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Story: Radio

Temple of radio culture, 1937

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Temple of radio culture, 1937

In this 1937 cartoon Prime Minister Michael Joseph Savage and Director of Broadcasting James Shelley pour radio fees into a concrete mixer for the construction of a 'temple of radio culture'. Shelley, a Labour government appointee, was a former professor of education, committed to using radio as a tool to uplift the cultural level of the masses. A section of the public was suspicious of Labour's radio experiments, especially as they were paid for by listeners' licence fees.

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Alexander Turnbull Library

Reference: A-312-1-191

by William Blomfield

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

Brian Pauling, Radio – The state takes over – the 1930s, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/cartoon/42800/temple-of-radio-culture-1937 (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Brian Pauling, published 24 September 2013.