TWO MEN: 1000 BROADCASTS

New Zealand Listener, Volume 5, Issue 108, 18 July 1941, Page 16

TWO MEN: 1000 BROADCASTS

Compiling Special Programmes For The ZB Stations

N a room at the Head Office of the Commercial Broadcasting Service, surrounded by racks containing thousands of gramophone records, reference books, and periodicals dealing with entertainment in all parts of the world, two men spend their working hours at the sometimes nerve-wracking job of devising and compiling special programmes for the ZB stations. As can be imagined, ,anniversaries, festivals, and other special occasions frequently demand programmes all to themselves. It may be the anniversary of a scientific discovery, the centennial of a composer, or the birthday of a famous musician. Well in advance, the date will have been noted down, and the chances are that on the nearest Sunday, the Radio Matinees at each ZB station will include a carefully-prepared tribute, The two programme compilers are L. E. Strachan and S. W. Vause, and the

magnitude of their task may be gathered from the fact that during 1940 they gathered together material for over 1000 broadcasts. This was in addition to a mass of routine work and the preparation of all programmes broadcast over 5ZB, the Centennial Exhibition station. Mr. Strachan ‘specialises in what, for want of a better name, may be called the better class of music and programming; Mr. Vause in lighter music. Both have had many years connection with the gramophone trade and broadcasting. Mr. Vause first became interested in gramophones in the days of the .old cylinder records, and his private collection includes many which would be diffi cult or impossible to replace. Some Real "Old-Timers" Surprisingly though, the cylinder gramophone is still in use in many New Zealand homes. One resident of Wellington is. known to treasure his old machine, and will have nothing to do with "those new-fangled affairs with turntables." His collection of records includes a speech by President McKinley,

which gives some clue to its age. Recently, the Commercial Broadcasting Service was offered 10,000 cylinder records which had apparently been stored away and forgotten over many years. Many of the records used in special programmes now have a value far above their original cost. Some which were once priced at 50 cents in America are now listed in American catalogues at three or four dollars. One of these, a rare recording of a speech by General Bramwell Booth, was used recently in a special Salvation Army programme. Another little known record is of a bass song by Noah Beery. The CBS collection also includes a number of records made in Poland and other European countries which have since been over-run by Germany. These are naturally irreplaceable. Checking Up The work of the CBS programme department becomes especially tricky when the date of some song or composition must be checked in order to avoid an anachronism. Hollywood, of course, provides frequent examples of musical anachronism. One film dealing with the life of Queen Victoria, for instance, showed a choir singing "Land of Hope and Glory" in 1897. The first public performance was actually in 1902, To avoid this sort of mistake in radio, a vast amount of checking-up is sometimes necessary. This is done with the help of a library of standard reference works, and thousands of newspaper and magazine clippings dating back for the past 20 years, and all indexed and filed. Among the programmes being built up at the present time and soon to be heard from the ZB stations is The Thin Red Line, which is the story of famous English regiments and of the New Zealand regiments associated with, them. Another interesting series of programmes soon to be heard in the Radio Matinees at all stations, features the talented young New Zealand pianist, Junior Farrell, who is now in Australia. Young Farrell made the _ recordings during a visit to New Zealand some time ago.