Improvements to the Broadcasting System

Radio Record, Volume IV, Issue 48, 12 June 1931, Page 10

Improvements to the Broadcasting System

SUGGESTIONS FROM A CORRESPONDENT

[TN the current issue of the "Radio Record" I note a letter complaining about another "howler"-another also condemning our "canned" programmes -~and recently also a further questioning the extra hours of transmission from 2YA, Well, I suppose each writer of these letters was rightfully indigaunt when he wrote it, but really they have little enough to grouse about. ilow about a large number of people ho live in areas where reception of any of the YA stations is almost impossible? Quite recently I moved over to Hastings from Wanganui (a place where reception of 2YA at least is good, day or night), and naturally I brought a radio set over here with me. Well, whereas in Wanganui it was a ‘delight to have in the house, over here ‘ sit is the cause of a considerable amount of- subdued "kerosene" language. On three nights of the week at least it is "jast an ornament or a piece of lumber; on the remaining four nights it fulfils the duties for which it was intended, . the reason being the two excellent little ‘so-called B stations, 2ZI and 2ZL, each of which puts over a good programme _ two nights weekly. ~«Now, note this: I pay them no 80/_per year for the entertainment, but I 3m unwillingly obliged to pay that sum -to the Radio Broadcasting Company. ‘Po what purpose? 1YA, 2YA, 3YA, "and 4YA are not available for five consecutive minutes. 2YA, the "super sta--tion," is not a bit better than 3YA or 4YA, Well, the R.B. Company cannot

.be blamed for conditions over which they have no control, but why, oh why, in the name of all that is fair and reasonable, can they not leave extra hours, and such like questionable "improvements," alone, and put in a few 50-watt stations in the areas where the bigger stations cannot and do not serve say Napier, Dannevirke, Taihape, and all other areas where they now collect revenue very unfairly, and seemingly spend it just as unfairly, by increasing hours of transmission from a station which benefits only those listeners who are in a "good" area. We all want to see the license figures go up to the 100,000 mark. Well, I guess the quickest way to put them there is to provide a service to all the country, seeing that all the country has to pay for what service we get. Why should people located in certain areas have to provide a 12-hour service for some when they get no service at all themselves, excepting that which is given free and gratis by certain firms,

who have the bill to foot for erecting these stations, running them and providing a really efficient service, and who do not receive a penny piece from the 30/- the listener pays for radio service. It certainly is not fair at all. Perhaps the Radio Broadcasting Company could be induced to publish in the "Radio Record" a map showing the effective reliable range of each of the four YA stations? By reliable I mean a service where a st, up-to-date and modern within reason, working on an averagely good aerial can be tuned in to its nearest station, and let alone for the rest of the evening and yet still supply a programme clear, undistorted, free from fading (to any severe extent). Were such a map prepared, I think it would have to show a pretty large area where reception was not up to the above standard, so why not cut out the extra hours and give the greater majority some return for their money.

Regarding American programmes some are excellent, some rubbish, an the percentage of each is little different from that of our own artists’ attempts -some first-class, some very third-rate "twang"? "Oh, gee-sure!" ‘Well, I "guess" is Is not any worse to listen to than some of the:.attempts made, usually by female artists, to imitate the "Oxford bleat"-the phrase is not mine, . but is very apt-which is not eyen genuine, but merely affeetation-a point one of the Aunt’s at the children’s sessions could well take to heart when she says, "Good-nate, kiddies, good-nate’-at least it sounds like that, and to quote a "Yankee" advertisement, my set hasn’t got "adenoids" ! Thanking you for kindly allowing me so much space, and trusting that you will give this matter some little attention, realising that I have the interests of "Radio for all" in mind, and an earnest desire to see the license figiires reach 100,000, and "Radio" fill the place that sooner it must in our national life--I remain, yours truly, W. Vinten (Hastings). [The attention of our correspondent is directed to an article elsewhere, detailing a system proposed by the R.B.C. to provide relay stations in districts away from the A stations.-Ed.]