like the present, the words of a song, or the incidents of a serial, may
more readily give offence. Obviously, the New Zealand Broadcasting
Service can never please each individual listener, but, equally
obviously, it should seek to avoid giving any public offence. The
Service seems conscious of its responsibilities and tries to make its
programmes generally suitable for family audiences; but it also aims to
reflect the standards of its listeners, and some may feel that it should
try to raise those standards.

Although the Service considers that it should never give the appearance
of dictating what listeners should, or should not, hear, it has its own
auditioning standards that should satisfy the morals of the most
particular. Records must first conform with the very strict code of the
Broadcasting Service, after which they are classified as suitable for
children's sessions, for general sessions, or only for times when
children are assumed not to be listening. The Service can, and does,
reject episodes from overseas features, and in doing so experiences no
difficulty with either overseas suppliers or local advertising sponsors.
Restrictions on dollar purchases and the nonavailability of
"sponsorable" programmes from the United Kingdom curtail the
availability of commercial features, and generally restrict them to
those produced in Australia.

On the other hand, the Service points out that listeners have a wide
choice of broadcast programmes, advertised well in advance, and it
assumes that listeners will be selective in tuning in their sets, and
restrictive in not allowing their children to listen after 7 p.m. when
programmes specially suited for them cease. This assumption, however, is
not well founded. Once switched on, the radio frequently stays on, and
children are then allowed to continue listening far too long.