"Any Questions?"
‘THE calls received on the telephone switchboard of a broadcasting station are not by any means confined to queries connected with music or programmes. On the contrary, the operator often finds herself regarded as\a "Brains Trust of One." Sometimes it is a layghing voice that says, "We have a half-crown bet on the pronunciation of ‘m-i-n-u-e-t,)" or a worried one begs "How do you spell ‘allergic’?" There may have been a touch of homesickness behind the inquiry "Is the sound of Big Ben at 9 o'clock real, or is it just a record?" Again, the query "I have a plan with the distances marked in links --how can I reduce them to feet?" meant some rapid thinking in order to give a reliable answer! Inquiries are sometimes concerned with the personal dffairs of composers and artists, but more often it is "What was the date of the Napier earthquake?" -or "Is the guillotine still in use in France?" Music, certainly, filled the mind of one person to the exclusion of all else when to the operator she said eagerly, "I have a tune running in my mind, and I want to whistle it to someone to find out what it is.2 And whistle it tunefully she did, to her ultimate mental relief. These queries, selected from many, are made in all good faith. Occasionally there may be a leg-pull among them; but when ordinary people ring the NBS seeking knowledge, they really expect
to find it there.
M.E.
T.
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19441103.2.18
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
New Zealand Listener, Volume 11, Issue 280, 3 November 1944, Page 11
Word count
Tapeke kupu
251"Any Questions?" New Zealand Listener, Volume 11, Issue 280, 3 November 1944, Page 11
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Material in this publication is protected by copyright.
Are Media Limited has granted permission to the National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa to develop and maintain this content online. You can search, browse, print and download for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from Are Media Limited for any other use.
Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
Copyright in the Denis Glover serial Hot Water Sailor published in 1959 is owned by Pia Glover. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this serial and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the Listener. You can search, browse, and print this serial for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from Pia Glover for any other use.
Log in