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Vol. IV . .

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No.9

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TI-IE

By THE

B.B.C. EDITOR

IDO not profess to understand what lies behind th e present campaign of the popular press against th e B.B.C. But I presume that, like most outbursts of moral indignation, i t arises from jealousy. I t , i : the duty of every reader of this paper to use any influence he may possess to combat the barba,rian attack which has suddenly been launched ail along t,he line. Here is a hee-haw from a jackass with exceptionally long ears who caUs himself "A Listener" and whose brays are published on the chief page of the Daily Mirror of Janua.ry 15th: " Instead of bright musical comedy selections that always appeal we are treated to an excess of the symphonic, and modern English composers have been crowded out by ancient Germans, Austria,ns, and Russians . . . . I f the B.B.C. can regain the intima.te human touch i t had when broadcasting began and make om- evenings bright with English songs and melodies, instead of the excessively intricate compositions of ancient foreigners, a boom in wireless will come again."

Quite what a boom in wireless means I do not know, but I presume i t means that a hundred thousand cretins like the author of this article will waste t,heir money in buying new gadgets to deal with the selections from modern English musical comedy, which are to fill the ether when dance music is not being played. The action of the popular press in arming these criminal lunatics to help them in a campaign aga.inst the B.B.C. is, with the exception of the vj]e persona.] attack on Venizelos in 1922, the most cynica.l abuse of power in which i t has hitherto indulged itself. The B.B.C. has had to cont·end with hostility on all sides and that at the present moment i t is able to offer evel'y day a programme of such remarkable va.riety, interest, a.nd utility, mURt be regaJ.'ded as an unqua.lified triumph. I have hardly ever read in the pres8 a tribute to what i t has achieved, outside, of course, the pages of the Radio Times, and even thcre the B.B.C. has shown itself ext,remely sparing of self-praise.