Not Really a Hotbed of Intrigue

Radio Record, 4 September 1936, Page 9

Not Really a Hotbed of Intrigue

Personal Ambitions at Broadcasting House Lead to False ImpressionSir John Reith Would Not Make a Good Hitler-B.B.C. Charter Renewal Discussion in Parliament. .

(By Air Mail from

Our Own

Correspondent

Lenden, ‘August 10. [N the past Broadcasting House has, undoubtedly, been a hot: bed of. intrigue, not of a serious character, but of the kind produced oy personal ambitions. Inevitably « certain amount of unhappiness and- unrest exists. All the talk about interference with the private lives of the staff arises from this source. The only examples of dismissals from the B.B.C. which could be cited as coming under the meaning of "interference with private lives’ were of members of the staff who had been implicated ‘n divorce suits. Sir John Reith's Puritanical tendencies are, of course, well known. But in the House ef Commons Mr. George Lansbury, the veteran Labour Leader, said ‘that Sir John would make a good Hitler. Mr. Lansbury. was falling into a familiar error. Actually, Sir John deputes so mueh work and respensibility to his lieuten-| ants, that I doubt whether he is the typical dictator, But — his somewhat terrifying . presence(the towering black shadow, he has been called)-and his habit of making himself unappreachable, serve to perpetuate a* legend. ‘When semebody ‘is daring enough | to write the bicgraphy of Sir John ‘ Reith, he may be summed wp as’ yine shy man with a eemmanding inresence, who was pitehforked into eminence by’ chance, « INCE I wrote list. in these columns, the Government has revealed -its intentions ‘regarding. renewal of the B.B.C. Charter... How does the ‘Empire service fare? Beyond a general instruction to the .B.B.C. to get on with the job and develop the service, the Empire service has attracted surprisingly little attention, either in the Government’s proposals or in the debate in Parliament which followed them. Most surprising feature of all, the Government ignored the Ullswater committee’s recommendation that foreign languages should be used in the shortwave broadcasts, I understand that the reason is that in the present. critical state of world affairs the Gov.. ernnient was unwilling to take any action which might aggravate the international situation. ,Consequently, the

B.B.C.’s. plang to start with Spanish transmissions was dropped. Perhaps, in view of subsequent events in Spain, this was just as well; or serious misunderstandings might have arisen. The B.B.C. transmissions would, like those: from Berlin and Rome in Spanish, have been intended for South America. Only English. | DURING the House of ,Commons de--bate, Captain Sir Ian Fraser, the | blind M.P., who is tipped as a possible new governor of the B.B.C., praised tke corporation for using: only English in its transmissions on the shortwaves. If, as expected, he is made a governor, . it is evident that his weight will be thrown in thé scales to keep the Empire- programmes for the Empire, -And, disregarding ' for the moment arguments concerned: with national defence, it certainly seems that what may be the gain of German, Dutch, Spanish and Italian-speaking listeners would be the loss of the English-speaking popu‘lation of the British Commonwealth. I hear disappointing news of the progress with the three new transmitters at Daventry. There is even some doubt whether they will be ready in time.for the coronation, but the B.B.C. will.make a big effort to avoid this. disappointment. Olympic Games. (GERMANY made the biggest effort in ‘the history of broadcasting in con‘nection’ with the Olympic Games, Never before have radio arrangements been made with such scope on such a scale. Before the Games it was calculated that during the 16 days the broadcasters of 87 nations would give more than 8000 reports from 25 different sports arenas. About 70 foreign commentators, engineers and organisers went to Berlin. Some of the events were to be televised, but I was surprised to notice that the system used only 180 lines a picture and presumably 25 pictures a second. When British television starts it should be definitely superior to German. On the face of it, the Germang seem to have made no progress with television since .~ their last Radio Exhibition. Stigma Removed. RECENTLY the -B.B.C, announced the important changes in its programme schedules which take effect in, the. autumn under arrangements.

made by Mr. Cecil Graves, the programme controller, after a year’s experience of office. The proposals seem to remove once and for all the stigma that the Empire programmes ‘are second-rate and inferior to those ofthe home stations. Proposals for strength. ening daytime broadcasting include provision of six variety features. ‘a week drawn from the Empire Depart-| ment, the Regions and London. So Empire vaudeville programmes will be. as good as, or better than, those from: London. In the past the practice has been for the Empire to borrow: where: it could from the Home services; in future the conyerse process will operate as well. , (Continued on page 49.)

London Notes

(Continued from Page 9.) Larger Picture. It does not seem that the Scophony receiver will be any cheaper or much cheaper than the more orthodox cathode ray _ type: Sets will probably be retailed at between 60 and 70 guineas, but will give a larger picture. In a test which I saw a lack of brilliance seemed to be the principal drawback, but it is claimed that in the new domestic receivers five times as much light will be thrown on the screen, The picture on the Scophony receiver is a projected one, and for this reason lends itself more readily to big screen development. Also the component strips, or lines, which make up the picture tend +‘o merge together more than they do with the sharply-defined strokes of the cathode ‘ray. However, I am bound to say that the big pictures which I saw produced by the Scophony method were far from perfect, whatever promises for the future they may hold, ‘Secret" Valve. "THOUGH it is still very uncertain what television exhibits will be seen at Olympia, there will be mahy other surprises, I can reveal for the first time in these notes a remarkable valve invention which will be shown. It is a valve of a standard type which can do all jobs equally well. That is to say, it can be fitted into any socket of a. specially-designed set and give a performance equal to that of a. valve specially made. for a particular stage. It seems to doom ‘the complicated sereened grid and dual-purpose valves. At the moment, however, details are still a close secret and I can reveal no more,