Eps. 3 My Melancholy Duty

In this episode of The Station | Remembering 3GL, Rod McLure & Gary Newton delve into the impact of World War II on broadcasting, focusing on 3GL's role in informing and entertaining the community amidst wartime restrictions. From censorship challenges to wartime entertainment, explore radio's vital role during this tumultuous period.

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Transcript

Gary: 0:09

I'm Gary Newton, oh and with me of course today as usual, my co host Rod McClure. Hey Rod, how you doing? Welcome to episode three. So our sponsor for this podcast is Nature's Cuppa Organic Ceylon Tea. Thanks to the makers of Nature's Cuppa for supporting this project. Nature's Cuppa comes in a variety of different types. It's English breakfast, Earl Grey, chai, spiced tea, and they also have organic freeze dried Brazilian coffee. Ethical, sustainable, carbon neutral, tea the way nature intended. Now Rod, uh, this episode of the station, Remembering 3GL, we're going to be looking at the war years, of course the Second World War, and the effect that it had on broadcasting in Australia. Uh, focusing on the impact it had in particular on the Geelong Advertiser Station, 3GL. 3GL.

Rod: 0:57

That's right, Gary, and we've called this episode My Melancholy Duty because those were the words Prime Minister Robert Menzies used when he addressed the nation to announce that as Great Britain had declared war on Germany, Australia was also at war.

PM Menzies: 1:10

Here is the Prime Minister of Australia, the Right Honourable R. G. Menzies. Fellow Australians, it is my melancholy duty to inform you officially that in consequence of a persistence by Germany in her invasion of Poland, Great Britain has declared war upon her, and that as a result, Australia is also at war. No harder task can fall to the lot of a democratic leader than to make such an announcement. Great Britain and France, with the cooperation of the British Dominions, have struggled to avoid this tragedy. They have, as I firmly believe, been patient. They have kept the door of negotiation open. They have given no cause for aggression. But in the result, their efforts have failed. And we are therefore, as a great family of nations, involved in a struggle which we must, at all costs, win, And which we believe in our hearts, we will win.

Rod: 2:19

When I was scrolling through the reels of the Ultralong Advertisers, and interviewing a number of former 3GL employees, and sadly some of them are no longer with us, uh, I gathered a lot of anecdotal stories, and it's been interesting just to reflect on the media's role, and trying to find that balance between being a source of information, Still being a source of entertainment.

Gary: 2:42

Yeah, and while this episode will be focusing on 1939 to 1945, we won't be so much talking about battles won and lost overseas and that sort of thing. We'll try and explore how people at home were affected, how they got on with things and adjusted to having sons, daughters, mums and dads suddenly whisked away, and in many cases of course never to return, and how the media, in particular

Rod: 3:06

3GL, dealt with that. And radio, um, still being a relatively new medium in 1939, did have an important role to play. On the one hand, the wireless It helped keep people informed on how the war was unfolding, uh, censorship and regulations permitting, and on the other hand, it offered a form of escape, I guess, by keeping people in some ways still amused and entertained. Quite a juggling act.

Gary: 3:31

So Reg Gray and Jack Matthews, as 3GL's station manager and chief engineer, had the responsibility to see that 3GL, with its new transmitter and new studios, continued to be a service to the local community.

Rod: 3:44

And Reg, he recalled when I spoke to him back, uh, some years ago now that it wasn't easy at times knowing exactly what was permissible, uh, to broadcast and what wasn't. He said that one of the first things that happened was that, uh, two government officials came to the station and interviewed All the staff.

Gary: 4:01

Hmm. I believe that each station had to nominate a censor, and that person was responsible for taking messages from the military or government, and to ensure the person they were dealing with was legitimate. So they were given a, a, uh, a ticket. Different code word each week. Yeah,

Rod: 4:18

Reg said that, um, two government officials who came to the station gave him a, you know, a real grilling. They questioned him about his work and family background, and he said they were in his office for over an hour before he and Jack Matthews. were issued with passes and some kind of ID that would allow them into various locations. And although Jack said outdoor broadcasts, they were very limited. There was almost a paranoia about unauthorized people getting anywhere near a microphone.

Gary: 4:45

Jack also related on one occasion where, uh, the Erungul, I think it was, sank off the beach at Ocean Grove. He said all that they could ever say about it or would say about it over the air was that a ship was in trouble. They weren't allowed to name the ship or give any details about its location. Basically, as Jack said, we couldn't say much at all.

Rod: 5:04

Yeah, well, for some reason, perhaps because radio is more in the moment than newspaper coverage, the restrictions placed on radio stations, according to Reg and Jack, were much harsher than those applied to newspapers.

Gary: 5:16

Even the music had to be picked out in advance and set aside for a fortnight.

Rod: 5:20

Well, Reg, yeah, he did give a shake of his head and a bit of a laugh when he told me that story.

Gary: 5:26

Yeah, it was true though. There was some kind of theory, supposedly, according to Reg, that government intelligence believed some stations had played three or four records in a certain sequence, and this formed some kind of coded message for enemy submarines.

Rod: 5:41

Yeah, well, funny as it may sound, there were two stations, 4AT in Atherton and 2HD in Newcastle that had their licences suspended for breaching that regulation about playing their records in order and choosing the program in advance. Coincidentally, both those licences for those stations were held by the Jehovah's Witness.

Gary: 6:01

Now the change, whether by choice or government involvement, was that all commercial stations took their national news service on relay from the ABC. War time also had an impact on the music and entertainment featured on radio stations across the country. And

Rod: 6:17

Jack believed that had a lot to do with the American British troops that found themselves stationed here.

Gary: 6:23

Reg recalled that as more and more American troops arrived in Australia, music and radio programs featuring people like Bob Hope was sent from the United States to the American army bases. Someone at the army base would then forward them on to the local radio stations to play. Bob Hope! very much. Good evening. Are we still on?

Rod: 6:46

Jack said a similar thing happened, uh, with the British troops. In his words, we had a lot of stuff from the BB, C.

Gary: 6:53

This is the British Broadcasting Corporation.

Rod: 6:55

Jack recalled. They used to send us a great stack of 12 inch records.

Gary: 7:00

An interesting program with that was advertised in the Geelong Advertiser on December 28th, 1939, was called Nazi Spies in Australia, the enemy within perhaps a bit of propaganda involved, the Addie described the program as being. An amazing presentation, approved by the censor, which gives a true perspective of Nazi party activities in Australia. Listen to 3GL, 6. 45pm Monday, and hear how Nazi spies work in this country.

PM Menzies: 7:30

Death. They're lucky. For in Nazi Germany, there wouldn't even be a trial.

Rod: 7:35

There you go. And 3JOL also took the opportunity to provide listeners with the latest on the war front by taking on relay a live broadcast of the BBC news service from London and 3JOL advised listeners to listen. of this by placing an ad in the Drong Advertiser which said, Commencing tonight, the Winneray Sporting Results Session, which has been featured during the past six years over 3GL, promptly at 6. 45, will now be heard at 6. 30pm every Saturday. This alteration has been made so that the complete results can be given before presenting the BBC News Service from London at 7 o'clock. Interesting that the sporting results were still very important.

Gary: 8:15

Absolutely. You're talking about Australia here, brother. You know that, don't you? That's

PM Menzies: 8:19

right. This is London calling in the overseas service of the British Broadcasting Corporation. Here is the news.

Gary: 8:25

On a brighter and lighter note, the occasional outdoor broadcast still made its way onto the 3GL airwaves. One such event was an evening of entertainment broadcast from Bright's department store featuring popular old time band Phelan's Harmonica. Harmonists. Is that right? Harmonists. Not harmonicists. Harmonists. Okay. Uh, supported by community singing from members of Bright's staff. Oh, wow. Yeah. You can just imagine, you know, the staff from Bunnings doing that today. Singing in harmony. Yeah. Yeah. Lovely. And, uh, the broadcast was relayed to Station 3HA in Hamilton. So all the nice people in Hamilton, Hamilton got to, uh, hear that as well. Harmonists, yeah. Harmonists. Yes. The feeling. The

Rod: 9:06

feeling. Harmony. And let me see, there's other popular wartime entertainment, it included Stars and Overalls, and that was hosted by Eric Pierce, a familiar name to a lot of people, and Dorothy Crawford, and 3GL would have taken that on relay from Melbourne. Now, there was the

Gary: 9:23

P& A Parade, where professional and amateur artists competed against each other. Many of these shows were taken on relay from other stations. Reg explained that if a Geelong artist appeared on the P& A Parade, parade, they would come into the 3GL studio and their performance would be relayed to Melbourne.

Rod: 9:41

And I'm sure your spelling's pretty good, Gary, but there was a spelling program called You Spell, We Pay, and that was very popular.

Gary: 9:49

Even the, uh, even the Ford Motor Company got in on the act when in February 1940 it combined with 3GL and invited listeners to go on a tour of the Ford factory and inspect the new 1940 model.

Rod: 10:01

Yep, and old time dancing continued to

Gary: 10:04

be broadcast live from the Palais. The 3GL Old King Cole Christmas Party at the Geelong Theatre was a sellout.

Rod: 10:12

And while we're talking about all those things, the war of course was never far from people's minds and even Old King Cole's courtiers did their bit. When asked to contribute 100 pair of socks for the soldiers training at Pakapunyal, more than 300 pairs were sent in.

Gary: 10:28

Yeah, and while speaking of old King Cole and his court, I believe you have a couple of letters of interest?

Rod: 10:34

Yeah, well, these were dug up, um, well, let's just say on the 10th of October 1942, the following was sent to a young girl named June Hunter, and the letter said, please accept the enclosed War Savings Certificate as your prize in Section D of the 3GL Juvenile Talent Parade. With heartfelt congratulations and best wishes, the letter was signed by Henry Spry, Friend of the Court.

Gary: 11:00

Hmm, June Hunter.

Rod: 11:02

Now, June Hunter. Uh, that name sounds familiar. Well, before I enlighten you there, in 1945, this same young lady received letters inviting her to present herself at the three gel studios to appear firstly in a series of plays that were to be broadcast on the station. And secondly? Secondly, to participate in the program presented by the grand finalists in the talent quest. The young person referred to was, of course, June Hunter, later June Thomas. Ah. In June, of course, we're going to present the Women's Session on 3GL.

Gary: 11:33

I understand that June told you that her interest in radio stemmed from her early school years when polio was rife, and children were kept home from school and received their lessons by listening to the ABC. June said, That's when she became addicted to radio.

Rod: 11:49

Yeah, a little bit down the track in a future episode. We'll delve into June's time at 3GL as well as Martha and the other Wonder Women of the Wireless. Wonder Women of

Gary: 11:59

the Wireless. We'll, we'll look forward to that. That's for sure. Now, before we wrap up this episode, there was another achievement, innovation, whatever you would like to call that, uh, Reg Gray. Introduced, former station manager of course, Reg Gray, introduced in the latter stage of the war years.

Rod: 12:15

You know, Reg thought, and this was around 1944, we had a discussion with a group of music minded citizens who were keen for 3GL to get behind their idea of forming a 3GL Junior Choir.

Gary: 12:28

Ah, Reg, I gather, was enthusiastic and took the suggestion to the Board of Directors at the Geelong Advertiser and they jumped on

Rod: 12:35

board? Yeah, they did and it was decided to appoint George Logie Smith as the Choir Master. He was the conductor of the Geelong Choral Society and he saw the Junior Choir as being an ideal way of finding new voices for the society.

Gary: 12:49

There's an interesting reference to the choir in the Geelong Advertiser, which I guess was a sign of the times. The ad, he said, Since the growing popularity of the gramophone player, piano, wireless and talking pictures, people had lost the art of amusing themselves and one another by using their voices. to make music.

Rod: 13:08

You know what Reg, Reg Gray said at the time, when a radio station receives its commercial license from the government, it incurs the responsibility of rendering a service to the community to which it forms its audience. And in the case of 3GL, we feel that the Junior Choir is a tangible recognition of that responsibility.

Gary: 13:27

The advertiser was certainly Pushing the Barrow it even gave a bit of a backhander to its own radio station when it said Radio and broadcasting helped end the era of home entertainment and musical evenings Which had been such a feature of Australian life,

Rod: 13:42

you know when referring to home entertainment the article went on to say nowadays a singer or a or instrumentalist is a rarity. The result is that most of the younger generation have never learned to use their voices in real singing. The Junior Choir of 3GL is one way in which young voices are being reclaimed from the oblivion of these days of mass entertainment.

Gary: 14:04

In forming the Junior Choir, 3GL made one proviso. The station was adamant that there would be no commercial involvement. Despite the choir costing the station several hundreds of pounds each year, for sheet music and tuition, there would be no sponsorship.

Rod: 14:19

Reg declared that 3GL would meet all costs so as to keep the choir on an art for art's sake basis. basis.

Gary: 14:25

In doing so, 3GL was the only commercial radio station in Victoria to provide free music and tuition for a 40 voice choir. And the 3GL Junior Choir had many successes.

Rod: 14:38

Yeah, in 1945 it came first in the

Gary: 14:40

Geelong Junior Choral Festival competition. The following year, the choir finished second in the prestigious Junior Choral Festival. Coral competition at South Street in Ballarat.

Rod: 14:49

Yeah, and the choir won at South Street in 1947, was runner up again in 1948.

Gary: 14:56

The choir didn't compete in 1949 because of the polio epidemic. And,

Rod: 15:01

um, George Logie Smith, he was concerned that many of the young girls who had been To leave the choir when they turned 16 had nowhere to continue with their singing. So a senior ladies choir was formed

Gary: 15:12

Both the junior and senior choirs were so popular and so successful that with the help of Jack Matthews a Recording of their most popular songs was made.

Rod: 15:22

Yeah, and fortunately up At this moment, anyway, we haven't been able to locate a copy of this recording, but, you know, who knows.

Gary: 15:28

Ah, okay, so it appears that we've drifted away, uh, just a little from the war years, but, um, that does lead us into the subject of our next episode, The Station, Remembering 3GL. So, it's now, uh, My melancholy duty to inform our listeners that next time we will be delving into the post war period, a time that we've decided to call fun in the fifties.

Rod: 15:49

Ah yes, and much as I struggle to say it is a time when the baby boomers burst on the scene and okay, I will Oi! I was one of them. Yeah, so was I. Come on. I was a quiet You're picking on us baby boomers, are you? No, I'm not picking on I was a quieter version, I have to say. Oh, were you now? Yeah, I didn't have a lot of

Gary: 16:06

boob. Alright. Anyway, thanks to everyone for listening and we look forward to you joining us again next time on The Station, Remembering 3GL.