Posted by Peter
I’ve just been reading Ann Blainey’s new biography about the Australian opera singer Nellie Melba [1]. Melba did a number of notable things in her life but one aspect of her career that struck me was her embrace of new technologies especially radio. She made her first recordings in 1904 and was one of the first recording superstars of the modern era. In 1906 one of her performances was relayed by electrophone from Naples to London and heard by the King and Queen. Her “farewell” of 1926 at Covent Garden concert was broadcast and recorded (she did a lot of “farewell” concerts – bit like Barbara Streisand but better at Bel Canto than Babs) That was the first broadcast /recording made outside a studio.
An earlier landmark was in 1920 when she made what is regarded as the first live radio concert broadcast. It was a publicity stunt set up by the Marconi Company that had just established itself in England at Chelmsford. She was heard in Paris, Stockholm, Warsaw and Malta. There were precious few radio sets in existence at the time and hearing was mostly done with headphones. But here it was, live music on the wireless. And live music from the Madonna of her day even if she was definitely past her prime by 1920. But most music in the early days of radio was live and NZ was no exception.
One reason for this was that the NZ 1925 Radio Regulations were interpreted to mean that recordings could only comprise a maximum of 25 per cent of transmission time. Broadcaster Ken Collins later wrote that “this was to ensure that local talent was properly fostered.” [2] Given the state of radio in 1925 this is highly unlikely. It’s more likely that the recording industry, fearful of radio and its effect on sales, lobbied to have this clause in the regulations. The recording industry initially regarded radio with suspicion. After all, if people heard records on the radio, why would they bother buying them? After a certain amount of argy bargy the two industries happily settled into the peaceful symbiotic relationship that prevails today. Recordings provide radio content and radio provides exposure for recordings so everyone is happy.
Another reason for the dominance of live music being broadcast was that electric pickups only became available in NZ in 1928 and were only in widespread use by 1930. Until then, recordings were broadcast by holding a microphone next to the gramophone and this resulted in very poor quality sound.
Finding enough competent musicians to supply this music and also the money to pay them was a problem for NZ’s Radio Broadcasting Company. The problem for listeners was that there was a lack of variety in the broadcasts and the quality of the performers varied. One Marlborough listener wrote to the Radio Record (the NZ Listener of its day) that: “Our local artists are quite good, some quite first class, a good many quite second rate, but I think all must agree the artists to be heard from gramophone records are nearly all 100 per cent excellent.” [3] Live relays of dance bands from nightclubs were popular and added variety as did relays of cinema orchestras.
It all sounds good fun to me. No doubt many of the amateur musicians who got roped in to fill airtime by the RBC were of dubious quality [4] Oh yes. But I personally quite enjoy hearing people making music who aren’t necessarily jaded professionals. It’s a shame in some ways that we tend to regard musos as specialist practitioners of an arcane and complex art. I think enthusiasm can be more enjoyable that technical proficiency. Not always but often.
Which is a roundabout way of getting to pre-recording and automation. Liveness is one of the defining and distinctive features of the medium but one that is often ignored in favour of pre-recording and automation these days for economic reasons. It’s certainly far cheaper to automate/pre-record rather than pay people money to be on air at all times. Fair enough. I cut my teeth on an early automated station in Auckland. But to me it lessens the power of radio as a form of contact. It robs it of spontaneity and that’s one of the key characteristics of human communication. As Scannell pointed out: “The liveness of the world returns through the liveness of radio and television – their most fundamental common characteristic.” [5] I tend to feel a bit of disappointment when I realise a radio show is a pre-record. Liveness adds character and individuality to radio (onair mistakes are always amusing) Without it I might as well just listen to an iPod. Pre-recording/automation tends to make radio sound like sonic white bread. Always the same, tame, predictable and bland. But I’m old fashioned that way and as we all know the only truly persuasive arguments are economic ones. Ahem.
Anyway, let’s hear Nellie singing one of her signature tunes. And I see that the masters of her 1904 recordings have been found and reissued. Love to hear those!
Nellie Melba – Ah, fors’ è lui (Verdi, La Traviata, Act 1) (recorded 23 August 1910)
[1] Ann Blainey, I Am Melba: A Biography, Melbourne, 2008. A bit stodgy and Blainey claims Frances Alda as an Aussie singer. Shame! And let’s not forget Melba’s own delightfully unreliable memoirs: Nellie Melba, Melodies and Memories: The Autobiography of Nellie Melba, London, 1925. (See also the later edition annotated by John Cargher published in Melbourne in 1980).
[2] Ken G. Collins, Broadcasting Grave and Gay, Christchurch, 1967, p.25-6.
(A delightful book well worth a read)
[3] N.Z. Radio Record, 2 November 1928, p.24.
[4] George Bernard Shaw – “Hell is full of musical amateurs”
[5] Paddy Scannell, Radio, Television and Modern Life: A Phenomenological Approach, Oxford, 1996, p.172.
Posted by nzradio 
The joy of radio 