Murder Trial Broadcast

Radio Record, Volume IV, Issue 27, 16 January 1931, Page 2

Murder Trial Broadcast

American Sensationalism ie WoorLp the broadcasting of an actual . -Inurder trial prove an acceptable entertainment to a New Zealand radio audience? Such a thing is contemplated in some quarters in America under the plea that it is advisable at all times to give matters of public interest the widest. possible airing. ' Whatever may be said for and against the suggestion, quite apart from the fact of: whether it. would be permitted in New: Zealand, it is well. known to radio listeners in this Dominion that the Broadcasting. Company has from the outset set its face against the dissemination .of anything. that -cans)be harmful to. anyone who may A broadcast "audience is of a Ty heterogeneotis nature, and the susceptibilities of all types of people, old and young, of both sexes, have to be taken into consideration. Radio broadcasting has vast potentialities to work for the weal or the .woe of humanity, and the R.B.C. as an unwritten motto that its aim is the welfare of all listeners. Apropos.‘this,- and notwithstanding the rumoured extension of broadcasting activities to. include the sordidness of a murder trial (though such trials in America have not the significance that they have in the British Empire), it is interesting to learn that the Broadcasting Company’s latest advice from U.S.A. indicates a mellowing’ of the broadcast programmes there, bringing into them more.of the spirit which inspires the service in New Zealand There is lately a marked decrease iy * the sensational drama features which have up to now characterised. the programmes in the States. The explanation lies, not in a desire to raise the standard of the programmes for the sake of listeners, but in the desire of the firms who sponsor programmes to get better value for their money, ‘The pendulum will probably swing back again, for where. ‘advertising provides the "sinews of war’ to a broadcasting station, the advertiser calls the tune. _ In America, the Bver-ready + Hour, which was the first to popularise,: in 1926 and 1927, dramatic. presentations with musical background, has-been the first to drop them. ‘Now, feature after featuré in continuity programmes has dropped radio drama-in favour of innocuous entertainment. It is not implied that the continuity programme has been thrown overbagr lock, stock and barrel, but mere}y ‘t its position in the forefront has n relinquished. Nothing of outstanding character has taken its place. If anything, advertising is becoming more and more objectionable. There is no longer any attempt at so-called indirect advertising. The good-will which once could be earned by a weliconducted radio feature is no longer considered worth going after. . In its embryo days the American method of supporting broadcasting showed great promise. Advertisers outdid each other -in seeking to make the grandest gesture to the American audience. , Advertising was confined: ‘to ‘mention _ of the sponsor of the programme an what his product was. But cupidil. got the better part of judgment and the results are making themselves felt. — te ‘