A Gift to Man

Radio Record, Volume III, Issue 19, 22 November 1929, Page 6

A Gift to Man

Bequeath of . Radio

ONE of the finest and most eloquent addresses on radio ever broadcast was delivered at the Christchurch Radio Olympia last Friday evening by Mr. J. H. Strachan, M.Sc., rector of Rangiora High School, and one of the pioneers of radio in New Zealand. Facetiously confessing that he was a "radiomaniac," Mr. Strachan said that he believed that radio, without exception, was the greatest achievement of modern science. And not only that, it was the greatest gift to the human. race since man _ invented writing. Through it was springing up a new brotherhood, the brotherhood of man, bound together by radio. Broadcasting was only eight years old, yet it had made a wonderful appeal to the imagination. Until radio came, the human voice could reach only a very limited number of people. Now its audience was limited only by the circle of the earth. Radio was now a greater factor in the abolition of war than the League of Nations itself. An example of the power of radio was given "by Mr. Strachan. When he arrived in Los Angeles for the Radio Olympia recently, he had not known a single person amongst thousands at the Olympia, yet, simply by pinning on the lapel of his coat his radio eall code, 0.Z. 3A1, he had made many friends, entered many homes, and had a pleasant social time throughout the States. In™ addition, while there, he had kept in touch with his fireside in New Zealand, and with "his daughter in Honolulu. Mr. Strachan contrasted the difference which radio made in Antarctic exploration. He pictured Commander Byrd, sitting in his tent on the most remote "hunk" of ice on God’s earth, as he described the place. Outside his tent was a bamboo pole supporting an aerial through which he was able to keep in daily communication with New York. Contrast that with the story of Captain Scott writing his last message alongside the dead bodies of his

comrades. And it was more than a year afterwards that we heard of the tragedy ! Mr. Strachan. also’ graphically described the finding of the Southern Cross, and how the news was flashed to London, New. York, and other parts of the world. Immediately following Mr. Strachan, Mr. J. Ball said he felt sure everywhere must have welcomed eloquent an _ interruption, as Mr. Strachan had called his address. He felt sure their hearts must have been touched and their imaginations fired by Mr. Strachan’s splendid tribute to the power and influence of radio and his magnificent conception of its use and influence in bringing the peoples of the world closer. together and hastening the coming of the brotherhood of man. New Zealand listeners could do something towards the advancement of this great ideal. The season of good will was at hand. Let them all endeavour to make it a Radio Christmas. If every listener would persuade at least one friend not now enjoying the boon of radio broadcasting to become a licensed’ listener, New Zealand at least would be linked up in a radio Brotherhood of Man. " D