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Radio Record, Volume V, Issue 52, 8 July 1932, Page 7

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(CONDITIONS were quite good for the first Rugby Test-Australia v. New Zealand, and 2ME acted like a lady. Every word of the description was heard, although clearness was not 100 per cent. Had the land line between the Sydney Cricket Ground and the transmitter been as good as any of the lines between the receiver and the studio, of any one of the four YA stations, then every word’ would have been readable. must have enjoyed the nart&tion of one of the most exciting and fastest Test matches ever played. Announcers are often too impersonal. Not so the one who described this match, and his Australian bias added piquancy to the story. In repeating the result of the scoring upon conclusion. of the broadcast, the 2YA announcer led me to think that he’ had lost a wager-he gave it out so sorrowfully. . * ¥ * LJSTENERS to KFI on Thursda ¢. night heard. the all-night sitting of the Democrats’ Presidential Convention relayed from Chicago. I have not been in the States since the enactment of the Kighteenth Amendment, but have often wondered if it had affected the national pastime of chewing tobacco and, in the words of W. S. Gilbert, scattering its juice abroad. Apparently it has not, for IT heard one delegate admonish another for spitting where he should not. Among the speakers was Governor Walker, of New York, who east one full vote for-Al Smith, but I’m not sure that it was he who cast the expectoration. About 10.30 p.m. the announcer said the sun was just rising, and to my reckoning that makes the "Radio Record’ DX clock just right. * * > I WAS glad to renew acquaintance with Mr. and Mrs. Lockhart, with Mr. Will Yates as interlocutor in the very bright and humorous show that was brgadcast from 2YA. Mr. Yates pickedfthe eyes out of the "International" programmes of last year, but all will hope that he does not resurrect the two "hoboes" for a future programme. The Lockharts were good company-all the others were either insipid or inane. %& * a THE handiest little publication for * all those who reach out into the . blue for their broadcast ~ entertainMent is the "New Zealand Radio Call Book," now on sale. This little book which can be conveniently carried in the coat pocket, contains a fund of information relative to nearly 1000 broadcasting stations-including the N.Z. amateur transmitters, the N.Z.,

Australian, Japanese, Chinese, French Indo-China, Hong Kong, Siam, South Africa, North American, South American, European broadcast and shortwave stations that can be heard in New Zealand; are all catalogued with requisite information, and you had better get your copy early. They will go like hot cakes! st * t AM glad that Mr. E. C. Hands has been appointed permanently General Manager of the Broadeasting Board, for I know of no one more enthusiastic for radio. Listeners already know how much his zeal has improved the service, and may rest assured that further improvements will not be long deferred. Mr. Hands has brought to broadcasting in New Zealand that sympathy for civic service which long service in public institutions alone can engender, and the appointment will have the approval of every listener. a * ba . WAS interested in Dr. Guy H. Scholefield’s comments upon the Siamese bloodless revolution, as knowing Siam and its people, a detached view was welcome. I believe a legislative government has a better prospect of succeeding in Siam than in most Asiatic countries, mainly because of the small size, and the community of interests. The inhabitants are a tractable and lovable people, and although despotic monarchy has been firm, it has not been harsh. There has been, too, an absence of corruption which characterises the Asiatic more than the American. The kings have been wise and cultured,

and have attached to their courts as advisors many unassuming Europeans with insight and sympathy. A friend of mine, a Norwegian, and a man of great learning, was official pianist to the court of the old king, and he has often remarked to me that the Siamese, to his mind, approached the Nordic nearer than any other Asiatic. All who know the Siamese will wish them joy of their new plaything-politics-and hope they have not bought a _ white elephant. * ae Bd HE chief handicap of out-of-the-way Empire broadcasting stations is lack of revenue, and a resort has therefore had to be made to gramophone records. The gramophone companies are not very well disposed to the extensive use of recordings, and in some quarters definite prohibition has been threatened. Even without the disability of limited income there is the lack of new artists to contend with, and it is in this respect that Colonial Programmes Ltd. hope eventually to distribute to. the larger Dominions. The company intends to record good programmes in England and every phase of broadcasting that we now expect from the stations is receiving attention-plays, vaudeville shows, concerts, book reviews, descriptions of national events-are to be recorded for distribution. Contracts have been signed by most of the colonies already, and many world famous artists are co-operating. Performers who demand enormous fees for evening engagements are quite modest in their demands for

day recordings, and a number have entered into the spirit of the venture to give the exiled British a respite through radio from the dismal American commercialised film. % * 2% O achieve an illusion of continuity a cue-sheet is provided with the recordings that need more than one disc, and so that recordings may be suitable for localisation opportunity is afforded with the cue to super impose a station’s call sign on a soft background of music. The possibilities of production are unliméted, the very best performers have been secured by Colonial Programmes Ltd., and with the cost being shared by so many Colonial stations it is hoped that the recordings will therefore be comparatively cheap. Further to the enterprise of this company the B.B.C. is interesting itself in a scheme for merging various ecompanies involved in recording into a sort of concessionaire combine, and as it becomes more generally recognised that reception from the new Empire station will be variable, listeners in the dominions and eolonies will be increasingly glad to hear an admixture of recorded British programmes. In Australia it is asserted that £100,000 of broadcasting revenue has been paid into the consolidated fund. If this amount exists to-day, and there appears reason to doubt it, one section of the listeners intends to insist that a portion is devoted to some permanent building, as upon the lines adopted by the B.B.C. % ae * MANY listeners in New Zealand will remember Mr. Malcolm Frost who was in this country some two or three years ago on a world voyage in the interests of radio programmes. Mr. Frost, although only a young man, had produced many plays for the B.B.C. before departure on his tour. Upon arrival in New York the National Broadcasting Company suspended their scheduled programmes for a nation-wide hook-up for Mr. Frost, and the introduction of an English innovation in the States was received with great appreciation. Mr. Frost is now the controlling figure in the new organisation known as Colonial Programmes Ltd., who supplied the recording "The Life and Work of Sir Walter Scott," by: Mr. John Buchan, M.P., which was broadcast from 2YA. That this item was enjoyed by all I have no doubt, and further recordings from Colonial Programmes Studio will be awaited with interest. 7 « ra DESPITE the introduction of sponsored programmes in broadeast-

The Week’s Best Par. FIVE SHILLINGS this week goes to ""Amazon,’’ Palmerston North, for this humorous paragraph:The Irish are credited with the gift of unconscious humour, but what of the Maori? I visited Wiri in his whare where he had installed an antiquated battery set. "Where did you get that?’’ I inquired, pointing,,to the ancient model. ‘From my father,’ he said. ‘‘He got the big electric model now. I wish he give me that one. Never mind, | get it yet, he NOT LIVE ALL HIS LIFE." You know a humorous incident relating to radio--write it down and send it to "Spark," Box 1032, Wellington. Perhaps it may appear on this page. It is worth 5/- if it does.

eee ing, the revenue from which it was thought might be the means of giving a fillip to radio in the Irish Free State, the innovation has not had the desired effect. The authorities are now trusting that the new station at Athlone will not be an extra burden, as they already face a large deficit for the year. From license returns it would appear that only one per cent. of the Free State’s population is interested in wireless. * e % Alt listeners will commend the Broadcasting Board for their alertness in public interest, in securing the Right Hon. J. G. Coates and the Right Hon. S. M. Bruce to broadeast from Auckland prior to their departure for Ottawa, and having the speeches relayed to the other YA stations. Mr. Coates, whose few words were necessarily of a domestic character, was splendid. Mr. Bruce, whose reputation for fervent imperialism is better known than his voice, was disappointing. I did not expect to hear in his oratorical flight a forecast of the outcome of the Conference deliberations, but I did

think the occasion one that a freputedly great apostle of Empire unity would encourage hopes of ‘tangible results. Somewhat like the blackbird he repeated each phrase of his song, and left the impression that he was merely talking. The trade between this Dominion and the Commonwealth is infinitesimal, and the efforts to increase it, I should think, have been mostly talk. I have been in many parts of the British Empire, some of them a dot only on the map, with a red underlined name, and I have never met anyone yet, whether white, brown or black, Whig, Tory or Rationalist, who did not deplore the paucity of, inter-Empire trade and ascribe it to the machinations of public figures with reputations. Perhaps Mr. Bruce’s mission is not inspiring, for I never heard anyone with a reputation so great take so long to say so little. =~ a Pa

HE reserved space on 3YA’s programme was ably filled when tap dancing was illustrated. This provided a novel turn. Generally dancing lessons are too much left and right, and remind me of the raw recruit who remarked the sergeant was an ass, whose left-right, leftright indicated that he did not know what he wanted for two consecutive seconds. % x * EW ZEALANDERS will feel proud to know that the conductor of the Welsh National Orchestra is Mr. Warwick Braithwaite, a Dunedin pianist, who went to England before the war to complete his studies. After a term with the B.B.C. Mr, Braithwaite went to Wales and then to Edinburgh, where he distinguished himself as a director of music on the concert platform. Returning to Wales, where he found the National Orchestra threatened with disbandment owing to lack of funds, Mr. Braithwaite propounded a scheme which included subscribers, and this met with instant response. The maintenance of the combination amounts to £14,000 per annum, and

the B.B.C, has undertaken to guar | antee half of this amount in future. — Ey * * ° AN irate English correspondent to a London daily newspaper, in answer to a writer complaining of a deficiency of Scotch items on B.B.C. programmes, declares that the B.B.C. is too Scottish now, and remarked:

"The director-general is Scottish, the announcers are Scotsmen whose native speech has been overlaid with the ‘Oxford accent,’ resulting in a diction that is as unlike King’s English as it could well be; and even a preponderance of the artists is also Scottish." * * * (THE programme at 2YA this Friday, July 8, contains an orchestral item, "Nell Gwynn Dances," by German, which calls to mind the curious thing about this English composer, who is almost a Welshman, ~ and whose real name is Jones. Born at Whitchurch, in Shropshire, Sir Edward German was baptized Edward German Jones. Sir George Farren, however, recommended him, when he was a student at the Royal Academy of Music, to drop the Jones, and he took the advice. 2 FJ +

FELLOW pupils at the R.A.M. were Ben Davies and Sir Henry J. Wood. German did very well at the Academy, but winning prizes.as a student and making a living from music afterwards are too different things, as he soon discovered. For a time his prospects looked black indeed. Then one day, when almost in despair of ever getting anything to do, he had the good fortune to run across Signor Randegger, to whom he confided his tale of woe. This resulted in his being apppinted musical director of the Glol.@Theatre. A further result was * that German became pre-eminently a composer for the stage, possessing in a marked degree that "sense of the theatre’ which seems to be given to so few English composers, apart from Svllivan and one or two others. One of the most strikingly successful . examples of his work in the vein of incidental music for stage plays was that which he wrote for the produc-. tion of "Nell Gwynn" at the. Prince of Wales’s Theatre, London, in 1900. The set of dances for Anthony Hope’s play, which Mr. de Mauny’s orchestra is playing, possesses the quality of unfailing freshness and, did space Permit, it would be interesting to

"Robert BurnsA Man Among Men"

is the title of a recorded talk by the Rt. Hon. Ramsay MacDonald to be broadcast © ( ‘) from 2YA on July 1

enlarge upon the work of this modest English composer, who shuns pub- _ licity as the plague, and never A adyertises, | * * % QN June 30 Mr. Stuart Doyle, chairman of the Australian Broadcasting Co., which relinquished control of programme direction for the "A" stations in Australia on that date, spoke through the national network on behalf of his co-directors and himself, and thanked the 360,000 licengees for their indulgence during the past three years. Mr. Doyle said that they had made so many friends among listeners that they made way for the new commission with deep regret, but for those frtends alone they could not but wish the Commission every success in their arduous task. Government control of many activities in Australia had not always been a happy: success, but he trusted the new organisation would prove an exception. "Don’t blame them for pooy programmes throughout July," he thi "we made them." In tracing development during the preceding three years, mention was made of the formation of the nucleus of a national broadcasting orchestra, which did not reach full complement, owing solely to the company’s unsecurity of tenure, and it was stated further that the company. had been able to reduce copyright fees nearly | 50 per cent., mainly through the efforts of Mr. Frank Albert. Although upon retiring the company could y legitimately claim £45,000, in the interests of broadcasting they had decided to surrender all but $10,000. This statement brought very hearty applause. A very fine tribute was paid to the staffs of the stations, and in feelingly saying good-bye to their million listeners, Mr. Doyle said that he was not done with broadcasting, as it was the intention of his theatres, Union Theatres Ltd., to co-operate with the new Commission in every possible way to make broadcasting the national vehicle of entertainment. On the following night the Aus-_ tralian Broadcasting Commission officially took over control, and the change was inaugurated by brief speeches by the Rt. Hon. Mr. Lyons, Prime Minister, from Canberra, the Rt. Hon. Mr. Seullin, from Melbourne, and Dr. Earle Page and Mr. Charles Lloyd Jones, the new chairman, from Sydney. All the parliamentary leaders stressed the view that broadcasting was essentially a nation}! service, and Mr. Jones assured@isteners that although great obstafies confronted his associates, they intended to improve _ programmes. In comparison with the B.B.C. with its four main, and five regional stations, and almost unlimited jncome, Australia’s task was stupendous. "Nevertheless," he said, "we shall gradually improve the service until every Australian will have cause to be proud of his coun‘+~try’s broadcasting." The principles V /6f private enterprise will be adopted in. the management, and New Zealand listeners will wish the Commission the success they themselves desire.