Broadcasting Telecasting (Oct-Dec 1962)

most successful techniques is to get its audiences personally involved in its programs. Aside from the news reports, one of the most popular programs is called Fedha Kwa Jasho. Literally translated, it means "Money for Sweat." The "sweat" involves answering ten questions on current affairs. Listeners mail in their answers, and the one to submit the first card with all ten answers correct wins the top prize of 30 shillings, or only about $4.25, in American money. The mail response to every program is overwhelming. Mr. Faust described the feverish and argumentative efforts of his crew to complete an entry. They tackle it with a relish most Americans reserve for the daily double. TBC applies the same technique to much of its music schedule, which is programmed on the basis of mail requests. In a single month, one record program received over 53,000 individual pieces of mail. Most of the record shows are an international melting pot of popular music. A Tanganyikan number may be followed by a Cha Cha Cha, an English ballad, a Frank Sinatra standard, a hit tune from South Africa or the Congo, and an American rock 'n' roll. Rock 'n' roll, by the way, is very big in Tanganyika, and is rapidly becoming even bigger. TBC personalities receive the same popular attention reserved in America only for a Hollywood star. They make frequent public appearances, and send out autographed pictures when they're requested, which is often. Audience Per Set ■ The number of radio sets in Tanganyika is mushrooming. The 1959 census counted 70,000. It's now estimated there are over 100,000. However, the number of sets is no indicator of the audience. In a bush town, it's accepted practice for the few who own sets to hold open house nightly for the neighbors. And, come news time, the host's radio often plays to standing room only. In some villages, the only radio is in the social center. And, there, too, it draws communal listeners like the early tv sets in American bars used to draw customers. The ritual of the radio I saw and heard played out in Mr. Faust's camp is repeated nightly across the length and breadth of Tanganyika. It's a ritual you have to witness, to fully understand the motivation of the African leader who told a Washington official, "Don't give me money. Give me a hundred thousand transistor radios." America would do well to consider requests such as these. The transistor portable is providing many an African with his first window on the world. The wider it opens, the better the odds that his experiment with independence will succeed. Swezey tells Canadians to answer their critics Broadcasters have a continuing obligation to sift and resift complaints, to defend their industry against unwarranted attacks, Robert D. Swezey, NAB code authority, told the Radio and Television Executives Club at the Park Plaza Hotel, Toronto, Ont., on Dec. 6. Mr. Swezey stated that government regulation should come only if industry is unable to do the regulatory job itself. Mr. Swezey, who has appeared before Canadian broadcasters on other occasions, referred to continuing criticism of broadcasting on both sides of the inter national border. He felt that no other media are turning out better material, that all have some mediocre material and often trivia. "Excellence is a rare thing," he said. "I doubt that even with unlimited money broadcasting could program much better. The material just isn't available. Broadcasting is a mass medium and must satisfy the popular taste. Broadcasters have been accused of being nambypamby, of selecting programs largely on the basis of avoiding conflict. Our overcautious approach has earned us contempt rather than respect." He said that despite charges of television's effect on children, there is no credible data on the effect of tv programming on children. Abroad in brief... Bureau established ■ A placement and counselling bureau is being opened at Toronto, Ont., early in 1963 by the Canadian Assn. of Advertising Agencies. A Montreal office is to be opened later in the year. The bureau will be operated by a separate board of directors from the association and have its own offices. Its services will be open in the beginning only to advertising agencies, but are expected to be opened to advertisers at a later date. Foreign rights purchased ■ Seven Arts Assoc., New York, has purchased foreign tv and theatrical distribution rights to the Out of the Inkwell series now being syndicated in the U. S. by Video House. The series of 100 fiveminute cartoons in color will be placed into world-wide distribution by Seven Arts Productions International Ltd. in London, and in Canada by Seven Arts Productions Ltd., Toronto. SPECIAL REPORT: RADIO-TV HOMES Radio in 94% of U.S. homes; tv in 91% NIELSEN COUNTY-BY-COUNTY BREAKDOWN SHOWS WHERE THEY ARE New county-by-county estimates of U. S. television and radio ownership are being released today (Dec. 17) by the A. C. Nielsen Co. They reflect the county distribution of 50,003,300 television homes and 51,897,790 radio homes as of September 1962. Saturation in the case of radio is put at 94% of all homes; in television, 91%. Radio and tv homes in Continental U. S. are somewhat fewer but percentage penetration remains the same: 49,816,610 tv homes (91% of all homes) and 51,685,850 radio homes (94%). These are the first new county figures since April 1961, date of Nielsen's last. They show the most radio and tv homes in the North Central region (15.1 million radio, 14.7 million tv), but the greatest penetration in the Northeast (96% radio, 94% tv). Highest Penetration ■ Rhode Island and New Jersey are tied for highest tv penetration with 96% each. Five states are tied at 97% for similar honors in radio: Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, Minnesota. The figures were compiled by Nielsen as "practical estimates." Totalhomes figures are estimates by Sales Management; these are the base against which Nielsen's tv and radio ownership percentages were applied to get the county figures. The tv percentages are Nielsen estimates based on U. S. Census data of April 1960, updated according to growth-rate patterns developed by Census and the Advertising Research Foundation. The radio percentages are from the 1960 Census, adjusted to reflect subsequent Census Bureau findings on sets not in working order. The county-by-county figures, which also are available in booklet form from Nielsen, follow (pages 86-101. BROADCASTING, December 17, 1962 85