Direct Radio Broadcasts of Weather Information

Weather will play an important role in the explosion of Britain's Hydrogen Bomb off Christmas Island—which reminds me of the sudden acceptance of individual members of the Melbourne Weather Bureau as vital personalities in the community, instead of nameless automatons completely isolated from everyday affairs by a heterogeneous collection of instruments, charts and reports.

It's all happened so QUICKLY. "MONITOR" itself has played an active part in bringing these gentlemen out of their shells; so has Television. It's not so long since the weather forecast was a matter of four or five words at the most—"Fine day, with rain developing", or something just as brief—but now the average person who previously never thought about the causes of good or bad weather is beginning to understand such factors, and to take a real interest in them. High pressure and low pressure areas, expressions formerly confined to the class-room, now have significance for most people . . . simply because of the friendly, down-to-earth and simple explanations of the boys of the Weather Bureau.

Perhaps we of the radio and television worlds know and appreciate their personable qualities and wonderful co-operation with the public better than most people, but the very way they come through, on a split-second cue (we never have "dead air" when we cross to the Weather Bureau) is indicative of their enthusiasm for the subject they discuss so fluently. And if the NEW importance given to the Weather Bureau Service to the public by MONITOR, for example, has produced these personalities and shown that they are something more than scientific robots, it has also reduced the reasons for criticisms of incorrect forecasts.

When we know there's a high pressure area approaching Victoria from the West and we are told it is moving quickly in our direction, we have valid reason for anticipating fine weather HOWEVER, if by any tiny chance the fine weather doesn't materialise, we understand the reason why and we no longer blame the Bureau for faulty forecasting. So, whichever way we look at this sudden prominence of the genial and very human gentlemen who tell us all about the weather per medium of radio, we are all agreed, I'm sure, the innovation is more than justified. At 3AW, we can't speak too highly of the service and courtesy these men extend to our Audience.

Bureau of Meteorology