Broadcasting (Jan - June 1936)

Joint Committee Seeks $142,000 Fund To Finance Study of Education by Radio THIS STORY MIGHT BE ABOUT YOU! FIVE vacuum cleaners sold by ONE advertiser in ONE day last week following ONE ad on WJAY, no other advertising medium used. TELL THE SAME STORY THEY'RE TELLING— "No one ever produced such results before". USE THE SAME MEDIUM THEY'RE USING— WJAY The Cleveland station that gets results! NEW RATE CARD JUST OUT EDYTHE F. MELROSE Manager RAISING of a fund of approximately $142,000 for a series of radio educational projects designed to accomplish the goal of perfecting educational broadcasting was proposed at the first meeting of the Federal Radio Education Committee in Washington Feb. 17 and 18. The Committee was created by the FCC last Dec. 18 under the chairmanship of Dr. J. W. Studebaker, director of the U. S. Office of Education, and comprises 40 leading educators, broadcasters and representatives of religious, welfare and other groups. While no tangible formula was agreed upon, it was decided to appoint five subcommittees to pursue further study and research of the projects submitted to the Committee by a steering committee which has been functioning for the last two months. It is expected that another meeting will be scheduled in the latter part of May or in early June. A finance committee will be named by Dr. Studebaker to canvass the possibility of raising the funds for the eight separate educational radio projects. Roughly, it is estimated that |127,000 will be required for the pi'ojects, with additional money sought to defray the Committee's overhead for the balance of the fiscal year. The Committee, upon its creation, had funds of $27,000, of which half was advanced by the National Advisory Council on Radio in Education and half by the NAB on behalf of the broadcasting industry. In a formal statement the Committee announced that after considering suggestions for a number of surveys and successful practices in the educational and public service uses of radio and adequate training of personnel it had voted to set up the five subcommittees to report at the next meeting. One of the items which provoked considerable discussion was that of a suitable definition of the term "educational broadcasting". Finding a Definition THE MEETING was opened by Chairman Sykes of the FCC Broadcast Division who introduced Dr. Studebaker. The scope of the committee's work was defined as follows: "To explore possibilities of eff'ecting active cooperation between broadcasters and educators in promoting more effective educational broadcasting within the present system of broadcasting." The agenda of the conference covered the following topics: "How can cooperation be effected between broadcasters and educators?"; "suggestions to the committee for possible plans of action"; and "suggested plans for action". Under the latter topic were covered the proposed surveys for which funds will be sought. The first proposed project, titled "Successful Community Cooperative Efforts", would involve an expenditure of $4,000 for salary of investigator, clerical assistance, travel, and miscellaneous expenditui'es; the second, involving a survey of local stations, has an estimated cost of $38,100; the third, a survey of stations owned by colleges or universities, to cost $7,666.67; the fourth, a study of use of radio by state departments of education, $11,200; the fifth, experimentation in presentation and evaluation of a few series of broadcasts for school use, $33,300; the sixth, fellowships to study techn i q u e of successful broadcasts, $16,500; the seventh, job analysis of A-B-Cs of program building and broadcasting, $6,900; the eighth, a survey of teacher training courses in use of radio programs for instructional purposes, $9,600. In advance of the meeting the planning committee sent out a questionnaire to committee meet SUCCESSFUL MERCHANDISERS— When 125 local dealers use a station, they know it pays. These dealers are using KFRO daily to reach the East Texas market. You can reach this market with 'Voice of Longview" Lottgview, Texcu ings to get their views on the basic question of, "What is Educational Broadcasting?" First they were asked: "Is it the broadcasting of traditional subject matter in graded courses of study?" To this 10 answered "yes" and seven "no". Other questions incorporated in the questionnaire and the votes were as follows : Is it the broadcasting of informal informational programs in various subjects of public interest? Yes, 15: No, 1. Is all broadcasting educational in the sense that it affects the level of national culture? Yes, 1.5; No, 2. (a) In a well rounded broadcast schedule is there a place for pure entertainment features without any attempt to accomplish educational objectives? Yes, 15; No, 0. (b) If so, is this any concern of educators? Yes, S; No, 9. It has been said that all broadcasting emanating from an educationallyowned station is to be considered educational broadcasting. Do vou agree? Yes, 3; No, 14. It has been said that nothing broadcast by a commercially-owned station is educational. Do you agree? Yes, 0 ; No, 17. Do you agree that a program broadcast under commercial sponsorship may be educational? Yes, 17; No, 0. Does the fact that a program is sponsored by a non-profit making organization insure educational value of the program. Yes, 0 ; No, 17. Do you think it is probable that broadcasts sponsored by organizations — commei'cial or otherwise — will be propagandistic? Yes, 11; No, 3. To the extent to which broadcasts, regardless of their sponsorship, provide adequate opportunity to listeners to understand the various factors of influence in given situations, do you agree that such broadcasts are educational? Yes, 15; No, 1. Do you agree that the extent to which broadcasts, regardless of sponsorship, are designed to minimize certain factors with respect to particular situations, and overemphasize others, are propagandistic? Yes, 15; No, 0. Does a program, which would be highly educational if sponsored by a non-profit-making organization, lose its educational value if sponsored commercially and with advertising propaganda introducing, interrupting or closing the program. Yes, 5 ; No. 8. If you answered "no" to the question immediately above (a) what do you consider to be the implication for public education in programs of educational value sponsored by commercial organizations engaged in advertising? (b) should educators encourage students to listen to such programs as being educationally desirable? Yes, 8; No, 1. (c) If you were a member of a board of education, would you be willing to permit such programs to be listened to by the students in the classroom? Yes, 8; No, 2. In Charge of Planning THE planning committee c o m prises Dr. Studebaker as chairman; C. F. Klinefelter, educational consultant of the Office of Education; James W. Baldwin, NAB managing director (Miss Judith Waller, NBC, Chicago, alternate) ; Dr. Levering Tyson, National Advisory Council on Radio in Education; A. D. Ring, FCC assistant chief engineer, and Dr. Cline M. Koon, radio specialist; Office of Education. Members of the Education Com THE SOBY YARDSTICK OF AUDIENCE VALUE Impartial and comparable data about the size and location of the audience of radio programs and stations. Write for information and prices. BENJAMIN SOBY AND ASSOCIATES 1023 Wallace Ave. Wilkinsburg. Pa. Page 46 BROADCASTING • March 1, 1936