Effort to Provide Southland with

Radio Record, Volume II, Issue 40, 19 April 1929, Unnumbered Page

Effort to Provide Southland with

Better Radio

NUMBER of radio enthusiasts in Invercargill have, for ’ -some time past, been interesting themselves in the proposal to provide a_broadcasting station for Southland district. The idea was to broadcast a programme once or twice a week, the items to be performed by voluntary local talent. A local business man was interested in the project and agreed to find the capital up to a certain amount providing *sufficient support was forthcoming to cover the operation and maintenance. A committee was set up to go into the aatter. Prices for equipment were obtained and listeners and dealers circularised in respect to obtaining. the necessary support for running the proposed: station. [from the information supplied to the committee from various quarters it was estimated that a 500-watt plant, including transmitting equipment, aerial system, furnishing of studio, piano, gramophone and land lines could be installed for about £1700, and that a biweekly service on Tuesday and Sunday nights of two hours froma 8 p.m. until 10 p.m., and: possibly a further night’s programme of gramophone items, as well

as occasional relays of football matches, public functions of general inte-est to the ‘public, such as Mayfair proceedings, operatic society productions, male choir and orchestral society concerts which had been offered, could be broadcast for an expenditure of £250 per annum. Amongst the quotations received was an offer to supply a complete plant, equal to that installed for Dunedin, for the sum of £800. On account of t 2 glowing statements made to the effect that this equipment would give Invercargill a station in his building equal in efficiency to anything in New Zealand, if not better, the business man concerned was about to give the order when natural caution made him hesitate unless some guarantee was forthcoming. This did not eventuate. He had since been gathering information and was subsequently convinced that it Was not possible to install an efficient and up-to-date station at the figure quoted. Furthermore, the price of the station he considered should be installed could not be done at anything like the figure he had in mind, and neither, as far as he could see, was there any hope of getting sufficient local support to run it properly. In the circumstances he had already decided to drop the matter as far as he was concerned. HE committee came to the conclusion that they would like to know what the Broadcasting Company had to say on the matter and endeavoured to find

out if there was any way in which the company could assist them in their object to obtain a broadcasting service for Invercargill. Mr. Harris, general manager of the Broadeasting Company, was invited to meet the committee and:a conference was arranged. T the conference, which was held in Invercargill last Thursday, Mr. Harris expressed the opinion that endeavouring to run a broadcasting station which depended on voluntary assistance was like trying to run a business without capital. However, his company would be prepared to consider assisting an amateur radio organisation in Invercargill in its object to the extent of operating and maintaining the technical side on the lines of its proposals in connection with the North Taranaki Radio Society at New Plymouth. At the same time he expressed the opinion that the only satisfactory method of providing an efficient broadcasting service for Invercargill was by means of a relay station connected by land line to the self-contained stations erected in the main centres. This he stated was a matter that did not come within the scope of the company’s arrangements and in any case the present . -Continued on page 2.

Arising out of a conference between a local committee desirous of seeing established in Invercargill a radio station capable of giving satisfactory service to the district, and the general manager of the Radio Broadcasting ‘Company, Mr. A. R. Harris, decision ‘was reached to work actively for the establishment of a relay station connected by land-line with Dunedin as being the most effective and economical in the present conditions.

The most interesting phase of the Invereargill meeting was the information placed before it by Mr. A. R. Harris as to the relative merits of various methods of providing provineial centres with suitable radio service. . On his explanation the ~ system of relay stations linked by land-line with the main stations is the only really efficient and feasible one, and is that which will eventually be likely to be adopted as _ circumstances permit throughout the country,

Radio for Southland --

(Continued from front page.) revenue from licenses left no margin for immediate extension of the service. The service will continue to grow, and no doubt something in the near future would have to be done in the matter of relay stations for the more prominent cities and towns other than the main cities, Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin already served. In such a case undoubtedly Invercargill would be ranked as one for prior consideration. It was all a question of income, as after all the service rendered could only be commensurate with the income. SomME of the committee are inclined to think that they should go ahead with an amateur station and ask the Broadcasting Company to provide the operation and maintenance of the plant, as proposed for New Plymouth, but the majority were of the opinion that they should all go right out for an extension of the existing broadcasting scheme and get a relay station in Invercargill connected by land line to Dunedin and a further move in this direction is anticipated very shortly. a —

Schemes. Analysed "THE "Southland Times," in reporting the-conference, said: "There had been manye conflicting reports as to what type of station was required in Invercargill, and the conclusion the committee has come to after hearing Mr. Harris’s statement, is that the original scheme, as they had proposed it, was not ambitious enough for a dis-: trict the size of Southland. They are convinced that the only installation that will offer a solution of all the requirements is a relay station connected by land line with northern centres. Under this system, which is fully explained below by Mr. Harris, nightly programmes are relayed from the other centres, so that reception by crystal sets is possible up to a range of 15 to 20 miles, and much improved reception by valve sets over the whole of Southland is assured. The relaying from elsewhere will not, of course, be done when a local ‘broadcast is available. That is to say, orchestral concerts, football matches and church services can all be broadcast from here merely by connecting the theatres, churches or football grounds with the studio. The committee is promised the support of the Invercargill Operatic Society, the Invercargill Rugby Football Union and _ several local churches. The relay system is inA a.

tended to provide programmes when they could not be arranged locally. In these circumstances, the committee is going to work actively towards this objective, and it. was. decided to investigate what could be done to expedite the establishment of such a rélay station. The first course to be taken: will he toapproach the P. and T. Department and ascertain the availability and cost of a land line to Dunedin. Position Explained. ‘THE full statement of the position, as given to the committee by Mr. Harris, was as follows:In providing a broadcasting service for Invercargill there are three methods to consider:-(1) A primary Station having its own plant and studio and an organisation to arrange its own programmes, (2) A rebroadcast station having its own plant, but for its service relying on the rebroadcast of programmes transmitted through the air from the other New Zealand stations. (3) A relay station providing its own plant and having its programme relayed over land line from the other New Zealand. stations. "Tn the first method the commercial possibility is the prime consideration. he second proposal is more of a technical: one: The third is one of availability of suitable land lines and cost of rental of same. "Phe size of station is usually considered in multiples of ten, commencing from five. We therefore have 5, 50, 500, 5,000 and 50,000 watt ‘stations, although there are available, and in use for that matter, many stations of intermediate sizes. It is understood that Invercargill is mostly interested in a 500 watt station. The technical efficiency of such a station need not concern the matter at present, for, as previously mentioned, the commercial aspect is the main consideration. The first grade service range of a 500 watt station has been estimated, as a result. of thousands of observations in other countries, as ten miles and the fair service range as sixty-five miles. An efficient station of this size would therefore serve Southland particularly well, The population within the high grade service is approximately 30,000, and within the fair grade service area approximately 28,000. Listeners and Population. "FYROM the only authentic information that we have, the highest percentage of listeners to population is 8 per cent. (in Victoria) and 6 per cent. (in Great Britain).. If we take 8 per cent, of the population in the high grade service range and 6 per cent. of the population in the fair grade service range, we get about 4080 licenses. In actual practice the total number of licenses is an entirely different matter to the equivalent number of full-time licenses. AS a matter of fact, the difference is at least from 25 per cent. to 38 1-3 per-cent. Assuming a reduction only of 25 per cent. the equivalent full-time licenses that cain be expected from the territory concerned for some time to come, based on the highest percentage at present obtained in other countries, is 3060. "Against this the cost of a complete, up-to-date 500 watt station, including plant, aerial system and studio, and éxcluding land and buildings, is between £7,000 and £8,000. The cost of efficiently operating such a station transmitting. a daily service through the year and without reference to cost of

To this has to be added the cost preparing, organising and ‘performing of programmes. AS a minimum, this can be ptit down for at least an additional £2,000 to £3,000 a year. Hyen with this expenditure, it is necessary to exercise the greatest economy and to depend‘ on, public interest for a por-. tion of free«service such as relay of public functigns, sporting events, news, prea reports and general informaion. fee: programmes is about.the same oF The Financial Aspect. . "WITH a minimum total annual expenditure of £10,000 to £12,000, we have revenue from approximately 3060 listeners at 30/- each, 5/- deducted By the Government or a net £42 On the face of it, a first-clags pyyhnary station of 500 watts aerial capacity operating on its own account is not directly a Commercial proposition under the existing population at the nominal license fee of 30/- per annum. "In the second method, the utilising for rebroadcasting a programme transmitted by some other station in the main centres and thus doing awiiy with arranging for studio and studio programmes should under some conditions be commercially. practicable, but in the case of Invercargill as at present, would not be reliable on its technical ‘efficiency. ° Within certain ranges, this méthod of relaying’ programmes might prove acceptable for a short while, but, due to the fact that as time goes on listeners are more and more relying on the broadcasting service for regular information and entertainmeipt. and owing to the ever-changing atniospherie conditions and susceptibility to interference, Such an arrangement could not be recommended as a regular service. "The only alternative, offering technical and commercial possibilities, is a relay station served by land line from the other stations erected in the main centres. Principal Factors. "Ts considering a proposal for the extension of the present broadcasting service to Invercargill, the main factors concerned are fherefore the question of the service range of the proposed station, the potential licence holders within that range, and _ the availability and cost of land lines for connecting the station to the exist#®g studio in the nearest main centre. "This will give a more or ¥SS general review of the major points for preliminary coisideration. In addition, there are a number -of other details to investigate in respect to runnins an independent station, such as_ limited available talent for providing a daily service, and the heavy preliminary expenses involved in the installation of the plant, organisation of staff, arrangements for copyright, and other matters that make it essential in such a comparatively sparsely populated country as this to have a co-operative .and unified system to prevent overlapping of expenses and-a resultant high aggregate cost for each city." , In the circumstances, all factors i sidered, an extension of the existing system by means of a land line from Dunedin and the erection of a suitable relay station is the only possible method offering a satisfactory and practical solution to your problem."