EDITORIAL NOTES.

Radio Record, Volume II, Issue 43, 10 May 1929, Page 6

EDITORIAL NOTES.

(CONGRATULATIONS may fittingly be extended to the North Taranaki Radio Society upon the successful opening of their station, 2YB. In every way the function was a credit to the organisers. Mr. Ball attended on behalf of the Radio Broadcasting Company, te which, of course, the Society is indebted for provision of the plant and the permanent operator. Responsibility, however, will rest with the Society to make the best use of the equipment now provided. In this connection, Mr. Ball, speaking from the weight of experience gained by association with the larger services in the main centres, was able to give the Society some good advice as to conserving the talent available in the district and the ideals to be aimed at in supplying the service desired for the community. We have every confidence that the Society will rise to the responsibilities entrusted to it; and that through the service of 2YB the cause of radio will be advanced very materially in this tertitory. In his speech, Mr. Ball took occasion to make an important pronouncement on behalf of the Radio Broadcasting Company in relation to the development, as an ideal of the future, of a system of relay stations, in order to effectively cover the provincial areas of the Dominion. Those remarks, which are reported elsewhere in full, will be read with interest by listeners. "THE success that attended the relaying over a distance of 450 miles of the performances by the Port Nicholson Silver Band to Auckland and rebroadcasting there by 1YA was most marked. That success carried its own tribute to the quality of the equipment provided by the Post and Telegraph Department and the high standard of efficiency maintained by the service engineers. Following on that preliminary success, it is announced that further long-distance relays will be attempted as between Invercargill and Dunedin and from Dunedin to Christchurch, and also as between Hamilton and Auckland. These longdistance relays will be in connection with the opening of May Fair in Invercargill and the opening of the Winter Show in Hamilton By the former effort, Stations 4YA and 3YA will both be on the air with the speech of the Prime Minister and accompanying matter, on the occasion of the opening of May Fair in Invercargill; while the radio circle of 1YA will take the opportunity of listening to the speeches on the occasion of the opening of the Waikato Winter Show. It is good that by these relays city interests should be brought into close touch with the progress of communities such as Southland and the Waikato. At the present time the telephonic equipment throughout the country is not in every case of the standard maintained between the larger centres; but as advancement is made, it is to be expected other relays of-this character will be very frequently attempted. Another important relay in prospect is one from Hastings to Wellington. in the relaying of a special concert to be provided on the lines of that from Wanganui: some time back, . ‘

GENERAL satisfaction will be felt with the very creditable percentage of renewals reported by the Department as having obtained up to the end of April. No greater expression of confidence in the general quality of the services being provided could have been given by listeners than this. The percentage of renewal is definitely higher than has ever before been recorded, and the situation warrants the gratification expressed by the General Manager of the Company, Mr. A. R. Harris. At the same time, Mr. Harris quite rightly points out that, good as the figures are, further advancement requires to be made to permit of the additional improvements desired to be made by the Company. Service follows directly upon finance. Finance is the mainspring. With adequate finance much can be done; without it the whole service is crippled. It rests with listeners who are deriving satisfaction to spread to their friends knowledge of the quality of service available to them, and so induce them to participate and contribute to further expansion. Dealers are naturally desirous of expanding their sales, an will appreciate that those sales are best made under an atmosphere of optimism and appreciation rather than in the midst of pessimism and: condemnation.