Development of broadcasting

8. By 1907 the work of two men, John Fleming and Lee De Forest, had resulted in the development of a device to amplify and detect weak electrical signals - the vacuum tube (or valve as it was also known). This laid the foundation for radio-telephony and De Forest was quick to see the opportunities. His diary records the following comments "My present task is to distribute sweet melody broadcast over the city and sea …… someday the news and even advertising will be sent out over the wireless telephone"¹¹. Both radio telegraphy and radio telephony were used during World War I, but the military were slow to relinquish their hold on it for civilian applications. Even home construction of radio receivers was made difficult because valves were not freely available. It wasn't until the Post and Telegraph Amendment Act of 1920 that provision was made to licence receivers independent of transmitters, and this set the scene for broadcasting as we know it.
9. In 1921 a Wellington businessman, Charles Forrest, began transmitting gramophone recordings from a room in the Hope Gibbons building. Although he had no formal permit or licence he had a verbal understanding with the Chief Telegraph Engineer such that whenever his transmissions were causing reception problems at the nearby marine radio station, he would cease until the ship-to-shore communication was concluded. Professor Robert Jack of Otago University became the first licensed broadcaster when, on 17 November 1921, he transmitted the first of a series of concerts that included live music and gramophone recordings. His transmissions were heard as far afield as Auckland.
10. In July 1922 a radio station commenced in Wellington that was licensed to operate on a wavelength of 275 metres (~1000 kHz). The operators were even invited by the P & T to broadcast the 1922 election results. In 1923 the Government decided to promote private broadcasting and regulations were introduced which divided the country into regions, specified frequencies and transmitters powers, but banned advertising. The first station licensed under the new regulations was 1YA in Auckland. A licence, costing 5 shillings, was required to receive broadcast transmissions, and applicants had to supply a character reference and proof of British nationality.
11. Space does not permit a history of broadcasting in New Zealand, suffice to say that private broadcast stations (known as the 'B stations') flourished during the 1920's and 1930's. However the Broadcasting Act 1936 established state broadcasting under a new Government department, the National Broadcasting Service (NBS) and by the beginning of World War II all but two of the private stations had been purchased by the Government. Radio, and eventually television, broadcasting was largely to be the preserve of the Government for many years to come.

Footnotes

¹¹ The Radio Years - A History Of broadcasting In New Zealand, Patrick Day, Auckland University Press 1994, ISBN 1 86940 094 1.