RADIO IN MANY TONGUES

New Zealand Listener, Volume 18, Issue 453, 27 February 1948, Page 24

RADIO IN MANY TONGUES

A Traveller Looks at South Africa

_ HIS article is by a woman who visited New Zealand recently and is returning to England via the length of Africa. She gives some particulars of the set-up in the South African Union, where general broadcast programmes are bi-lingual and there is special provision for the indigenous natives and for the Indian community.

WAS shown over the broadcasting station at Durban and talked to many people there, all of whom were most helpful, and incidentally extremely interested in New Zealand; in fact, all through the Union I found a similar feeling-in many cases more than a mere interest was apparent and one felt there was a deep sense of comradeship, especially for our Forces and our Rugby teams, Any South African Public Service is particularly interesting as it is officially a bi-lingual country as far as_ the European population is concerned, and this is quite apart from the many African tribes and the fast-increasing Indian communities on the East Coast.

There are only three main Stations in the Union-Johannesburg, with its subsidiaries at Pretoria, Bloemfontein, and Grahamstown; Capetown, with its subsidiary at Stellenbosch; and Durban, with its subsidiary at Pietermaritzburg. There is no commercial broadcasting. The Broadcasting Commission was sitting and discussing this very subject at Pretoria when I was there, but at that time had made no announcement on policy. The general opinion, however, seemed to be that it would not bea popular move at present. Afternoon Close-Down Two programmes are presentéd throughout the Union, the "A" (in English) and the "B" (in Afrikaans), and all stations close down between 2.0 p.m. and 4.0 p.m., suggesting that perhaps South Africa is not as

radio-minded as some other countries. I was rather struck by this, as these are the normal leisure hours when the average housewife in other countries often relaxes and listens to the radio. There is also a bi-lingual session once a week to help the two nationalities understand each other’s arts, customs and ways of life. ‘The Afrikaans section, especially, are very keen on developing a school of literature, music and painting, essentially their

own. Both programmes have the usual educational and youth sessions, and of course a children’s hour. All stations present a weekly broadcast from the African native, and though I understand that practically no African can afford a wireless of his own, these programmes are becoming popular in the towns, and any place where they can listen in to their employers’ radios. This medium of reaching the African will eventually play an enormous part in his education, and general develop-ment-a necessarily slow process. The Zulu programme from Durban has made progress, and already they present their own plays and features, written and produced by themselves and often based on tribal legends and customs, This session is run entirely by two educated Zulus on the staff of the radio statioa at Durban. ’ Five Indian Languages The other main native broadcasts are presented in Sesoetoe, the language of the Basutos from Johannesburg; and Xosa (pronounced Kosa’ with a practically impossible click before the ‘"k’’), the language of the Eastern Province tribes, broadcast from Johannesburg through Grahamstown. These are the most widely spoken native languages, so that it is possible for a large percentage of Africans to understand the programmes if given the opportunity of listening in.

In Durban, the centre of the big Indian community, they broadcast sessions in five main languages-Hindu-stani, Gujerati, Urdu, Tamil, and Telugu, so that the staff there is necessarily pretty varied and interesting. Portuguese East Africa Shortly after this visit to the Durban Station, I had an opportunity of seeing over the broadcasting station at Lorenco Marques in Portuguese East Africa, and this threw an interesting sidelight on the commercial broadcasting angle. Lorenco Marques is the only station in Portuguese East Africa, and does a large line in commercial advertising, interspersed with its straight sessions. It advertises largely for British, "South African, American, and, of _ course, Portuguese firms. This is one of the most

popular stations tuned in to in the Union, and, therefore, the advertising problem is fairly adequately dealt with, as far as it is possible within the limits of one station. The beginnings of broadcasting here are interesting. Originally started as a Portuguese amateur radio club, known as the Radio Club of Mozambique, it has developed into a powerful station helped in the beginning by a grant from the Portuguese Government (though it is still not an official station) and carrying on with the revenue from its advertising programmes, It is now run very efficiently by a small staff of British and Portuguese. Programmes presented in English are all recorded, while those in Portuguese are partly recorded and partly studio performances, and although done on a small scale this is one of the most alive stations in South and East Africa. I have drawn the conclusion that despite the obvious disadvantages of language and race and the fact that it lacks the boost which commercial radio can give to the broadcasting of any country, the radio tempo in the Union is considerably slower than in New Zealand. It also appeared to me that radio in general had reached a crossroads, and that pending the result of the findings of the Broadcasting Commission there was no definite constructive policy for the development and improvement of broadcasting in the Union of South Africa,