As you have heard from the figures I have given the receipts from licences and advertising programmes do not meet the expenses of broadcasting and we do not think it fair that the burden of the taxpayer should be added to further by people who expect others to pay for their broadcasting entertainment. We intend, therefore, to keep up the pressure on any who may persist in evading the obligation to pay their wireless licence fee.
Up to recent times the problem of interference with broadcast reception by electrical apparatus was not very serious but the number of complaints reaching the Department in this matter is now increasing. This is no doubt due in part to the expansion in the use of electrical equipment but I have the feeling that it has also some connection with the result of the recent drive against licence defaulters. Listeners who had sets without licences were obviously not disposed to draw attention to the fact by making complaints of interference but once they were obliged to meet the licence obligation they were more inclined to become voluble about the quality of reception than the listener who always paid his licence fee. Whether or not this is part of the cause of the increased volume of complaints of interference it is the fact that the problem is now of greater dimensions than before. The House will appreciate that the broadcasting service does not itself cause the interference and equally with listeners it has a grievance that such interference is occurring. Listeners, however, turn to the broadcasting authorities, or more precisely to the Post Office which collects the licence fees, to request relief from their trouble and we are anxious to help them as much as possible.
As Deputies may have observed in the Press the British authorities took legislative powers recently to deal with this matter. I am sure they disliked having to take these compulsory powers and we, too, would much prefer if we could rely on voluntary co-operation to reduce or eliminate interference. Compulsory powers involve the creation of an inspectorial organisation with the right to search for offending apparatus and to institute prosecutions if remedial measures are not applied. Nobody wishes to have to invade the sanctity of the home in that way if it can be avoided. It will be realised, too, that legislation in itself does not remedy a single source of interference. What it does mean is that interference by electrical apparatus is removed by compulsion instead of by voluntary co-operation. We would obviously prefer co-operation. Our engineering officers are at present engaged in the job of improving the organisation for locating apparatus causing interference, and where such apparatus is located we sincerely hope and expect that the owners of it will take steps to have fittings added which will improve matters. Generally, these fittings are quite inexpensive. It will be realised that it is sometimes a difficult job to locate the source of interference in an area when I say that such items as domestic electric irons and even electric bed warmers can cause interference over an appreciable area. The full co-operation of set owners will also be needed.
When reception is marred by noise, listeners should not assume at once that electrical equipment is causing it and write to the Post Office. The trouble may be in the set itself or may be due to an ineffective earth or aerial. Listeners should have their sets examined before they complain of interference. Further, when listeners in a district are pretty sure that some piece of local electric apparatus is causing interference, they can often secure the co-operation of the owner in effecting a remedy without coming to the Post Office. There is bound to be a time lag in looking into these complaints and naturally priority will be given to those areas in which a number of complaints makes it reasonably certain that the interference is coming from outside sources and is serious. The Department would be obliged, therefore, if everything possible is done to ensure that complaints are made only when the owner of the set is reasonably sure that everything is in order in connection with the set and that the interference is occurring with his neighbour's reception as well as with his own.
I should now like to give the House some information of the activities of the broadcasting station during the past year. The reorganisation of the programme sections to which I referred in the last Estimate has now been firmly established. The changes in the main took the form of having staff personnel such as actors, producers and script writers, employed permanently in the station instead of engaging persons specially for each production as it took place. The change to permanent staff has been an undoubted success. In fact, it would have been practically impossible to have carried on broadcasting for much longer under the old system of ad hoc engagements. These new staff sections have been firmly integrated into the structure of Radio Éireann, and the new officers thoroughly trained in radio techniques.
Deputies will appreciate that the making of a competent and resourceful radio officer is a relatively long and difficult task, because the type of work they have to do is still unusual, radio being as yet the youngest of the media of mass-communication, if we except television. Further, we have not in Radio Éireann, as other countries have in their broadcasting organisations, professional school which exist solely to teach newcomers the elements of their craft before they engage in the practice of it. Again, some of these new sections and appointments represented new sorts of activity, which had not previously been attempted by Radio Éireann; so that it was necessary to establish new routines and methods in connection with them. Such of the new staff as were not already experienced in broadcasting have been given an exact and fruitful training and their contribution to the general improvement of programmes is such as was expected when they were appointed. On occasions such as the recent Easter programmes, the advantages were manifest of having professional staff constantly available instead of depending on odd job people. The combination of the sacred season, the national celebrations and the holidays, constituted a demand greater, probably, than any single demand formerly made on the broadcasting service. Almost the entire resources of Radio Éireann had to be thrown into the effort, and the staff were extended to the fullest. The job was done, but it could not have been done with the type of organisation the station had to depend on up to 1947.
In 1948 I told you that we had got a recording unit with van for recordings away from the station. This is a form of activity that Radio Éireann did not engage in previously. A second recording van was delivered during the year and we now have two groups of officers, each group consisting of an outside broadcasts officer with an engineer—and sometimes a scriptwriter or descriptive news-writer—constantly moving about the country in search of programme material of all sorts, from folk songs to news stories. Some of the Deputies will have first-hand knowledge of the work of this section in collecting traditional lore, reporting local and national celebrations, recording talent for the programme heads to judge, and building actuality features about such enterprises as rural electrification, parish guilds, etc. The coverage given to the '98 celebrations would not have been possible without these vans, nor would the intensive search just begun, for authentic Gaeltacht material to put into the programmes. I regard the work done in this field as a most important recent development, important for ourselves at home, because it gives a freer public utterance to Irishmen and women throughout the country; and important for the prestige and good relations of the country with its neighbours, because in the course of it we are enabled to assist British, French, Swiss and other broadcasting bodies in reporting Irish life and affairs to their listeners. Co-operation with foreign broadcasting organisations extends, of course, beyond mere recording work and is an increasingly important aspect of Irish broadcasting.
Unfortunately, the station has not the staff, studios or equipment to enable it to co-operate with other countries to the extent which is desirable, but we have given and received assistance to a greater extent than ever before—studio facilities, use of recording vans, exchanges of programmes, simultaneous broadcasts and so forth. To me, this seems a very healthy thing and something which we should encourage and promote, by every means, primarily by the strengthening of Radio Éireann's resources. Apart from the opportunities which such activities give to our officers, to compare their work with that of other countries, there are the broader benefits, first of friendly contact between men of one craft but different nationalities and second of interpreting Irish affairs to foreign listeners. The House will, no doubt, be glad to know that, despite our relatively modest resources of men, money and equipment, we have many times been thanked for our assistance by national and international bodies.
Since I am speaking of foreign relations, I may remark here that we continued in the past 12 months the policy of engaging eminent foreign conductors, for short periods each, to direct our symphony orchestra. The orchestra, like other units of Radio Éireann, has strengthened its position and absorbed its new talent to a gratifying extent, and the works played at the twice-weekly concerts in the Phoenix Hall and broadcast to the nation have been of an impressive range, and have, in the opinion of competent critics, received performances of good quality.
Experiments have been made in the association of the symphony orchestra with choral bodies, such as Cór Radio Éireann, and with the Repertory Company of Players. The orchestra has also been employed, as in former years, to give young Irish musicians experience in conducting, and to enable them to hear their compositions played by a professional team. They have also had the benefit of advice from the guest conductors. In this same sphere of classical music, a series of Saturday chamber music concerts was broadcast and in the series listeners were enabled to hear some of the finest small ensembles that have ever visited Ireland.
We did not, needless to remark, overlook the fact that a high proportion of the licence-holders demand entertainment of a lighter kind than is provided by classical concerts. Indeed, it is safe to say that in no previous year was so much attention given to the creation of programmes which would combine comedy, popular music and leading figures in the world of popular entertainment. So adventurously was this work undertaken that some of the most popular features were temporarily suspended to make room for new, and in some cases more ambitious, projects. The vindication of our confidence was that many of the new programmes have become as favoured as the old ones to which listeners had formed a certain attachment. There are more light programmes being broadcast this year than ever before, and the fact is, I believe, generally recognised. To this desirable situation, the new as well as the old sections of Radio Éireann have contributed. Among these is the light orchestra which, like its companion combination, has settled into the framework satisfactorily. In addition to the lightening of the programmes, practically every important sports event was broadcast or given special coverage in news reports.
Notwithstanding advances I have referred to in light entertainment, we would like to have further opportunities of catering for the varied tastes of listeners. Our broadcasting hours are somewhat restricted, so that in evolving new entertainments we are, as I indicated just now, sometimes compelled to "rest" others which still have a large following. I should at the same time mention, perhaps, that there are actually more programmes being broadcast in the same number of hours than was the case a year or two ago. Formerly, inadequate staffing and restricted financial resources sometimes made it necessary to spread material over longer periods than the material actually justified. With increased staff and some improvement in the financial situation, the time is used much more economically, in an artistic sense, and items get no more time than they can competitively secure. At the same time, broadcasters have been given somewhat improved conditions for their work, including in many instances higher fees, and in certain directions we have found it possible to draw on higher grades of artists and to stimulate new talent more effectively by more numerous and better-rewarded competitions.
The news service is another section which has been enriched with additional resources, and has profited thereby. The sources of international news satisfactorily covered and adequately checked have been increased, and this advance and others have made our news bulletins notably efficient.
I should now like to turn to the broader aspects of broadcasting. When I brought the last Broadcasting Estimate before the House, I said that one of our main problems was insufficiency and unsuitability of accommodation. The broadcasting studios are situated in a corner of the G.P.O. building, in makeshift studios which were not designed for broadcasting purposes. The space it is occupying is at the same time making most serious inroads on the accommodation needed for its primary purpose of catering for the multifarious post office activities. A new broadcasting house is an essential thing, but as I mentioned before that must be a long-term solution because of the magnitude of the job and its cost. To give some relief to broadcasting, however, it has been found necessary to encroach further into the G.P.O. building and plans have been made to provide some small additional studio space there. This is not, of course, a solution to the broadcasting studio question, but it is the best that can be done for the present. A second small hall is being provided at Portobello Bridge for the performance of works by the light orchestra and it is hoped that it will shortly be ready for regular broadcasts.
A further important matter I referred to in my first Estimate was the need for a second programme independent of that radiated from the transmitters at Athlone, Dublin and Cork, in order that we might be in a position broadly to separate the heavier from the lighter type of programme. I said that as well as accommodation this involved wavelengths and money. Since last year's Estimate, the delegation we sent to the European Broadcasting Conference at Copenhagen returned, having succeeded in obtaining a wavelength additional to the main Athlone wavelength on which a second programme could be transmitted. Though the power authorised for the extra wavelength is less than that for Athlone, the obtaining of a second main wavelength was a distinct achievement, in view of the pressure by the Nations of Europe for wavelength accommodation. Seven nations declined to sign the Copenhagen Convention and Plan because of dissatisfaction with the wavelengths allotted to them. There are many complicated technical problems connected with the utilisation of the second wavelength to the best advantage and of course heavy expenditure would be involved in providing a new transmitter or perhaps transmitters and additional staffing organisation. The difficulty of providing suitable studio accommodation for the needs of a second programme also remains still. I cannot, therefore, say more on this matter of a second programme than to tell the House that it is our ambition to have such a programme when conditions make it feasible, and that the problem is being examined in all its aspects.
While these problems, such as accommodation, persist, listeners cannot expect such perfectly produced programmes as it is possible to give from broadcasting organisations which have studios and equipment of the most up-to-date design. I hope that people who are inclined to complain about the technical quality of our programmes will reflect on the severe handicaps under which the director is operating.
When I spoke 12 months ago on this Estimate I said that I believed in giving the broadcasting staffs the widest possible measure of freedom to do their job in the way they thought it could best be done. These officers were selected for their particular posts because of their expert qualifications and it appeared to me that the less interference there was with them in their day-to-day work the better it would be for the broadcasting programmes. I also said that I thought it would be a good thing if talks and discussions were permitted more freely on matters with an element of controversy. I still hold these views. The broadcasting programme officers have availed themselves of the freedom which I said they should have in their work and many matters of live interest were discussed before the microphone during the year which would have been frowned upon in the past. Controversial talks cause irritation—there would be no element of controversy if everybody were satisfied with what had been said—but I think, on the whole, it is better to risk irritation and have live subjects of discussion than to play entirely for safety at the expense of interest.
The House will expect me to refer to the question of the shortwave station. I said last year that we had financial commitments which we considered more important than shortwave broadcasting and that during that year at least it was better to concentrate on trying to improve the lot of our people. Another important consideration was the availability, for use by the station, of wavelengths which are suitable for the service and are also free from jamming or interference by other radio stations.
Actually we have wavelengths registered which we are entitled to use immediately, but the international agreement under which they are registered is one that was entered into before the recent world war and at present the actual position of the short-wave broadcasting wavelengths is chaotic. However, we now have some reasons to believe that we would be able, by making agreements with a few countries, to obtain the use of some reasonably good wavelengths, which might enable us to give a satisfactory service, particularly to North America, between now and 1951, in which year it is hoped that a new and satisfactory world-wide plan will be brought into force. There are many difficult questions, financial, technical, accommodation and on the programme side, involved in any scheme for short-wave broadcasting. These are being examined, but no proposals for expenditure this year, other than that required to keep the station in good order, are included in the Estimate.
I have referred to the new short-wave broadcasting wavelength plan that it is hoped will come into force in 1951. A world-wide conference to draw up this new plan was held in Mexico City, starting last autumn and finishing some months ago. I said last year that if the station were still in existence in the autumn of that year, we would send a delegation to this Mexico City Conference. We did send a representative to Mexico City and he has only recently returned. An agreement was drawn up there and a plan adopted— or I should say the basis of a plan. Ireland is included in this basic plan for some wavelength accommodation. The whole plan has highly technical considerations but I shall try to explained the position to the House in the layman's language in which it was explained to me. The same set of wavelengths is not suitable for broadcasting from a station to a particular world area for the whole year and the requirements also differ from year to year. This is because of the effect of sun-spot activity on wireless waves. The basic plan gave to the various countries a certain number of channels in which to broadcast during stated hours to the various points and it also fixed the frequencies suitable for one particular period.
To complete the plan it will be necessary to allot frequencies which will be suitable for five other periods up to 1952. This task will be undertaken by a committee in Paris and the allocation for a complete plan will come before the World Shortwave Conference fixed for Italy in October, 1949. No country is bound by the basic plan until a complete plan has been formulated and accepted. I should say here that while the basic plan and agreement were signed on behalf of 50 nations at the Mexico City Conference the United States and the U.S.S.R. were among the 18 nations which did not sign. It is not expected that the Mexico City plan, if completed and approved in Italy, can come into operation until about the middle of 1951.
In view of the developments since this time last year it has recently been decided to begin short-wave broadcast transmissions to the U.S.A. and Canada as soon as it is practicable to do so. For a beginning it will be possible only to provide a short programme daily consisting mainly of news and news talks. It is not possible to say at this stage when these transmissions will begin but it is hoped it will be in a few months' time. Nothing beyond this purely emergency type of programme of short duration can be undertaken until the service has got equipment, studio accommodation and staff organisation of a kind essential for modern broadcasting. It will probably be necessary to introduce a Supplementary Estimate to cover the expenditure to be incurred during the present financial year because, as I said already, the only money for the short-wave station provided in this Estimate is a small sum sufficient to keep the station in good order.
Before I close I wish to thank the members of the Broadcasting Advisory Committee for the work they are doing for broadcasting in coming in a voluntary capacity to the station for monthly meetings—as well as for sub-committee meetings in between—to give the service the benefit of their cultural, educational and entertainment experience, in suggesting policy for programmes. I also would like to express my appreciation of the work of the director and his staff. Only a person in official touch with Radio Éireann can realise the day-to-day problems that confront the staff of a small broadcasting organisation with restricted resources. The programme must start over the air on level terms with those of the best equipped stations, as listeners obviously have no opportunity or disposition to go behind the microphone to see the circumstances in which a particular programme has to be provided. To the listener the programme is just good or poor, and the conditions which produce the result are no real concern of his. That many of the Radio Éireann programmes are placed in the good category is due in no small part to the diligence of the director and the programme staffs in making the best of moderate resources. I thank them for their untiring work during the year.
