12 EXCITING MONTHS

Radio Record, 27 May 1938, Page 11

12 EXCITING MONTHS

By

WILTON

BAIRD

Mave W bo Once Asked What Is 1Z2B And Soon Found Out

THIS is the story of the men whe looked after the pounds, shillings and pence side of commercial breadcesting. They found themselves in a strange position for Government officials. But they too, on the accounting side, helped to play a part in the gigantic task set the Centreller and his officers of establishing a Dominion commercial network in the astonishing space of 12 exciting months,

LMOST out of the blue, commercial 6 b r oadcasting , came to New Zealand. How it arrived is now _ history, but the facts are worth briefly recalling.

There was a station in Auckland called "The Friendly Road," run by a map, Mr. C. G. Serimgeour, whs had the biggest personal following in New Zealand of anyone outside the Prime Minister. On Uctober 2, 1936, "The Friendly Road" was taken over by the Government as 1ZB, the first unit of a commercial broadcasting service in New Zealand. Early in October the Prime Minister said: "The commercial service in New Zealand will be on the air on October PS? It was on the air on October 28. NLY six mouths later Station 2ZB was on the air... the headquurters of the service were established... Station 3ZB was opened. ... Station 4ZB, All this in the space of twelve months. It amounted to this: that in twelve months a new Dominion-wide industry had been set up; in eighteen months a revolutionary change, liked by some and disliked by others, had been made in the lives of every persouv in the Dominion. Whether liked or disliked, there is one thing that is beyond dispute. The speed of the whole operation had been unparalleled in any other Government service in the country before. TPE problems to be faced were entirely new; there were

ho precedents 10 New Zealand to which the officials in charge could refer. It was @ moment for quick thinking and accurate thinking, and long term thinking. Each problem hac to be solved not only in the light of to-das but op the light of things a year ahend. For the service ‘was building just as much for to-morrow as for to-day. Last week I got some idea of the hee tie days of eighteen mouths ago, on the ac counting side, fron the business manager of the Commercial Service, Mr W. F. Crowther, HIGHTEEN mouths azo Mr. Crowther, member of the Treasury Departinent in New Zealand, had just ¢ome back from three

years’ service in Samoa. He took a New Zealand magazine while over there. Im it he remembers he once saw an article about the jamming of "The Friendly Road" and a photograph of

Mr. Serimgeour. That was all he knew about this side of radio in New Zealand at that stage. He was very soon to know 2 lot more, Wk. CROWTHER came back to the Treasury Department early in 1937, and one day he was called in toa eouter> ence, "We want you to go te 128," they Gold him, "What is 1ZB?" asked Mr. Crowther, fm all finmecence, He found out in the first fortnight he was up there. 1ZB was the embryo out of which was evolving the first Commercial station of the new Commercial service. "THE new business manager found himself plunged into @ whirlpool of activity, in which there was little time to come up for breath. He was a trained accountant and a Treasury official. Ie was used to careful planning before equally careful acte ing. He found himself in a situation in which there were accounting problems that had to be dealt with at once, and on the spot. In all Treasury undertakings organisation comes first and institution comes second. In Commercial broadcasting, institution had come first and organisation had to follow. He saved himself, so he says, by adopting one strong line of procedure. He

argued against everything. When anyone eame to him with a suggestton that came under the jurisdiction of his department, he immediately took the negative. And when they eould bring am idea to him and prove in the face of his opposition that it was good, he untied his moneybags. ITH the other responsible officers in the service, trom the Controller down, he worked hard He worked harder than ever before, but such was the stimulation of the work-the battling with new probhJems and the joy of finding out how to overeome them — that his health was good (Continued on p. 44.)

Exciting Months :

(Continued from page 11.) . and, 1 gathered, life was good. It was the job of his staff: of aceountants and himself to evolve a new technique to meet the needs of the commercial service, yet based on the.re cognised principles of accounting. "We had to construct a system of ac- ’ counting,’ he says, "whieh would. aecord with commercial principles and at the same time meet the requirements of the Government service." ‘ In. his first fortnight with the service he had to make a decision of deep import to the service. He and his staff, . working as a ‘team, had to decide whether the accounts side of the service could best be run under a system of Gentralised control from headquarters, or under a system of decentralised control at each station. They saw only the one way. Mr. Crowther and his staff packed up ali their papers and came down to headquarters. From.there they faced the other problems of the service. ° There was the question of the adjustment of advertising rates in the middle of operations,. without breaking the already existing contracts with advertisers. With the opening of the new stations 3ZB and 4ZB there was the question of readjusting the time of national advertisers so that they would be on the air from all four stations. In every case, care had to be taken to be scrupulously fair to clients, so as not to put them at what they might consider a disadvantage. These problems had to be worked. out by the "service officers and. the accounts section had to do its share. Every month of this life has had its problems .. . but it must have its compensations. It must be pleasant for a business manager to sit back and listen to a national hook-up and hear the announcer say: "1ZB...27B..., 3ZB ...42ZB." And to remember that only 18 months ago one had asked: "What is 1ZB?"