Radio showmanship (Jan-Dec 1946)

have inherited another responsibility to see that the shows they build not only satisfy their client but satisfy the public as well. It can, of course, be said that the client will not be satisfied iniless the public is satisfied because the client should obviously be attempting to secure the largest possible audience. JTRAXGELV cuough thougli, there are certain clients who seem to be too easily satisfied. If a show gets a fairly decent rating there is a tendency on the part of agency, client and facility to sit back and let it go at that rather than to make a real attempt to improve the progiam or substitute a better one for it. The consequence is that year after year certain programs go on the air without ever realizing their full potential and others continue which should have long since been off the air. This seems to be largely due to inertia and timidity, the nothing ventured, nothing lost approach. Radio is, of course, continually being criticized by someone for something, and much of that criticism from my point of view pertains to relatively inconsequential matters. The tremendous dispute about the so-called plug-uglies and middle commercials concerning which hundreds of thousands of words have been written pro and con seems to me a tempest in a tea pot. I think there are many commercials which are not in the best of taste and others which are overly aggressive or dreary. There are many of them which could not sell anything to me as a radio listener and which, as a mailer ol iacl, tend lo ha\e the opposite effect. 1 ff.rsonai.lv dislike middle commercials in news ])iograms and in other forms ol programs l3iit they don't diive me iruo a white heal of rage and resentmcnl. riic loini ol ilie (onunercial which we hope will be gradually improved in the instances where it needs improxcmciit does not concern me nearl\ as iihkIi as ihe siilxslance ol ihc piogram. What you waul to get as a radio listener is a \ariely ol good, rich piogram mat (rial. hYoTTi tinic lo lime ihcic is lalk in ihis country of the government's taking control, complete or partial, of the programming of otn^ radio system. If I honesilv felt that that would improve radio I hope I Avould have the courage and independence enough to stq^port any such movement. On the other hand, it is my complete conviction that any such move would be disastrous not only to radio but to the American public as well and its democratic scheme of life. Even under the most fa\orable government-controlled conditions that kind of radio is just not for us. I\ o, we do not need more government control. AVhat we need is more self-control, and more straight-thinking and aggressive leadership in both our program and policy operations. WHAT IS PUBLIC SERVICE W^e sorely need to eradicate some of the false impressions ^vhich ha\'e somehow or other gained a foothold in the industry and the public mind. We need to get rid of some of the old concepts and definitions. For example, what is a public service program? A public service program quite obviously, it seems to me, may be either commercial or sustaining, musical, dramatic, entertaining or instructive. It is any program which is of real service to the public. Yet, to many people inside and out of the industry the term public so-vice has come to mean a dull, dreary speech or pick-up broadcast which a station would not carry unless some element of the public jnit the bite on it to do so. A public service program is obviously just the converse of that. Some people seem to have the totally erroneous impression that a program which has a large element of public ser\ice in the true sense of the word loses all of its virtue when it becomes spousoic'd. I hat is patently untrue. The pel loinunuc of a symphony orchestra is ol no lesser (jualiix merely because someone oihei than the station or network (arr\ing it is paying for the cost of the bioackast. The same thing is true of any other t\pe of program, including forum and (oinmentaloi programs. • 6 • RADIO SHOWMANSHIP