Back Issues: ‘Gripping rasps and heartbreaking howls’ signal early radio in Manawatū

In March this year stuff informed about important changes proposed for the public broadcaster. TVNZ and Radio New Zealand become subsidiaries of a new mega-public media organization.

The proposed changes are in response to new technologies, new forms of media and the more varied ways audiences now interact with broadcasting and online content.

In the late 1930s there was an earlier restructuring of the broadcaster. It was prompted by the huge popularity of the ”wireless”, a wonderful new form of technology that is infiltrating homes and workplaces across the country.

Initially a government-controlled form of point-to-point communication, largely for military purposes, in the 1920s radio broadcasting became the domain of hobbyists who broadcast live or recorded sound for entertainment.

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by 1924 the immediately Standard had a weekly page of ‘Radio Notes’, later followed by ‘Radio Shows’ titled ‘Radio Shows’, with information about the broadcast times of local stations (initially only two nights a week).

Listeners had to pay for a license to receive transmission. In 1925, there were 4,702 licensed receivers across the country, and some people were also illegally listening to self-assembled crystal sets.

In 1934 there were more than 118,000 permits and in 1936 about 192,000.

Probably half of the homes in New Zealand had a radio by then. In Palmerston North and the immediate vicinity there was one licensed set for every 10 people. The popularity of radio was so great that even in the depths of the Great Depression, radio sales continued to rise.

Tuning into the “wireless” (as it was often called) became a communal activity, bringing people together at the same time of day in a shared listening experience.

This became a national experience with the establishment in 1925 of the Radio Broadcasting Company with stations in the four main centers. Funded by the broadcasting licenses, these stations used the ”YA” paging signal.

Local stations across the country were known as the ”B” stations. Palmerston North hosted two of them: 2ZF, operated by the Palmerston North (later Manawatū) Radio Club, and 2ZO, owned by local radio dealer J. Vance Kyle.

Massey postgraduate student Philip Fleming wrote about these stations in 1980, when local radio pioneers like Kyle could be interviewed. This article builds on his research and his dissertation can be found in the City Library.

Founded in July 1924, the Palmerston North Radio Club made its first local broadcast on September 1, 1925. This consisted of three live items from a banjo trio and a talk about the Girl Citizens’ Movement – education and entertainment were the two branches of radio broadcasts from the beginning.

The club’s studio officially opened on December 7, 1925, broadcasting from the top floor of Collinson and Cunninghame department store. It was only rated at 5 watts, increasing to 150 watts in 1930.

Understandably, there were initially problems with reception. These were exacerbated by the misalignment of radio sets, which led to “tearing rasps and heartrending howls, chirps and wails.” There were complaints of interference from Morse code transmissions from ships at sea.

But once the technical issues were resolved, station 2ZF received practical support not only from Collinson and Cunninghame, but also from groups such as the local chamber of commerce, the Palmerston North Citizens’ Luncheon Club, and local businesses that saw radio as a means of to increase awareness. of the Manawat.

The program content also expanded, with local weather, news, sports and stock reports from 1927.

Led by ”Uncle Jim” (Leet) and ”Uncle Ken” (Collins), a children’s session also started in 1927. Birthday calls were especially popular and by December the station had a club of about 100 young people.

Station 2ZF’s first broadcast of live band music took place in November 1927 when the Palmerston North Garrison Band broadcast from the roof of Collinson and Cunninghame’s.

Local artists from all over the neighborhood vie to perform on air. In 1929, listeners tuned in to the Woodville Boys’ Band, the Palmerston North Junior Orchestra, the Salvation Army Band, and Larkins’ dance band, for example. In 1929 the station had its own orchestra.

But by then there was competition. The YA stations were setting up new channels and improving their local reception.

In 1930, JV Kyle, a local radio dealer, started station 2ZO from his home in Waldegrave St. The better quality broadcasts meant it quickly overtook 2ZF in listener numbers.

Realizing the positive publicity that Collinson and Cunninghame had received from their association with the rival station, CM Ross department store offered to host Kyle’s venture and a studio was established in the Rosewood tea rooms.

Like 2ZF, station 2ZO promoted community activities, but did much better. It organized congregational singing for depressed communities, promoted fundraising for the Mayor’s Relief Fund, and by 1934 had some 3,000 “cousins” in its own kids’ club.

Rural children in particular were encouraged to write about their lives.

The most popular listening time for the B stations was between 8pm and 10pm, when families could gather around their wireless set. Fleming notes that radio was seen as bringing families together, promoting ‘home life’ and, by broadcasting local news and events, civic awareness.

The B stations were not allowed to generate income from advertising and had limited opening hours. Many struggled, but successive governments were reluctant to provide subsidies.

It was the first Labor government to oversee the downfall of the B stations. Fearing the takeover of struggling B stations by major corporations, Labor brought all broadcasters under state control by buying out these independents.

Palmerston North’s 2ZF went silent. Kyle fought on behalf of 2ZO, but eventually had to sell out.

A fatality of New Zealand’s first major broadcasting restructuring, 2ZO went off the air on September 28, 1937 with the melodies of the Goodbye Song from the White Horse Inn musical.

After a year of radio silence in Palmerston North, the National Broadcasting Service’s local commercial station began broadcasting on October 10, 1938, about three weeks before the election.

A new era had dawned and 2ZA was now ”the voice of the Manawatū”.

Margaret Tennant is a former history professor at Massey.