What is the Popular Opinion of Radio Items?

Radio Record, Volume II, Issue 12, 16 November 1928, Unnumbered Page

What is the Popular Opinion of Radio Items?

2 A £ 50 PRIZE-no entrance fee-a competition open to all-and absolute fairness in finding } the winner-these will make a great popular appeal in connection with the’ big radio competition which is to be conducted by the four New Zealand stations next week,

eee shy a, mq AN you place radio items in their right order. of dg public popularity ? fh ates y ae Listeners are invited to allot marks to the ) F items on the programme in question and from MSs these marks the average for New Zealand will be _ealeulated. This will give a criterion of public opinion and the prize of a £50 Columbia gramophone will go to the listener whose opinion as to the order of popularity preference comes nearest to the calculated average. The competition dates are: -1YA........Wednesday, November 21 ZYA..cceee» Duesday, November 20 3YA....2++-.- Thursday, November 22 4YA........Wednesday, November 21 There is much frequently said about "What the people want" in the way of radio programmes, and the competition is based on an effort to satisfy that demand. The result of the voting in the competition will indicate what classes of concert items appeal most to listeners. ‘ HE programme which is to be presented for analysis by listeners comprises a wide variety of items, but great care has been taken to ensure that each item will be performed in as perfect a manner as possible. In other words, the Columbia records which have been selected will give excellent renditions of the various types of items. This policy will ensure that listeners will award their votes not on the quality of the rendition but on the popularity of the type of item. The voting will, therefore, disclose the appeal which each class of item makes. [7 is not, of course, possible to include every type of song or instrumental! item in the present competition. Seventeen items have been found to be the maximum. More would serve only to perplex listeners, whose task will be a difficult enough one as it is. With this consideration in view it was decided that to enable listeners to revise and readjust their marks the competition items should be repeated. The whole competition, therefore, will be given twice in the evening. This

will also ensure that all listeners shall have an opportunity: of hearing all the items, if, for any reason, they miss some of them during the first or second transmission. HERE is no doubt some little curiosity aroused as to why the maximum «marks which can be awarded should be 99 instead of the usual 100. This has been done in order to facilitate the calculating of the general average marks for each item. This calculation will be done on a Burroughs adding machine in Christchurch and the use of only two figures in the number of marks to be handled will simplify the proposition considerably. The response to this competition is likely to be heavy and for a "human" calculator the task of handling the thousands of figures for 17 different items would be stupendous. With the adding machine, however, it is different, and the result will be absolutely accurate. HERE is an important aspect in connection with the filling in of the coupon to which the attention of listeners is specially directed. On the right side of the coupon appears a column headed "Item number in order of popularity." This means that at the top of the column must appear the number of the item which is first in order of favouritism. Following underneath must appear the number of the second most popular item. Then the third, fourth, etc. It is very important that the numbers of the items should be properly arranged. Anyone who does not do this will be disqualified. Competitors are warned against filling in opposite each item its order of popularity. For instance item No. 1 "Poet and Peasant’? may be awarded marks which will make it seventh in popularity. It will be quite wrong to put "7" in the column on the right hand side. This would imply that'item No. 7 was the most popular, whereas item No. 7 might really be 17th in the order of popularity. Competitors must therefore place in the column on the right hand side the item numbers (not the names of the items) in order of popularity. The number of whichever item is most popular must head the column, the other numbers following. (Coupon for competitors will be found cn page 31.)