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PROGRAMMES Allocation of Programme Time The following analysis of programmes for the week ending 27th February, 1949, illustrates on a percentage basis the amount of time allocated to various types of programmes: — . Per Cent. Serious music .. .. .. .. ..19-90 Light music .. .. .. • - .. 48 •35 Modern dance music .. .. .. .. 5• 80 Plays, sketches, and dramatic serials ... .. 6-82 Sporting commentaries .. .. •• ..2-28 Talks: General, educative .. .. ..3-90 News and commentaries .. .. •• 8'37 Church and devotional .. .. . - 2• 28 Children's sessions .. .. •• .. 2*30 This analysis would differ only very slightly from that for any other week of the year: Serious Music There has been an increased interest in serious music during the past few years. This continued during 1948, and there was a steady growth in the musical activities of the Service throughout the Dominion. Both the number and the quality of broadcasts of serious music reflected this increased activity. There were relays of public concerts by the National Orchestra, the engagement of overseas artists to tour New Zealand under the auspices of the Service, and broadcasts by visiting groups, such as the Queensland State String Quartet and the Musica Viva Players. Selections from the works of the world's greatest artists and composers were broadcast, and studio, relayed, and recorded presentations offered listeners a wide choice of programmes. Outstanding programmes were the relays of the opera " Carmen," and later of the productions staged by the International Opera Company. Besides the relayed broadcasts of stage productions, there were sixty broadcasts of recorded operas. Two not previously broadcast were Verdi's " Aida " and Britten's " The Rape of Lucretia." The Service also presented a recorded 8.8.C. adaptation of Offenbach's " Orpheus in the Underworld." The New Zealand Listener published two series of illustrated articles under the title " Know Your Classics," designed to help the student and the interested listener towards a more complete appreciation of serious music. Each week a classical work featured in the programmes of a National station was discussed in detail and the main themes illustrated. This method, the illustrated analysis, was used to publicize broadcasts of the " Trio for Two Violins and Flute," a new work by the New Zealand composer H. J. Finlay. There were many relays of choral and competitions festivals, and orchestral, instrumental, and vocal concerts. Artists whose performances were relayed from the concert platform included the English pianist Moura Tympany, the English soprano Isobel Baillie, the Hungarian tenor Miklos Gafni, the clarinettist Henry Barber, the negro baritone Aubrey Pankey, the English singers Anne Zeigler and Webster Booth, and the Australian contralto Etta Bernard. Studio lecture-recitals by Dr. Edgar Bainton and the New Zealander Guy Marriner were also broadcast. Two series of 8.8.C. programmes, " British Concert Hall," were heard. These programmes introduced leading British orchestras, and well-known conductors who gave spoken commentaries on the works performed.

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