Empire United by Radio at Xmas

Radio Record, Volume VIII, Issue 26, 4 January 1935, Page 21

Empire United by Radio at Xmas

Dunedin Listened En Masse to "Empire Exchange" Programme on Christmas Day-Request Programme Introduced by: Local B StationFamous Artists Are Eagerly Awaited.

4 ON the Saturday prior to Christmas 4YA gave the last of a series of old-time dances for the year. The relay from Christchurch was broken at 9 o’clock to allow the dance programme to be presented, and to the music provided by the Revellers’ Dance Band, all listeners were invited to spend a couple of hours working out the various sets in their own homes. A novelty was introduced on this night, when a well-known local piper played the bagpipes in harmony with the band_ for one of the dances. As usual, varied light items were included in the programme to add diversity. It is quite probable that during the coming winter old-time dance programmes will be regularly featured again from the main station. "THE Christmas programmes adver- _ tised for presentation from 4YA were attractive, and. when they eventiated they were as entertaining as they promised, ‘The spirit of the season pervaded all broadcasts, and evidently a good deal. of extra time had been spent in preparing the programmes and co-ordinating the items. ‘he extra hour of broadcasting on Christmas ive was appreciated, Dunedin listened-in en masse to the special relay from Daventry of the "Wmpire Exchange" programme at an early hour on Boxing Day morning, and it was with no little pride that they heard the voices of the two New Zealanders who linked this country in the vast chain that united the Empire -for the third: year in’ succession. Conditions for the reception of the shortwave station were rather unkind, a good deal of what was said being almost unintelligible; but sufficient was picked up to allow listeners to follow a fairly well connected broadcast contributed ‘to by persons with diverse interests.in all corners of the Dmpire. OT a new idea, but nevertheless one that is evidently popular ‘among listeners, has been started ‘by one of the local B stations, which plays a request programme every Monday evening, On the first night that. requests were played the station telephone was kept ringing, listeners asking that certain records should be played. However, ‘telephone requests are not to be taken, only those received in writing ,being recognised by _the station officials. As the number of requests is'so large, it has been decided to delete the tsual dance session given on a Monday night in order to make room for as many of the desired records as possible, FOR the first few mornings after the new 1YA had: taken the air listeners in the south tried for reception of the 10 kilowatt transmitter, but mostly with very disappointing results. Some heard the carrier and a faint scratching sound on the Auckland frequeney, while others caught snatches’

of music, but not loud enough to justify leaving the receiver tuned to the station for any length of time. Two days after the transmissions through the new plant commenced a young man in the St, Kilda district decided to try his luck.. He, heard a fragment of music just before 8-o’clock, but nothing further. Try as he might, he could not bring in any more music on that wavelength, and so he concluded that an extra burst. of energy must have earried the few: bars of a minute before to his home. In a few days’ time, however, he discovered the reason for his failure-the station had gone off the air as trouble had developed in a condenser, T was particularly noticeable:that an unusual number of recordings by His Majesty’s ‘Grenadier Guards Band found their way into the 4YA _ proerammes for about a month before the famous band arrived in Dunedin. The person or persons who compiled these. daily programmes may have had some

idea of fostering amongst listeners an appreciation of the playing of this particular band, or quite unconsciously, they may have chosen the records hecause so much had appeared in the Caily Press regarding the band’s tour of the Dominion. ITH understandable. impatience, listeners ‘are looking forward to the studio appearances locally of the two celebrated singers now touring New Zealand. That Madame Goos-sens-Viceroy, the Belgian operatic soprano, and Mr. Raymond, Beatty, the Australian basso cantante, are artists of repute cannot be denied, and great interest naturally attaches to their impending visit to Dunedin. "Q)PERA In Many Lands". proved ‘a very entertaining programme from 4YO on a recent night as an alternative from the relay by the main station. The featured work was "Ozar.and the Carpenter," a_ lesserknown effort by Lortzing. ‘