SPORTING BROADCASTS

Radio Record, Volume I, Issue 14, 21 October 1927, Page 4

SPORTING BROADCASTS

GREAT RECORD OF SERVICE A. SURPRISING REFUSAL. Rugby football has concluded for the year 1927, and the sports announcers, as far as this game is concerned, have hung up their microphones, From a broadcast: ing point of view the season has been a very successful one. All the important matches played in ‘the Dominion have been described in detail, and hundreds of fetters and telegrams of appreciation have ‘been received by the company and by the announcers. From the point of view of the sport, greater interest than ever before has been aroused in New Zealand’s national game. Broadcasting is the best publicity that can be given to anything. Never before has so much interest been taken in Rugby.’ Many people who have hitherto taken not the slightest interest in the sport now know, by name at any rate, a great many players. It is all for the good of the game. . The recent decision of the Auckland Trotting Club not to agree to the broadcasting of its October meeting has served to throw into striking relief the great boon that broadcasting has heen to sport lovers. This club is the only sporting organisation which refuses permission to broadcast its fixtures, No reason .has been given, simply an emphatic negative, and, after the thorough manner in which sport has been covered this winter, the decision comes as a painful surprise to the public, who have been accepting these broadcasts as a regular practice. Welcomed by Sports. Taken all round, the sporting fraternity of New Zealand was quick to consent, though begrudgingly at the outset, to football matches, racing, and other field events being broadcast to. people who have to stay at home. But it has not harmed sporting in the least. Rather the reverse. The better a broadcast is, the better it is for the sport. No follower of a sport would stay at home just to listen to a description of a game or a race, He

am an KA ee! r aX would be disappointed with a poor description, and if he heard a thrilling account he would feel that he had missed an exciting event, We would look rather shamefaced when he had to confess to his mates next day that he had stopped at home and listenedin, in order to save a shilling There is no broadeast that can quite come up to seeing or hearing the real thing, and everyone who listens to a thrilling account cannot fail to think that the real thing must have been mucli more exciting. So, the more brilliant a description is, the better it is for the sport, because it enthuses people who are not very interested and _ incites then to attend the sport next time. Undoubtedly, the broadcasting of sporting descriptions has already become established in New Zealand. What has been the achievement of the Broadcasting Company? In less than four months no fewer than 73 fixtures have been described in detail by the company's sport: ing announcers, and hundreds of appreciative letters and tetegrams have een received by the announcers themselves and by the stations. The four stations broadcast 189} hours of sport-not results only, but descriptive narratives. It will therefore be seen what a power and effect broadcasting has in the sporting world in New Zealand, and a decision such as that reached by the Auckland Trotting Club canses surprise. :