Education by Radio (1933)

to allow the station management to be final arbiter as to what programs it will present. If it is the intention of the Federal Radio Commission to continue to build up this dual monopoly of radio facilities until all of the broadcasting stations in the country are under the control of one or the other of these two companies, thereby establishing a private censorship over this important means for the dissemination of information, then the transfer of this lease would be in line with such policy. If it is the desire of the Federal Radio Commission to maintain independent stations controled in the various localities, presenting programs pecu¬ liarly suited to community needs, then this transfer should be denied. It is a matter of common knowledge that the North American Radio Conference which will be held in Mexico this summer will of necessity be forced to allocate some of the frequencies now used for broadcasting in the United States to one or more of the other North American countries. Various estimates have been placed upon the number of frequencies that will be lost to the United States in this re-allocation. Where will these fre¬ quencies be secured? It is unlikely that they will be taken from stations which are under the control of one of the two great chains, but more probably from the small, independent stations scattered thruout the country. If such is the case, a tremendous increase will result in the already too large percentage of fre¬ quencies controled by these two chain companies. 1 8] Public interest will be served best if chain companies are not permitted to own, operate, or control stations but are lim¬ ited to providing programs of national interest and importance. A station owned, operated, or controled by a chain company takes such programs as the management of the chain directs. This is usually determined by the financial advantage which will result from a particular broadcast. If chains were not permitted to own stations but simply arranged programs to be used by stations affiliated with the networks, two factors would determine the use of a chain pro¬ gram by a particular broadcasting station: [1] the real merit of the program and the suitability for the community in which the station is located; [2] the financial arrangements con¬ nected with the use of the program. If it is an advertising program, does the chain pay the station a sufficient amount or if it is a sustaining program, does the chain charge a reason¬ able price for the use of the program? [9] Each of the two chain companies already either owns or controls a Washington outlet, the Columbia Broadcasting Sys¬ tem, WJSV, and the National Broadcasting Company, WRC. If the National Broadcasting Company is permitted to lease WMAL, a single 100-watt station will furnish the only purely Washington service, whereas the total power of the chain as¬ signments will be 11,000 watts. A New BBC Director Readers of this column will not have forgotten the name l. of J. C. Stobart, who died recently after filling with dis¬ tinction the post of director of the religious work for the BBC. His successor is to be the Rev. F. A. Iremonger. A better choice could not have been made. Mr. Iremonger has many gifts to bring to his office. He is a scholar, a journalist, a parson with experience both in the city and in the country; and he has the gift of a sympathetic understanding of the many-sided religious life of his countrymen. He has been head of Oxford House in the East end, editor of the Guardian, and latterly vicar of Vernham Dean near Andover. He has been a careful student not without a keen critical ear of the BBC; he will carry for¬ ward the high ideals of Stobart, but I should be surprised if he does not show his own freshness of mind in the use of this instrument of education, of which we know as yet very little. There is no more important office than this into which Mr. Iremonger will enter almost at once, and his many friends will look with confidence to this new chapter in his life. — Christian Century, June 21, 1933. British are Satisfied Critics of this system are fond of asserting that the Brit¬ ish programs are dull and uninteresting, that they are planned by individuals who decide what the people ought to enjoy instead of giving them what they want to enjoy. The people, they say, have no voice in the planning of their pro¬ grams. But, if the listeners do not approve of the programs, they can disconnect their receiving sets, and refuse to pay the tax. The fact that the number of set owners paying this tax has increased in spite of the prolonged depression in England seems to be an effectual refutation to this criticism. — H. L. Ewbank in “Radio’s Future,” Ohio Wesleyan Magazine, March 1933, p94. Advertising Drivel We share with our editor his aversion to the adver¬ tisers over the radio who grade their programs not to the army intellect, estimated by wartime experts to average that of a twelve-year-old child, but to the mental receptivity of those who would have to be thoroly educated to gain the status of an idiot. Hence, the announcer must spell out even the simplest of words, and indulge in other tricks calculated to impress those of sub-school age. No wonder the really in¬ telligent listener is nauseated. — R. W. R., editor of “Short Takes” column in the Worthington, Minnesota, Times. Whereas radio and television as media for the advancement of education and culture are destined to become increasingly valuable: Be it resolved that this Association in convention assembled urge state divisions and local branches to be alert to conserve in every feasible manner these agents for the purposes of education and culture, and to protect them and the public from undesirable development and exploitation. — Resolution adopted at the biennial convention of the American Association of University Women, Minneapolis, Minnesota, May 17-20, 1933. [ 35 1