MR. JONES ALSO REMEMBERS

New Zealand Listener, Volume 5, Issue 127, 28 November 1941, Page 9

MR. JONES ALSO REMEMBERS

NE of the most treasured possessions of Val Jones, well known Wellington baritone, is a worn, roughly-typed postcard dated March 16, 1925. It reads: " Dear

Mr. Jones, on behalf of the management of Station 2YK, Wellington, I desire to thank you for your kind assistance at the concert broadcasted on Friday, March 6, 1925. At the request of numerous listeners-in I trust you will favour the Station again at an early date. ae faithfully, The Dominion Radioco td." . Apart from the use of the word " broadcasted " --' radio had not yet evolved its present terminology — the card is an interesting relic of one of the earliest studio concerts broadcast in Wellington. It was not the first, Mr. Jones recalls. Station 2YK had been on the air for some time before that, but the studios were so homely and the technical arrangements so primitive compared with the chrome finish of radio today that Mr. Jones feels he can truthfully claim to have been in at the beginnings of broadcasting in New Zealand. No Lack of Artists The card in Mr. Jones’s possession was the only recompense which artists received in those days. Broadcasting was such a novel experience, however, that there was seldom a lack of artists, most of whom moreover, had sufficient vision to» see the possibilities in this new medium. Mr. Jones was one of several

Wellington entertainers who made up parties which would contribute a whole evening’s programme. The studios, or rather the studio, was situated in The Dominion newspaper building, since demolished, near Plimmer’s Steps in Lambton Quay. The mast, on top of The Dominion Building, was a stout 100 foot tree, cut from the forest, trimmed, transported and set up by the band of volunteers who supervised the running of the station. Clive Drummond, present NBS senior announcer, was one of them, and another was Colin Trim, who is now station manager at 4YZ, Invercargill. Later Station 2YK was to shift to the

Dominion Farmers’ Building in Featherston Street, then to the present site of 2YA. Broadcasting was leaping ahead in New Zealand, of course, and one measure of its progress is the increase of power from 2YK’s first feeble five watts to 2YA’s present _ 50,000 watts. In the days when Mr. Jones first sang from 2YK, the majority of Wellington’s few thousand

listeners relied on crystal sets, valve circuits being a mystery into which only the most erudite were initiated. Moreover, a single valve cost anything in the region of £2/10/-. Famous Brother® Mr. Jones’s family made a big contribution to Wellington entertainment in those years. There were seven members, all of whom sang or played some instrument, perhaps the best known member of the family being Lance Fairfax Jones, better known as Lance Fairfax, " The Red Shadow." Lance Fairfax, who is Val Jones’s brother, joined the Diggers’ Concert Party shortly after the last war, and went on to a career that has brought him wide fame. He is now officer in charge of entertaining troops ih the Middle East. ‘ In the years since his appearances before 2YK’s microphone, Val Jones has sung from every broadcasting station in Wellington up to and including 2ZB. He sings frequently at local concerts, and while visiting Sydney some years ago sang from 2BL, Sydney. One of the most ‘interesting changes in broadcasting, from his own point of view (he has an unusually strong, vigorous voice) is the fact that where it was once necessary for him to sing as close as possible to

the old-style carbon microphones, he can now stand as far back as the average studio will permit. Incidentally, another of his souvenirs of early days in broadcasting is a letter of appreciation from a listener signing herself Daisy Basham, who was herself to make a name in radio. She is, of course, Aunt Daisy.