"Mr. Parkin May Have Sunday"

Radio Record, Volume VIII, Issue 24, 21 December 1934, Page 6

"Mr. Parkin May Have Sunday"

To the Editor Sir,-In reply to Mr. Parkin I might say that dance music would have come considerably higher on the list had it not been divided into two sections-a ridiculous classification. License figures would certainly suffer if there were no dance musie (Mr. Parkin’s "jazz," I presume) on the air, I would turn in my set for what else worth while is there to listen to? And Mr. Parkin keeps "trivial" piectures and trivial books out of sight. But this definition depends entirely on the individual, What he calls such does not

necessarily mean it is so. If he feels he is losing poetry and romance, why blame jazz music? One wonders, mildly, why he goes on listening to it. Surely the remedy for him is simple? What a lot of "words" is the quotation on children’s likes. Children like bright music and dance music is one of the answers to that. How can "healthy" be applied to music? There is no such term as "evil" in speaking of music. Some musie may not be as pleasing as other, but "evil" is an extravagant term. "To the pure all things are pure," oe Because a person Jikes dance music he need not have a chronically frivolous mind. Life is made up of hundreds of items besides music, and it should be a relaxation not the be-all and end-all of

life. It is "trivial" to assert otherwise. We do not ask the "air" to educate us, and the Board does not intend it to be used as an educationa: medium, as witness the lack of education displayed by various announcers in their pronunciation. The "air" is solely for our entertainment except on Sundays, when the chance is taken to air all the least attractive records in stock and dust thom up a bit. But Iam not selfish, Mr. Parkin may have Sunday. Might I suggest that he read "Live and Let Live,’ a sho1t article on page 8 of this week’s "Radio Record" 3n Sir Edward Elgar. If a great man like that can be so broad-minded and tolerant, surely lesser lights might follow suit. The third letter this week is a fine piece

of portraiture. The fourth letter amused me intensely. We ail hada good laugh at it. Weve taken the "Radio Record" for yeats, and have always experienced fair treatment.in any letters sent ins My only fault to jind with it is that it has discontinued publishing the dance pro-grammes.-lL. am, ete.. ?

HEALTHY-MINDED

Timaru.

[So that the danee programmes may. be Kept as up-to-date as possible, by the-in-clusion of the latest recordings as they arrive, it has been found impossible, to arrange them far enough in advance for publication in the ‘Radio Record."-Hd.]