RADIO SPARKLETS

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Volume 58, Issue 179, 30 August 1929, Page 14

RADIO SPARKLETS

t Noted for their remarkable acoustic etfects, tlie Waitomo Caves are to be ' used by IYA for a noiml relay of a ■ ecmeert 011 tbe evening of September 20. -•!: Yerdi's iainous opera "La Traviata," bascd on tbe play "Camille," will be broadcast trom JYA iu tli ree weeklv instalmeuts, commenciiig next Tucsday. •!» '4* Tbe popular contralto, Miss Pbyllis Gribbin, wlio luis been absent from Auckland for about a year, will make several appearances at IYA during September, when sbe will be 011 lioliday hcre. Inquiries have recently been niade as to why tlie "talkies" cannot be broadcast by tbe wireless stations occasionally, now that tlieatre orchestras are 011 the wane. Such broadcasts would probably be appreciated by theatre people, but strict copyriglit laws forbid reprocluction, and distant listeners will be debarred from hearing what to them would be a novelty. With the increasing broadcasts of n sporting fixtures at the Town Hall 011 Monday nights tlie- staff of IYA is losing -the benefit of the silent night, but its work is being greatly appreciated. It is expected tliat IYA will de-sc-ribe the majority of boxing. ancl wrestling matclies in tbe next few montbs. Tbe sporting l'raternity is being well catered for in tliis respect and the promoters are taking advantage of goocl publicity, sjl j{c Tbe Columbia Broadcasting System, which operate, s a network of. stations all over the LTnited States, and bas just celebrated its second birthdav, will shortly move into a new lieadquarters building in New York. The structures will have 24 storeys, and tlie owners will use the top five to liouse its studios and executive offices. Fifteen studios,^ ranging in size from small roonis for speakers to a liuge auditorium capable of liolding over 250 entertainers on a fiingle ' programme, are in the building specifications. Eacli studio will have its individual control room. There will he numerous rehearsal ancl audition chambers, each of which will be connected to an amplifying system permitting listening in various parts of the building. Tlie studios iv ill be equipped for sound recording, as well as radio transmission. Ligliting equipment, providing for coutemplated advancenient in television transmission, is also provided. * * Some very peculiar wireless "echoes" were studied last year by Professor Stormer, of Oslo ; tliese echoes were lieard by the professor and his assistant while they were listening to a 30metre signal at Eindhoveu, Holland. Tlie echoes were lieard after an interyal of between three and 15 seconds. . Stormer bas made calculations 011 the tlieorv that the waves were reflected from a reflecting Jayer beyond tlie Heaviside layer, and it is possible by this tlieory to form some notion of tbe position ancl properties of tbe vsupposecl new "electronic" layer. If this is true, it would seem to show that the waves can pass througli the Heaviside laver, and thot the latter is not so eoniplete a refiector to wireless waves as has heen jireviously 'imagined. It was noticed that when the sun is in the earth 's magnetic equatorial plane (which occurs in February, Alarch and Octoher) the eclip effect due to the supposed electronic layer is the most noticeable. Further investigations are to be made into this highly interesting ancl very important sub'ject by means of tests from sevei'al European stations in the immediate future. - * >:= ■ The first shall be last. Begular dinner mnsic services liave been definitely arranged for two South Island stations, but there is 110 date yet fixecl for tlie inauguratiou of dinner music at IYA.