4,200,000 Sets Sold Last Year

Radio Record, Volume VIII, Issue 41, 19 April 1935, Page 19

4,200,000 Sets Sold Last Year

World Figures For 1934 Show Large Inerease -- Growing Demand : For All-Wave Sets — Pianos Popular Again — Viscount Galway Welcomed.

A'T the radio of the present day is growing more popular than ever is confirmed by the fact that during the past year world sales amounted 10 the astonishing total of 4,200,000. For radio dealers of all countries business turned to a pleasant upward trend, for a curious turn of the wheel brought back to the radio public a taste that it thought it had outgrown. The taste was a taste for distance. Radio makers began adding short-wave reception ic sets that previously had been equippeil only to receive nearby stations, and, lo!-the radio public suddenly became absorbed in listening to Hurope, Some families have neither the time nor the patience to manipulate short-wave sets, and in Wellington at the present time the dual-wave sets are having a good ° spin. These sets, enabling listeners to receive both local and foreign stations, are becoming increasingly popular. At the same time there is still a large demand for the ordinary broadcast receiving sets, and a fair demand for short-wave only.

ey Wellington during the past month there has been a distinct return to the piano by the musical public. Possibly this may be accounted for in the same way as the return to popularity of the legitimate stage, but whether this is so or not, the fact remains that sales have increased tremendously. Sheet music is still much in demand and popular ballads are selling very _ well. When the public commences investing in luxuries over and above the bare necessities surely it is a sign that better times are near and that the _ priceless gift of music is truly appreciated. ON ‘Good Friday, April 19, "The, Crucifixion," a sacred cantata by John Stainer, is being performed at St. Thomas’s Anglican Church at: 7 pm., and relayed by 2¥YA. The soloists. Mr. C. Edwards tenor and Mr, 8. BE. Rodgers bass, will be supported by the augmented choirs, conducted by Mr. Bric Froggat, with Mr. John Randal as organist. -At 3 p.m. "Stations of. the

Cross" is being relayed by 2YA from St. Gerard’s Redemptorist Church in Hawker Street. Commencing at 9.5 pm., a recital programme will be broadcast from 2YA, featuring Walter Kingsley, the delightful baritone, Dora Labette, the English soprano, and the 2YA Concert Orchestra. N Monday, April 8 Mary Bucklin ' and Gordon Short gave a delightful ’cello and piano rendering of a sonata in G Minor. Miss Bucklin, who is a visitor to New Zealand, is a very talented "cellist and was formerly a pupil of the famous Pro Arte: Belgian String Quartet. Mx. Short is,’ of course, a pianist very well known throughout New Zealand, and the two artists combined splendidly. Their performance was equally as good as many of the recorded numbers, and -it is to be hoped that they will be heard again in the near future, Nxt Thursday being Anzac Day the annual Memorial Service arranged by the Returned Soldiers’ Association will..be relayed at 2.30 p.m. from the War Memorial. Those participating in the service are Canon Percival James, Rey. H. J. Odell, Rev. L. K. Campbell, while the hymns will be played by the Port Nicholson Silver Band. ‘The Anzae night concert, commencing at 8 o'clock, will be relayed from ‘the St. James Theatre by 2YA:-. Following the concert at 10 p.m. cOmes'a, popular number, "Favourites, Old and New." At the last minute it was necessary for 2YA to alter their Thursday and Friday evening programmes owing to the late. arrival of the liner Rangitata last week with the new GovernorGeneral, Viscount Galway and Viscountess Galway and their .family aboard. Instead of relaying the swearing-in ceremony from Parliament Buildings on Thursday afternoon the broadcast was carried out on. Friday, when weather conditions. were not as favourable. The relay was entirely successful, however, supplying = thousands who were unable to attend the function at such.an hour an opportunity of picturing the scene of formal pageantry. In the evening the civic reception from the Town Hall filled the major part of thé programme, and _although the night was blustery for those who attended, the enthusiasm Wag as. noticeable as when the ex-‘Governor-General, Lord Bledisloe, was farewelled.