IN THE WAKE OF THE WEEK'S BROADCASTS

Radio Record, 19 June 1936, Page 14

IN THE WAKE OF THE

WEEK'S BROADCASTS

nanks, Paul. , lf isn’t often that listeners have such a pleasant surprise numher ‘provided them as when Paul Roesch was allowed to give a running description of three rounds of the wrestling contest in Wellington on Monday "night: last . week. The change of voice and manner and commentary ability was ‘refreshing as a cool sea breeze in’ the tropics. "Whatever may be the qualifications of the usual announcer, there can be no gainsaying the fact that even the best announcer of this sort is inclined to stale on the job sometimes. Espécially when he has to: go along. week after week and boost up: for’the benefit of listeners the entertainment value of a wrestling contest which probably .isn’t worth a bag of peanuts for admission to the hall. . Boesch’s commentary was delivered'in a pleasant American drawl, without: unnecessary excitement, and without. tedious repetition of worn-out phrases. Good Control. NEWS flashes : hot across: the Seven Seas that. the B.B.C. now provide regular rhythmic music on Sundays; but .New Zealand’s nearest approach to this is the 9-11 sessions in the mornings-agreed by

many to be the best couple of hours of the week: But the point is this: A week or so ago, in that awkward and undefined gap between the ending of a church service and the beginning of the Sunday dinner music, a youngish voice uttered from 2YA° these words without preamble, "Shall' we play a foxtrot?. This is a good one." Slightly more elderly response: "No, can’t very well. It’s Sunday, you know." Young engineer’s Parthian shot: ‘Well, this one’s not bad. It’s not too blatant!" Now, would many listeners have expressed themselves with such splendid contro] of words about Sunday music if they had been ignorant that the mike was "live’’? In the Flesh. ‘QSSTIE CHEESEMAN’S New Majestic Band turned on several well-plaved rhythm numbers relayed by 2YA from Wellington’s Majestic Lounge on Wednesday night last week. and are worth cultivating for further broadcasts. There -. was not the same standard in two particular. tunes, however, though it’s a great band which plays every type of music as well as the best. There was a feeling of reality and. friendliness about the broadcast, however, which should improve with later relays. The band was well balanced, and solo work came through splendidly. — But a feature which marred the relay was the introduction of some -young ladies whose title gave listeners reason to ex-. pect. something a‘ little like the work of the Pickens Sisters. But from the numbers heard through this relay they need a lot of practice and training before they are in themselves up to broadeast standard. They may well have sounded quite good in the Majestic Lounge, but the mike is a devil for nicking faults: . ‘ Passing It On.: AFTER spending a few weeks in , Christchurch. her home town. since her return from seven years’ study. abroad, Grace Wilkinson opened her tour of the New Zea‘land national stations with three re-

citals from 2YA last week. On each occasion her voice came over the air clearly, With pleasant intonation and urusual depth. It is- surely a pleasing thing for an artist to have her worth recognised in her own country on such a scale-on the standard of her performance her "fan-mail’ should be considerable. It is, of course, unfortunate that more of our artists are either not. worthy of recognition before study abroad, or else are kept out of broadcasting studios for other various reasons. But after an artist has spent money and years’ in hard "finishing" study with a _ generous measure of success, it is incumbent upon the Broadcasting Board to give listeners the opportunity of hearing the results. Further than this, the educh- ’ tive value of broadcasts of these people to other students along the same lines | must be immense, especially in instrumental work, where the very latest and best in technique can be disseminated -and at least appreciated-among thousands. Pop-Eye. WHOEVER has not seen "Popeye the Sailor Man" on. the cartoon films has missed a chuckle or so. Apart from his tin of

f spinach Popeye is distinctive because of. his’ "tough" bass voice. It is, therefore, ‘rather a pity ‘to find ° an American band providing a "Popeye" number without the Popeye personality as far as voice goes, The singer in a-record heard last week. seemed to be able to déscend to about a low G, but failed to get beyond it.

jW--The result was almost ludicrous. The singer starts off the chorus on his low note, which he strains to maintain’ throughout the first line, and every time thereafter when he should go beiow he fails to make the grade-the © down grade. -It quite spoils the little ditty that Popeye himself provides in the cartoons. In fact, it reminds one of the time, shortly after one’s voice had "cracked," when one tried hara to get a half-note lower than one had ever got before. Hven the strain to | achieve the lowest note-several tones above Popeye’s-is evident by the breathlessness of the singer in the reeording mentioned. It’s one of those cases where there is such a word as "aan’t.."