House and home: entertainment
Now on in our exhibition space on the second floor of the Central Library is House and home: domestic life in New Zealand. This nostalgic exhibition, which will run until 30 October, explores the domestic side of New Zealand life before the 1980s. It looks at what made a house a home in New Zealand. Today we’re looking at entertainment in the home.
“Everyone was terribly excited over our crystal sets. I can see my father at night now. We had only one pair of earphones in the whole family, and he’d sit there – prick, prick, prick – all night, and then he’d lose it and there’d be some swear words and so on – and we’d beg him to let us listen, so he’d lend us half an earphone and he’d have one clasped to his ear (Edna Gyde in Voices in the air, Peter Downes & Peter Harcourt, 1976)."
New Zealand's first official television broadcast was made in 1960. No other country bought televisions at the rate New Zealanders did. By 1972, 96 percent of all homes that could receive a television signal had a television set. For its first 14 years, New Zealand television was a black and white world. On the 31 October 1973 colour television was introduced in readiness for the 1974 Christchurch Commonwealth Games. The first Telethon fundraiser was held in 1975, launching a second network channel (TV2). In 1989 TV3 became the first privately owned station, followed a year later by SKY Network Television which became the first pay television network.
Author: Annette, Sir George Grey Special Collections
Piano
Prior to gramophones, radio, televisions and computers,
pianos were, for many homes, the home entertainment centre. From the 1860s to
1916 they were New Zealand’s biggest luxury import. Sheet music was collected
as avidly as records and CDs were later.
“We used to have all the aunties playing together.
Sing-songs around the piano. I remember my uncle – he was killed in the First
World War – he had a beautiful tenor voice. I can remember him and Aunty Grace,
the youngest aunty, sitting at the piano, me between his legs, singing. And I
knew Scottish, Irish, English and everything else. I knew all the ballads (Piano
in the parlour, John MacGibbon, 2007).”
Radio
The first radio broadcast in New Zealand was made in 1921.
By 1922 there were 572 listening licences issued, increasing to 71,000 by 1931.
In 1932 the government decided to establish the New Zealand Broadcasting Board
and as a result radio broadcasting became a state enterprise.
Crystal radio sets were the first widely used type of radio
receiver. With very few parts, they needed no batteries or other power source,
and could be built out of things found around the house. In early receivers,
the detector was a ‘cat’s whisker’ that comprised a fine metal wire on an
adjustable arm that touched a semi-conducting mineral (the crystal). The
operator dragged the wire across the crystal surface until a radio station or
static sounds were heard in the earphones. Sold and homemade by the millions,
these inexpensive and reliable sets were a prior driving force in the introduction
of radio to the public.
Radio serials were at first described as ‘undesirable’ but
they soon became some of the most popular radio content. In a 1947 educational
research paper W. J. Scott listed the results of a survey of high school
pupils’ favourite radio serials. The top ten included Dad and Dave, On His
Majesty’s Service, The Phantom Drummer, The House of Peter MacGregor, Strange
Experiences, Jimmy Allen, Piccadilly, Easy Aces, Jezebel’s Daughter, and
Tradesman’s Entrance.
Television
Author: Annette, Sir George Grey Special Collections
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