Untitled

Radio Record, Volume II, Issue 33, 1 March 1929, Page 6

THE very general appreciation expressed by a wide circle of listeners of 2 the presidential address given to the British Medical Association by Dr. J. S. Elliott as broadcast by 2YA emphasises the appeal that solid inatter of high quality makes to the public and the service that broadcasting can render in this field as opportunity offers. While in the past the Press has rendered very fine service by reporting either in full or in great part, addresses of the nature of that given by Dr. Elliott, that service is not so full or so widespread as can now be given by radio to the extensive circle of listeners enjoying the service to-day. While it is true that possibly the entertainment aspect of radio makes the greatest appeal in point of numbers, it is also true, we think, that there is an unsatisfied demand on the part of the public for participation by means of radio in events of such a character. On this very point a few sentences from a recent issue of "World Radio" are worth quoting. That journal says: "It is an interesting reflection that the growth of broadcasting must have resulted in a vast and rather sudden spread of knowledge, not to say education. Each year anniversaries or centenaries occur. Before the advent of broadcasting, in relatively few was an interest in the subject of such anniversaries awakened. ‘The newspapers and reviews duly recorded and commented upon them to a greater or lesser extent. Those who were interested were able thus to supplement their knowledge. Today there is little excuse for ignorance of the lives and works of the masters of literature and music; the broadcasting programmes bring thei into the greatest prominence . . ." _ As with anniversaries, so with current knowledge. The popular view of the medical profession and its splendid service to humanity has been immeasurably widened by Dr. Elliott’s address, and we feel on safe ground in expressing the hope that, provided other professions have at their head men capable of the same luminious grasp of their subject and outstanding capacity for expression, as displayed by the doctor, selected addresses from the proceedings of other conferences and assemblies, might be broadcast from time to time. QN Sunday, local short-wave enthusiasts were treated to the most remarkable re-broadcast on record: Messages from Commander Byrd’s Antarctic expedition were picked up with such clarity in America as to invite their re-broadcast. This being done, the re-broadcast was received, not only in New Zealand, but in the Antarctic itself, the source of origin. This is a remarkable attainment but comes merely as the coping stone, as it were, of the wonderful performance being enjoyed almost daily of reading full despatches of the doings of the Byrd Party. Taken now as a matter of course, this, in all that it signifies, is in reality one of the most wonderful events of the age.