The Curse of Radio— Its Simplicity

Radio Record, Volume VIII, Issue 20, 30 November 1934, Page 13

The Curse of Radio— Its Simplicity

If People Had to Learn to Use Radio They Would Appreciate it More Although the license figures in New Zealand are increasing rapidly there is no doubt that, after making due allowance for all those with "axes to grind" in one way or another, there are a considerable number of listéners who are genuinely dissatisfied with the programmes provided. by the Broadcasting Board. In Australia, the position is even worse; there the license figures are increasing very slawly, and every year there are from 50,000 to 80,000 licenses cancelled in the Commonwealth. In the following article, written by F. W. L. Esch in the "Australian Women’s Weekly," a novel but quite legitimate reason is suggested for the numbers of dissatisfied listeners.

OBODY cun deny that there ave a Jarge number of N dissatisfied listeuers. You meet them every day. and in every kiud of home, . Hitherto it has hlways been the broadcasting stations which have been wrong, but on this occasion the X-ray of criticism is to be directed at the listeners. There are two ends to radio-the broadcasting end and the listening end, and though a great deal has been written and said about broadcasting, no attention so far has been paid to listening. . The curse of radio is its simplicity. If people had to learn how to use it they would appreciate its benefits more; but a switch and a twist is all that is necessary to conjure the genij of the ether, and such familiarity leads to abuses, With the inevitable result-dissatisfied listeners, : In many ways a wireless set is more difficult to use properly than a motor-car. It will be the beginning of a new era in wireless when trade organisations wake up to this fact and combine the selling of sets with an education in how to get the best out of them. ° To the happy, innocent person who has just purchased a radio set for the first time, the acquisition of this wonder of science takes the shape of a veritable gift from the gods, unless the new owner has already been made cynical by his friends, , Watch how he. places the cabinet in the best position in the living-room. His wife adorns it With flowers as though it were.a private altar. Fora féw weeks the family worships in awe before this shrine which talks and sings and sends forth music; but, as time passes, so do they srow used to the wonder, and then they begin to find fault with the programmes, reat.

eee, OF COURSE, Is a Well-known human tr: lit; wonder and appreciation first; criti-

Sindh abt apuse next, It would be the same if science arranged a linkup, through some new spiritualistic discovery, with

the great men and women of history who have passed into the unknown, We. should all be amazed and (le. lighted for a few weeks: then some of us would begin to find fault with ad AA

these psychic broudeast arrangements. Listeners would complaju of the irritating voices of some of the celebrities. A talk by Plato would be dubbed too highbrow; Aristotle would be condemned as a bore. Hven Beethoven conducting a spirit orchestra, or Mendelssohn a spirit choir, would not be beyond the criticism of the listener. The answer to the whole problem is that the most perfect programme will not satisfy the imperfect listener. The imperfect listener ig the one who expects-too much of a wireless set and tunes in too often, There are few things in life that one does not get tired of if one has too much of them. Wireless is not one of these exceptions. Reviewing some of the main imperfections in the technique of listening, we must consider an entirely erroneous notion about music, namely, that the more you have of it the better you like it. That ancient and pathetic little jingle"*Rings on her fingers . +. . bells on her toes, She shall have music wherever she goes,.. . wis a forecast of the conditions under which muny people try to ‘live to-day, with their wireless sets tured on from morning till night. Music under these circumstances becomes just a noise and a nuisance, and even though the owner of the set may not admit it, the constant noise ig bad for the nerves. There is another aspect which, though only a theory, is worthy of consideration. Science admits that certain types of music may stimulate various glands in different degrees. Martial. music, for instance, is thought to stimulate the adrenal cortex and.thyroid glands, causing emotions of courage and a feeling of energy, while gentle, soothing chamber music is thought to-stimulate the

ante-pituitary und the adrenaj] medula to produce the opposite effects. Whether this heory is true or not, we all know that musie does stimulate the emo{lons, and we can only wonder at the notional effect £ the mixture of types of musie heard over the air, (Ctd. on p. 50.)

The Curse of Radio (Continued from page 18.)

The broadcasting stations have te please all tastes, but there is nothing to stop listeners turning-off if the music is unsuited to their needs. in many cases it is pure laziness if the listener has to put up with an item he or she does not want to hear. The art of good listening is the art of knowing what not to listen to. A radio set. should be used like a gramophone. Nobody would dream of playing a gramophone all day, record after record, just picking them out at random. The ideal listener will study the programmes and tune in only to those musical numbers or talks in which he or she is interested. ’ This requires a certain amount of regular concentration and trouble, but it is well worth while, and it is the only way to get real value out of a wireless set. If a census could be taken it would probably be found that 75 per cent. of listeners never study programmes regularly, and that they just tune in.to one or two stations and hope for the best. There is another variety of listening, however, which comes in a different class. It might be called "background listening," becatise the music is used to serve as a background to conversation. reading or work, and the people. do. not set out to listen. In such cases the set should always be tuned down low. ‘There is nothing more irritating than trying to talk against a radio set, and, of course, 2 broadcast talk or a radio play is hardly a suitable background to conversation. The question of how high in volume a set should be tuned must cause tears, and ill-feeling, in many households. As a general rule the set should always be tuned below the volume of the human voice. Recently a man in Paris Shot dead his next-door neighbour 12cause he had been driven nearly mad by the blaring of his’ wireless, The public nuisance of the too-loudly-tuned wirless is one of the worst features of the abuse of this invention, and it is high time some serious steps were taken to make it an offence. While criticising listeners it would be foolish to pretend that the broadcasting end of radio was without fault. Broadcasting is still very much in its infancy, but it is improving every year in various ways. But even at its worst, and with all the rough edges which accompany a new venture, wireless is something for which everyone who can afford a set¢ should be grateful. Its many advan- | tages, if they are properly sought after d and cultivated, easily outweigh its disadvantages and irritations.