Education by Radio (1932)

EDUCATION BY RADIO VOLUME 2. NUMBER 27. DECEMBER 8. 1932 A Congressional Investigation of Radio Radio in the United States will be investigated by a committee of Congress created for that purpose. When ““ that will come, is a matter of conjecture, but the rum¬ blings of discontent continue louder and more insistent. Per¬ sons not connected with the industry or depending on it in any way for a liveli¬ hood are beginning to see that a “new deal” is the only solution. The Federal Radio Commission itself sees the hand¬ writing on the wall as is evidenced by the exhortation of one of its members, Har¬ old A. Lafount, delivered to the National Association of Broadcasters at their re¬ cent Saint Louis meeting. A few of Commissioner Lafount’s most pertinent remarks were: Everybody knows that the operation and maintenance of a radio broadcasting station is an expensive undertaking. Somebody has to foot the bill. In the end, under any system, it is my belief that it is the public who pays. The manner in which it pays differs in accordance with the various systems in use. In England the public is taxed directly. In the United States money for the operation of stations is obtained thru . . . advertising. The public wants service; the advertiser wants the public’s attention and is willing to pay for it. He, in turn, adds the advertising expense on the price of his goods, so in the end the public pays indirectly for its service. . . . the danger of over-commercializing is a real temptation for which many stations have fallen. Instead of operating primarily “in the public interest, convenience, and necessity,” they are operating mainly for the profits they _ _ gain thru excessive and uninteresting advertis¬ ing. In so doing, I warn them, they are “selling their birthrights for a mess of pottage” and their judgment day will come. Already an irate public is besieging their representatives in Congress for drastic action. . . . public interest should not be construed to mean entertainment only. An intelligent presentation of educational material is, in my opinion, imperative, and will increase the listening audience, consequently the demand for time by advertisers. ... I am convinced that the day of cleared channel stations on either the Atlantic or Pacific Coast has about gone, regrettable as it is to me. There are four recent occurrences in the radio field that make a Congressional investigation especially opportune at this time. First: Six agencies prominently mentioned in connection with a better utilization of radio, have just completed a thorogoing survey of the use of radio by the 71 land-grant colleges and separate state universities. This study contains the following chapters: Objectives of College Broadcasting as Viewed by College Executives; Financial Aspects; Existing Facilities; The Control and Operation of Broadcasting as Viewed by Col¬ lege Executives; Administrative Aspects; The College Radio Program. As a joint project, the survey will be of especial value in making an accounting of the stewardship of the colleges and universities in respect to the relatively insignificant portion of the radio spectrum allotted to them. The National Committee Elmer S. Pierce, principal of Seneca Voca¬ tional High School, Buffalo, New York, and director of radio station IFSIAS, one of the two broadcasting stations operated by public-school systems. Graduated from Alfred University in 1908, he received the Bed. D . degree from the same institution in 1927 . on Education by Radio financed the study, furnished the serv¬ ices of its research director to direct, and its staff to tabulate it. One member of the staff from the federal Office of Education and one from the Department of Agriculture served as as¬ sociate directors of the survey. The As¬ sociation of Land-Grant Colleges, the National Association of State Universi¬ ties, and the National Advisory Coun¬ cil on Radio in Education were the agencies in addition to those previously named that cooperated in the study. It is being printed and will be ready for distribution in a short time. Second: The Federal Radio Commis¬ sion on June 9, 1932, transmitted to the Senate its answer to the Couzens-Dill Resolution No. 129. This was not a fact¬ finding document but a defense of the. present radio system. It neglected a num¬ ber of fundamental principles of research and avoided two fundamental considera¬ tions concerning radio itself: [1] The economic basis of radio broadcasting is unsound. The rate structure is based on a capitalization of supposedly publiclyowned channels. [2] The radio audience is in reality composed of a group of mi¬ norities. To serve the interests of these minorities is in direct conflict with the demands of advertisers whose continued support can only be had by collecting the largest possible audience. Third: Canada has recently decided to nationalize radio. This came following an exhaustive study made by a royal commission headed by Sir John Aird. Among its recommenda¬ tions were the elimination of direct advertising, financing thru license fees, and provincial control of programs. After giving the people ample time to consider the Aird report, the House of Commons last spring held hearings on the question and con¬ curred in the principal findings on May 11, 1932. Their de¬ cision was, no doubt, influenced by their experience with and close proximity to the socalled American radio system. Fourth: The Ninth International Radiotelegraph Confer¬ ence which opened in Madrid, Spain, on September 3, has considered a number of questions of vital interest to the United States. The widening of the broadcast band, an equitable divi¬ sion of the North American frequencies, and provision for the representation of public interest in future conferences are among the questions at the forefront at this time. It is for these reasons that the National Committee on Edu¬ cation by Radio adopted a resolution at its meeting, Novem¬ ber 21, urging upon Congress the need of a thoro investiga¬ tion of the whole field of radio broadcasting by a Congressional committee created for that purpose. r los ]