CAVALCADE OF RADIO

New Zealand Listener, Volume 5, Issue 127, 28 November 1941, Page 8

CAVALCADE OF RADIO

Memories of Other Days

| Written for "The Listener" |

by

JAMES

DREW

ERE remarkable achievements not so common in New Zealand, which can lay claim to a variety of unique achievements, the announcement that, at the end of September, 92 households in every 100 were equipped with radio would doubtless have earned greater attention. Steadily the figures have grown until saturation is within sight and what was once merely a highly scientific apparatus has become a part of almost every home. Back in 1926 there were 3588 licences in operation; in 1936, when the new 2YA, went on the air the number had grown to 221,250; at the end of last September the phenomenal total of 365,735 was recorded. There is a story behind this cavalcade , of radio-the story of a development that has happened in a greater or lesser degree to all listeners. But to the "pioneers" it has happened most. "It happened to me," TI count back my licence forms and find that they begin with No. 33,930, issued on August 4, 1927. This present year, because you "buy" your licence in halves, you receive two forms for a complete year’s payment, and mine are numbered 788,442 and 788,443-indicat-ing the vast extent to which the " listen- ing art" has developed. In between those figures, the dramatic cavalcade of radio has unfolded itself in a most matter-of-fact fashion. But it is the story of the acceptance into New Zealand life of a magic genie. . Those Were the Days! It’s a far call now to the days when a radio aerial in the neighbourhood was the mark of the pseudo-scientist-and the butt of crusty neighbours who were certain that the new-fangled business ‘was in some peculiar way responsible for alternate droughts and floods by upsetting the equilibrium of the ether. Those were the days when, except in the case of those who could afford to pay lavish sums for factory receivers with a baffling complexity of dials, every "set"? was home-made and every listener was an expert in his own way. I wonder how many could unearth from their records the familiar warning of the District Radio Inspector: "I note that you are using a three-coil regenerative type of radio receiver, and desire to bring to your notice that under certain conditions of operation this receiving set is capable of unduly energising the antenna system and of causing interference to other broadcast receivers in your neighbourhood." So he appended, with working drawings, the schematic plan for "a stage of neutralised radio frequency amplification which, if correctly installed, would eliminate the possibility of causing interference by radiation and is, for this reason, strongly recommended." We not only knew what he meant-I wonder how many so-called fans would to-day-but did the job and converted the one-valve "set" into a three-valve job, raising it to the dignity of a speaker outfit. And what a bugbear that "tickler"’ coil was! But we had any dmount of

kick from the "single banger" (as we dubbed it) and a pair of head-phones. Around the hour of midnight JOAK, Tokio, would penetrate the static, while "Sydney roared in." But the acquisition of the speaker brought de luxe reception. Clive Drummond’s "Good-night" Do you remember the old 2BL days? Almost as noted as Clive Drummond’s famous "Gooood night everybody! Goooood-night!"’ (by the way, there is a generation that knows not Joseph in that respect, too), was this couplet sung before 2BL’s concert session with a musical review of the headline news: "Tune in, tune in, And see you do it well, You'll hear the best of everything From Station 2BL!" Meanwhile. on the broadcasting side things had been moving. For Christmas, 1930, it was announced that "none of the R.B.C. (the old Radio Broadcasting

Company) stations will have silent days until after the holidays.’’ Then the schedules were altered so that "from at least one station on every week-night light music is now available from 9,30 to 11 o'clock." At the end of that year incidentally, there were 61,948 licensed listeners and transmitters. Early in 1931 there were only two New Zealand stations. transmitting mid-day programmes -2ZR, Wanganui, on 500 metres, ‘and 3ZC, Christchurch, on 250 metres, and the comment was made, no doubt with justification: "It could be possible for 2YA, the chief of the R.B.C.’s stations, to arrange a dinner session and not leave the task to the B class stations." B Class Parade It was at this stage that the famous B class stations came into their ownthe majority of them now but memories leaving their trace in "ghost" cards in many collections. On May 17, 1930, 2ZR, Wanganui, came on the air; on October 16, 1928, 2ZO, Dunedin, made its debut. Two years before, 2ZD, Masterton, first used its call. Back in 1924 the Manawatu Radio Club went on the air with 2GI, the call later being changed to 2ZF and the power to’ 15 watts. In 1928 a rebuilt transmitter used 50 watts, and from 1933 until 1937, when with others it went off the air, it radiated 50 watts. There were others, too. How many remember 2AQ, Taihape, with its Sunday morning programme of records — and 2ZU, Dannevirke, and 2ZE, Eketahuna? For seven years from February, 1931, 2ZO, Palmerston North, rendered good service, and it has its "ghost" card as, indeed, has the comparatively shortlived 2ZW, Wellington, to whose card in 1931 L, E. Strachan appended his signature as station director. Add to these 2ZK, Wanganui, and 4ZW, Dunedin, with 1ZR, Auckland, and 3ZE, Greymouth, not forgetting 1ZH, Hamilton, 2ZP, Wairoa, and 4ZL and M., Dunedin, and the list of the "old-timers" must be fairly complete. But there were passing callers even in those days, and memories will be rekindled with the mention of the whalers Kosmos and Sir James Clark Ross (just below 4QG, Brisbane) whose doubtful signals excited attention. Shortwave Milestones In the very early 1930’s not many licences were taken out solely for shortwave reception, which was still in its very "technical" stage. But the famous W2XAD at Schenectady was the great encourager, and to-day more than one man who was then a boy will recall skipping school on a certain afternoon to hear its broadcast description of the fight at New York between Tom Heeney and Gene Tunney. Gerald Marcuse was still making history with 2NM, Caterham, England, operating on 21 metres at sufficient strength to be heard here. PCJJ was putting Eindhoven on the map as the (Continued on next page)

(Continued from previous page) forerunner of PCJ with the famous Edward Startz at the microphone; JHBB, Japan; 5SW, Chelmsford; the Americans KDKA, 2XAF, 6WF Perth, and 3LO Melbourne, almost completed the quota, though RFM, Khabarovsk (Siberia), and ANH and 3BB in the Dutch East Indies added romance to the thrill of DX listening. And what else happened in those days? The epic 24-hour broadcast with Kings-ford-Smith and the Southern Cross from

Mascot to Christchurch; the news of the Hawke’s Bay earthquake; Albert Russell and the Good Morning Club; "long distance" relays by 3YA from Ashburton and Timaru; Morse from warships completely spoiling programmes; and the never-ending bugbear of " howling valves." All of these things — and countless others-have happened to me and hundreds of other New Zealand listeners as we have watched radio in the making during the past decade and more,