BUSY DAYS HATH NOVEMBER

New Zealand Listener, Volume 17, Issue 432, 3 October 1947, Page 16

BUSY DAYS HATH NOVEMBER

Clearing the Air for Election FPesulits

HE Local Body Elections for cities, boroughs, counties, town districts, harbour boards and hospital boards will be held on Wednesday, November 19. Already the NZBS is making its atrangements to ensure that everybody who has access to a radio may know the result of the polls before bed-time. Some of us may have to sit up a little longer than usual, but just how long will depend upon returning officers and pollclerks, and other factors outside the control of broadcasting. There will be listeners, of course, who gill not be able to pillow their heads —

comfortably till they know the best, or worst; and there may even be some who won’t care a button who gets in for what. But each main station will handle its own territory, and progress results will be broadcast in the form of Dominion summaries at intervals. This means that various districts will be zoned according to radio coverage, as in the case of the 1944 local body elections, and for this the co-operation of the Post and Telegraph Department is necessary, for telegraph offices all over the country will have to be re-opened after normal business hours, Returning officers will also play an important part, for they are just as anxious as the =

NZBS to acquaint the public with the results as early as possible. Some of them, in fact, make it a matter of personal pride to be among the first with the news. In the main centres members of the NZBS staff will be stationed at returning officers’ rooms to telephone results immediately to the broadcasting station concerned. For convenience and speed returning | officers will be asked to supply the broadcasting station in their territory with the list of nominations. The NZBS will then send them a telegram form containing the names of all the candidates, When the final count is made, all returning officers will need to do is to

cross out the names of the defeated candidates and return the form to the station. On the Receiving End The listener's part is simple. For example, listeners in Whangarei will stay tuned in to 1YA. By so ‘doing, they will receive all the results in their own district, plus the main results from other places, which will be broadcast in the form of Dominion summaries, In addition to giving local results, stations will monitor each other for the principal mayoral and council results as these come in. On election ‘night there will be no scheduled programmes from the National stations, but musical items will fill the gaps between election announcements. Stations will stay on the air till the local returning officers have ished their work, and there will be a final Dominion summary of results at midnight. The ZB stations will retain their ordinary programmes, interrupting them to broadcast results at intervals, and they will also take part in the Dominion summaries. As well as giving the final summary, all stations, National and Commercial, will broadcast their local summary before closing down. On the following morning other broadcasts of the Dominion summary will be given in a link-up. The polls close at 6.0 p.m., but not many results can be expected before about 7.0 p.m. —