40,000 LICENSES BY JANUARY

Radio Record, Volume I, Issue 20, 2 December 1927, Page 4

40,000 LICENSES BY JANUARY

’ Continuation of the present rate of enrolment of licensed listeners will mean that the 40,000 mark will be reached before the birth of the New Year. This attainment will be highly gratifying to all interested, and particularly to listeners themselves, because it connotes two things of moment-first, a steadily growing appreciation of the service rendered by the present stations, and secondly, the means through growing revenue, for a progressive improvement in the entertainment and service _ available to listeners. On the opening of 2YA in July last, licensed listeners numbered about 22,000, and the expectation was held in responsible quarters that the extra service capable of being given by the high powered station provided would give such a stimulus that 40,000 might be expected by the end of March next. That the rate of enrolment has exceeded expectations is definitely gratifying, and the company is entitled to take the outcome as practical appreciation on the part of the public of its efforts to entertain and serve. Criticisms of the programmes ‘there have been-first that they were not good enough, then that they are too good. Diversity of view must always be expected on so essen- _tially a matter of taste as the quality of entertainment provided. We are . very far from saying that the programme service is perfect-it probably ‘never will be that-or that it is free from the possibility of improvement. There will always be room’ for improvement. We know that is recog;nised by the management and that plans are in prospect for a steady , betterment of even the present good service in a number of directionshot forgetting the ever-present demand for "popular" music. In the _ building of any organisation or service, two main essentials stand outmen and money. In both fields the company is now better equipped than ever, and with the recognition that the service of the public is exacting in its requirement of initiative and enterprise, and a steady determinatjon to meet those demands, the company, we believe, may count upon the continued appreciation of the public. The public is entitled to °ask a high standard of service as means expand, and that service in itself will be the best guarantee for further expansion. Good as the 40,000 mark is. it by no means represents the country’s capacity. Dominion homes total over 260,000, and a fifty per cent. mark of 130,000 sets is, in our opinion, a reasonable possibility of the next five years, for the radio era is but just opening. The Government is entitled to a measure of praise for the satisfactory basis upon which radio has developed in New Zealand. The agreement made originally, and particularly the legislation in respect of royalties and patents have together permitted the development of the business upon a basis more harmonious and satisfac- : tory than has been the case in Australia. This was made patent to . our readers by the extracts from the Royal Commission on wireless, ‘ which we published last week, and with a steady maintenance of the . Eresent policy, regular and satisfactory growth may be expected,