N.Z. a Critical Market

New Zealand Listener, Volume 31, Issue 793, 1 October 1954, Page 20

N.Z. a Critical Market

"WE have found New Zealarid a very critical market-they reject ptogrammes we would find accéptable in Australia," said the recording director for E.M.I. in Australia, R. V. Southey, when he discussed with The Listener recently the markets for radio serial features which his organisation is producing. Mr. Southey said he was in New Zealand mainly to study-the sale of these radio transcriptions. The NZBS was an important customer, especially today when costs were so high that transcriptions would be a losing proposition unless they could be sdld outside Australia. "We want to make programmes that will appeal to the New Zealand public," he said, "and we have foutid the NZBS very helpful in telling us what they do and don’t want and what their future needs are likely to be." Martin's Corner and Dad and Dave were among the long-run programmes produced by E.M.I. which had been heard in New Zealand. Mr. Southey told us that production of Dad and Dave, which had run to something liké 2000 episodes, had now stopped because the customer for whom it was being made wanted a (continued on next page)

change. However, he thought it would | still be heard for some time in New Zealand. The E.M.I. production unit had been expanded considerably and was now producing not only dramatic productions but such programmes as quiz sessions and musical shows-in fact, they could supply "pretty well everything wanted in broadcasting," said Mr. Southey. He described his firm as one of the biggest producers of programmes in the Southern Hemisphere. "We have our own scriptwriters and producers, and are buying book rights and scripts from America to broaden our field," he said in answer to a question. "To get what we want we. can’t rely entirely on Australian script- | writers. We can’t get enough of them. | nor enough actors, as many go overseas -which does seem to show we produce some pretty good talent." Mr. Southey joined E.M.I. in Britain in 1922 and four years later came out to establish recording studios in Australia. The company made its first radio transcriptions in Australia in 1936. "It’s our business to make records and we don’t care how we make them," he said. "We found the market relatively limited in one direction and saw possibilities in another. You see, it takes so many forms. right through to the commercial announcements and theme music." At the same time, he told us, there had been a great revival of interest in ordinary commercial recordings, Teenagers were buying popular records, but many other young people had developed a liking for the better type of music. "The ABC and your own NZBS. have done a good job in putting on concerts and giving people an opportunity to listen to music they did not hear before. I think that helps to educate the public." The E.M.I. factory in Australia was turning out about 6,000,000 records a year, mainly for the Australian market, Mr. Southey said. Long-playing discs were a developing side of the business, but the ordinary 10-inch shellac disc was the one that sold in quantity. Mr. Southey recalled that he first visited New Zealand about 25 years ago to make the first recordings of Maori songs at Rotorua. "I had the first electric recording equipment that had been used in this country-actually I’d built it myself," he said. "We went to Rotorua and set up the gear in one of the meeting houses. It wa¢ quite a pioneering job." Since then hundreds of thousands of those Maori recordings have been sold, and Mr. Southey thinks it would be a good idea to do some more.