Broadcasting Telecasting (Apr-Jun 1957)

EDUCATION OHIO INSTITUTE HONORS WBC • McGon non, others talk on broadcasting values • Sessions see large commercial representation 1957 PULSE for ROANOKE, Va. Shows WROV NOW 1ST NIGHTLY 5:00 PM to 12 Midnite Monday thru Saturday 20 of 28 quarter hours nightly with 3S% AVERAGE SHARE OF AUDIENCE! 5:30 AM to 5:00 PM Monday thru Sunday with % AVERAGE SHARE OF AUDIENCE! #3 Station 15.5% #4 Station 1 3.5% Move your clients closer to the listeners with Roanoke's #1 station for Popular Music, Local and National Sports and Selling Personalities! EXCLUSIVE STATION FOR COMPLETE DODGERS BASEBALL! Represented by BURN-SMITH CO., INC. 0* A MAN'S BEST FRIEND IWROVi Burt Levine, Pres. j ROANOKE, VIRGINIA Page 102 • May 13, 1957 OPENING of the 27th annual Ohio State Institute for Education by Radio-Television Wednesday saw unprecedented recognition given to Westinghouse Broadcasting Co. on behalf of the institute by Dr. I. Keith Tyler, conference director. Before Donald H. McGannon, president of WBC, gave his address on "The Responsibility of Broadcasters," his firm was recognized in an unannounced honor conferred by the institute for the first time. Dr. Tyler presented Mr. McGannon with a certificate citing WBC's "outstanding contribution to the advancement of education and public service broadcasting by holding a conference on public service programming for personnel from selected commercial and educational stations, and thus exhibiting the wisdom and generosity characteristic of a mature and stable industry." WBC's conference took place in Boston Feb. 27-March 1 [B»T, March 4]. Unusually wide participation by commercial broadcasters was noted at this year's conference, with 6 of 15 members on the institute program committee representing commercial organizations. In his opening-night address Mr. McGannon not only outlined broadcasters' responsibilities, but also a plan for more responsible viewing. He suggested that viewers keep informed of what's available, learn to evaluate, avoid being creatures of habit, help children be selective and let stations, networks and critics know how they feel about programs. Solicits Suggestions Joseph Csida of Csida-Grean Assoc., New York, at the same session reviewed broadcasting over the past 10 years, radio's struggle for survival with the advent of television and the evolution of the music-news formula. He suggested that institute delegates come up with educational and cultural ideas as popular as music-news, and failing that goal, "harness music to educational and cultural objectives." At Thursday afternoon's session on "The Broadcaster and the Audience," Rolf Meyersohn of the U. of Chicago Center for the Study of Leisure and co-author of Futures for Radio [B«T, Jan. 23, 16], presented an audience summary. Contrasting the local character of radio with the national personality of tv, he said television programs "must have 'cross-cultural' appeal, for no one cultural group alone can deliver an audience large enough to pay for the productions. ... If it is destined or doomed to remain the most massive of our mass media, it must continue to cut across all kinds of social groupings and to remain our leading creator and preserver of homogeneity, our largest common denominator." Louis Hausman, advertising vice president of CBS Radio, at a discussion of radio Thursday evening said radio networks "have never abdicated their responsibility to pro duce and broadcast self-contained integral programs and that, by and large, these are the programs with the largest audiences." "The fact that programs such as Invitation to Learning or The Last Word do not fall within the FCC's 'educational' category does not lessen their usefulness in aiding education," he said. M. S. Novik, radio consultant and president of WOV New York, at the same session criticized stations for neglecting public service and suggested the FCC issue new operators one-year licenses (story page 114). William B. McGrath, vice president-managing director of WHDH-AM-FM Boston called television one of the greatest things that ever happened to independent stations. "As the gravy train for [network] affiliates came to a halt, the independent station took on a new stature with listeners and among advertisers." Herbert E. Evans, vice president of Peoples Broadcasting Corp., speaking at the closing dinner Friday evening, listed cultural contributions of the electronic media. Dr. Burton Paulu, director of broadcasting, U. of Minnesota and president of the National Assn. of Educational Broadcasters, spoke on "Where Do We Go From Here in Educational Broadcasting?" He recommended that educational broadcasters develop themselves personally and professionally, "acquire the degrees often given magical significance by budget makers . . . so that deans, vice presidents, presidents, principals and superintendents will think of us, not as gadgeteers with microphones and cameras, but as educators with breadth of vision and wide understanding." A "Teaching by Television" day-long session that preceded the institute Wednesday was highlighted with addresses by Ralph Steetle, executive director of the Joint Council on Educational Television, and Dr. Hideya Kumata, member of the Communications Research Center at Michigan State U. Surveying present tv teaching, Mr. Steetle said, "The willingness to teach publicly is a sign of self confidence in professional competence on the part of our teachers. Reaction of students to televised teaching gives evidence that tomorrow's student may be more of a self-starter, depending less upon constant spoon-feeding." Participants in a news clinic, one of 15 offered in the course of the three-day institute, urged adoption by educators of some commercial methods. James L. Snyder, news director of KDKA Pittsburgh, deplored reliance on wire copy and described KDKA's news-gathering organization. Irv Lichtenstein, promotion manager of WWDC, said independent music-news commercial stations have developed techniques of reporting news, special events and public service "quickly, painlessly and to the point." Educators must utilize such methods. Broadcasting • Telecasting