Interest in Flight Dies Rapidly

Radio Record, Volume VIII, Issue 24, 21 December 1934, Page 23

Interest in Flight Dies Rapidly

Numerous at First; Telephone Calls to 4YA About Ulm’s Flight Dwindle Rapidly-First Wool Sale tobe Broadeast From Dunedin This Week-1YA Reception Disappointing

HENEVER anything of public in- ' terest occurs anxious inquirers persistently and incessantly make telephone -calls to two institutions-the newspaper office and the. broadcasting station. The brief news that Ulm was in- trouble somewhere bear Honolu!1 was sufficient to set the. telephones working overtime, and throughout the day and until late at night members of the 4YA staff were kept busy answering calls and explaining over and over again that nothing further had been received. At an early hour the next morning listeners restarted their inquiries, but received the same answer as previonsly, some of them being quite unreasonably annoyed .that th? station officials could not oblige wita spy new. facts of the unfortunate happening. At the end of the week an excited listener rang for confirmation of the news that he imagined he had heard on the radio that the aviators had been found. Actually the announcer had said that a stulen car. had been found. Interest in the fate of the plane and. its occupants had very nearly -vanished in-a week’s time after the first announcement, only. one person bothering to ring the station by noon: SEVERAL Dunedin listeners have picked up test broadcasts. carried out by the new 1YA_ transmitter, but everyone has expressed disappointment with reception. Great expectations of ‘a 10-kilowatt transmitter operating in the country for the first time were not completely justified, as reception of. the signals from the north shows. Tie quality of the transmission in this area is excellent, but the volume leaves i great deal to be desired. In strength, the new transmitter cannot equal that of. 2¥A. There are,’ of course, reasons why Dunedin should be so poorly served by the new 1YA, the main one being that the signals must travel almost completely, over a land course before reaching the south. HREBD talks of more than usual interest and importance are to b2 relayed from 3YA to 4YA shortly. Dy. J. B.:Condliffe. who was.at one time a Canterbury College professor, and ‘ who is now attached to an Australian university, is visiting his old town, and has been. engaged to deliver a series of talks on vital subjects. He makes his first appearance on December 21, whe he will speak on "The Present Bconw mic Situation," and on December. 27 he will deal-with the "International and Monetary Problem." completing the talks. on January 3, his subject on the last night being "Economic and Finan cial Work of the League of Nations." All the talks are to start at 10.10 p.m. OF special interest to sheep-farmers. the first svool sale broadcast by 4YA is to be carried out on December

21, These broadcasts are €losely followed by interested parties in the country districts, many of whom are anxious to learn as soon as possibte how the various lots are selling, while the city listeners tune in to hear what is going .on from the entertainment point of view. N Christmas Eve the dance programme from the main station is to be extended half an hour, and from 11.80 until midnight a special programme of carols and Christmas musiv will be broadcast. On Christmas Day the station is to observe the same hours as on Sundays, the day’s activities starting at 9 a.m. Listeners are advised to make a special effort a hear the B.B.C. epilogue to be present ed-at night. This'is a very fine piece of work, and embraces a short Scripture reading and choir numbers. DURING 1934 there has been a mark"ed inerease in the 4YA_ programmes of the proportion of serious

music, while drama has‘ also _ beei given more prominence than before. These classes of entertainment have definitely’ appealed to some, but there are still many who are unwii!ing to. venture into the unkriown, and who stand faithfully by the B stations that remain on the air. These stations concentrate largely on light, gramophone recordings, and by consistently avoiding the heaviest type of . music eater for that section of the community which knows what it wants and re fuses to tackle the other music. The opinion has been expressed in many quarters. that it. is surprising the B stations remained on the air for s) jong without subsidy. ' They apparently intend to retain their. licenses, and. like Micawber, are "always waiting for something to turn up." In the meantime, the listeners are the gainers.