EDITORIAL NOTES.

Radio Record, Volume II, Issue 20, 30 November 1928, Page 6

EDITORIAL NOTES.

JCEEN interest attaches to the effort to relay on December 7 by land line from Wanganui the special concert being presented for broadcasting purposes. The talent available in that city is quite outstanding, and, if technical skill can assure it, listeners will be given a special treat on that evening. Tests of the line so far conducted indicate that with favourable conditions the outcome will be satisfactory. , HE result of the popularity programme contest will be awaited "with interest. We understand that entries have been heavy, but heavy though they may be we doubt if they will be a true index of the real interest taken in the event. Many people have been most interested in the evenings as given by the different stations, and have formed their own opinions of the merit of the various items, but have not felt inclined to undertake the task of computing the popularity of the items in the eyes of the public. That task, when fairly faced, has been one from which they have shrunk-and in the shrinking they will have come a little against the problem facing programme organisers in their daily task. From this point of view the success of the competition will not be assessable merely by the number of entries received from the public. The real success of the competitions will lie in the challenge to thought which they have presented to the general body of listeners. So soon as thought is given to the problem, by any person, whether belonging to the class of satisfied or unsatisfied listeners, realisation is forced of the point of view of "the other fellow." This is now becoming more and more recognised. In the early days of radio, enthusiasts were common who undertook to tell the world what "the public" want and in the telling wonder at the incalculable stupidity of those who refused to see and recognise their own particular angle of vision. That stage is passing. It is being replaced by a general recognig¥on of the fact that what is one man’s intellectual meat is another’s poison, and that both classes must at times be catered for and at timtes must forgo for the benefit of the other, This tolerance is the outcome only of understanding and widening knowledge. A more considered use, too, is now being made of radio. Selection is replacing repletion. It is recognised that just as the gramophone owner does not run his machine afternoon and evenings for six days a week, so the radio listener need not necessarily give his set a full-time job to feel that he is receiving his "penn’orth per day." Selection of items is growing. This has been fostered, too, we think by a steady, allround improvement in the programmes. In some degree this has been contributed by the use of well-selected gramophone records, which make available the world’s best in various fields. With this aid and the addition of such variety as is available, listeners have appreciated a steady improvement in programme quality. The outcome of the competition now under discussion will be very illuminating, but as indicated, the benefit will be much wider than mav be shown by the actual number of entrants.