Saltus Grammar School - Yearbook (Hamilton, Bermuda)

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7 Mr. M. R. Stevens supported the motion on two grounds. First, commercial broadcasting rested essentially on the advertising, and, however good the programme, it was likely to be spoiled by the puerile presentation of the advertisement, which jarred the intellect, and tended to set up a conflict of ideas. Secondly, he felt that it tended to lower the standard of taste by playing down to the lowest common denomina- tor: one of the functions of broadcasting should be to raise the stan- dard of appreciation, and this was more likely to be achieved by the carefully balanced programmes of the B.B.C. He denied that state broadcasting meant dictatorship: there were too many safeguards. Mr. Mmmdrill opposed commercial broadcasting simply on tlie grounds of intompatibility. Commercial broadcasting rested entirely on financial considerations, but you couldn ' t buy culture; the two things didn ' t mix. There also spoke: H. G. F. Pierce, C. G. Russell, R. C. Stubbs, C. W. Kempe. and W. Hanlon. The motion was carried by a margin of 21 votes. At the conclusion of the debate, tea was served in the library. ♦ In lighter vein was the meeting of November 20th, the occasion of a successful innovation, — Talk yourself out of that. Each of ten chosen speakers was in turn confronted with an awkward situation fiom which he was required to extricate himself to the satisfaction of the rest of the members together constituting a panel of judges. One of the more amusing evasions was that of A. J. B. Davidson. His neighbour accused his nice little dog of killing three prize bantams; the dog had been found with blood in the mouth and feathers hanging from the ears. Talk yourself out of that! He explained that he had recently acquired a new gun, and his dog had accompanied him on the hunting expedition to try out the gun. It had been a very successful expedition, and his dog had got a bit messed up retrieving the birds which he had shot. Also ingenious was the way in which H. G. F. Pierce explained away a situation on the Queen of Bermuda. He had been found with- out a ticket in one of the lifeboats, and the Captain charged him with being a stowaway on the Queen. He claimed to have been a visitor seeing friends off, but he himself had failed to get off in time; then he had lost his head a bit, and fearing that he might be charged as a stowaway he had made for a lifeboat, for it seemed to him that there he wouldn ' t be on the Queen at all but on a separate boat, so how could he be a stowaway?

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6 ' But she was not really concerned with the question of ways and means. Her objections to commercial broadcasting might be consid- ered under four main heads. First came aesthetic considerations: advertisements were often presented in a way which amounted to an insult to the aesthetic sense. Next came the time element; in commercial broadcasting time meant money; you couldn ' t deprive the next man of one second of his advertising time, and so programmes tended to be rigidly cut up into short periods, and were produced against a background of hurry. Then there was the question of juxtaposition: commercial broad- casting was apt to produce an unsuitable sequence in the programme, one was hurried in a disconcerting manner from a guitar solo to a re- ligious service. And this brought her to the fourth point: in commercial broad- casting constructive policy was lacking because every other considera- tion gave way to that of publicity; it was the advertising tail that wagged the radio dog. Mr. J. R. Plowman speaking fourth, said that the alternative to commercial broadcasting was the virtual dictatorship of state broad- casting, and in this connection it might be pointed out that the financial position of the B.B.C. was not quite so simple as had been suggested, for its revenue was subject to the control of the Government, who might at any time divert some part of the revenue to some other uses. He would not deny that commercial broadcasting had its faults, but they were outweighed by the advantages. It provided greater variety for the listener: In New York there were twenty different programmes, catering for all tastes, which was impossible in London, confined to its three B.B.C. programmes. It was a more flexible system because it had more money with which to achieve its aim of giving the public what they really wanted; the public didn ' t want to be forcibly educated, but to be entertained. If broadcasting in Bermuda got into the hands of the Government there would very soon be only one pro- gramme, continually subject to the criticism of economy-minded Assemblymen. Radio programmes should provide for as many different tastes as possible; the more programmes there were, the more likely it was that tliis objective would be reached, and it was commercial broadcasting that multiplied the number of programmes. Advertisement announce- ments were of course a necessary part of it, but these took up only a few minutes of each hour, and the listener had ready protection against them — a turn of the switch.

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8 Other meetings held Vv ere as follows: October 30th. — Debate — This House would ban the private use of cars and autocycles in Bermuda. Proposer B. E. Wheelwright Opposer G. H. Grayston Third Mr. Stevens Fourth Mr. Maundrill The motion was carried by a margin of thirteen votes. February 12th — Debate — This House would welcome the introduc- tion in Bermuda of a system of Party Government following the English tra- dition. Proposer C. W. Kempe Opposer Mr. Stevens Third F. R. Snape Fourth J. M. Berridge The motion was defeated by a margin of sixteen votes. March Sth — ;Diebate — This Hows wud supawt the introdukshiin of a sistum of simplyfyd spelling. Proposer C. W. Kempe Opposer F. R. Snape Third „ Mr. Maundrill Fourth D. B. V ingate The motion was defeated by a margin of five votes. October 9th and January 22nd — Hat Debates Subjects picked from the hat included: Homework, Music, The square on the hypotenuse , Elder brothers, Younger sisters, Barber ' s shop, Medicine, Mice, Z.B.M., Tourists, Infinity. The Society owes much to the continued help and co-operation of Mr. Stevens and Mr. Maundrill and we wish to express our apprecia- tion. OFFICERS FOR THE SEASON 1952-1953 President — Mr. J. H. Kerry Secretary D. B. Wi gate COMMITTEE G. H. Grayston, C. W. Kempe, M. G. Marsh, B. E. Wheelwright, D. B. Wingate. J. H. K.