F.—3

New Stations. During the year three new stations were built and opened—namely, 2ZB, Wellington ; 3ZB, Christchurch ; and 4ZB, Dunedin. The design and lay-out of the studios, control-rooms, and business accommodation for the Service were carried out entirely by our own staff and erected by the Public Works Department. Staff. A staff of 280 is directly employed by the Service, and of these 276 were engaged and trained locally. It has been the policy of the Commercial Service to engage local staff instead of importing a large number of experienced " key " executives. This has, of course, involved a tremendous amount of training, but that this training has been effective was conclusively demonstrated at the recent fire at Station 3ZB, Christchurch, when the local staff carried on a complete schedule and did not miss one minute off normal schedule, nor one advertisement, despite the fact that the studios and offices were burnt out. Technical. Each of the four Commercial stations is equipped with a I kilowatt transmitter which was assembled and installed by the staff. A feature of the equipment is a new form of aerial radiator, the first of its type to be used in Australia and New Zealand, and the results achieved have more than justified its installation. The system was adopted on the recommendation of our Chief Engineer, who carried out and supervised the constructional work in co-operation with the Public Works Department, and the radio towers were wholly fabricated in the Railway Workshops. It can be reliably stated that on the wave-lengths allotted to the stations this type of aerial radiator, which has been installed at a comparatively reasonable price, is giving very satisfactory coverage. During the year experiments were made with short-wave relay apparatus to enable this Service to broadcast from points where no tele-phone-line is available. Experiments were also commenced with high-frequency transmitters to enable linkage of the four stations, at present impossible by land-line. Other experiments made during the year were with various types of recording equipment, which will ultimately be installed in the four stations. Service. It has been the policy of the Commercial Service to give to listeners the maximum service to all classes of the community. For this reason, all stations maintain a full uninterrupted eighteen hours of broadcasting daily. This service is only surpassed by one station in Australia or New Zealand, and this station operates twenty-four hours daily. This full service to listeners is maintained by the Commercial Broadcasting Service on fifty-five days of the year when no revenue is obtained from advertising (Sundays, Christmas Day, Good Friday, and Anzac Day). Advertising Revenue. At the beginning of the year under review the Service was faced with serious sales difficulties, due partly to organized opposition by competitive forms of advertising media and partly to the natural reluctance of advertisers to experiment with a new form of advertising until it had proved sales effectiveness. The following table of the sales figures of each station shows a steady and healthy progress: —

In connection, with the foregoing table, it must be noted that the rates charged for advertising are progressively lower reading from IZB to 4ZB, as the advertising rates are based on the difference in population and coverage. In regard to the March figures, those shown in the table are not abnormal, as pro ven by the fact these figures were maintained during April and May of this year, and exceeded in June.

8

I 1ZB. 2ZB. 3ZB. 4ZB. Total. £ £ £ £ £ April .. .. 2,173 170 .. .. 2,343 May .. .. 2,641 2,084 .. .. 4,725 June .. .. 2,664 2,749 .. .. 5,413 July .. .. 3,191 3,032 .. .. 6,223 August .. .. 3,355 2,936 .. .. 6,291 September .. 3,369 3,190 215 .. 6,774 October .. .. 3,343 3,049 2,455 937 9,784 November .. 3,561 3,372 2,752 2,070 11,755 December .. 4,082 3,318 2,804 1,866 12,070 January .. .. 3,200 2,828 2,104 1,522 - 9,654 February .. 3,285 3,074 2,297 1,600 10,256 March .. .. 4,191 3,861 2,897 2,170 13,119 39,055 33,663 15,524 10,165 98,407