Australia Remodels Her Wireless System

Radio Record, Volume II, Issue 45, 24 May 1929, Unnumbered Page

Australia Remodels Her Wireless System

, PECIFICATIONS for the tender for the right to purvey programmes over the Australian Radio system have now been issuefl by the @ommonwealth authorities and are reviewed in the article below by a writer in the ‘Sydney Morning Herald." The proposals are far-reaching and will have a definite interest for New Zealand listeners.

Wisidl -- HE specification issued by the "| Post Office Department for tenders for an entertainment and news programme for all Australia contains some provisions that will lead to the improvement of broadcasting, but there are others of a doubtful character, The results, in the long run, may justify the new experiments, but there is also a possibility that they may not. In the proposed new financial arrangement, the Post Office Department has the big end of the stick. The allocation of listener’s license fee of 24/- each under this contract will be as follows:-To the contractor for the provision of programmes and copyright fees, 12/-; to the Post Office Department for running the "A" stations and the relay stations, 8/-; ara for administration expenses ir the collgction and disbursement of the license fees, 1/-; and to Amalgamated Wireless (Australasia), Limited, for royalties for the use of its patents, 3/-. . NDER the present’ system of private ownership of stations, the cost of maintenance and engineering expenses does not average more than from 3/6 to 4/per license in New South Wales and Victoria. The amount would be slightly higher in the other States, owing to the smaller number of license holders. The proposal of the Post Office Department is that in addition to the present "A" stations, there are to be eventually 16 additional relay stations. The cost of the relay stations and the provision of the land lines linking the relay stations ‘with SASUSSHRAUULCNEY iQ UQUUCUEROEOVUASHEEUAREN REG SUEUE ECMO UAEUGAR OOOO UOS UTES AUER AEE MMMM

, 0 the "mother" stations in the different capital cities, is to be provided by the Post Office Department out of that 8/-. It is realised that the relay stations cannot be fully: operative for at least three years from now. he specification states that "the tentative constructive programme, if realised, will make available three relay stations for the firat year, six more in the second year, and seven furtheg in the ‘third year." In the interval Me cumulative effect of the 8/- per annum will be considerable. There are at present nearly 300,000 licensed listeners in Australia. It is _ anticipated that this number will be e®ceeded when the new contract becomes operative... That will give the Post Office Department £180,000 a year for the provision of broadcasting stations throughout the Commonwealth. The proposal at the outset is that the present "A" stations shall be rented by the Department.. On the basis of present charges, the Department should make a profit of at leagt £100,000 out of the hire of the Gao for the equipment of existing stati§nms for the first year, and probably £75,000 for the second year, and £50,000 the third year. The cost of running the relay stations is at present problematical, but there is a fear that the Department, to safeguayd its own interests, has ruthlessly curtailed the cost of providing satisfactory entertainment programmes. Curtailment of Hours. QNE of the most serious mr*ters, from the listeners’ standpoint, is that the periods for broadcasting from the two CTT

"A"? stations in Sydney are to be seriously curtailed, as from July next and from the two Melbourne stations from August next. On the existing schedule 2FC and 2BL conjointly are on the air for about 8600 hours a year. Under the new contract the two stations combined need only broadcast for a period of 5840 hours. This is a reduction for Sydney of 2760 hours per annum, or almost onethird® The two "A" stations in Mel. bourne are on the air about 7000 hours yearly, so that Victorian listeners will lose 1260 hours annually. ,, Owing to the reduced payment for the provision of programmes it may be taken for granted that the new contractor will give listeners the number of hours’ broadcasting specified for in the contract, and no more. Sydney and Melbourne listeners are being sacrificed for the sake of prospective listeners in other States, seeing that in Adelaide, Brisbane, Perth, and Hobart the average number of hours’ broadcasting is to be extended to ten daily. The difficulty in those cities in the past has been that it was not possible to get local talent for ten hours’ broadcasting daily, and to put phono- graph records on the air for the intervening periods would have run the copyright fees higher than the revenues of .the respective stations justified. The New Programmes. GTRINGENT conditions are provided in the terms of the proposed contract to ensure that programmes of merit and variety are put on the air. In each State -Continued on page 2. MMMM MM OTT MMMM MMMM MMM =]

Australian Radio (Continued from page 1.) there will be a local supervising committee, appointed to see that the terms of the contract are strictly ad"hered to. It is specified that "the programmes shall be of such a character as to be of general interest, and shall be of sufficient diversity to cater for the reasonable tastes of the community as a whole. The successful tendered shall avoid monotony, tedious repetition of items, and the unduly prolonging use of an artist in -a@ particular State." The Post Office "Department has not only the right to censor programmes and to pro‘hibit the broadcast of matter considered to be of a debatable char‘acter, but the contract provides that ‘the new contractor "will take into consideration "any representations made by the local committee which ~the Postmaster-General may appoint for the purpose of securing co-opera-‘tion towards the development of broadcasting services of the highest . attainable order." Furthermore, the new contractor "shall do all in his power to cultivate a public desire for transmissions of educational _ items, musical items of mer.t, and generally for all items and- subjects which tend to elevate the mind."

Edueate the Public. AGAIN, the new contractor "shall _""~ make all reasonable arrange- : ments for the rendering of items pro-. ‘vided by orchestras, bands, choral ’ societies, and other organisations of high standing in the ‘various locali"ties from which the programmes are : distributed, ‘and shall’ pursue a "reasonable policy of inducing the es- " tablishment and maintenance of or~ganisations devoting their talent to ‘the rendering of high-class competi- =

tions." Conditions such as these savour a little of an endeavour to educate the public by broadcasting when the majority of listeners merely wish to be entertained. If such conditions are utilised by the local committees to foist "high-brow’" education propaganda on listeners, the inevitable result will be the cancellation of licenses. Used in moderation and with discretion these conditions may lead to the improvement in the class of entertainment broadcast by some stations, but it will probably be found that the best policy will. be to leave the manager of the "A" stations to exercise h' judgment in providing the class of programme which he considers most likely tc meet the requirements of the great majority of listeners. One matter that almost all listeners will approve of is the complete elimination of advertising and paid publicity from the "A" stations in future. Listeners, by and large. do not pay 24/- a year to'listen to advertising stunts.