THE SPORTING SERVICE.

Radio Record, Volume III, Issue 28, 24 January 1930, Page 6

THE SPORTING SERVICE.

"PEIOSE sporting listeners who showed such concern over the adjustment of the sporting service given by Z2YA will doubtless be pleased at the announcement that the Saturday night resume, which was the feature chiefly missed, is not to be abandoned, but is to be continued as before, except for a slight delay of 15 minutes. This adjustment in time is being undertaken because the Company has found that terpsichorean devotees dislike losing that part of their time taken up by the sporting announcement being given prior to 11 o'clock. ith that generosity and recognition of the interests of others which characterises the sporting fraternity, we anticipate that no objection whatever will be taken to this adjustment. It will give the sports the satisfaction of securing the news chiefly desired by them prior to the closing down of the Saturday night service. . THE discussion that has taken place in our columns over recent weeks on this question has been of interest as demonstrating that there are two sides to the question. In the earlier rush of correspondence the sporting fraternity gave voice in no unmeasured terms to their dissatisfaction, and the casual reader would have © been pardoned for thinking that there was no other side to the question at. all. Later issues, however, showed that there was most definitely another side to the question, and several letters of weight and interest on that phase are given in our columns this week. The incident serves to show the catholicity of taste required to be served by. broadcasting interests. All sections look for something of particular interest from broadcasting, and it is a recognised difficult task to adjust matters to meet the requirements of all. This incident illustrates in its field the special problems facing those arranging programmes. Continual attention is being given to this subject, and earnest efforts are regularly made from time to time by those responsible to discover the trend of public taste. One of the most comprehensive questionnaires on this subject was made recently by the Commonwealth Club at California. To 20 questions ‘submitted by it, it received upwards of 4000 answers. A brief analysis indicates the problem facing the radio service and the need for a give-and-take policy on the part of all sections of listeners. Musie was preferred to. the spoken voice, but one-third of those replying wanted more talks, and two-thirds wanted more educational talks, and half wanted more radio drama. Saxophone music was

. put in the discard by being favoured by only 106 out of 4000 voteys ¢ 85 per cent. of the voters preferred semi-classical orchestral mus Men’s voices were four times as popular as women’s voices-a sad reflection on the matrimonial state! 19 percent. did not enjoy gramophone music. : . on ~ THE answers to the question how radio programmes could be improved were widely diversified. One remedy was to "kill the announcer," and another was to broadcast legislative sessions. A special interest was shown in the rebroadcast of foreign programmes, and there was quite a desire for university extension programmes. Close analysis of the whole mass of suggestion, however, showed that there were no practical suggestions that were worth while that had not already been tried. It seemed to be easier. to criticise existing programmes than to actually effect improvement. , es