A BIRTHDAY FOR "DAILY DIARY"

New Zealand Listener, Volume 32, Issue 820, 15 April 1955, Page 6

A BIRTHDAY FOR "DAILY DIARY"

HEN Keith Bracey floated under Auckland’s wharves to interview the men whose job it is to maintain them, he was looking for material for 1ZB’s Daily Diary. When Dick Gutteridge climbed the scaffolding to record the work of demolishing the Auckland King’s Wharf power station, and flew with an aerial topdresser to learn the advantages of the new Beaver aeroplane and discuss the pilot's flying problems, he was recording other items for the .same programme. The first requirement of Daily Diary, which celebrates its first birthday on Thursday, Abril 21, is that its material be topical-the fresher the better. Not that there is any intention of getting a scoop; nor does the programme attempt to provide a complete news coverage. It does, however, sélect two or three items of local or national interest and present them to the public with the fresh slant and the immediacy that only Tadio can. give. Where magazines or newspapers are restricted to words and Pictures of people and events, Daily Diary gives the man himself speaking, or describing the place in an on-the-spot commentary. The material is drawn not only from the Auckland city and province, but also from ew Plymouth, Rotorua, Whangarei and Hamilton and, indeed, stories of national interest are gathered from points all through the Dominion. These latter are transmitted by landline from Wellington, while stories originating in the Auckland dis-

trict are wired back to Wellington both for local use and for Radio New Zealand. Sometimes ‘the stories are light and entertaining, as when Peter Gwynne found the man with the hottest job during the heat wave-a man in the gasworks boiler room-and at the. same

time Barry McNamara found a worker shivering in an ice-cream factory; or when listeners were asked to help. find Auckland’s youngest grandfather. (He turned out to be a Welshman named Lewis, aged 37.) Some stories are informative-for example, Phil Shoné took listeners for a

flight in a helicopter. Others have been serious social service items--from publicising a charity appeal to the campaign for the prevention of drowning, or a campaign for greater safety on Auckland’s harbour ferries. The producer of Daily Diary is the 1ZB presentation officer, Ian Watkins, who is assisted by Malcolm Howard (seen with him in the centre picture of the montage left), and works under the supervision of the station manager, John Griffiths. The announcer on duty for the week is assigned his jobs daily and, equipped with a tape-recorder, goes out to cover the scene or event himself, or, better still, find an eye-witness who will describe the scene in his own words. Other items are recorded at the studio. é On his return, the announcer’s recording tapes, which are often up to twice the necessary length, are cut and edited by Grahame Storry, a 1ZB copywriter. Then the most interesting matter is gathered together into a meaty few. min-utes-and many a speaker has been surprised to find how fluent he is. So, with a little explanation from the announcer linking the pre-recorded parts of the programme, a continuous commentary on the day’s events is given. "Our aim," said Ian Watkins, "is to give our listeners news, information and human interest.’"’ And whether it is the Mayors of Auckland boroughs telling the ratepayers how their money is spent or Phil Shone finding the average male’s reaction to Dr. O. C. Mazengarb’s proposal to import 40,000 young women from Britain, the stories are presented in such a way as to win and hold the listeners’ interest. Daily Diary may be heard from Monday to Fridgy from 1ZB at 6.45 p.m. A special anniversary programme will be broadcast at that time on Thursday, April 21.