Editorial Notes

Radio Record, Volume VI, Issue 24, 23 December 1932, Page 4

Editorial Notes

Wellington, Friday, December 23, 1932.

"WORLD RADIO." the official ‘organ of Empire broadcasting, is just to hand with the programmes ‘of the first broadcast of the Empire short-wave station. Jt is with some regret, and we must confess, dis‘appointment, that we. notice that, following the chimes and _ ten--minute opening announcement, there is scheduled a ‘fifty-minute pianoforte recital by Berkeley "Mason. ‘The numbers include three of Brahms, one of Bach, and one of Schumann. This is followed by , a Blattnerphone recording, "The -World and Ourselves," and fifteen. minutes later by gramophone _reeordings of the B.B.C. Dance Orehestra. At 11.30 the first broadcast of the much famed Empire station will have been a thing of the ‘past. "(}HE second day is much the same, -. for listeners are to be entertrained for twenty minutes with the recorded works of Greig. Certainly the selection of records is a good one, including such artists as Richard) Tauber, Rachmaninoff, iand Kreisler. But the fact remains that the items are recordinys of a type frequently broadcast in New ‘Zealand. With the general reaction of New Zealand listeners to classic ‘music, we are inclined to think it will take more than twenty minutes of Grieg to hold the attention of listeners. The recital is followed by a lecture, ‘"The Doctor and the Public," again recorded, this time on the Blattnerphone. Apparently this talk lasts for fifteen minutes, and is followed by the "Wireless: Singets," who for fifteen minutes will present a number of part-songs and madrigals, including several ‘very _ Old numbers. Another talk fol-

lows-the B.B.C. is noted for its talks-this time on new books. A news budget brings this session to a close. And so on during the week. The classical side has been strongly represented. Even .on Christmas Eve it seems listeners are not. to be allowed to escape it, for we note that there is to be a fifteen-minute pianoforte recital, including a generous proportion of Chopin. SPRUE EELELILLEEELEEEELEELELET

"THERE is an old saying that one should not look a gift horse in the mouth, and because the programmes are being provided by the B.B.C. without cost to listeners, it is not quite fair to criticise. But the fact remains that if a job is to he done, it might as well be done well, and it seems that unless the standard. of programmes is altered, the Empire station will not be sufficiently appreciated to justify the capital put into it by the Corporation. In the first place, the opening programme seems to fall very far short of expectations, in that recordings which are available in New Zealand are to be broadcast. The amusing part is that if the Broadcasting Board was to put on such a programme from one of its stations, there would be an outcry of protest. The B.B.C. is classic minded, for was it not Sir John Reith, Director General of the British Broadcasting Corporation who said: "It is the B.B.C.’s function to give listeners,

not what they like, but what they ought to like. Here is your programme; take it or leave it"? ‘This policy may be all right in England, but there is always an alternative programme, generally of a lighter nature, and the foreigners are only a few hundred miles away. Thus ‘few listeners have to switch off when the programme is not to their. liking. The same holds true of’ the Empire station, but if listeners. have to turn to their local stations as an alternative, it seems that the Empire station has failed. Of course, people will listen because it is England and Home, but we want to hear something we cannot hear here-Blattnerphone recordings of the actual B.B.C. programmes, of topical commentaries, and of the speakers whom we cannot hear otherwise. Listeners do not want half-hour recorded recitals when five minutes is enough.

WHEN it comes to the matter of recordings, the R.B.B. probably has at its command a greater selection than the B:B.C., for the simple reason that it has to broadcast a greater number of them, and consequently must have wider selection. Listeners want more than records from the Empire station. They want the artists of world repute whose engagements have made the B.B.C. famous, Failing these, for it must be’ remembered that the time is early morning and probably an inconvenient one for artists, the Blattnerphone recordings would be very welcome. To be a success, the Empire broadcasting’ station must cater for listeners in the Dominions, and this the B.B.C. should take into consideration when compiling programmes, Listeners to the Empire station are too far away to be influenced by "Here is your programme" methods, ’ ‘¥

Christmas: the’ heart of me Deep with dull longing For a home that I'll not know again. Christmas: the soul of me, Laden with memory Of a laughing-faced girl in a glen. Sad is the heart of me Now it is Christmas, And everyone else is so gay, Sad that.my misery, Born of dull longing, . Should burn through the glad, happy day. Alas! though it’s Christmas, And time for rejoicing, My heart deeply longs in its pain For a sun-dappled glen, A laughing-faced girl, And a home that i know not again.

Mary

Kitching