THE CHILDREN'S SESSION.

Radio Record, Volume IV, Issue 19, 21 November 1930, Page 4

THE CHILDREN'S SESSION.

BEFORE us as we write lies a roughly-written postcard addressed to one of our technical departments. But it is not intended for us-it is a simple request for a birthday, written by.a hand unused to writing and with a pen that probably had not been used for a long time, for. the lines are very scratchy and the angles inked. Right up in one corner is the date, a week back, followed by a name we have never heard of and which we cannot locate on a detailed map. The messages and the little moral for the children are all there, but they are scattered nevertheless they will be deciphered and the message will go over the air to that little family. . That family group can be imagined. They are probably miles from the nearest neighbour, receive their mail once a week, the children may have to ride several miles to school over rough roads or they may even be too remote to attend school. Cut off from the world, seeing none of the rapidly moving things of the life, the family is pioneering in the remotest of backblocks. And this letter is, no doubt, typical of thousands. Such families can be pictured before and after the advent of radio. It has changed the whole aspect and now, with the limitations necessarily imposed by economical batteries, that would cause their set to be treated with disdain by those more fortunately situated, that set will be one of the most treasured possessions. Its effect in moulding the minds of the young children is paramount. It is a means of entertaining those young, isolated children whose playmates are those of their own family and the studio children and the aunts and uncles become part of their widened circle of acquaintances. They become veritable playmates and chums. Their bright songs, stories and patter provide the young, active and impressionable mind with some new thought, that they would not otherwise have had. Then of a different nature though of equal importance is the Sunday song service with its Scripture hunting, special hymns and stories. To those who cannot reach the Sunday schools and have the desire to attend, the radio service does incalculable good. To those little ones who have learned the specially-composed children’s hymns

and can join in the songs, the barriers of isolation must be, for the time, non-existent. The little ones singing in the bush home must, feel part and parcel of the choir helping in the studio song ser-vic;* Only last Sunday we heard-Uncle George remark from 2YA that 14 some of the remote districts the Sunday services were used as Sunda¥., schools. We who are in the midst of the bustle and rush of city. life cannot realise what radio must be to these pioneers. .