As Others See Us

Radio Record, Volume I, Issue 45, 25 May 1928, Page 16

As Others See Us

JN the British Broadcasting Company’s journal, "World Radio," of March 30, appears the following article from the pen of J.T.C. on "Radio Development in New Zealand’ :- In view of the fact that a few weeks ago New Zealanders were able to dance to music received from Daventry, it interesting to see how radio is developing in that Dominion, Previous to 1926 there were one or two abortive attempts to establish a broadcasting company to serve the Dominion, These failed owing to lack of proper organisation and support. Barly in 1926 the New Zealand Government accepted the offer of two business men to find £20,000 capital for the purpose of establishing the Broadeasting Company of New Zealand. They agreed to a number of conditions imposed by the Government, and were to work under the supervision of the Postmaster-General, The new company began by raising. the license fee from 10s. to 30s., promising to provide excellent programmes with the increased revenue. They erected three broadcasting stations: 1YA, in Auckland, costing £8500; 3YA, in Christchurch, costing a similar amount; and 2YA, in Wel-| lington, accounting for over £30,000. The three stations thus cost nearly £50,000, although the company was originally capitalised at £20,000. , 2YA, Wellington, was not opened till July 16, 1927, and as the company had to borrow £15,000 from the Government to erect it, it is virtually a Government station. This is a 5 kw. station, being the most powerful in the Southern Hemisphere, and besides being reccived clearly in Australia and many of the Pacific islands, it has been picked up in Vancouver. It is within the range of all valve sets in the Dominion. The Radio Broadcasting Company has certainly improved the _ programmes, but, unfortunately, they lack facilities to do all they hoped to do when they took over control in 1926. They are up against difficulties, for New Zealand has not sufficient artists of merit to keep the four stations con‘stantly supplied with absolutely firstclass programmes, and until recently were able to offer an average fee of only half a guinea. Moreover, each station had one silent night a week, and there was no Sunday afternoon broadcast. In July of last year the Auckland Listeners’ League and the Wellington Radio Society asked for complete Govyernment control. The following table gives the details of the four stations now broadcasting under the control of the Radio Broadcasting Company :- Wavelength Station Kw. 306 metres 8YA, Christchurch 0.5 883 metres 1YA, Auckland 0.5 420 metres 2YA, Wellington 5 468 metres 4YA, Dunedin 0.25

The Radio Revival. The company having opened the powerful new Wellington station, and having revised the wavelengths of all four stations, set about other improvements. The money allotted to the payment of artists was increased by 60 per cent., a musical director was. appointed to the Wellington station, and a Sunday afternoon broadcast was initiated. They also appointed i superintendent of stations to co-or-dinate the operations of the four stations and to bring them up to their maximum efficiency. A promise was made to try to eliminate the silent nights. The consequence of these improvements was a large increase in the number of listeners. At the end of June there were 21,000 listeners holding licenses, and this increased to approximately 30,000 during the next three months. There are, in addition, nearly 1600 holders of dealers’ licenses, and 120 amateur transmitting licenses are in force. A Chureh Broadcasting Station. This was something in the nature of a wireless boom, and was followed by a very interesting development, the formation of the Anglican Broadcasting Association of New Zealand in October last. During his visit, the Bishop of London broadeast a talk which was so successful that the importance of utilising wireless in the service of the Church was realised. A committee was set up and the A.B.A. was duly formed and incorporated. It is their intention to erect a 0.5 kw. station in «Auckland at a cost of £8000. A further £4000 to £5000 a year is the estimated cost of maintenance. The association’s aim is to instruct rather than to amuse, and, in addition to religious matter, they will broadcast the best in literature, art, and music. They will in no way compete with the Radio Broadcasting Company. The Government are now taking steps to have lessons broadcast to schools. This should be greatly appreciated, especially by the schools in the backblocks, The fact that radio has other uses than merely to amuse is being realised, and it should not be long before New Zealand broadeasting is on a sound basis. Beam wireless and the relaying of European programmes are going to make a great difference in the future, and we may perhaps look forward to the time when New Zealand will be in constant radio communication with Great Britain and Europe. When that times comes it will not only mean a considerable change in the life of the Dominion, but also a much closer tie between Great Britain and her lonely child of the South Seas.