PROGRAMMES!

Radio Record, Volume I, Issue 5, 19 August 1927, Page 4

PROGRAMMES!

HOW THEY ARE MADE ee eee PROBLEMS AND PER- ’ PLEXITIES ry WHAT THR ORGANISER ENDURES, _ Have you ever arranged a concert? If you have not, you have a friend who has. Ask him or her the story of the effort. Was it all plain sailing-one concert, and three months tq arrange it? Now contemplate the task of the broadcast programme organiser in secur» ing satisfactory pregrammes every night of the week. This article presents some of ltis problems and difficulties. Of the making of programmes, as of books, there is no end. So thinks the man who provides radio entertainment for the people who listen-in. With his calendar set five weeks ahead he is working day and night finding talent and arranging programmes. But though he is continually working on programmes which keep ahead of him, just as the horizon does to a traveller, there ig much to be done by the wavside. He cannot say when he has filled up the form for a day five weeks distant, ‘‘Well, that’s done," and, putting it from his mind for ever, start on the next day’s. He has that programme on hig mind until the broadcasting is completed, and the announcer has said "Good night" to everyone in Radioland. There are so many things that can happen to upset the best laid plans and programmes. It is difficult to finalise a programme. When an organiser sets out he has a form of programme in mind, and he aims to get the talent which will provide just the.entertainment he -plans. It may seem easy in theory, but in practice it is a most exacting and exasperating undertaking. He Has His Little List! The programme organiser has his list of artists, and he sees them, or he gets busy on the telephone, with more or less suceess. He _ has to choose the talent which is suitable to the occasion, and procure it if it is available, and then the items have to be selected. It is a long and tedious business. Time .and again the whole programme has to be remodelled. Some artists want to sing, some do not, and hav¢ to be persuaded. Young talent has to be encouraged. Some of these young artists will be ‘‘stars" some day. Some will never sing in radio again, and some do not want to, Allowance has to be made _ for those who have ‘microphone fright," which has as paralysing an effect as "stage fright.’? Artistes have their foibles and their fancies, ss musical people have a right to have, and supreme tact is one of the qualifications of a successful programme o1ganiser. Changes Frequent and, Many.

Before a programme is broadcast it usnally undergoes a lot of changes. For one cause and another artists drop out, songs are changed, and many rearrangements haye to be made. Frequently a visiting artist, who is too | good to be missed, is obtainable, and a place on the programme hag to be fonnd for him. then there are many events, happening at short notice, of which a description, a relay, or a rebroadcast is worth while, even at the cost of remaking a programme. Broadcasting officials have a lot of interruptions by telephone and from callers, Every city abounds with infant prodigies, it seems, so many parents come to the stations. There must be a lot of émbryo Paderewskis, Melbas and Carusos. A lot of people come along to plead the case of someone else, who, they assure the programme organiser, has a divine voice, plays delightfully, or recites wonderfully well, They are awfully prond when

they can say ¢hat their child, friend, brother, sister, wife, or husband, or whoever they speak of, is entirely selftaught. Tew of them get beyond the audition, All new artists have to have anditions, and these frequently happen at the most awkward and busiest times The Artistic Temperament. Sometimes, when one is busiest, a person will ring up and seek to change -a song to be sung the following week. | This means a number of suggestions will be made, and "Don’t you think that so and so will do?" is often said, the reasons why it won’t do will be given, then other suggestions will be. made, and finally a song is decided upon, During this conversation the singer has been referring to piles of music, perhaps going iuto another room to refer to it. Then, before the programme can be definitely altered, it is necessary to find the names of the composer and the publisher That necessitates an apologetic singer referring to the music books again in a -frantic search to locate the song once |more. ‘Those names simply have to be obtained. The programme cannot be completed without them. Singers don’t realise the importance of supplying this information, and the eventual securing of it gives a lot of trouble, frequently holding up programmes for days, and sometimes necessitating changes in the items, i ‘The Business Side of Programmes, The making of programmes results in mych office work, for very complete

records have to be kept, not:the least tnportant being those relating to copyvi fore or less satisfied with his. work, the programme organiser sees the entertainment go ‘‘on the air,’’ and_ he wonders how it has been received. There is no applause or any demonstration. It is so different from the concert hall, with a sympathetic audi--ence -in front of the artists, But one is not. long in the broadcasting profession before one becomes acclimatised’ to its’ peculiar conditions-and its ‘criticisms. wf a | Knowing the criticism that is levelled at programmes after they are broadcast, a pressman called ona programme organiser with a view to getting an insight into his work, and, if possible, hearing something of the lighter side. His choice of day for calling was, ,we hope, more or less unlucky. He spent several hours in the programme organiser’s sanctum, and what he got was something ‘Jike is: Are There Any Humorous Incidents? ‘Humorous incidents?’? said the organiser, lifting up his head from his ‘work. and staring hard at the scribe, who thought, having -glanced at the table of papers, that he had picked an unfortunate time to ask a radio programme organiser to tell of the humorous side of his work. ‘There’s not much humour attached to it, IT am afraid. It is mostly hard work and disappointments, but we can’t let it bear too heavily upon us." The telephone rang, and the. organiser answered, There was a long talk. The party at the other end was Saying a lot. It was evidently a lady who wished to sing. She was pnt on the list for an audition. "Humorous incidents. JI can’t recall any offhand. Some other time--" The Lady and Her Bridge. The telephone rang again. ‘Tt inconvenienced us a tremendous lot. . » . We have to keep faith with the public. . . . Our whole programme and time-table was upset because you did not come. ... Yes, but you had made a contract with the Broadcasting Company before your bridge party was arranged. . . . No, you don’t realise the trouble people cause by not keeping their engagements. . . . The least you could have done was to let us know

in plenty of time--’’ and 60 on. "That was a lady who did not come to sing last evening, and the public wonders why we do mot keep exactly to our published programmes. She won’t have the chance of singing again. What was it you wanted to know?" Ring! Ring! Ring! It was evidently a man this time. He explained that he conld not sing at the studio ‘the following week. The programme organiser was heard to express his re--grets, and to pencil his name down for a concert a long way ahead ‘That’s very unfortunate. He’s the third one to-day in that same programme. The other two were ladies. Some of our best singers. I’ have to. remodel it once again. That will have to be done straight away to cateh thie mail. Will you excuse me while I ring up a man I think I can get?" ‘The newspaper man said, ‘‘Certainly, go ahead."’ Trying for a Substitute.

The organiser referred to his card index drawer and selected a likely substitute and rang up. Not at home. That was a nuisance. Another was tried. He had a prior engagement, and it could not be put off. Still another was rung up. After much per‘suasion he consented. What would | he sing? Oh, so and so, or so and so. "Unfortunately they do not suit the | type of programme, aud we jaye those ~by enother singer the same week," said the programme organiser. At last items were decided upon, and the programme organiser sighed with relief, called in the typist, and seut ‘the amended programme off by the mail. The interlude had taken‘ at least: half an_ hour. "J don’t think you should have calléd in to-day," said the programme ofganiser to the pressman. ‘I’ve been keeping ‘you waiting, J-" Ring! Ring! Ring! The programme .organiser was wanted again, and for once his urbanity, which is proverbial, became 4 little ruffled. The man at the other end of the wire was evidently indignant because he had not yet been asked to sing, after having an andition, "Well, you admitted yourself, when you came along here, that you. did not know the song properly, and your voice was. not .exactly Class A; but if you had known your song a little better. you would have been graded higher. It would not have been fair to you, or fair to us, to put you on with that song.?? The gentleman concerned was not supremely pleased, but .he was, no donbt, convinced that it is vow harder

to get to the microphone than it psed to be, or he thought it would be. | Stage Managing a ‘‘Success." "Well, if he’s a good sport he'll take that in the right spirit," said the organiser. ‘‘We haye a lot of annoys ance from people who think they cati sing, ‘and. persist in applying for .a chance. It is quite a common thing for a bit of "stage management" to be invoked. After a person has sung, people will write from various parts of the district praising up the pat» ticular ‘item, f course, that is an eld trick, One of the neatest moves of this nature took place not long ago. After a certain star, whose persistence had won the way to a place on the programme, had finished singing, a boy walked into the studio with a gift from an anonymous admirer, That sort of thing works very well in a concert hall, where the audience sees all that goes on, but with the, radio it is a difficult matter to stage it, The singer, however, rose nobly to the occasion, Saying how necessary it was to thank the unknown {?) admirer, the artist endeavour@d to induce the announcer to broadcast the incident, It was ‘a shrewd move, but it failed." The pressman was by this time fully realising that it is no easy matter to arrange, day after day, a programme that is acceptable to the majority of people. It is not easy to do this when one is unhindered in the work, but with constant interruption; disappointments, breaking of contracts, etc., i is a harassing job.

Organising the Nation’s Talent. Said the broadcaster, as the pres man rose to leave:"The Broadcasting Company is the greatest concert organisation in New Zealand, and it is worth while for artists to cultivate its good-will. It has hundreds of engagements now to offer at the various stations, and the number will increase. It is well worth while to sing for radio in New Zealand, and artists should increase their repertoire as much as_ possible We cannot go on indefinitely calling on an artist who has only a couple of dozen ballads to his or her credit. Most of the old songs are great favourites, but we want as much variety as we can get in our programnies. Artists should supplv us with their repertoire, which should consist of 40 or 50 items, so that we can make selections to suit all types of programmes. Noy, I think ‘I had better start my work." Then the telephone went again. "Well, I’m jiggered," said the ‘programme man when he _ had _ hung up his receiver, and sank into his chair. "That man who cam celled his engagement now finds he can sing, after all."