RADIO KEEPS WAR HUMAN

New Zealand Listener, Volume 4, Issue 89, 7 March 1941, Page 3

RADIO KEEPS WAR HUMAN

Request Programmes From The BBC

"4 LTHOUGH so many of our modern inventions, such as the aeroplane, have turned warfare into a merciless slaughter of innocents as well as fighting men, there is one which brings a human touch into pre-sent-day conflicts," writes W. Wilkinson in the "Portsmouth Evening News." "Radio telephony is an all-important war weapon, but it is also serving to bridge the thousands of miles between some of our Forces and their loved ones at home." In campaigns of long ago, wives and sweethearts parted with their menfolk realising that they would be months and even years without word of them, In the Great War the field card was invented, and, though received with joy since it meant that the sender was then still alive, it was a most unsatisfying and impersonal greeting for those longing to get a proper letter. In this Great War it is possible for anyone to get in touch with a man in the Forces, whether he be in Iceland or the Far East, through the medium of the radio, "Request" programmes by the BBC (similar to the personal messages in the N.Z. feature "With the Boys Overseas’) are popular both among men of the British Isles and those from Dominions and Colonies now serving in England. Cynics May Sneer The idea was started when the British Expeditionary Force went to France. Fathers, mothers, wives and sweethearts went to the microphone to give a message. One I remember vividly was in the simple words of a working man telling his 20-year-old son to "finish the job we started." His son, and all the other sons of Britain, did not get the chance then, but opportunity will come again. Those left at home now, while seldom able to give a message personally on the radio, can take advantage of the several programmes of requests in which they can ask for a certain gramophone record to be played. Cynics may sneer when they hear a tenderly-worded greeting followed by the request, " Whose Little

What’s It Are You?" or some other such effort by our modern composers of dance music, but many of these numbers do convey a sentimental message in simple words. Often the chosen piece has mutual associations. You can imagine, for instance, a Navy wife in Portsmouth and her husband thousands of miles away on the high seas being drawn together for a minute or so in a way impossible by letter. Probably the best,man at this type of programme is Sandy Macpherson, the BBC organist. He has a quiet voice, and his modest, unassuming manner is apparent in his every word. Sandy succeeds in conveying a deep sincerity which I am sure he feels, Canadian Candour Members of the Empire Forces are not quite so reticent as many of us over here about making public their radio billet doux, Mr. Wilkinson went on, and one Canadian soldier I heard brought a long list of loving messages not only from his comrades, but from the officers of his unit as well. He rattled them off in the short time at his disposal with a rapidity that made his listeners gasp. In not a few cases the ennouncer’s aid is sought in patching up a broken romance, Where is the girl who can resist a message from her former sweetheart, and the record, " Just One More Chance to Prove it’s You Alone I Care For"? One of the most moving messages ever broadcast in this kind of programme was from a man in the R.A.F. to his sister and her husband, who had obviously drifted apart. The poignancy of the occasion lay in the fact that the R.A.F,. man had been killed on active service before the message and request could be given, but it was the wish of the family that they should be included, So were heard the words from the dead -an appeal to "make it up" and remember their little son. I cannot recall the song accompanying the request, but I do remember that it was in keeping with the occasion. Cables Go Astray One request revealed something greatly amiss at the Post Office. A London woman had cabled regularly to her husband in the Middle East only to receive more and more urgent messages, "No reply to my cables-what’s wrong?" Eventually she sought the aid of the BBC through a request programme, and had word transmitted by this means, Nevertheless the necessity should not have arisen. The desperate anxiety of that man at the apparent silence from his home in London can well be imagined, These broadcasts contain much humour as well as sadness. Many a smile must have been caused by one message to a man in the Navy. It ran something like this: "I am thinking of you always, dear, and praying for your safety-did the gloves fit?"