Timaru Station Will Be of New Type

New Zealand Listener, Volume 20, Issue 496, 24 December 1948, Page 16

Timaru Station Will Be of New Type

OST-WAR plans made by the NZBS to. establish new radio stations and to increase the power of many existing transmitters are going ahead, and the first of the new 2 k.w. local stations to operate will be 3XC Timaru, which will open on Tuesday, January 18, 1949. The establishment of 3XC will) mark the introduction of a new type of station specifically designed to serve the town or city in which it is situated, and the immediate surrounding district. The programmes will be new to New Zealand for they will be on nonadvertising and advertising "bands." Consequently advertising facilities will be available to local advertisers and non-advertising programmes will permit the station to play its expected part in the cultural life of the community and the development of local talent. There will be seven hours of broadcasting each day. Forenoon _ sessions will be from 7.0 to 10.0, Mondays to Saturdays; and 8.0 to 11.0 on Sundays, and the hours each evening will be from 6.30 to 10.30. The programmes will be arranged to permit advertising from 7.0 a.m, to 10.0 a.m., and 6.30 p.m. to 7.30 p-m., from Mondays to Saturdays. The NZBS demand for electrical power will not be increased by the opening of 3XC as it is planned to save an equivalent amount at other South Island transmitters.

The Timaru studios are in Sophia Street, near the centre of the city. Except for minor details connected . with heating and ventilation, they are almost ready for occupation. The transmitter buildings, also completed, are at Seadown, about a mile and a half away. The main studio is 22ft by 16ft and the main record library, 18ft by 19ft, will hold about 8000 recordings, There will be a small lounge for the public. Other new stations (not necessarily in order of completion) will be at Whangarei, Hamilton, Wanganui and Rotorua, and eventually the power of the present stations at Gisborne, New Plymouth, Palmerston North, Nelson and Greymouth, and the four YC and four ZB stations willybe stepped up. In the case of the smaller stations a departure is being made from. the practice of installing transmitters in the cities and towns in the same building as the studios. Under such conditions it is difficult and often impossible to erect aerial radiating equipment which performs efficiently according’ to modern standards. For this reason the trans-. mitters are being built a mile or two from the studios and in localities where it is possible to find land suitable for erecting 175ft’ masts and providing adequate earth-screens. Having transmitters removed from densely-populated areas also makes it easier for listeners in those areas to receive distant stations, At the four main transmitting stations arrangements. have: been made to

improve the efficiency of the present radiating systems by extending the ground-screens, A good deal of the progress at the new stations depends:on the erection of the masts, material for which comes from Australia. And, in turn, the masts and earth systems, which are in effect the keys to the completion of the whole work, depend on transport which, at present, is subject to certain difficulties. It is likely that some of the new masts may not be completed till the end. of 1949, but, in. the meantime, arrangements are being made to use temporary aerial systems. The buildings at Whangarei will be finished in two or three weeks, but so far there is no indication of the opening date, as negotiations for the transmitting site have not yet been completed, The call-sign will be 1XN. Alterations to the present building are well forward at Hamilton (1XH), but the contract for the transmitter building has not yet been settled. In . Wanganui, studio arrangements have advanced past the specification stage, and the building at the transmitter site is ready for the equipment, which will be put in when the mast is erected. This station will be 2XA.,

At Rotorua-l1YZ-work on the temporary studios is nearing completion and the transmitter building to house the 10° k:w. transmitter at Paengaroa, serving the Bay of Plenty, is ready for the installation of equipment. The foundations of a 500ft mast have been laid. The Gisborne station, 2XG, is now being operated by NZBS staffformerly it was run under contract. Work on a new temporary studio has begun, Temporary studios have been allocated to the NZBS for 2XP New Plymouth, and the purchase of a transmitter site is in train. At Palmerston North work is well advanced on 2ZA’s increase of power, and the building to house 2XN Nelson’s new transmitter is finished. The existing studios for Greymouth’s new 10 k.w. station, 3YZ, have still to be renovated, but work will start almost immediately. At Dunedin the basement of Burns Hall, which was taken over some time ago by the NZBS, is now occupied, relieving congestion and making possible future rearrangement’ of departments at 4YA. At present the studios are being renovated. J. H. Law, representing a Melbourne company which is sub-contractor for A.W.A., is supervising all new mast installations, and also the conversion of the 700ft mast at Titahi Bay from an aerial to a vertical mast radiator. When this job is finished, the big mast will serve the two 60 k.w. transmitters for 2YA and 2YC. A new mast of 400ft is to be erected at Titahi Bay for the new 10 k.w. transmitter of 2ZB, This mast will also be used to radiate the programmes of 2YD.