"Broadcast Sets Are Finished―"

Radio Record, Volume VII, Issue 52, 5 July 1935, Page 19

"Broadcast Sets Are Finished―"

All Black Tour Has Sounded the Death-knell on Ordinary Broadcast Band Sets-Interesting Theory’ About "Mary Celeste’-"Verdict" Series Nearly Perfect-Silly Symphonies. |

by "BROADCAST | sets are finished," -. gaid a leading light in Wellington's radio trade, to a "Radio Record" representative the other day. "Sales of broadcast sets have faded right into the background, in fact, in comparison with other types. Only one is sold to-every nine of the dual-wave and allwave machines Dual-waye, which only covered from 19 to 50 metres on the shortwave band. began to take the place of broadcast sets and are, in their turn, being overshadowed by machines of the all-wave type. At first dual and allwave sets were inclined to be very broad in their funing, but owing to experience gained by earlier mistakes, the modern all-waver does not suffer in the slightest from the tack of selectivity. In fact, the separation of the Los Angeles station KFI and the powerful Auckland station 1YA. formerly considered very difficult to separate owing to padding between shortwave and broadcast circuits has now been mastered Shortwave in particular will be improved in the future by the adop tion of the double type of tuning eon . denser which has separate sections for each wavelength The sale of all-wave sets owes a marked percentage of its stimulus to the coming footbal) tour, no doubt. because of the anticipation which followers of Rugby-show in: being able to follow direct the tour of the All Blacks throughout England." QN Sunday night "The Mary Celeste" } was presented from 8YA Christchurch and. rebroadcast by the. Wellington and Dunedin YA stations. It was a -most fnteresting entertainment and held listeners in its grip every minute that it was being enacted. Pro‘duced by Professor James Shelley and Company this radio presentation was excellent, and full credit is due to all concerned. LL, Du Garde Peach wrote the radio play version It is interesting to note at this point the theory given by an old sea captain to a Wellington citizen on the mystery of the 282 ton half-rig ship Mary Celeste, According to him. it was all a swindle arranged between the eaptain of the Mary Celeste ‘and: another sea: captain who had shares in the vessel. The crew were bribed to leave the ship and from then on to keep their mouths tightly closed about the whole incident This was done to.enable the share-owning captain to collect the insurance which — was heavy, on the brigantine The crew, after leaving the ship, perhaps didn't dare to break the silence owing to a threat of a- charge of desertion, which was regarded almost as serious as mutiny, being ‘laid against them. ON Friday last, the last of the present series of the "We Await Your Verdict" broadcasts was presented. These

have been. of considerable interest to listeners as they have-given a fairiy clear conception of court proceedings, as well as proving a very enjoyable entertainment, According to a prominent Wellington. solicitor, these trials must have entailed: x considerable amount of trouble on the part of Ellis Price, the © author. He said that from a legal point of view they were pretty nearly perfect, and that.there was probably a staff of lawyers or law students to fathom out or correct the lega! points of the cases presented. The "We Await Your Verdict" series aroused considerable interest amongst thé listening pub- ~ lic. Hvery household is a jury. and the verdicts sent in to the Broadcasting Board amount to quite a large number. after each trial is presented. There . have .been several requests from. listeners asking for the reasons of the verdict to be broadcast, but that has been found impracticable as time and space would not permit it, as nearly every reply contains 1 slightly different reason for the verdh t. ‘ "TALKIE-GOERS who stayed away from the pictures last Saturday night and listened into 2YA probably enjoyed the recorded item that. was a collection or medley taken’ from some of Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse and Sily Symphony Cartoons. _ It is re-

‘markable. how the "Silly: ‘gymphoay" hits have taken on from time-to-time, and have proved ,themselves : worth broadcasting: occasionally.,from: wecords, Without their, original .presentation "dress’-a ‘clever and amusing."coloured cartoon-these tunes. in’ themselves would: seldom be-remembered: for even a couple of weeks, : Their association With bright. entertainment on-: the screen, however, has popularised ‘the jumpy little-ditties, and when one-has seen the cartoon with which they: were introduced. the repetition . of -the; music is always full of memories: of. amused grins. So the "Three Little Pigs" tune ‘"Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolt" is the most famous of the Silly Symphony "theme songs,’ and; the latest popular number is perhaps "The Wise Little Hen," cleverely finished: off with neat orchestration and a: singer who can cackle while he sings. Silly?, Yes. But they’re quite good fun, OCKEY enthusiasts and alf: sport lovers. were able.to hear jast Friday night, the ve of the second test, All-India v, New. Zealand,’ Mr. B. Doctor, of the Indian hockey team: give a very entertaining talk on "Sport-in India," and on ‘the Saturday: afternoon Norman Jacobsen carried out a good running commentary from Athletic Park for: the: 2YA: broadeast.