programmes, and it will be 7.30 p.m. instead of 8 p.m. when the main stations begin their evening programmes. The NBS Newsreel Station notices and weather reports will be broadcast at 8.57 p.m., and at nine o’clock the main stations will hookup for the "newsreel." This will be prepared by the NBS as a summary of the day’s events. It will be a digest of all the news at present received and rebroadcast at different times. It will enable listeners to go to bed knowing .that they are as up-to-date as they can be. For the news broadcast at 7 p.m. each station will digest its own local news and broadcast it individually. National Service talks may come into this period.