I move:
Go ndeontar suim ná raghaidh thar £26,280 chun slánuithe na suime is gá chun íoctha an Mhuirir a thiocfaidh chun bheith iníoctha i rith na bliana dar críoch an 31adh lá de Mhárta, 1944, chun Tuarastail agus Costaisí eile i dtaobh Fóirleatha Nea-Shreangaigh (Uimh. 45 de 1926).
That a sum, not exceeding £26,280, be granted to complete the sum necessary to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending the 31st day of March, 1944, for Salaries and other Expenses in connection with Wireless Broadcasting (No. 45 of 1926).
The Estimate for the Broadcasting Service for the current financial year, 1943-44, amounts to £78,880, a net increase of £8,773 on the provision for last year. The main increase is under sub-head A and amounts to £6,725. This is due principally to the additional cost of the orchestra, for the augmentation of which I have already secured the authority of the Dáil in connection with the Supplementary Broadcasting Estimate presented on 26th November last; also to the filling of the directorship; to staff incremental increases; to provision for increased bonus and for an additional week's wages (53 pay days in the current year); etc. There is an increase of £2,388 under sub-head B, due almost wholly to extra provision for artists' fees, establishment of a radio choir, etc.
Sub-head E shows a decrease of £230 due to economies in power consumption, called for by emergency conditions. There is a decrease of £240 under sub-head F, the result of the curtailment of maintenance and renewal works by reason of difficulties in obtaining replacement stores. The variations under the other sub-heads are of a minor character not calling for comment.
Revenue from wireless licences in the financial year ended 31st March last amounted to approximately £106,000, and from advertisements, etc. to approximately £2,500, a total of £108,500. This represents a decrease of about £2,900 on the revenue for the previous year caused by a drop in the number of licences held by listeners.
The total number of licences on 31st March last was 167,671, a decrease of 6,879 on the figures for the corresponding date in 1942. The current figure is 168,236. Although the decrease in the number of licences is to be regretted, it is not altogether surprising considering the general circumstances of the times. In this connection I am glad to be able to report that many persons whose sets had been inoperable through inability to obtain batteries have responded to the advice which I gave last year that they should arrange for storage of their sets with wireless dealers or traders or other licence holders while the battery difficulty continues. The arrangement has been mutually advantageous: it has relieved the owners of inoperable sets of all liability in regard to the taking out of licences and it has obviated the necessity for legal proceedings by the Department against defaulters. I anticipate that revenue during the current year is not likely to. exceed a total of £104,700. The estimated total expenditure in the current year, including expenditure by other Departments on services rendered to broadcasting amounts to £109,295. The estimated deficit is, of course, the result of the fall in licences, the additional outlay in the augmented orchestra and on the provision for artists' fees, etc., the circumstances in relation to which I explained broadly when submitting the Supplementary Estimate in November last. Further, we take no credit in our receipts for services rendered to other Government Departments.
The station orchestra has been increased from 28 to 40. Some little time may elapse before the full advantage of this increase will be felt, but since the augmentation there has been a noticeable improvement in the range, as well as in the quality of the musical programmes performed.
The radio choir to which I have already referred was selected early this year. It consists of 24 members and remuneration is on an engagement basis. Its first broadcast was given in June last under the baton of Sir Hugh Roberton, the well-known conductor of the Glasgow Orpheus Choir, to whom we are under a deep debt of gratitude for advice and co-operation in selecting the choir, in giving it its first training and in many other ways. At present the choir is being used in programmes of miscellaneous part-songs, but after a time when it has had more experience and practice in functioning as a unit it is intended to use it for the production of operas, choral and orchestral works and other special performances.
During the year the policy of giving; in public, fortnightly symphony concerts with the Radio Eireann orchestra, augmented by players from outside the station, was continued with noteworthy success. In the period from October to March ten such concerts were given in the Mansion House, Dublin, and in April the final concert of the 1942-43 season was given in the Gaiety Theatre. The concerts in the Mansion House were packed to capacity and the demand for tickets for the final concert in the Gaiety Theatre was so great that it was found necessary to arrange for a repeat performance in the Mansion House on the following night. The success attending these concerts, which in the first instance were undertaken with some trepidation, was most gratifying and points to a keen public interest in good music.
As Deputies are probably aware, the accommodation in the Mansion House was inadequate for the large audiences desiring to attend these concerts, and we decided to procure accommodation elsewhere. Our concerts are, therefore, being given during the current season on Sunday afternoons in the Capitol Theatre which is capable of housing close on 2,000. The two concerts already held show that the public interest is definitely being maintained—there was not, in fact, sufficient accommodation for all who desired to attend the first concert of the season. In this connection, I feel that a special word of praise is due to the orchestra for its hard work during the year. I do not wish to single out any one section for mention. There has been a notable improvement in all sections, and to their efforts largely—and to the efforts of the conductor—are due the entertainment and education made available to the general public through these symphony concerts.
In order to develop the art of music in this country, it is not sufficient merely to give a lead in Dublin, the capital city, and expect the country will follow. The country clearly should make its own effort. If it does not do so, there can be no sound indication of the general direction of the Irish musical genius, and decisions as to policy in regard to programme building, must, as a result, be arbitrary and therefore liable to error in the long run. Music making in the country is of as great importance as music making in Dublin, especially where the need is so pressing for the expansion of cultural activities.
With this in mind, a policy has been developed of encouraging musical organisations in places outside Dublin to arrange series of concerts of good music, and employ the best artists available in the country. Radio Eireann agreed to relay a portion of each of these concerts at a specially increased fee. As a result, concerts were given by the Waterford Music Club, the University Graduates' Club, Cork, the Sligo Operatic Society, the Limerick Music Club, the Wexford Theatre Guild, and in Galway. Also, in collaboration with Radio Eireann, the Keating Branch of the Gaelic League organised two choral and instrumental concerts in the Gresham Hotel, Dublin.
In the studio were given series of informative and educational programmes. All the orchestral instruments were featured in a series in which the history of the evolution of each instrument was given, together with a short recital showing its capabilities and an indication of its place in the orchestra. During the winter of 1942-43, and again recently, we had a series of choral broadcasts by the Glasgow Orpheus Choir. The choir was under its conductor, Sir Hugh Roberton, who gave a short lecture with each recital. Several broadcasts were devoted to the work of Bunting in collecting and noting our traditional airs, and a special series is again being devoted to his life work in this, his centenary year. Fifteen lectures, illustrated by the Radio Eireann Orchestra, and by gramophone records, were given on the appreciation of good music. These were directed especially to children.
All the best writers of Lieder were represented by series of programmes and several broadcasts were devoted to those songs of Thomas Moore which have been somewhat neglected in recent years.
During the year the Dublin Operatic Society and the Dublin Grand Opera Society were assisted by members of the Radio Eireann Orchestra and selected items from their productions were broadcast. Other musical organisations whose performances were broadcast include the Musical Art Society, the Dublin String Orchestra, the Dublin Orchestral Players, and the University Arts Society, Cork, the Cork Municipal School of Music Choir and Orchestra, the Newry Light Orchestra, etc.
Due prominence in the programme was given to broadcasts of Irish traditional music. The broadcasts were on much the same lines as the previous year, namely, programmes of dance music by selected ceilidhe bands, monthly broadcasts of pipe bands, and various other programmes devoted exclusively to the singing and playing of Irish airs. The principal difficulty in the preparation of these programmes continues to be the dearth of suitable material—new compositions, new arrangements, published music, etc. We propose to improve this position somewhat in the present year by utilising the grant of money now available to commission the composition of pieces of music and the arrangement of Irish airs for dance programmes and for special features. But this improvement, if it is to be sound, must be slow, because we must be careful that the work selected for performance in the Station shall be a good example to others.
In the matter of recruitment of new talent it had been found, over a long period, that a great deal of time was spent in giving auditions to singers and instrumentalists whose standard of performance was much below any acceptable standard. It was decided, therefore, to require applicants for audition to furnish a recommendation from a teacher of music; in other words, to produce some evidence of training. It is hoped that this will enable us to limit auditions to those who are likely to produce suitable programme material, and also that the new policy in the matter of auditions will have the effect of bringing it home to aspirants to a musical reputation that talent by itself is not enough, but that assiduous study is necessary if the artist is to reach the level of performance which a nation-wide audience is entitled to expect. It is feared that hitherto many young artists have been inclined to look for assistance to the Broadcasting Station during the early stages of their careers, and to seek engagements with the object of applying the fees to tuition expenses or for the sake of the advertisement. Occasionally, too, societies, choral and other, look to the Broadcasting Station for engagements in order to keep the members together. While broadcasting is most anxious to give all possible assistance to every musical activity in the country, I would like to press the point that our cultural reputation is judged by what we radiate and that the only sound reason for seeking to broadcast is the feeling that the broadcaster has something good and worthy of inclusion in a national programme.
Broadcast talks and discussions covered all aspects of the national life and literature. In the course of the year we brought to the microphone scholars, writers, actors, journalists, clerics, sportsmen, globe-trotters, doctors, lawyers, agriculturists—in short, some out of every class of Irish men and visitors to Ireland.
As one of the many and varied activities of the talks department in 1942-43, fresh efforts were made to make the best use of broadcasting in connection with the national agricultural effort. In collaboration with the Department of Agriculture there was broadcast an interesting series of talks by experts in the various branches of agriculture. Talks of a similar nature have been resumed in the current season.
As to programmes in Irish, the guiding principle in the broadcasting of Irish is that it should proceed as if Irish were the vernacular of the whole country. In practice, this means that anything of interest to Irish people, whether it is or is not normally spoken of or written about in Irish, should be considered proper material for the programmes. The subjects thus ranged from the national movement and personal reminiscences of great nationalists to first-aid, travel, Irish scientists, books of the revival, orchestral music and local history.
Those who are not strong in Irish will find some of the programmes between the hours of 6 and 6.40 p.m. for young people very helpful—notably "Question Time" and a feature of which the English title would be "At Home and Abroad". We contemplate broadcasting in the near future a series of stories in simple Irish which will, it is hoped, be of some help to learners, or to those who have been getting out of touch with the language and wish to brush up their knowledge.
So far as propaganda for Irish is concerned, every opportunity is given and will be given to leaders of the various movements—Gaelic League, Dáil Uladh, Oireachtas, etc., to broadcast to the people in Irish or in English. We are hoping that it may be possible at an early date to broadcast in English a short series of talks on language movements in other countries where there is or was a two-language problem, but of course there is no country with a position exactly similar to ours. We also hope, as soon as suitable arrangements can be made, to devote about five minutes daily to the broadcast in English of excerpts from writings and speeches of importance dealing with the language question. This will be in the nature of an experiment to be reviewed after a period of a few months.
Radio plays and dramatisations occupied 139 hours of programme time in 1942. These were mainly station productions written specially for radio. The presentation by the Abbey Players and the Longford Players of plays which had been successful on the stage created unusual interest among listeners and evoked much praise, especially in the case of country listeners who live at such distances from the cities that they have not the opportunity of seeing these plays in the theatre.
The position with regard to variety programmes remains much as it was. We cannot disguise the fact that there is no considerable body of professional variety talent in this country and that what is available to the broadcasting service is merely a small amount of very mixed talent, mostly amateur, and generally below the desirable standard of merit. Our only hope of improvement in this branch of the programmes lies in the development of a distinctively Irish brand of variety entertainment and no amount of money can force the pace of such development. Every effort is made, of course, to encourage the talent that is available and to direct it along lines which, we feel, will make for its improvement.
There is from time to time an amount of criticism in the newspapers of wireless programmes and of the broadcasting service. The criticism has been, for the most part, of the kind which is usually produced by loose thinking, or which comes from people who are not regular listeners and are therefore not well informed. Criticism of this sort is of no help to anybody and is more likely to confuse and mislead the public than to help them to form reasonable judgments. Constructive criticism and suggestions from people who listen to the programmes and know what has been and is being broadcast is always welcome and is, in fact, of great assistance to those who have to build them. It will always be difficult to gauge with any accuracy the extent to which listeners approve and disapprove. While every item has its quota of listeners, it very rarely happens that a producer succeeds in pleasing everybody, if such an achievement is possible at all. It is for this reason that we have appealed from time to time to listeners to try to listen only to the broadcasts they think they will like and to regard the others as being meant for other listeners, whose tastes differ from their own. A marked contrast exists between city and country—and, of course, we must appeal to all. Broadcasting, of course, has the widest and most mixed audience and it is not surprising, therefore, that programmes which are to stand any chance of a favourable reception must be of a varied character containing, as far as possible, items which will appeal to each different taste. The problem of the programme-planner is to keep this fact in mind and, at the same time, to see to it that his programmes keep up to a certain intellectual level and contain all the ingredients which are desirable in a great national undertaking.
It remains for me finally to remind our critics of one very important consideration, namely, that there must necessarily be a definite policy covering the work of the station, and that we must always remember the responsibility of those in charge to ensure a high standard of entertainment, which will not be overridden by influences which are foreign to sound public taste. Whilst a wide variety of tastes must be allowed for, at the same time those responsible must bear in mind that national broadcasting involves heavy expenditure, and that no time must be wasted on what is silly, trivial, or degrading. A national station is on the air for the world to criticise, and Irish culture will be judged by its output. I have much more faith in the possibility of fostering a really all-round good taste in public entertainment than many of our critics.