Broadcasting Telecasting (Jul-Sep 1960)

What about TIO's own image? Among television broadcasters there is strong support for the purposes and functions of the Television Information Office, but a good many broadcasters think TIO ought to be integrated into the NAB. Those are the main findings of a survey conducted by Broadcasting. Questionnaires were sent to all commercial tv station managers. Usable replies came from 114. They were equally divided between stations that do and don't subscribe to TIO. The vast majority of subscribing stations that replied approve the oneyear performance record of the information office. Thirty-five said they thought the job TIO is doing is good or excellent; nine said it was fair; one said poor. Others withheld comment on the grounds they did not know enough about TIO's record to make a sound appraisal. Slightly more than half of the nonsubscribers that answered the questionnaire said they were too unfa miliar with TIO's work to judge it. But of those who offered evaluations, 18 said TIO had done a good or excellent job; seven said fair, and one said poor. Among both subscribers and nonsubscribers there was strong feeling that the TIO assignment ought to be part of NAB's, although this feeling was especially strong among nonsubscribers. Of 49 subscribing stations that answered the question, 30 thought TIO ought to remain autonomous; 19 thought it ought to be integrated into the NAB. Of 46 non-subscribing stations answering the question, only eight favored TIO autonomy, and 38 wanted it integrated into NAB. Many of the non-subscribers said their reason for not joining TIO was their belief that the information job ought to be done by the NAB. Others complained of "too many" trade associations in the broadcast field. signed to keep TIO subscribers up to date on ideas and observations about television and at the same time give them material which they can use in programs, speeches, editorials, ads or just conversation. ■ TIO operates as a service center for both subscribers and non-broadcasters seeking information about television. Approximately 750 requests for material, ranging from a broadcaster's bid for information to use in a debate on whether television is worth while, down to specific program schedules, have been received and handled. ■ Material which TIO considers especially noteworthy is reprinted and widely distributed. For instance, a talk on "Children and Television" by Wilbur Schramm, nationally known com munications research expert, was distributed by TIO to 7,500 broadcasters, opinion leaders, schools, libraries and government officials last spring, and another 5,000 copies have been sent to special groups and individuals on request since then. Approximately 7,500 government and civic officials, educators, universities and associations are on TIO's opinion-leader mailing list, as are some 750 libraries which asked to be included. ■ In speeches and other appearances Director Hausman and others of the TIO staff have taken part in televsion seminars and meeting of such opinionmolding groups as the National Council of Churches, the General Federation of Women's Clubs and the like. ■ TIO has placed ads in four "high brow" magazines to promote the NixonKennedy television appearances — emphasizing that television's initiative made them possible — and also has prepared ads which tv stations may run locally on the same theme. This catalog of the principal activities to date makes clear that TIO's biggest interest, both nationally and at the local level, is in reaching the so-called opinion leaders — the people and organizations who not only are capable of influencing the public attitude toward television but who also, in many cases, are the most outspoken critics of television programming. TIO's concept is that much of the criticism from these groups springs from misinformation or lack of information, and that if they are made aware of the broad range of material that television does offer they'll have less grounds for criticism. Projects like the "Resources" book, the case histories of public-affairs programming and the in-service course for teachers have the additional objectives of promoting television as source material for teaching, creating a more sympathetic understanding of how the medium works and, in the case of the program idea book, of stimulating public affairs programming at the local level. The spots explaining the NAB code obviously are directed at a mass audience. It also appears obvious from TIO's composition and work to date that, although TIO is financed by broadcasters, it operates as more than a tool of broadcasters. The Organization ■ Structurally TIO is largely an autonomous unit of NAB. But operationally it functions under Director Hausman and the NAB Television Information Committee, which is headed by Clair R. McCoUough of the Steinman stations, with a generally free rein from NAB headquarters. For several reasons it is more than a press agent handling assignments from Picturing the code ■ Viewers won't have to stretch their imaginations to understand what that NAB code seal means when stations start carrying the animated spots that TIO financed and McCann-Erickson produced for the NAB Code Board. This sequence from a 20-second spot shows how the films explain one code function and at the same time shed light on the role of commercials. Narration accompanying the frames pictured above (l-r) goes like this: 28 BROADCASTING, September 26, 1960