Education by Radio (1933)

connections to the studios in Madison so that the programs originating at the university and the departments and com¬ missions at the capitol might be received thruout the state. For the past six months the 1 -kilowatt station WHA at Madi¬ son and the 2-kilowatt station WLBL have been connected by leased wires, and, as previously stated, all parts of the state save the extreme northwest and certain small pocketed regions have been able to receive the state sponsored programs with fair volume. Costs and examples of service rendered — The appro¬ priation bill whose passage is jeopardized by the WIBA appli¬ cation and the representations of the commercial stations car¬ ries an appropriation of $18,000 per annum for the operation of WHA. This covers the entire budget for operating and maintaining the 1 -kilowatt transmitter of WHA and the studios at the capitol and university. It includes all wages and salaries for program director, operators, announcers, and other assist¬ ants. To meet the federal requirements, the station broadcasts nine hours per day. The computed cost at the lowest quoted card rate of leasing this amount of time from the 1 -kilowatt Madison station WIBA, which has a smaller service area than WHA, is $200,880. During the last primary and election campaign in Wisconsin, those entrusted with developing the policy of the two state stations, in conference with the campaign managers of all parties having a place on the ballots, reached an understanding by which the facilities of the stations were made available without charge at noon and near sunset for a period of 30 days before the primary and 30 days before the November election to the candidates for state offices or other speakers designated by the parties. The time thus used for political broadcasts from the WHA transmitter if paid for at the card rate of WIBA would have cost $5160. This pioneer experiment is the most significant step which has been taken to solve the problem of excessive use of money in political campaigns. The following is a partial list of the agencies which have, participated in the WHA broadcasts during the past year: University of Wisconsin Madison Public Schools Wisconsin State Medical Society Wisconsin State Dental Society Wisconsin Historical Society U. S. Forest Products Laboratory Wisconsin 4-H Clubs Future Farmers of America Women’s Legislative Council Wisconsin Parent-Teacher Association Wisconsin Library Association Friends of our Native Landscape Wisconsin Humane Society Wisconsin Council of Agriculture Wisconsin State Bee Keepers Association National Cheese Producers Federation Wisconsin Cranberry Growers Association Door County Fruit Growers Union Wisconsin State Horticultural Society Wisconsin Live Stock Breeders Association State Departments: Highway Department Health Department Conservation Department Public Instruction Agriculture and Markets Bureau of Personnel Insurance Commission Industrial Commission Public Service Commission Board of Control Tax Commission Normal School Regents Radio stewardship — Thru the radio the state can serve its citizens whenever the need arises. Wisconsin has been faithful in its stewardship and is continually improving its radio service. The state broadcasting stations in Wisconsin are being used: [1] To serve the agricultural interests of the state by fur¬ nishing technical and market information. [2] To serve the households of the state by furnishing technical counsel on matters of health and conduct of the home. [3] To serve the public schools of the state by supple¬ menting their educational methods and materials. [During the winter of 1932-33, more than 23,000 children were re¬ ported listening in classrooms each week.] [4] To serve public interests and public enterprise by pro¬ viding them with radio facilities as good as the commercial stations have placed at the disposal of private interests and private enterprise. [5] To serve the interests of an informed public opinion by providing a state-wide forum for the pro-and-con type of discussion of labor problems, of economic principles and prob¬ lems, of the problems of taxation and regulation, and of the many other problems of public policy. Monopolization of the nation’s broadcasting quota — The percentage of the nation’s quota of radio broadcasting facilities which is in the control of institutions or corporations whose primary interest in the radio is in using it for the purposes described above is becoming vanishingly small. A study printed in Education by Radio showed the distri¬ bution in the fall of 1931 to be as follows: Quota U nits Percent NBC and its affiliated stations 184 43 CBS and its affiliated stations 108 25 All educational stations . 26 6 All other broadcasters . 112 26. 430 . 100 A survey of the facilities of the 71 land-grant colleges and state universities of the nation in the spring of 1932 showed that the quota units assigned to these institutions amounted to only 3.5 percent of the national quota. This had fallen to 1.8 percent by 1933. He who runs may read. The nation’s limited and invaluable radio resources are almost, but not quite, 99.44 percent purely under the control of commercial interests for the extraction of private profit. It is this situation which has led the groups represented on the National Committee on Education by Radio to watch with so much interest the substantial evidence of the growing ap¬ preciation by previous state administrations in Wisconsin of the part which radio can play in the growth and development of the commonwealth. These groups are: National Education Association National Catholic Educational Association National Association of State University Presidents National Council of State Superintendents American Council on Education National University Extension Association The Jesuit Educational Association Association of College and University Broadcasting Stations Association of Land-Grant Colleges and Universities [39]