WHEN WOMEN SPEAK

New Zealand Listener, Volume 8, Issue 197, 2 April 1943, Page 3

WHEN WOMEN SPEAK

Sir,-What do the opinions of Hindus, Moroccans, Church leaders and Commercial Service executives-all of whom have much in common-what do these opinions tell us about the listening taste of New Zealand listeners? Your feature should have been headed: " When ANY ONE Speaks-Do Listeners Reach for the Switch?" And then you could have obtained the answer to this by having your representative move among some of the listeners-the ordinary honest-to-God listeners-not the "intellectuals" who hover around the Capital. You would find that the bulk of all listeners do reach for the switch when anyone begins to speak, probably to switch desperately from station to station, hounded and pursued by endless "talks," "features,’ or "hours," and finally to get off the air as the only escape. Admittedly, it is still possible to find people who listen to the News Broadcasts, even to the end. Probably there are people who listen to the commentaries, but by doing so, they prove that they place no value on their own time, and they are not many in number, The real truth is that people are becoming nauseated with talk. The day when a radio was a magic means of bringing a free and unobstructed stream of music into the home has gone, In its place has arrived an awful era in which we are given a little entertainment simply to encourage us to listen to the news, the propaganda, the chat, the feature, the sales talk, the appeal, and the political "explanation." Those who are responsible for the direction of our radio programmes must surely realise — must be blind not to realise-that the average listener, during his working day, hears quite enough of the human voice in discussion, rumour, and argument, more

than enough of it in the telling of untruths, to wish to hear it at night time as a form of relaxation. So why could not the news session, commentaries, talks and some of the features be confined to one set of stations, leaving the remainder free to perform their proper function? If this were done, the authorities could rest assured that these "Talk" stations would be supported throughout New Zealand by literally dozens-perhaps hundredsof listeners. Almost everyone would tune in occasionally. As it is, the Broadcasting Services should be thankful for the fact that most gramophones need winding, and that we are lazy when at

rest.-

EFFIGY

(Auckland),