Page 3 Advertisement 1

New Zealand Listener, Volume 11, Issue 279, 27 October 1944, Page 3

M ADIO WUIZ Are There Too Many American Programmes On The Air?, YES or NO An impression is being fostered in the minds of the public, by certain interested parties, that there are too many American radio feature pro- grammes on the air in New Zealand_ In actual fact, a survey of a week S programmes from all Stations in the Dominion; as published in the "Listener, shows that, excluding the free programmes broadcast for servicemen, out of a total of 149 feature pro- grammes, only 29 were American; The majority of these are programmes sponsored by advertisers on the ZB stations. Typical of the entertainment value of sponsored American programmes that have been brought to lis- teners are the following popular features: II "Radio Theatre of Famous Classics" 4 "Famous Romances "The Lone Ranger" M "Easy Aces "Lost Empire" I "Hollywood Radio Theatre An erroneous impression regarding the number of American pro- grammes purchased for broadcast in New Zealand is probably due to the fact that with the entry of the United States into the war, producers, writers, actors, singers, musicians, sponsors, and others concerned with radio pro- grammes in USA offered to supply recordings free of all charges in any country where United States troops were serving: AlI of these programmes were made available to the NZ Broadcasting Services (both National and Commercial) without the expenditure of one penny of listeners' fees on this basis New Zealand listeners heard many of the United States most popular and costly programmes, such as The Charlie McCarthy show, Bob Hope, The Hour of Charm and literally hundreds of others. Some of the free programmes provided may not have been of particular interest to New Zealand audiences, but it must be borne in mind that these programmes were designed primarily for United States servicemen, and were put on the air by the broadcasting authorities for the entertainment of the many thousands of these men who were in New Zealand. Listeners will find that when all the free servicemen S programmes are withdrawn, the number of American recorded programmes on the air in New Zealand will be but a very small proportion of the total entertainment offered by the various broadcasting Stations; both commercial and national, and that these programmes will continue to provide some of the most popular shows on the air: Inserted for the information of the NZ. public by: HOWARD C; BROWN COMPANY, Hollywood, USSA: On behalf of United States Radio Programme Producers