Abstract
FEW events of outstanding national interest now take place unaccompanied by a broadcast commentary. The Silver Jubilee review of the Fleet by His Majesty the King provided yet another demonstration of the use and efficiency of the national broadcasting service by distributing an eye-witness account of the scene and action of the review at the actual time of the event. On this occasion, the series of broadcasts was given by two naval officers located at the foretop on board H.M.S. Royal Sovereign, one of the ships taking part in the review, and occupying a very advantageous position from the commentators' point of view. A short-wave portable radiotelephony transmitter installed in the Royal Sovereign was used for the purpose of communicating the commentary to a receiver suitably located at Southsea Castle on. the mainland. The signals thus received were transmitted by land-line to Broadcasting House, whence they were distributed in the ordinary way through the National stations. “The programmes broadcast included a description of the scene at Spithead on the night preceding the review, with the 160 or so ships of all classes correctly assembled in position. On the actual day of the review, July 16, separate commentaries were arranged to describe the scene when H.M. the King received the Royal Salute, and then proceeded to sail up and down the lines of battleships; and finally at night a description of the illuminations of the fleet and the firework displays was given from the vantage-point of the Royal Sovereign. Four microphones were employed to pick up the gun salutes, cheers of the ships' crews and other characteristic sounds. As is now usual on such occasions, suitable recordings were made of the programmes to enable these to be repeated later, particularly for the benefit of Empire listeners.
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Broadcasting and the Jubilee Naval Review. Nature 136, 97 (1935). https://doi.org/10.1038/136097d0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/136097d0