Australia Will Hear it All

New Zealand Listener, Volume 22, Issue 554, 3 February 1950, Page 24

Australia Will Hear it All

hear as complete a coverage | of the Empire Games as will | those in New Zealand. The full service transmitted by the shortwave station Radio New Zealand -the same amount of material as the YA stations will handle — will be re- | broadcast over the inter-state network | of the ABC, most of it on direct relay. | What cannot~be put straight on the air will be recorded and used later. This was announced by Bernard Kerr, the ABC’s acting federal sports supervisor, soon after his arrival in Auckland to direct the Australian broadcast haridling of the games. VA on listeners will Radio New Zealand is normally received in Australia at excellent strength _and clarity he said. In addition the Australian unit in Auckland will prepare special Empire Games Bulletins Which! will be dispatched by radio telephone, "recorded in Australia and broadcast at appropriate peak listening hours. ~The Australian commentator Tal Duckmanton, who specialises in rowing and athletics, will co-operate fully with the NZBS sports specialists Winston McCarthy and Joe King in giving the commentaries listeners in both countries will hear. Mr. Kerr’s first operation on arrival was to carry out a thorough examination of the facilities provided by the NZBS and to visit the places where events will take place. "As the representative of the ABC I am delighted with the whole setup," he said. "Your broadcasting people have done a wonderful job of preparation. Everything humanly possible has been done to ensure a first class radio coverage, and I think listeners will get just that." ‘ Over three months intensive effort by technical experts of the NZBS, involving finding solutions to a host of intricate problems, have gone into the installation and servicing of extra radio equipment for broadcasting the games. Most of these installations will be needed by the NZBS itself, but in addition two completely self-contained’ technical units have been prepared, one for the use of the BBC and other overseas representatives, the other for the ABC. Both units are equipped with two different types of recording instrument (tape, and disc) and both are linked with an elaborate communications network prepared by engineers and technicians of the NZBS with the help of the lines and cables staffs of the Post and Telegraph Department. / This network includes direct relay circuits between broadcasting headquarters at 1YA and every place where major events will take place as. well as such trefinements as telephone links between the various finishing lines or judges’ stands and the broadcasting boxes. The P. & T. Department has also made available the special toll circuits necessary for linking the stations in the national hook-ups, and for carrying programmes prepared by the BBC and ABC to short-wave transmission points in either Wellington or Waiouru., The recording involved in the games will be by far the biggest task of its kind ever attempted in New Zealand, but the equipment now ready is as. efficient and up-to-date as any available

anywhere in the world. It is intended to record in duplicate, at the Recording Studios in Albert Street, a complete coverage of all track events frobm the heats to the finals, and of the swimming, cycling, rowing, wrestling and boxing. Road cycling coverage will consist of commentaries on, the start and finish and progress reports on each lap. Fields athletics, diving, fencing, weightlifting and lawn bowls will be covered by results only or by a combination of results and eye-witness reviews. Much, though not all, of this material will go on the ‘air immediately, being recorded at the same time. All of it will be used as source material for later programmes, while one of the two "master copy" recordings being. simultaneously prepared will be put at the disposal of the overseas broadcasting representatives. The other will be used by the NZBS. In addition both the BBC and the ABC could, if they wished, plug into the network to make their own recordings of any of the material being fed to the NZBS studios. The ABC, too, have been provided with duplicate circuits to carry their own commentaries direct from the scene of action. The greatest weight of the recording programme will fall on the magnetic tape recorders, which are of the most modern type. Two of these machines, each of which weighs over four and ahalf hundredweight, have been allotted to the overseas representatives, while six will be at the disposal of the recording studios. They make a high fidelity recording on reels of narrow plastic tape. Reels can be used repeatedly and_ each machine can erase old material, record new, and play back the new, all in one _operation. Each reel carries a 20-minute broadcast ‘recorded on 3,250 feet of tape, while the machines are fitted with a synchronised timing device which enables the operator, if he "logs" the time at which any particular item begins recording, to select that item from the reel with a minimum of delay for replaying, récording again, or broadcasting. Some 300 reels, or: about 180 miles of tape, will probably be used during the games. : ~