A JURY OF 1000 "RECORD" READERS DELIVERS VERDICT ON RADIO IN N.Z.

Radio Record, Volume XII, Issue 35, 10 February 1939, Unnumbered Page

A JURY OF 1000 "RECORD" READERS DELIVERS VERDICT ON RADIO IN N.Z.

Listeners Previously Silent Express Views On Broadcasting In Questionnaire

the radio entertains, informs and talks to **Reeord’’ readers. They listen, switch off, switch on again, They have strong preferences and strong dislikes,: but few means of expressing them, On the whole they put up with what they are given | with silent stoicism or stifled pleasure. And for every day of every year it ig the radio that does the talking, the listener who does the listening. : HIS week the ‘‘Record’’ has _ reversed the current order. Today, the ‘‘Record’’ readers do the talking, radio does the listening. One of the greatest disabilities under which radio men work is that of being unable to ‘contact the great body of listeners. The listener is a silent person, usually mute. ‘The ‘‘Record’? wished to have the benefit of his opinions. Tt sent out copies of a carefully-drawn-up questionnaire to 1000 ‘*Record’’ readers, most of whom had been among the journal’s earliest subscribers. They were people of all occu- | pations and interests-engi-neers, farmers, station-hands, domestic helps, medical men, storekeepers, nurses, but most- | ‘y country dwellers. With care and courtesy the qaajority of them filled in the questionnaire, forwarded their pepties. | To-day, for once, radio does the listening. "Record" readers are on the air. For once the great silent jury that sits in judgment on every. item heard on the air, is able to give its verdict. ACH juryman gave first his oceupation, then told how | long he had been a listener, Most had been listeners for five | to nine years. } ‘‘T> what stations do you listen??? asked the ‘‘Record.’’ | "YA stations and their) auxiliaries, ZB stations or over- | seas stations?’’ | iF VERY day of the year

Replies showed that 61.14 per cent. listened to the YA stations and their auxiliaries, 28.99 per cent. to the ZB stations and 9.86 per cent. to Overseas stations. Point to be borne in mind in this verdict is that the listeners were chosen from earliest ‘‘Record’’ subscribers, mostly country-dwellers whose sets are not strong enough to draw in the commercial stations, whose main audience is in the cities, Asked to indicate their preferences in a list of regular broadcasts, the ‘‘Record’s"’ jury gave this verdict.

Musical comedy and dance music is the most popular feature, closely followed by vaudeville and humour and radio talks. The wooden spoon goes to Parliamentary broadcasts. Exact preferences of ‘‘Reeord’’ readers were these: Musical comedy and. dance music .. 16.68% Vaudeville and humour 2.0.00 16.20% Talks .ccoccecccoe 16.19% Serials ....cecee » , 15.56% Classical music ... 13.79% Sporting broadcasts 12.51% Parliamentary broadcasts .. 9.08%

S6fO you think overseas artists should be engaged for New Zealand broadcasting?’ asked the ‘‘Record.’’ The jury’s verdict was strongly in favour of overseas talent. Altogether, 83 per cent. voted for overseas artists, 17 per cent. against. Asked if they were in agreement with the proposal to establish a conservatorium of music in Wellington, 57 per cent. of the jury said yes, 43 per cent. said no. "Do you thing New Zealand needs a shortwave station?’’ asked the ‘‘Record.’’ (Turn to Page 2.)

Verdict of The "Record" Jury-cont. from Page 1.

Altogether 64 per cent. ‘voted in favour of a shortwave station, 36 per cent. against. T the same time the ‘‘Re- ; cord"’ seized the chance of some information about itself. ' "Which ‘Record’ feature do you like best?’’ was the next qnestion. Passing Pageant Trevor Lane’s ‘Passing ‘"Pageant’’ easily headed the list. Altosther 32 per cent. voted for ‘‘Passing Pageant,’’ 27 per cent. for general -articles, 15 per cent. for programmes, 12 per cent. for John Guthrie’s ‘‘This World of Ours,’’ 7 per cent. for the Film Reviews and Film News by Gordon Mirams and Jennifer Quentin, and 7 per cent. for Aunt Daisy’s ‘‘Record’’ features. ASKED if they thought the. radio licence fee should be reduced, 73 per cent. of the readers said yes, 27 per cent. said no. "‘Tf in favour of-a reduction, what would you consider a reasonable sum?’’ asked the **Record,’’ The reasonable sum, according to most of the voters who desired a reduction, was 15/-. S with most things in life there was humour, some of it naive and some of it deliberate; there were comments of vitriol and acidity, straight-out praise, and all the touches of an individual nature that go to make the opening of questionnaire replies by no means the routine business that one might imagine. There was the man whoasked how long he had been a listener-wrote 41 years! And then added in brackets that he had been a radio listener for 13 years. There was the woman who, asked for her occupation, filled in on the form: ‘‘Widow-living alone.’’ __ One dairy farmer, after saying that the radio licence should be reduced until they were free, and then finding the next question was, ‘‘What would you consider a reasonable sum?’’ -said curtly, "Should be paid for listening to some programmes.’’ SOMEBODY, who was evidently young and _ honest, giving his or her occupation as that of invalid, said, in answer to the question, ‘‘Do you think New Zealand needs a shortwave station?’’ ‘‘I have never thought about it.’’ The same listener, asked "Do you think the radio licence fee should be reduced?’ replied: ‘‘Father prob- | ably does, as he pays for it!’’ |

The question, ‘‘Which ‘Record’ feature do you like best,’’: evidently confused a’ number of listeners, who replied dinner music, Singapore Spy and classical music, band music, travel plays, songs, flute playing, and so on. Most readers had kindly things to say about the cord’’ and were full of praise, but ove man, a surgeon, asked if he bought the ‘‘Record’’ for its general news, its pro~ grammes or its film-~ news, replied: ‘‘Just because the kids ordered it.’’ Bitter complaint came from a business man in a footnote:

‘For the love of Mike burn Eb and Zeb, erooners and jazz. -Yours Almost best of all was the man, occupation a butcher, who wrote out another question at the foot of the ‘‘Reocrd’s’’ questionnaire and answered it himself: : ‘Do you like the swank voices of announcers .. .’’ "Wo,"? HE ‘Record’ does not. claim that the result of the questionnaire is perfect by any means. At the same time it does claim that, in many respects, the result of the questionnaire

does give a fair average listener viewpoint. Just as radio knows no boundaries, it knows no bar of class or creed. In New Zealand the poor man listens as well as the rich. Views of Listeners Radio goss over all paris of New Zealand and the ‘*Record’’ follows wherever radio goes. For this reason the questionnaire has been able to cover a remarkably wide area, reaching home in all parts of New Zealand. With the utmost impartiality, it reflects the views of all types of listeners. Consequently the ‘ ‘Record’ does claim that in many ways

the results of its questionnaire reflect the mind of the average listener. Many of these views ean be challenged and disputed. There are many arguments, for instance, against a shortwave station, against & conser. vatorium, or against the reduetion of licence fees. Parliamentarians could give reasons why their broadeasts should be most closely followed, instead of being last in popular fa¥: our. This may be said, and that, but only one thing matters. The people havé said what they want. FOR ONCE, LISTENERS HAVE SPOKEN. WILd, RADIO LISTEN?