Items From The ZBs

New Zealand Listener, Volume 3, Issue 75, 29 November 1940, Page 29

Items From The ZBs

LISTENERS who remember the talks on theatricals and the stage generally, which used to be given from 1ZB by Frank Broad, will be interested to learn that he is now in khaki. Up to September, 1939, he wrote scripts and gave talks at 1ZB, but on the outbreak of war he transferred to Army Headquarters, Auckland, as a member of the civilian staff there. Now he has joined the uniformed staff, with the rank of SergeantMajor, as a Warrant Officer (1st class), An old trouper (he describes himself as a "veteran of variety"), he first went on the air from 4YA, Dunedin, in 1926, and before the advent of the Commercial Broadcasting Service, he gave frequent talks from 1YA. In 1937, a radio play which he had written-"The Splendid Coward"-was accepted by the BBG, * * * HE music most closely associated with the City of London is, perhaps, Eric Coates’s "London Suite," which is a remarkably vivid musical presentation of the spirit as well as the life of the great city. "London Suite," together with Coates’s "Cinderella Suite," is used as a basis for a programme "A Story of London," which Station 2ZB will present at 5.30 p.m. on Sunday, December 1. The programme, which has been prepared by Charles Thomas, is an attempt to present, in words and music, the London of those far-off days before September, 1939. * * * : "THE HARMONY TRIO," who will be heard in "Radio Rotogravure," the big musical show which the Commercial Broadcasting Service is producing, and which will be on at all the ZB Stations soon, were first persuaded to band together as a vocal trio when a friend heard them singing in harmony round a fireside. Another friend offered to play accompaniments; they arranged their own harmonies, and their repertoire of songs is now large. Among the songs they sing in "Radio Rotogravure" are "The Cherry Tree Doth Bloom," by Alma Goatley; "The Old Clock," from Fred Drummond’s "Songs From the Golden Hours"; "Wind Song," from James H. Rogers’ "The Soft Footed Snow"; and "I Know a Bank," by Martin Shaw. * * * STATION 4ZB’s Musical Army is hard at work rehearsing for a festival which will be-held in the Dunedin Town Hall on December 14. The Musical Army has gone ahead by leaps and bounds, and now numbers close on 600 boys and girls. This will be the army’s first festival, and it will be assisted by another band of youngsters, the "Happy Feet Club," which has a membership of 1000. A further attraction will be the first public appearance of the Dunedin Girls’ Brass Band, which was recently heard from 4ZB. The combined organisations will meet at Queen’s Gardens, and led by a senior band, they will march to the Town Hall. The "generalissimo" of the army, "Peter," will be there, and proceeds will go to the Patriotic Funds,