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Both the B.B.C. and Radio Malaya supply schools with specially printed postcards for this purpose.
84. The reports which will be received in this way must not be regarded as an infallible guide. They can be fairly well trusted in their comments on quality of reception, speed of delivery and suitability of vocabulary, but their more general comments are likely to be more flattering than the broadcasts deserve. If the comments show some warmth of enthusiasm it can be accepted that the broadcast was a success, but if they simply say "interesting" or "good" one can be sure only that the broadcast was not a failure.
85. A mistake into which some radio producers fall is that an adverse criticism is regarded as cancelled out by a favourable criticism; this is not so of course if the broadcast was a failure in one classroom this state of affairs is not affected by its success in another.
Equipment of Schools.
86. There are two alternative methods of equipping schools with receiving apparatus. Either ordinary radio receivers can be installed or the schools can be connected with a wire relay system like that about to be constructed in Hong Kong.
87.
The advantages of radio receivers are that the school has freedom to tune to whatever station it wishes, and that it is not dependent on an inter- mediate agency which has to bear in mind other subscribers and also commercial sponsors.
88. The disadvantages are that the quality of reception is uncertain and is susceptible to 'interference'; tuning requires a small modicum of skill which is not possessed by everybody; an outside aerial is desirable although not always essential; the set requires maintenance which is a recurrent although small expense, and occasionally it may break down. (See also paras. 49, 50, 51 above on the quality of receivers.) In the alternative system the school is attached by wire to a rediffusion station, which relays local and other broad- casting stations and programmes originated in its own studios. I understand from the representative of the company which has received a licence to operate such a system in Hong Kong, that his service will be in operation by 1st January, 1949, that either of two programmes will be receivable by a sub- scriber according to how he operates a switch, and that the company will be prepared to rediffuse whatever schools broadcasts are transmitted for Anglo- Chinese and Vernacular Schools, so long as they are not within hours during which the company will wish to broadcast programmes for a wide general public (e.g. lunch-time programmes or morning broadcasts for housewives.)
89. I understand too that the company would be prepared not to charge schools for relaying the schools programme to them, but would charge for the cost of connecting the schools to their system and for the installation of loudspeakers.
90.
The most satisfactory arrangement within the school itself is for every classroom to be wired so that a loudspeaker can be plugged in whenever it is desired to listen to a broadcast. There is then no need for a class to move to the hall or some other central listening room. Between two and four loudspeakers are sufficient for each school. The circuit is connected either to a receiving set in the Principal's office or to the rediffusion system.
91. Loudspeakers should be tested before purchase. For school use it is usually best to purchase a chassis, mount it on a baffleboard and fit it with a volume-control.
92. I recommend that the Northcote Training College should be wired in all its classrooms and connected to the rediffusion system so that the quality of the system and the loudspeakers may be judged, and experience may be gained in the most satisfactory method of wiring a school.