Our Mail Bag

Radio Record, Volume III, Issue 16, 1 November 1929, Page 12

Our Mail Bag

Will correspondents please practice :brevity, as heavy demands are now made on space. All letters must be signed and address given as proof of genuineness; noms de plume for publication are permitted. Address correspondence Editor, "Radio Record," -P.O. Box 1032, Wellington. s

Very Disgusted. I AM among many listeners who listen to the afternoon session from 1YA, Auckland, and get disgusted with the programmes put over the air, as I am no lover of opera songs, of which I cannot hear the words, and I am sure many listeners like myself would like a few comics, which we seldom hear.Disgusted (Auckland). ’ this apparatus. Hours of Children’s Sessions. WHILE expressing keen appreciation of the excellent service given to ' listeners by the Radio sroadcasting Company, and of the recent improvements to 4YA, I feel constrained to voice a general dissatsf*c'ion felt here at the alteration in the hours of the children’s sessions. A great many adult; especially parents, find pleasure "in these sessions, but are now debérred from listening in. I would suggest that the children’s sessions run from 5.80 to 6.30. That would give some opportunity to parents. who arrive home about 6 p.m. At the same time it would leave half an hour for dinner music. This would be quite, sufficient provided the programme ran straight on and those annoying "tacets" were

dispensed with.-

Hopeful

(Dun-

edin).

Well Out of the Caves. UX CUM AMOR®D" has admitted he is antiquated and modest (7), yet claims he is not self-satisfied. This trait is evident in all his letters. He claims I am not long out of the caves. I am afraid even the wonders of Oreation would not humble his self-exalted opinion. He evades the question of his educatine the R.B.C. and the listening public. There is nothing in any of his letters helpful to either-no improvement of the policy, management, arrangement of programmes, the engagement of artists and other matters too numerous to mention. No; like many another, he listens and at once finds fault if his fastidious taste is not catered for. It is a pleasing change to read letters like that of "Well Satisfied" (Gisborne). The opening of 4YA’s new station is another step in

the right direction.

Kia Ora

(Wai-

tomo Uaves).

Sunday Morning Session. ALLOW me to congratulate the R.B.C. on the service. It can be easily seen that they are cztering for all to the best of their ability. There is only one thing I ask anc that is the introduction of a Sunday morning session. Timaru listeners all speak

well of last year’s Sunday morning session. for the All Black results. It is the time that all ure home, and a little music would 'be much appreciated. Last night’s relay from Palmerston North was a great success from 2YA, except that 2YA fades so badly down here. 3YA is Timaru’s best .itation. It is Al, day or night, always the same.

G. E.

Tregenza

(Timaru).

Silent Day. AY I express appreciation of the many interesting items broadcast by 2YA? Rarely a week passes without something special to look forward to. The relays from Hastings, Wanganui, and Hawera were splendid and thoroughly enjoyed, reception in each case being clear and crisp. Our only complaint is that there is’ a silent day, and we are glad when the station is on the air ariin. Sometimes we get 1YA and 8YA very well, but oftentimes with static and fading jwe do not get the same amount of pleasure as from 2YA. It is so dependable and we rarely have static to spoil

the programme-

Ngaio

(Manaia).

Analysis of Licenses. I NOTE in your issue of October 18 that the number of radio licenses is now approaching 50,000, and wonder whether you can without difficulty advise the respective numbers of licenses for crystal sets and for valve sets, and their approximate location. Such information would be useful :n various ways. It was suggested, for exdmple, that Station 2YB, New Plymouth, would .be of great benefit to the many who would purchase crystal sets. A! a resident of the district I aave givert the North Taranaki Radio Society some small support, but I wonder how many persons in New Plymouth have purchased such sets since the station opened. and how many have paid license fees. The information would also assist listeners in deciding whether the time was yet ripe to ask that the Sunday non-religious programmes be extended either by the stations alternatively having the church service in the morning or by the afternoon session being extended, or by one of the children’s programmes being given each Sunday at some time before 6 p.m. that a musical. programme might be given before the church service. Sunday is the day when most visiting is done, and at present the visitors have mostly to be informed that it is an off day for radio unless they stay until after 8.15 or 8.80 p.m.North Taranaki. [Such an analysis of figures ‘as desired is not available-2Hd.] >

Our Mail-Bag

(Continued from page 12.) OST amusing are he indictments hurled at the R.B.C. "Fed Up," "Disgusted," and "Con Amore," etc., are like the poor-always with us, and, of course, on the humorous side, the readers of the "Record" enjoy the jokes, This reminds one of a misled listener in Limbo trying to convince the listening earth that Tophet is not the place it used to, be-it never was. Speaking generally, the programmes broadcast by YA stations are excellent, and more than one could expect from a new development that will increase by leaps and bounds in the next decade. The concerts from Wanganui are radio gems, and the relay from Hawera: concert deserves special mention. 8YA excelled all her programmes with the old-time songs and dances on October 12; it made us all young again, and we were off by honeymoon train. The dinner music.

with its appreciable tacet, and the weird voice of Mr. Drummond, like the Ghost in Hamlet-Ghost beneath (swear): "Well, said old mole, can’st work in the earth so fast!" that part of programmes fills the ’ bill, and gives a humorous touch, and one feels inclined to say, "rest, perturbed spirit." The Broadcasting Company are doing excellént work, and to improve broadcasting 80,000 listeners-in would help to give us better programmes, it takes money to pay for talent, and the latest additions of octets and orchestrians should satisfy any fair-minded critic, With regard to broadcasting vagaries 1YA in the afternoon is fairly good, but the night session has been too jerky "for the last twelve months; but on Sunday, October 18, the relay of Whangarei Band concert was excellent at the beginning, but faded badly towards the finish. 3YA, Christchurch, is a very consistent station. 2YA fades badly, which is no doubt due to ionisation. The most humorous item broadeast is the weather report. Mr. Drummond tells us it is a fine day in Wellington, with a northerly light breeze. In Northland the wind is §8.B., and it is raining for the last 24 hours, with every prospect of a flood. The situation according to weather report is fair to fine generally, and an anti-cyclone is suspended over the Australian continent, and a_ cylonic disturbance is, stealing on to New Zealand in the dead waste of midnight, and it is a fine day in Wellington, with seattered showers generally. Hlsewhere

it is grand.

Winterless North

(Auck-

land).