Views of Mr. Harris

Radio Record, Volume II, Issue 28, 25 January 1929, Page 8

Views of Mr. Harris

Desire to Help Societies Comentine on Mr. C. B. Plummer’s suggesticn to increase the listeners’ fee by 2s. and thus provide £4000 additional revenue for subsidising the amateur musical societies in the four centres, Mr. A. R. Harris, general manager of the Broadcasting Company, stated that the object of the proposal was much to be commended. The company’s experience had shown, he te that there was a good deal of ama talent in this country, and the choral and orchestral amateur organisations of the type referred to by Mr. Plummer not only deserved, but were worthy of the greatest public support in their object to develop this talent.’ The broad outline of the proposal, said Mr. Harris, was for the amateur. choral and orchestral societies to permit the broadcast of a total of some fortyeight concerts from the four main cen; tres in return for an estimated of £4000. It seemed to him, however, that an expenditure of this amount would have to be spread over a greater number of concerts in order to giye listeners an adequate return for .t#he increased fee. The concerts presented. would not, in actual practice; exceed an average of twelve concerts from any one station. The total cost made the cost per concert received ®ve the average number of listeners somewhat costly in return for \vhat the listener's as.a whole

received, To be of real value, theremm ae the amount involved would reto be spread over a greater period so that a greater average number of listeners’ could conveniently derive the benefit than would be the ease with such a limited number of perform. ances, ° Value for the Listeners. (CONTINTING, Mr. Harris said that . there was no douht that part of the subsidy would be spent in expenses ineurred by the societies on account of the public performance of the concert. which expenditure was of: no direct yalue to the listener. Then again, full orchestras and large choirs, more so where performers are of varying ability. do not broadcast as satisfacex as small orchestras or vocal attes of selected combinations. From the listeners" point of view, the performance of amateur choral and orches: tral organisations would not be as economical or as efficient. except perhaps for a few selected numbers,’as the performance of.a ‘concert specially organised for broadcast purposes only, "What applied to gramonhone recording more or less equally applies to radio broadcasting," said Mr. Harris, "A microphone is the medium of nickup in both cases. and in gramophone recordings. where small orchestras and small choirs of selected performers ‘are utilised. the results are noticeably more efficient than is the case in full orchestras and large choirs. There is, of course, an atmosphere fn the broadeasting of a publie performance that has a psychological anpeal to the average listener. but this is not a part of the musical development that amateur mnsical societies pronose to foster. The avernge radio Tistener will naturally question if there is any logical reason. anart from the actual value received. why he should be specifically taxed to support amateur mnsieal organisations. He will contend that it all de pends on the amount of actual ‘service that he personally receives in return for a given expenditure as comnnared with the service which he can obtain for the same expenditnre in another form. Then: again. the exnense incurred. other than the eost of the con- _ eert programme. must not be overlooked. .A concert performed in a hall is of ho valine to the listener, What he wants is the hrondenst of that concert so thet he ean obtain recention at home. Tt is the hroadeast of a programme or the placing of a performance on ‘tan.’ as it were, at any noint in a nartienlar aren that costs the listener the most exnense. Additional. cost of ‘relaving a eoneert pa there are manv instances where the :strom a publie hall might be better uti"Jised. fram the listeners’ noint of. view. in snerial items from the studin where no such extra eosts are involved." Will Concerts Tnerease Ponularity? 6*TN respect to the subsidising of ama‘teur musical organisations and their hroadeast of special coneerts improving the license position." said Mr Farris. "we have brondeast snecial nrogrammes and relays of publie perform. ances of every available. character, and after careful analysis of the results we have no evidence: that the hroadenst of the tyne of programmes proposed. more so the choral nerformances. wonld fiake any appreriahle increase in the patronage of our existing services, Tn Saying this, we do not desire to infer that, the concerts of amatenr societies Are not sppreciated by Msteners., as we know from those concerts’ we have re-

layed that they are very much appreciated. They are, however, not of the type to attract the general public, as is proved by the experience of the societies. "So far from there being an increase in the number of licenses, it is more probable that there would be a reduction, not because of the amount of the increase, but because of the principle involyed in a compulsory increase." Value in .Proposal. Me. HARRIS again reiterated that he was very pleased the proposal had been made, and that it should have been so favourably commented upon by the "Sun." It showed the keen interest which was taken in brondcasting and its relation to music. He pointed out that the Broadcasting Company had musical and dramatic committees in Auckland and Wellington, representative of the more prominent organisations and the company was pleased to have the recommendations of those committees, which met regularly. It was the earnest endeavour of the Broadcasting Company to co-oper-ate in every way possible with .the musical organisations of the Dominion. such co-operation being of advantage to the general public, the Broadcasting Company. and the organisations concerned. The company had, in the past, given tangible proof of its keen desire to foster the musical art in New Zealand, and it hoped to do increasingly more in the future. It felt, however, that the object of the proposal would not he served by an increase in the listening-in fee. , "With a view to availing itself of all variety of. entertainment offered and as an outeome of Mr. Plummer’s overtures. the company is now considering what it can do towards assisting the more prominent amateur musical organisations in the main centres in return for broadcast performances, and. 2 proposal along these lines y‘ll shortly be placed before the company’s Musical and Dramatie Committees," .