Words Fail

New Zealand Listener, Volume 18, Issue 455, 12 March 1948, Page 8

Words Fail

How to describe the indescribable has been the problem of radio announcers during Dunedin’s week of centennial festival. Coverage of events happening this year has been excellent; sports fixtures have been relayed with the competent erthusiasm wé have come to ex-

pect of our sports announcers; historical features have continued to give us information in an interesting manner; musical events, broadcast, can speak their own language and need no descriptive help. But in the case of the procession and the fireworks, as in lesser events such as the appearance of a reelparty at the Scottish Concert, the exhibitions of pioneer gowns and authentic displays of pioneer rooms and furniture, the task of the announcers becomes practically impossible. It may be correct to say that a gown is of maroon silk, that the Highland dancers look splendid in full Highland evening costume, the floral floats a blaze of colour and the fireworks nothing short of magnificent, but no effort to describe these things can replace the actual sight of them. Pageantry, procession, and planned spectacle don’t lend themselves to vocal description. Should the broadcasting stations therefore give up the job as wellnigh hopeless? No, indeed. For the benefit of the hundreds who can’t attend the various functions, whether through illness or some other cause, radio serves an inestimable purpose in providing a second-hand account of something which presumably will-not happen again in the lifetime of any of Dunedin’s present population. The announcers must be congratulated on a valiant attempt to describe something which even a technicolour film can’t do justice to.