Broadcasting (Jan-June 1933)

Record Details:

Something wrong or inaccurate about this page? Let us Know!

Thanks for helping us continually improve the quality of the Lantern search engine for all of our users! We have millions of scanned pages, so user reports are incredibly helpful for us to identify places where we can improve and update the metadata.

Please describe the issue below, and click "Submit" to send your comments to our team! If you'd prefer, you can also send us an email to mhdl@commarts.wisc.edu with your comments.




We use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) during our scanning and processing workflow to make the content of each page searchable. You can view the automatically generated text below as well as copy and paste individual pieces of text to quote in your own work.

Text recognition is never 100% accurate. Many parts of the scanned page may not be reflected in the OCR text output, including: images, page layout, certain fonts or handwriting.

Educational, Church Stations Decline Commission Records Show 12 of 39 Schools Sell Time; Year Sees Many Transfers to Commercial Units CONFIRMING the conclusion of the Radio Commission in its report to the Senate on American broadcasting, that educational broadcasting can be safely left to commercial stations, latest "vital statistics" disclose a steady decline in the number of exclusively educational stations brought about by transfer to commercial licensees, changes from non-commercial to commercial operation and deletions. This also is true of stations originally licensed to religious groups. Commission records show that there are now only 39 stations licensed to educational institutions, of which 12 are known to be selling time. In 1927, when the Commission was created, there were 95 such stations. The decline is attributable mainly to their lack of financial support and to their inability to compete with commercial stations for listener interest. Of the original 95 some 30 stations voluntarily assigned their licenses to commercial enterprises, 18 were deleted by reason of voluntary abandonment, and about a dozen were deleted for cause. Religious Stations RECORDS show that of the 22 religious stations now on the roster, seven sell time. In the last year two such stations — WCHI, Peoples Pulpit Association, Chicago, and KGEP, Trintity Methodist Church South, Los Angeles, (Shuler) — have been deleted. Four religious stations transferred their licenses to commercial companies, and WQAO-WPAP, New York, operated by the Calvary Baptist Church, entered an arrangement whereby its engineering, operating and maintenance are furnished in exchange for time. Among recent shifts in educational station assignments is that involving WAPI, Birmingham, a clear channel station, which was assigned by three Alabama universities to the WAPI Broadcasting Corp., a commercial enterprise, under a leasing arrangement. KOB, Albuquerque, licensed to the New Mexico College of Agriculture and Mechanical Arts, recently leased its facilities to the Albuquerque Journal for commercial operation. KUOA, Fayetteville, Ark., licensed to the University of Arkansas, last May assigned its license to the Southwestern Hotel Co. Although licensed to Cornell University, WESG, (formerly WEAI), Ithaca, is now under lease to the Elmira Sun-Gazette, under a deal recently consummated. KFRU, Columbia, Mo., has been transferred voluntarily from Stephens College to KFRU, Inc., and the license of KGY, Lackey, Wash., has been assigned to KGY, Inc., by St. Martin's College. Other Deals Pending IN ADDITION, several other shifts in ownership and operation involving educational stations are understood to be in the making. Newspapers are known to be negotiat ing with several such stations in the middle-west. A recent analysis by the Commission disclosed that educational stations, as a group, are broadcasting less educational programs than are the commercial stations. The estimate was that commercial stations, on the average, devote more than 10 per cent of their program time to education, whereas the educational outlets are offering less than 8 per cent. In a report to the Senate on the CouzensDill resolution submitted last June, following an exhaustive investigation of commercial broadcasting, the Commission reported that the attitude of commercial broadcasters on education was such as to justify the view that educational programs "can be safely left to the voluntary gift of the use of commercial stations." Selling Time AMONG the educational stations listed as selling time are: WRUF, Gainesville, Fla. — University of Florida. WGST, Atlanta — Georgia School of Technology. KOCW, Chickasha, Okla. — Oklahoma College for Women. KFJM, Grand Forks, N. D.— University of North Dakota. KOB, Albuquerque, — New Mexico College of Agriculture and Mechanical Arts. WESG, Ithaca — Cornell University. WHAZ, Troy, N. Y. — Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. WJBU, Lewisburg, Pa. — Bucknell University. ATTACKING RACKETS VIA RADIO Civic Agency Warns Housewives and Business Men Against Current Promotion Schemes By ALVIN E. GILLETT Secretary, Association of Commerce, Madison, Wis. THE ASSOCIATION of Commerce at Madison, Wis., has tried a novel scheme of giving information via weekly broadcasts on current rackets promoted n/f ri-ii in that city. The Mr. Gillett broadcasts were started because the association was flooded with demands from housewives to get back money which they had given to solicitors who posed as authorized representatives of reputable companies, on the promise of that the purchased article would be delivered. A typical . complaint : "I gave $4 to a young man who claimed to be working his way through college and asked me >to vote for him for a scholarship. He was to send me a magazine in two weeks. It is nearly six weeks and I have not had any magazine." Refunds Expected ALL THE duped housewife seemed to know was that the boy in question was tall and thin and had blue eyes. Many times she did not even have a receipt or if she had a receipt it was some times a fictitious one. The housewife seemed to think that all she had to do was to call the Association of Commerce and through its officers she would be able to get her money back without any difficulty. Another complaint, which came to the Association of Commerce, almost daily, was from housewives who thought they were getting oil paintings of their favorite photographs without cost. After signing name and address on the card, they found they had agreed to buy a picture frame. These pic ture frames proved to be cheap, gilt edge articles which could be purchased anywhere for a nominal sum. The housewife was required to pay from $5 up, and we know of one maid who paid $18 to get her prized photograph back. After listening to twelve or fifteen of these complaints daily for a number of months, the Better Business Bureau committee of the Association of Commerce decided that it would be a good thing to keep the public informed on current rackets and promotion schemes. Business Men Warned A SERIES of broadcasts was prepared. At the start two of these were given each week for six weeks. One 15-minute period during the forenoon was for the housewives; another period was for business men. The latter warned against an out-of-town woman promoter who might call with a woman from some local church, soliciting advertising for a church. Every dollar of the business man's money went to the promoter, and the only benefit the local community got was that a woman from the local church organization received $3 a day for going along with the promoter and the church was permitted to sell the cook-books and keep the proceeds. The broadcasting was all done over WIBA, which has excellent coverage in this vicinity, and the publicity secured from the broadcasting did much to stop the rackets. Complaints to the association office dropped off from twelve or fifteen a day to one or two a day. Press Becomes Interested THE BROADCASTING campaign was so successful that WIBA asked the association to continue the {Continued on page 27) WEHC, Emory, Va. — Emory and Henry College. WJTL, Atlanta — Oglethorpe University. WWL, New Orleans — Loyola University. WHAD, Milwaukee — Marquette University. Not Selling Time THOSE EDUCATIONAL stations listed as not selling time include: . WCAD, Canton, N. Y.— St. Lawrence University. WSAJ, Grove City, Pa.— Grove City College. KWLC, Decorah, la. — Luther College (negotiating for assignment to commercial). KFMX, Northiield, Minn.— Carleton College. WCAL, Northfield, Minn.— St. Olaf College. WEW, St. Louis — St. Louis University. WCAJ, Lincoln, Nebr. — Nebraska Wesleyan University. WCAC, Storrs, Conn. — Connecticut Agricultural College. WSVS, Buffalo, N. Y.— Seneca Vocational High School. WKAR, East Lansing, Mich. — Michigan State College. WEAO, Columbus — Ohio State University. WNAD, Norman, Okla. — University of Oklahoma. WTAW, College Station, Tex.— Agricultural and Mechanical College. WILL, Urbana, 111. — University of Illinois. WOI, Ames, la. — ^lowa State College of Agriculture and Mechanical Arts. WSUI, Iowa City, la. — State University of Iowa. KFKU, Lawrence, Kan.— University of Kansas. KSAC, Manhattan, Kan. — Kansas State College of Agriculture and Applied Science. WLB-WGMS, Minneapolis — University of Minnesota. KFDY, Brookings, S. D. — South Dakota State CoUege. WCAT, Rapid City, S. D.— South Dakota State School of Mines. KUSD, Vermillion, S. D.— University of South Dakota. WHA, Madison, Wis. — University of Wisconsin. KOAC, Corvallis, Ore. — Oregon State Agricultural College. KBPS, Portland, Ore. — Benson Polytechnic School. WKSC, Pullman, Wash. — State CoUege of Washington. Religious Stations RELIGIOUS stations listed as selling time include: WABI, Bangor, Me. — First Universalist Society of Bangor. WCBA, AUentown, Pa. — B. Bryan Mus selman. WLWL, New York — Missionary Society of St. Paul the Apostle. WOQ, Kansas City, Mo.— Unity School of Christianity. KFXR, Oklahoma City — Exchange Avenue Baptist Church. KRE, Berkeley, Cal. — First Congregational Church. Religious stations listed as not selling time include: WAWZ, Zarephath, N. J.— Pillar of Fire, Inc. WBBL, Bichmond, Va. — Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church. WBBB, Brooklyn, N. Y.— Peoples Pulpit WCBD, Zion, III.— Wilbur Glenn Voliva. WLCI, Ithaca, N. Y. — Lutheran Association of Ithaca. WMBI, Chicago — Moody Bible Institute. WMPC, Lapeer, Mich. — First Methodist Protestant Church. WPCC, Chicago, — North Shore Church. KFGQ, Boone, la. — Boone Biblical College. KFSG, Los Angeles — Echo Park Evangelistic Association. KFUO, Clayton, Mo. — Evangelical Lutheran Synod. KPWF, St. Louis — St. Louis Truth Center, Inc. KPOF, Denver, Col. Pillar of Fire, Inc. KPPC, Pasadena, Cal. — Pasadena Presbyterian Church. KTW, Seattle, Wash.— First Presbyterian Church. New Producer BROADCASTING Records of America, Inc., is the name of a newly formed concern in New York, organized to plan and produce recorded programs for radio. Dr. W. H. Voeller, formerly with Paramount Publix, is its president, with offices at 1560 Broadway. Page 14 BROADCASTING • January 15, 1933