The talking machine world (Jan-June 1928)

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.

36 The Talking Machine World, New York, March, 1928 I youllhaye to 1 Future of Radio Broadcast ing— Untold Possibilities for Improvement Ben Selvin, Program Director of Columbia Phonograph Hour, Discusses Radio Broadcasting in Relation to Commercial Programs — Program Director's Problem NOTWITHSTANDING the fact that radio broadcasting in relation to commercial programs has taken rapid strides within the past two years, in my opinion the matter of direction and presentation of these programs is in its infancy. We have only scratched the surface of the untold possibilities that lie in this field of activity. Though many will consider it an exaggeration on my part, 1 freely predict, without fear of contradiction, that the broadcasting program director of to-morrow will come to be as important a figure in his line of endeavor as David Belasco is in the direction of drama, as Ziegfeld is to the presentation of musical comedy and revues and as Cecil DeMille is to the direction of the photoplay. While the program director's importance will vie with those mentioned above, the difficulties he will have to overcome will be greater and his task will be an exceedingly arduous one, to say the least. It is an obvious and accepted fact that the future growth of radio will depend largely on the quality and nature of the programs that will be presented by commercial advertisers. The advertising man of to-morrow will not be the man who only creates eye-catching phrases for printed matter— but one who also evolves sufficient interest in his broadcasting to catch the ear, to please the ear and to hold the listener's attention — and here lies the greatest difficulty for the program director to surmount— to hold the attention of his unseen audience. There are so many factors influencing this phase which combine to harass the program director that I must mention them. First the advance publicity in connection with the program must be written and broadcast through the press, which in itself is no small ac Ben Selvin complishment. The theatre advertises its wares through the same medium, but once it catches its buyer, that is, when the reader decides to go to see the play or photoplay advertised, he is in the theatre and does not walk out to some other theatre. The radio listener can by a simple turn of a dial jump away from your presentation to another. The theatre has only theatres offering competition, while the radio program director has not only the commercial program to combat, but sporting events, lectures, religious discourses, political orations, and a multitude of other interesting features. So, not only must the program director be an advertising man, but a showman, for showmanship is the requisite that is required above all to hold the attention of the listener. To be a radio showman he must have a thorough knowledge of music, for without music commercial broadcasting cannot hope to survive. Quoting .my own experience, as a program director for the Columbia Phonograph Co., after intensive study and observation I have arrived at several conclusions regarding the essential requirements for successful commercial programs. I have laid them down as fundamental rules for myself and perhaps they may be of interest. I deem it most important to first establish a regular hour on the air, at a given time weekly, to be qualified by a name bearing the company's name or the article you are advertising. As an example, our first move was to instill through printed advertising and other forms of publicity, into millions of minds, as suggestive connection linking a certain hour every Wednesday evening with the name "Columbia Phonograph Hour." It is needless for me to explain the value of this. The three words "Columbia Phonograph Hour," I can truthfully say, are fast becoming a most familiar phrase from coast to coast. Once this hour is established and becomes familiar to the radio audience, the programs given are beset with the danger of "familiarity breeding contempt," — that is, — if an audience becomes so familiar with the hour as to almost know what to expect the resultant effect will likely be disastrous. Therefore, it behooves the director to make variety the keynote of his presentation. Not weekly variety alone, but to make each single program varied enough to prevent monotony. This means varying the methods of presentation, varying the artists