Notes and Comments

Radio Record, Volume II, Issue 43, 10 May 1929, Page 32

Notes and Comments

By

SWITCH

[THE new dinner music session by 2YA, Wellington, is thorouglily appreciated by all the listeners with whom "Switch" comes in contact. The music fills a gap in the early evening which listeners have, in the past, regretted. The advent of winter, with its earlier hours of darkness, has also favoured the putting forward of the kiddies’ sessions. "THE residents of Petone, the four-miles-away suburb of Wellington, appear to have taken up broadcast listening whole-heartedly. On all sides in and around Petone can be seen dozens of aerials, and in some areas there is quite a small forest of aerial masts. Another radio suburb is Lyall Bay, where there are scores of aerials. WO Wellington listeners have informed "Switch" that they are obtaining rather good loudspeaker reception of 2YA using only a crystal set and a moderately-priced loudspeaker without any form of amplification. One listener is situated half a mile from the 2YA aerial, and the other just on threequarters of a mile, Both are employing semi-permanent crystal detectors of English make. N connection with crystal set loudspeaker reception of 2YA, Wellington, it will be found that the best results are generally obtainuble with a loudspeaker fitted with an adjustable diaphragm. An adjustable diaphragm ean be set usually to a position of greater sensitivity than a fixed diaphragm. The larger the loudspeaker the better the results. AN Australian radio writer says :- "Full-length comedies and dramas, and also playlets, are less popular because they demand the constant and undivided attention of the listener. Musie can be listened to subconsciously. I have quite a few acquaintances who shut off their sets because they ‘Can’t be bothered listening to all that talking.’" If one can judge from the remarks of listeners in New Zealand

a full-length comedy or drama is not popular on the radio. A brief comedy or drama occasionally, if it is suitable for broadcasting, is not unacceptable. N£w ZWALAND listeners will sincerely regret the mishap to the Auckland airman, M. Mase, who crashed in France while en route from England to New Zealand. Mr. Mase, fortunately, did not receive any serious injury, and "Switch" believes that news will soon come through that he is on his way to New Zealand again. THE Wellington Symphony Orchestra provided a broadcast musical treat on relay from the Wellington Town Hall last week. Mr. Leon de Mauny, the conductor, is deserving of the highest praise for the pitch of efficiency attained by the orchestra which was formed only a few months ago. The Tschaikovsky programme could not fail to please anyone with a true musical sense. YA, WELLINGTON, made a success of the broadcasting of the municipal election results, giving up-to-the-minute news from 8 p.m. till 12.20 a.m. The figures were clearly announced on eyery occasion, and many thousands of listeners, spread far and wide, had reason to appreciate the broadcast service. N Americu a year or two ago, a plebiscite was arranged through the well-known station WEAF, New York. Fully 70 per cent. listeners requested jazz. The following year, through the company’s consistent policy of sending out high-class entertainment, including educational talks, symphony concerts, chamber trios and quartets, jazz dropped to 25 per cent., classical appreciation rose to the same level, with educational lectures touching the 30 per cent. mark. What 2 wealth of opportunity broadcasting holds in thus creating ideals and higher appreciation in the community ! AN engineer residing at Hokitika has ‘written to the New South Wales Broadeasting Company as follows :- "I wish to say a few words which may interest your engineers. Some few weeks ago we had a severe earthquake here-the centre of it \.as 100 miles from Hokitika. at Arthur’s Pass, in the Southern Alps. One quarter of an hour before the ’quake 2FC station came through perfectly clear-previ-ously there was slight static. The station remained clear all through the ‘quake until twenty minutes after it ‘ over-then the usual static came on again. ‘Two days after the ’quake we had a splendid di olay of the Aurora Australis in Hokitika. While this was on I could not pick up the New Zealand stations, but all the Australian stations came through very good." . HE writer heard the other night from 8AR, Melbourne, where the conductor of community sizging was making his opening eech: "Ladies «..1 gentlemen, and listeners-in." Another example of class-distinction, perhaps, my

"THE big Californian broadcast station, which is often heard in New Yealand, KGO, was recently the recipient of a request from a California highway foreman employing convicts for road work, stating, "Please. play more classical music. Members of the gray-walled fraternity from ‘Sau Quentin (the big prison) are fed up

pe Se = Seinen 5 Ete: Sa oe of jazz. They would like to have you play a selection from ‘Faust,’ preferably not the Prison Scene." This reminds one of a concert party’s visit to a female prison in New — South Wales. One performer sang, "It's Quiet Down Here," and at the conclu sion of the item an old woman convict called out, "Too blanky right. It is quiet down here." HE word "shanty" is frequently spelt "chanty" as applied to the sailors’ song while heaving. The Oxford dictionary holds out for ‘"chanty," but other dictionaries (such as Ogilvie and Annandale’s) use "shanty." A strong argument is now being urged in favour of "shanty," and that it is a mistake to associate the word as a derivative of the French word "chant," a song, as there is no parallel to these choruses among the French sailors. On the other hand. in former days, the negroes in the West Indies, when shifting their shanties, or huts, on wheels from one place to unother, sang similar choruses to aid them in hauling all together. The English sailors adopted and adapted these old-time shant) songs, which eventually becume known us "shanties." When lexicograplers disagree, who shall decide? THE majority of beginners imugine that a certain circuit or set will operate just as efficiently with one make or type of valve as another. The question of valves is most important, and if a set is being designed for. one purpose, for instance, selectivity, it is advisable to use the correct valves, which must be of the high impedance type. Remember that in a neutralised receiver, the same results will not be obtained by using low impedance valves in the RF stages even though they are easier to neutralise, although they might serve with medium results for the time being. N "old hand" told "Switch" of a plan which should commend itself to other listeners who hav. the welfare of radio at heart. He said: "If static is. severe when I have a number of guests in my house I abstain from tuning in the distant stations. The programmes of 2YA are good enough to entertain my visitors; and there is no need to tune in distant stations, together with a clatter of static. If you do you will only sénd your guests

home with a headache and a Very poor opinion of broadcasting." Quite so. SOME misgivings were expressed at ‘meetings of the Amateur Radio Society of Wellington last year that the Australian stations may change their wavelengths, and would, as a result, in some cases or ease clash with the New Zealand stations. There is a possibility of a change in the wavelengths of the Australian -stations in Jaly, when the Commonwealth Government takes over the A class stations. If any of the stations became entangled with the New Zealand stations listeners need have no fear as to whether the trouble would be corrected very promptly. The whole world owns the ether, is the opinion of the Internationa] Radio Conference of America, thus sustaining the principles laid down in the 1927 conference that there is no sovereignty in the ether. Each country is duty bound to prevent interference in its own domain, and by mutual agreement with neighbouring countries to aid the same end co-operatively. .