COMPLAINT FROM THE COUNTRY
| Sir,-As a country woman who depends largely on Radio for most of her music, cheer, company, entertainment and some of her information, may I draw attention to a matter which should be causing grave concern to all thoughtful listeners. I refer to the appallingly low standard of most of the features broadcast from our Commercial Stations. Most housewives enjoy good serials, and I for one, can get through piles of mending and. other boring chores while being so entertained. The novels Rebecca, The Rains Came, How Green Was My Valley, Emma, were all well adapted for radio presentation, and were, in my opinion, worth the time spent in listening, but, with few exceptions, the current day-time serials are cheap, trashy, unrealistic, lurid, stickily sentimental and thoroughly boring. In short, they are an insult to the intelligence. Being interested in Radio and fascinated by its potentialities, I have listened systematically for some months, and lest anyone think this is hasty judgment, just let him listen to the following daytime serials: "Ma Perkins," "Judy and Jane," "Big Sister,’ "The Editor’s Daughter, etc., and in the evening, listen to "In His Steps," "Hollywood Radio Theatre," or "The Tale Master." There are a lot more, but these are the worst. It must be sheer apathy surely not contentment, which keeps listeners mute while Ma Perkins drivels on in sentimental rubbish which is quite nauseating. The literary counterpart of these serials (if one dare use the word "literary" in such a connection) would be the cheap magazine story-the penny dreadful, and all that sickly, high flavoured stuff which comes under the heading of the Yellow Press. When people want reading matter, they have a fairly wide choice. The radio listener has on an average half a dozen stations. Why then should any of those stations be given the chance to waste one minute on such _ inferior material? If people will listen to such programmes without protest, then they would listen to much better programmes also without protest.
FARMER'S WIFE
(Upper Hutt).
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19450727.2.13.10
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 13, Issue 318, 27 July 1945, Page 16
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340COMPLAINT FROM THE COUNTRY New Zealand Listener, Volume 13, Issue 318, 27 July 1945, Page 16
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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.
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