Historic Gathering of Radio Interests

Radio Record, Volume III, Issue 5, 16 August 1929, Unnumbered Page

Historic Gathering of Radio Interests

Following on the success of the recent Radio, Exhibition held in Wellington, which was initiated and organised by the "N.Z. Radio Record," in conjunction with the trade, the management of the "Record" entertained at dinner all the allied radio interests represented by the Post and Telegraph Department, the Radio Broadcasting Company, and the trade. The gathering was markedly successful. and may be a milestone in the advarcement of. radio in the Dominion.

HAPPY gathering of possibly some historic import was held on Friday evening last, when the "Radio. Recerd’’ tendi complimentary dinne* . exhibitors at the r¢ Department connec waith the adminis- _ tration of radio, gd members of the- _ administrative side of the Radio Broad‘easting company. The function took place in Messrs... Gamble & Creed’s_ re-

1, which was happily filled »,, 1ests. ‘for absence were "eceived PF ae tion. J. B. Donald, Postmaster~cxeneral, Mr. M. B. Esson, First Assistant Secretary, Post- and Telegraph Department, Mr, J. M. Fleming, President of the Electrical Federation, Messrs. "Abel, _ Smeeton & Co., Ltd., Auckland, L. B. Scott, Christchurch, J. I. Smaill, Christchurch, Mr. Gray (Laidlaw & Gray), Dunedin, Mr. Eric Wiseman, Auckland, Royds, Howard, Ltd., Christchurch, and — Mr. E. R. Boucher (Spedding Lid.), ~ Auckland.

Amongst the principal guests. present were Mr. J. Robertson, Acting Secretary Post Office, Wellington, Mr. A. Gibbs, Chief Telegraph Engineer, Wellington, Mr. A..R. Harris, Radio .Broadcasting -Company, Christchurch, Mr. J. R. Smith, Engineer in Charge Laboratory, Wellington, -and Mr..E. H. R. Green, Engineer, . Laboratory, Wellington, Mr. H. HE. Taylor, vice-president Electrical 7"ederation, and Mr. J. Lauchlan, Assistant Electrical Engineer Wellington City Council. . The. exhibitors and radio trade in Wellington were strongly: represented. --Continued on page 2.

The Radio Service. THE chairman Mr. A. J. Heighway, Managing Editor of the "Radio Record," in proposing the toast of the Radio Service, coupled with the names of J, Robertson (Post and Telegraph Department), A. R. Harris (Radio Broadcasting Company), and C. J. Ralph (Radio Branch Electrical Federation), asked the gathering to regard the radio service as the vonsummation of the efforts of man through the ages to achieve perfect communication between localities and peoples. History showed that civilisation advanced only as communication was made more’ perfect. Rome built its power and maintained it through the centuries because of the rapid communication made possible by its roading system permitting the ready transfer of troops and the promotion of commerce, as well as the diffusion of news and views. China, in her imperial days, according to Marco Polo, had established a postal service which, for rapidity and comprehensiveness, was unrivalled in ‘the eleventh century. Cortez, prior to his conquest of Peru, found ‘that even Mexico had a transport system So perfected by relays of runners that the monarch in his capital scores of miles from the sea could enjoy fresh fish for breakfast. With the coming of the mechanical age, the rapidity and perfection of communications ‘were intensified, and with the printing press, the telephone, the telegraph, the cable system, the Beam ‘System, and in the present age the radio service, communications between peoples were so advanced that the spread of civilisation was promoted and intensified. They could thus regard the radio service as a perfeeted machine for the,diffusion of news, views and entertainment. The question was, how was that machine to be utilised? So far as New Zea-

land was. concerned, that gathering contained those who would supply the answer, The New Zealand radio service had had the opportunity on its establishment of profiting by the experience of overseas countries, and credit was due to the Government in general, and the permanent officers of the Post and Telegraph Department in. particular, for their detailed study of the sitiiation and their adaption of a system which, in spite of criticisms, had resulted in the attainment of a standard of efficiency that wa: creditable to the country in its present state of development. The country owed much-probably more than it realised-to the quiet study and efficiency of the permanent officers of the Post and Telegraph Department for their recommendations which had guided the political leaders in formialating the New Zealand system. The Company and the Trade. THE administration of the service had been entrusted to the Radio Broadcasting Company. While, more particularly in the early days, more blame than praise was directed towards the company by those who desired a standard of perfectio.. to be attained more rapidly than was possible in the time, he felt justified. in saying that the spirit of service had actuated, that company, and in Mr. Goodfellow and, Mr, Harris they had men with the vision and the administrative capacity to work steadily towards the ideal that they themselves had of the standard of service necessary for the satisfaction of the needs of ‘the country. He was specially glad to see that the time had now arrived when, with the provision of the four main stations: more atten--tion could be given to furthering the spread of radio in the rural areas, No class of the community stood to

profit more by radio than did the farming community. Just as speedy communications were of benefit to the. world at large, so ready communications were of intensive value to the rural community. The community stood to gain much by extending the social amenities of radio in the rural areas, It was in this, and the allied field of steadily serving the public with sets and equipment, that the trade had rendered, and was still rendering, such valuable service, A tribute had been paid by the Post-master-General at the opening of the Radio Exhibition to the manner in which the trade had co-operated with the department in providing the public with sets conforming to the tegulations, The trade could do much to further and maintain the general interest; and arising out of the success of the Wellington Wxhibition and the standard of perfection now attained in the sets available to the public, he felt. that the doorway of the future was opening, und that the present total of 45,000 listeners would steadily expand until in the not very distant future the grand total would be from 90,000 or 100,000 listeners. When that standard was reached the country would be provided with a service really adequate for making radio available in all parts of the Dominion. Acté as Referee. | R. J. Robert (acting-secretary of the P partment) in of "The Radio of referee as between ing Company and the listeners, he modestly claimed no great. eredit for the wonderful progress in the | popularity of broadcast listening due | to: the present service. The increase in the number of listeners’ licenses | this year had. eclipsed all previous |

years, and he anticipated that at the end of the current month there would be 45,000 listeners’ licenses. Broadcasting, however, was only one phase of the P, and T. Department’s radio activities, for there was much work involved in- connection with the department’s morse stations and the traffic between them and ships at sea. He had observed in the handbook issued by Amalgamated Wireless Ltd. reference_to the world’s record for long-distance morse services conducted by that company, but he thought that his department could claim a greater feat than that of the Australian company, A few months ago a lady had asked his department to transmit a morse radio message to Mars. The message. was accepted, duly paid for, and Mr. Robertson, himself, had heard it being. transmitted. As he had not heard anything to the contrary from Mars, he thought he was justified in assuming that the message had been duly received. (Laughter.) ‘Where was the record of Amalgamated Wireless after that? (Laughter and applause.) For the Trade. ° C.J. Ralph (chairman .of the Radio Branch of the Electrical Federation) in responding to. the toast of "The Radio Service" paid a tribute to the conduct of the exhibition and the part played by the "Ra- |

dio Record" and its staff. He urged that the P. and T. Department should alter the present system of grantin listeners’ licences and make it pos? sible for a listener to take out a licence on any day of the year for a year ahead. He said this would greatly assist in stimulating the sale of sets and increase the number of licences. Mr. Ralph commented on the greater spirit of co-operation now existent in the trade and associated interests) and stated that infinitely greater progress could be expected under those conditions than any other., 0 The Radio Exhibition. THE toast of "The Radio Exhibition" was proposed by Mr. F, Fitt, coupled with the names of the committee, Messrs. G. Robertson, C. W. Rickard, C. J. Ralph, J. Daggies and the chairman. Mr, Fitt said tit » the exhibition had been a very great success, and in his view would be. come a permanent annual feature. The trade in general appreciated the work that ha! been done in connection with the exhibition by the committee. The whole proceedings had been most harmonious, and. character~ ised by a strong co-operative effort on the part of all concerned. The experience of the exhibition showed that improvements might be effected next year by expanding the scope, particularly in the direction of mak-~ ing fuller provision for the children. The, opportunity presented of meeting My. Announcer and Aunt Gwen had been very popular with listeners, and’ that might be expanded next ear, 8: ‘ n replying, on behalf of the com Mr, C. W. Rickard said that mittee had. been very glad render such services as it ing and benbficial to all concerned, ~ Mr. Rickard mentioned that he' had

also visited the Dunedin Exhibition more recently held, and that, too, /had been a définite success. Without the opportunity of Wellington for making quite so effective a display, satisfactory results had yet been secured. A special feature had been the catering for the children, of whom 620 had been invited to a special party. He-believed that the exhibition could be made an annual affair with advantage, and on behalf of the committee. thanked exhibitors for the co-operation afforded them and the harmonious way .in which the whole affair had been conducted. The Programme Service. M&. Byron Brown: president of the Wellington Amateur Radio Society, in proposing the toast of "The Programme Service," coupled with thethame of Mr. P. Davies, Station Director of 2YA,-and Mr. J. , Ball, Editor-Announcer of the Radio Broadeasting Company, expressed appreciation of the general standard now ‘maintained by the programme. It was, of course, impossible to satisfy everybody all the time: all that: could ‘be hoped for was to ‘ the largest possible number of' peop! all thé time. Mr. Brown expressed the view that, since the recent change effected in Australian broadcasting, A noticeable trend towards vaudeviile

had developed in the programmes, and, in so far as this gave the opportunity for the transmission of an undue percentage of Yankee twang, he | thought it regrettable. ’ Mr. Ball, in responding to the toast, spoke interestingly of the ‘work of arranging programmes, and quoted. some amusing experiences of the inevitable disappointed person on’ the occasion of some memorable programme. For instance, his recent trip through New Zealand had showed him that his own admiration of the Shakespearean items given by Mr. Byron. Brown was endorsed by thousands of other.people, but at the same, time their correspondence enabled them to produce some dozens of letters from listeners pleading that the company never allow Mr. Byron Brown to again go on the air! (Lgughter.) Similarly, in the. case the Wellington Symphony Orches"al Concert, which had bee. enjoyed b ‘thousands of people who paid for admission, and enjoyed by more thousands of listeners who sat. at home, one listener was so disgusted that. he made a particular point of calling at the studio the next day and

asking the station director to specially avoid putting such rubbish on the air again in the future! Even so late as that very morning, followis g on the Maori Pageant so successfully given on Thursday: evening, a letter had been received asking that "for Gawd’s sake" no further transmission should be. given for their Aussie friends on Friday evening. These instances showed that. it was impossible to avoid criticism. The radio service differed from specia! ised .entertainments conducted by others, in that it put its programme on the air to be heard by all classes of listeners, and it was impossible that, with that cosmopolitan whole, at any one given time satisfaction could be given to all listeners. The "Radio Record." Mé. H. E. Taylor,. vice-president of the Electrical Federation, added to the formal toast list by proposing the toast of "The Radio Record." In a happy speech Mr. Taylo congratulated the chairman upon the idea of the dinner, and upon the service the paper was rendering listeners and the trade in general. agi

Mr. Heighway suitably responded, sayine that it was the function of the paper to serve, and if they were achieving that function they were happy.’ Presentations. URING the evening various refer- _ ences were made by many speakers to the excellent work done by Mr. John Galvin, a_vertising manager of the "Radio Record," in connection with the organisation of the Radio Exhibition. This feeling found expression by Mr. G. Robertson making a: presentation to Mr. Galvin of a handsome fountain pen and pencil on behalf of the exhibitors. Mr. Robertson, in a "humorous speech, paid a tribute to the activity and capacity of Mr. Galvin in handling the detail work and lightening the labour of the committee. Ir point of actual fact the committee had had a. comparatively easy time because of the special work of Mr. Galvin. On behalf of exhibitors, therefore, he presented Mr. Galvin with the memento mentioned, and on behalf of the "Radio Record’ with a cheque. To Mr. Colin W. Smith,

Technical Editor of the "Radio Record," who provided the idea of an exhibition, he also presented a cheque on behalf of the "Radio Record." Messrs. Galvin and Smith suitably acknowledged the presentatioz.. Reference was also made during the evening to the very valuable services rendered-:by Mr. C. G. Camp, Secretary of the Electrical Federation, towards the conduct of the exhibition. Musical numbers were provided during the evening by the Melody Four and some of the leading performers in the Maori Pageant. On the conclusion of the dinner, the bull of the guests adjourned to the -2YA studio, and witnessed the presentation of the Maori Pageant for overseas reception. ‘ For the Company. IN responding to the toast Mr. A. R. Harris dealt with several aspects of the radio service. Radio broadcast, he said, opened up an en tirely new channel of ervice. The primary object of a broadeast service should be to disseminate such

éesirable news, information and entertainment as was already available and should be based. on a spirit of co-operative effort with other interests as far as possible, having regard for the listeners’ acceptability of the matter to be broadcast. There was ample scope in this new field without need of digression into the operation of other services. Every endeavour was being made in New Zealand to organise for broadcast, such information and talent as already existed, and instead of teaching music to provide talent, or conducting classes to educate lecturers for broadcast purposes, it was obviously more sound to leave this to the musical profession and educational institutions and to co-operate with them. From a national, as well as from a service viewpoint, a co-opera-tive arrangement of this character would enable each and every one concerned to widen their field of activity without overlapping or detrimentally affecting individual interests. Following this policy, every endeavour had been made to feature the broadcast of public functions and in this way those living away from the cities and those in the cities who were unable to. attend such public functions were able to keep in touch with current events. This policy meant that a greater number of people than hitherto were kept informed of the progress of events and a greater interest in Dominion affairs was fostered and maintained. Developing Relays. ROADCAST of public functions gave variety and under proper regulation increased the diversity of —

interests and tended not only to. stabilise industry, but also to @stablish the national consciousness. In broadcast. relays, the company had co-operated and was prepared to continue to co-operate as far as it could with those responsible for the functions fo be broadeast. In this respect it had in the past supplied vocal and instrumental items for church services and musical organisations. In this, and a number of other ways, it had assisted with a view to helping community interests, and at the same time, making the relay more attractive to its listeners. As far. as was known, the New Zealand servic. was the first to do this. New Zealand was also the’ first to broadcast direct descriptions of sporting’ events. Some of the broadcast authorities in other countries were preparing and featuring studio concerts as the primary object of their service. This might be satisfactory where unlimited talent was available, but undoubtedly it was possible for interest in studio concerts to wane as time went on. There was a sameness about them that it was difficult to get away from. From this they would gather that the company was inclined to the opinion that the broadcast service should be developed as a medium of communication for the broadeast of public functions and ‘matters of public interest. At the same time they recognised that studio concerts were of prime impo tance and particularly was this the case for continuous service. Notwithstanding this, experience led them to believe that relays of public functions were the first prererence of the majority of listeners. In the oe

circumstances they proposed to continue this policy and in this respect they had the valued and essential co-" operation of the Post and Telegraph Department. As. they were aware, relays were now being made from between main. centres and from places outside main centres; and they hoped that as time went on further relays from additional towns would be made by means. of land lines supplied by the department. In this way an increasing variety of broadcast would be possible and listeners would also be able to obtain direct information and entertainment from all over the Dominion. In featuring these relays, however, they would not neglect studio and other performance: as it was realised that the evening sessions from 8 p.m. onwards, and _ other times of the day. should feature entertainment, They were very anxious to extend the existing service and to introduce, as soon as possible, from 6 to 7 p.m., dinner ses sions of music at Auckland, Christchurch and Dunedin stations on the same lines as the present Wellington sessions. : Just as soon as the company could see its way to introduce dinner sessions at the three other stations, it would do so. Primary Production. Mr. Harris proceeded to outline the proposals in connection wit. primary production on lines already announced. It was not proposed to prepare matter for broadcast but to organise it from available sources. In this respect they would, if necessary, arrange for land lines where practicable to suitable places such as the various agricultural colleges, universities ‘and so on. This would create atmosphere and .aake the service even more attractive, Radio would undoubtedly prove a valuable asset to the farming community. Not only would it provide the farmer with entertainment but would also prove instructive to him in his | usiness and probably improve that which the country ..was so vitally interested in, namely, the development of our ‘primary produce. He commended to dealers the desirability of developing the rural field.