Calling the World

This is a photo I took of an emblem called "Calling the World" which was the image of the New Zealand Broadcasting Board, adopted in 1934. My photo was taken some 89 years later in 2023 from the facade of the transmitting building at the AM mast site in Henderson, Auckland. The site (built ~1934) remains the AM broadcasting location to this day, although supposedly one of the two masts is to be moved south of Auckland in a few years.

 

I have adopted this emblem as my display pic/avatar for all of my radio-related profiles.

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Here is a short history of the site itself:

The transmitter station site in Henderson was purchased from LEG Williams for £1000 in 1933 and

included 15.5 acres. The site was selected because the location was widely considered appropriate

for radio transmission due to the extent of open, flat land surrounding, and also because of the

ground, which was considered particularly suitable for earthing. Selection of the site and

construction of the transmitter station was an event of great public interest and scrutiny.

Newspapers extensively covered and analysed every aspect of the project, stirring great anticipation

and expectation within the community about the upgraded station and the national and

international programmes it would have the capacity to broadcast.

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The transmitter station is a substantial reinforced concrete Art Deco style building including three

attached garages. The transmitter station is essentially a large rectangular gable-roofed structure with an elaborate Art

Deco parapet and facade. The facade has lines etched into the concrete to suggest that the building is constructed from ashlar-

dressed stone. Apart from simple lines outlining each massing, the only applied decoration is a seal

or emblem adopted by the Broadcasting Service centred above the main entrance. The emblem is

called "Calling the World" and features two radio masts and what is believed to be a likeness of the

2YA transmitter station on Mount Victoria in Wellington. (Credit: taken from this document)

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