Co-ordination

New Zealand Listener, Volume 17, Issue 436, 31 October 1947, Page 9

Co-ordination

PRESS report quotes a certain section of public opinion as saying that radio programmes are _ getting worser and worser. I wonder what sort of programmes we should have if that section ‘of the public were put in charge of broadcasting for a while. As far as my own local listening is concerned, one station at least shows a steady change for the better; this is Station 4YA, which lately has exemplified the art of gradually getting out of the rut. An example of what I mean was the recent evening on which 4YA and 4YO worked together in complete harmony, dovetailing two programmes into an evening’s satisfying entertainment, the only improvement on which would have been their presentation from the one station. At 7.15, Mary Martin, lecturer in music at Otago University, spoke on "The Revival of English Music; the English Tradition," reminding us of the fact that there was a time when England led the world musically, when a lack of a practical knowledge of music was

a prominent gap in one’s liberal education, and music was not. regarded, as now too often happens, as an extra "frill." Miss Martin traces the course of English music from earliest times to the present day, and held out high hopes for the future. To find this talk enlarged and illustrated at 9.0 p.m. from 4YO, in a full hour of music ranging from Morley to Purcell and Handel, was as delightful as it was unexpected. Careful listeners, too, would connect these programmes with others recently heard from Dunedin stations, notably the very fine broadcast by the choir of the Dunedin Music Students’ Club, a group of young singers who managed their difficult programme of madrigals in a style worthy of much more experienced performers. Congratulations to the unseen organiser responsible for this plethora of good music and its co-ordination in presentation. '