Radio revue (Dec 1929-Mar 1930)

DECEMBER, 19? 37 I Ether Etching/ I Mathilde Harding, Pianiste A RADIO look into the life of this young artiste, ■* Mathilde Harding, familiarly known as "Billy," reveals that her first pianistic studies were at the Washington Seminary, Washington, Pa., under the direction of Julia Moss. She won the Juilliard Foundation Scholarship in 1926, '27, '28 and '29, and, her first public concert appearance was in 1918, with the Russian Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Modeste Altschuler. Her first radio appearance was over KDKA in 1922 and in addition to this station, she has played for WEAF, WJZ, WOR, WABC, and CFCF. Her favorite composer among the classics is Brahms, while Debussy has her vote in the modern school. She is happiest when learning a new piano concerto and also when playing the work with a full orchestra. Mathilde Harding has a powerful, vibrant and radiant personality and her playing, when occasion demands, is full of fire and dash. Curiously enough, the radio, which has made her name famous, almost ended her career. At KDKA, when, in girlish curiosity, she was exploring the control room, she attempted to reach up and touch the high-power switch "to see what would happen." "What happened" was a blow from a big Irish engineer that knocked Mathilde spinning almost into unconsciousness but into absolute safetv. Mathilde Harding N. Y. U. Gives Courses Over WOR New York University recently inaugurated its ninth year of broadcasting over WOR. This marks the fourth year that WOR has been the radio mouthpiece of the University. These radio courses have already been announced. "Radio Needs Standardized Diction" wQ PEAKING from the announcer's angle, what radio ^ needs most is uniform diction, a definite standard of good, clear, understandable English." This from Milton J. Cross, the well-known radio announcer, an internationally known figure on the concert stage, and recently the winner of the gold medal for good diction, presented by the American Academy of Arts and Letters. "I believe that, in England, the standard of diction centres somewhere between the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, while Dublin University claims unusual purity of speech and the Scots, not to be outdone, announce that the finest English in the British Isles is that of Edinburgh University. But I like to think that the average of these four great schools is really fine English. "Here we have no such standard — at least on the air. We are guided largely by our own particular education and by our own taste in the matter of diction. I am frank to say that some of the results are a little disastrous. It seems that some of the early announcers 'on the air' were chosen for personality and musical voices, rather than for distinguished diction. "I know there were notable exceptions among my friends and colleagues, but the radio business grew — and is still growing — at an alarming rate, and the first difficulties were naturally those of getting competent men to man the ship. Some of the first sailors — to continue the simile — were reliable, rather than artistic." School Children Hear Broadcast More than 5,000.000 school children in 50,000 class rooms in the United States, Canada, Mexico, the West Indies and even as for away as the Philippines listened to the first of the Music Appreciation Concerts broadcast under the directions of Walter Damrosch and presented by the N. B. C, according to Pres. M. H. Aylesworth. Milton J. Cross