Radio showmanship (Jan-Dec 1943)

There are certain elements which, in my opinion, make up a perfectly balanced program. Of course of foremost importance is the element of entertainment, but variety, the element of surprise, and a certain amount v" of the informational element "=<, are also important. The main difficulty in choosing stories to tell on the radio is that of finding a story of just the right length. Sometimes the story is too long and has to be cut. This is a difficult task, for one hesitates to mutilate in any way the work of such artists as Kipling, Andersen, and others of that same literary level. In telling these stories, the voice is everything. An over sweet voice is cloying. Too much emphasis is even more annoying. The human touch is everything. Friendly people can project personality, as well as charm, humor and sincerity. In writing radio scripts for children, don't make the mistake of writing down to them. This is a fatal error which ex Not as a radio expert, but as a librarian in response to parents' demand for better programs, did Katherine Williams Watson, head of the children's department of the Denver Public Library, take to the KOA airlanes with "Once Upon a Time." Scrawled notes from unknown children led story-teller Watson to correlate the most popular stories from her own regular broadcasts into a handbook for others in need of scripts timed and otherwise prepared for broadcasting. In her book, ''Once Upon a Time" arc 28 stories, the shortest timing for 2 minutes, the longest running 25 minutes. Besides many holiday stories are tales about animals, ballads, fairies, legends and history. A second section of the book contains letters to children from famous authors and illustrators, chosen as fillers to round out a short program. plains the failure of many efforts. Children spot it at once. They don't like it, and they won't listen. The programs to which children of the elementary school level listen most are the programs sponsored by commercial firms for advertising purposes, and many times these programs are made too exciting in order to hold the child's attention. Children listen because they love action, movement and conflict, and have not learned to be critical of the untrue picture that some radio programs portray. Since children prefer blood and thunder, let us draw it from the ideals of our democratic culture, and give them programs which reflect our way of life. A children's script which surely belongs on the air and which just as surely is one of the hardest assignments radio can give to a writer, is the serial which endeavors to reproduce in detail not only a long and crucial epoch, but a crowded and expanding era in American history. Such a script was Wilderness Road, a pioneer series which ran for 267 consecutive performances, five times a week. The writer has a right to telescope events, to select high spots, and to give play to his fancy, but although his story is fictional in its details and in its timing, it still can remain true in substance and deal with sound dramatic forces and characters. If a serial really involves genuine situations, or offers an artistic treatment of fantasy, it will by virtue of that fact, have educational values, even though it is meant for entertainment and not for teaching. The solution to the problem of radiofare for children must ultimately be found in a system of cooperation between those who are expert in the use of the radio as a medium of entertainment, and those who are expert in the needs and interests of children. 90 RADIO SHOWMANSH IP i