Radio Control

Radio Record, Volume V, Issue 10, 18 September 1931, Page 5

Radio Control

Listeners Oppose Change

"TF listeners realised the full significance of the Government’s proposals Parliament would be inundated with messages of vigorous protest," said Mr. A. R. Donaldson, honorary official listener for Wanganui, when sked by a "Dominion" (Wellington) epresentative recently for his views oncerning the Broadcasting Bill now before Parliament. Mr. Donaldson is secretary to the Wanganui Rotary Club, and came to Wellington as a delegate to the Rotary Conference. "I am satisfied," he proceeded, "that the great majority .of the 60,000 listeners are averse to any change in the system of control; but apparently they have been lulled into a sense of false security by official assurances that the change it is proposed to make is to be definitely non-political. The proposals set out in the Bill prove conclusively that this is not the case. The four members of the board are to be appointed by, and to hold office at the will of, the Minister, and in all material matters they are to be subject to his authority. This clearly means departmental dominance. The Big Task Ahead. HIB broadcasting service has been \Vsuccessfully pioneered and developed efficiently up to a certain point. ‘

There now remains to be accomplished the big task of completely reticulating the Dominion, so that listeners everywhere shall be assured of good reception. "My view, which I think will be universally endorsed by all payers of license fees, is that the expeditious completion of this development should be definitely and specifically assured by the allocation to the responsible body of a quota of the license revenue not less than that now authorised. This policy should be continued until the service has reached the maximum stage of development, after which any. reduction of the quota which may then be practicable should take the form of a reduction of the license fee. .

Allocation of Funds. "THE members of the North Taranaki society appear to have had this in mind when drafting their questionnaire, (which appears elsewhere in this issue-Hd.) although they appear to have overlooked, or failed to stress sufficiently the service-starving, reve-nue-raiding possibilities of section 13 of the Bill. Under this section it is provided that the board ‘may enter into agreements with the Minister for the payment to the board of portion of the fees received. It is left entirely to the Minister to decide what that portion shall be. At present it is 25/- out of the 30/-. "The Bill leaves it open to the Minister to cut this to any extent he may

determine, without regard to the wishes and interests of the listeners who provide the money, and devote the amount so ‘grabbed’ to any pur pose he chooses-to swelling the profits of the Post and Telegraph Department, for example. The gentleman now in office will no doubt disclaim any such intention, but as the clause stands the opportunity for him to operate on the listeners’ funds is there, and the oniy disclaimer worth anything fo listeners will be a specific provision in the Bill safeguarding them from being so robbed. Vital Wealkmess. "HERE are other serious weaknesses in ,the Bill, but the vital weakness is that the Minister, and not the board, controls the funds, and that the board, although ostensibly responsible for the service, is vested with almost negligible authority and is empowered to do nothing of any consequence save with the sanction and authority of the Minister. And this, we are told, is not State control."