respect for the entire driving public whether they be car,
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local delivery or long-distance lorry drivers. A BBC programme producer told me recently that, ideally, individual items, whether music or chat, should be of 90 seconds duration. Apparently it has been found that this is as much as the average listener can retain at any one time and drive.
As a result of the White Paper on the introduction of commercial radio 60 new local stations are likely to be springing up within the next two years. These stations will be on medium wave; the existing BBC local stations are on VHF.
Mr Hughie Green, who has possibly done more in commercial radio than anyone else in this country, has some very definite ideas on programme content. In his view, commercial radio should not try to be as educational in its approach as BBC radio. Light programmes with music, chat and information are the type of programme content which he visualizes. He is particularly interested in road reports like those in the United States and Canada. The transatlantic system employs a helicopter transmitting from above the trouble spot and, directing traffic into prearranged diversion routes.
Hold-up information
While in these early days of commercial radio this system may be considered much too sophisticated there is a likelihood that an exchange of road information between stations will be part of the service. It seems feasible that a fog hazard on MI at Watford Gap or an accident hold-up should be communicated to drivers as far south as Toddington and as far north as Trowel. This would allow drivers to take alternative routes and would surely go a long way towards avoiding the multiple pile-ups which occur all too frequently during the winter months.
Local radio also serves a useful purpose in advising drivers of traffic delays and diversions within a city and with the addition of the 60 local stations this service will be extended enormously. Not only will this contribute to driver comfort and safety but there will be the bonus of increased productivity as a result of avoiding traffic delays.
From a safety point of view sets requiring hand tuning are not recommended since eye and land are diverted from their primary functions for too long a period. Most manufacturers now provide push-button tuning, and the effort required to change programmes is no greater and no more distracting than that involved in switching on a direction indicator. This, however, will not be the case with local radio where fine tuning is required and I know that suggestions have already been made to the relevant ,authorities along the motorways to • have signposts erected on motorways indicating when a driver is moving into a new radio frequency. I am not yet convinced that retuning by hand every 30 miles or so is in the interests of safe driving, Yet it is difficult to see how local road reports could be relayed in detail on a national frequency.
Cost Turning to cost, it is usually at this point that the optional extras, no matter how desirable, meet with sudden death. While the VHF set will retail at around £50 and the portable about £21 there are sets available in any High Street at £10 and under. One radio manufacturer estimates that if medium-frequency sets were to be fitted as standard equipment by vehicle manufacturers they would cost around £10 per vehicle. It is early yet to say what mass-produced factory fitted VHF sets will cost but one estimate I have puts it at around £25. Vehicle manufacturers in the interests of remaining competitive are unlikely to fit cab radios as standard unless the demand comes from the operators. I know that one of the largest operators in the country has the subject under consideration at the moment and it could be that if they decide on cab radios as standard equipment then others may follow; or, alternatively, manufacturers may include it as a list price item.
In the meantime many drivers will continue to carry cheap pocket transistors awkwardly placed in their cabs and emitting interference-ridden programmes which cause them to be less comfortable and not quite as safe as they should be. These sets cannot be compared with a fixed radio which offers about 90 per cent clarity in all circumstances the VHF set offered me the greatest clarity—though one has to allow for greater noise in most truck cabs.
• Before dismissing cab radios as gimmicky, unnecessary cab "goodies" it is well to remember that before the days of demisters, and that wasn't so long ago, drivers used newspapers, old rags and the sleeves of their jackets to clean the inside of the windscreen. If cost is a factor, writing off £25 over the life of the vehicle should hardly prove an obstacle in the interests of comfort and safety.
Acme Electric Co (Finsbury) Ltd, Hyde House, Edgware Road, London NW9. (01-2050044).
Antiference Ltd, Bicester Road, Aylesbury, Bucks (Aylesbury 2511).
Binatorte, J. Parkar & Co (London) Ltd, 1 Paul St, London EC2 (01-628 4577). Bluespot, Bosch Ltd, Rhodes Way, Radlett Rd., Watford, Herts (Watford 44233). Ekco, Pye Car Radio & Marine Division, PO Box 49, Cambridge CB4 1DS (Cambridge 58985),
'Elizabethan, Lee Products (GB) Ltd, 10/18 Clifton Street, London EC2 (01-247 9987) Grundig Car Radio Division, London SE26 (01-7782211) Halcyon, Eurovox Ltd, The Power House, Headstone Lane, Harrow, Middlesex (01-4281021) Hitachi Sales (UK) Ltd, Park House, Coronation Rd, London NW10 (01-968 9861).
Javelin Electronics Ltd, 137-149 Gosweli Rd, London EC1 (01-253 5531).
Philips Electrical Ltd, Shaftesbury Ave, London WC2 (01-4377777). Radiomobile Ltd, Goodwood Works, North Circular Rd., London NW2 (01-452 0171).
Satellite Electronics Ltd, 70-72 Old St, London EC1 (01-2532693).
Sharp Electronics (UK) Ltd 48 Derby St, Manchester M8 8 HN, (061-632 6115).
Shira, Winter Trading Co Ltd, 95-99 Ladbroke Grove, London W11 (01-727 1341).
World Radio Ltd, 950 North Circular Road, London NW2 (01-452 4255).