"The Dominion," Wellington

Radio Record, Volume V, Issue 7, 28 August 1931, Page 10

"The Dominion," Wellington

WHat appears on the face of it to be a reasonable and workable scheme for the future management and control of radio’ broadeasting in’ New Zealand has been . submitted. to the Government by the existing company. The scheme . . . recommends itself because it combines in one organisation the advantages of experience and business management with the denioeratic or representative principle. Bipadgasting has become almost'a public utility and in many minds there are objections . to such a service remaining as a private monopoly. On the other hand experience of State services has been such as not to encourage their extension, especially in this type of business. Between these two opposites the company has suggested a: middle way, offering a real prospect of ‘progress. ' Public opinion may bé expected to react favourably to the suggested solution,. for there ean be,no doubt the country is hostile .to the Government assuming new responsibilities and making fresh financial ’ commit ments in the present difficult times. State enterprise has already gone too far in New Zealand,.in no direction has it been conspicuously successful, and in some its losses have ‘added’ heavily. to,,

5 ad taxpayers’ burden. Citizens genetally will the#efore demur at any proposal that the State should enter the radio field, concluding quite justly that the Government has more than enough problems on hand without adding to them gratuitously. So far as the listeners have expressed themselves, they also appear to dislike any proposal for Government management, They are especially apprehensive of the effect of: officialdom’s dead hand on a department calling for initiative, variety and freshness of outlook. Also departmental conservatism and red tape would be repressive partners in a business that must constantly be. adjusting itself to the new developnyerits and inventions of a rapidly advisieing and expanding science. The difficulty is to keep in step so far as limited means will allow, and that calls for management that is’ at once enlightened and economical.

‘The new scheme should also remove the two main complaints directed by listeners . against the’ present system. The first, dissatisfaction with programmes, is common to all broadcast-ing-even to that under the aegis of the superlative British Broadcasting Corporation, The fact is it is hard to please everybody. It takes all kinds of people to make a world and tastes in entertainment are just as various. In a small country like New Zealand the difficulty is accentuated by the necessarily limited supply of talent. Howver, anything is capable of improveent and under the new scheme listeners Will have the opportunity through heir representatives to make innovations or to better existing features, Ex- .' perience may also convince them of the difficulties of reaching the ideal and demonstrate that, after all, a great deal has been accomplished in the past with the available. material.

Another grievance pertains to receivers located outside the effective service range of broadcasting stations and hence subjected to interference. A number of populous centres suffer under this handicap, involving a large part of .the Dominion. Here again the new scheme would provide the remedy by completing a relay system involving the immediate provision of stations in eleven subsidiary centres. Thus the two chief causes of complaint should be removed. Listeners should also appreciate the fact that they would be invited under the "Scheme ,to enter as shareholders an established concern, now past the risky pioneering stage. It is proposed that the company should have power to buy in the shares of listeners who allow their licenses to lapse and there may be some objection that the representatives of the present company might thus secure control. This could be met by licensees who do not hold their quota of shares being granted the right to purchase such resumed shares. To eliminate the present company altogether, as some have suggested, would be to throw away hardwon managerial and administrative experience and would also be unfair to those who,.staked their ‘fortunes when others were chary of making the venture. .The proposed scheme therefore seems to offer a happy medium, a combination of business ability with demoeratie representations to the common end. of better broadcasting service.