Education by Radio (1933)

air. The Act denies the Commission any power of censorship. It is, however, duty bound to take into consideration programs or service previously rendered in considering applications for renewal of licenses. Service to the listeners is the paramount consideration. That service has gradually developed from crude phonograph records and speeches to programs covering the whole gamut of human knowledge and human emotions. The evolution ' of radio broadcasting in the United States is one of the out¬ standing marvels of this wonderful age. Program directors vie with each other in providing interesting, instructive, and varied programs. Hundreds of intelligent persons are devot¬ ing all their time and talents to the study of the needs and requirements, the whims and fancies of various communities, providing the listeners with valuable information and worth¬ while entertainment. An opportunity for expression is pro¬ vided to every reputable and substantial class or group. Earn¬ est efforts are made to give the people what they want and not what some one in authority may think is good for them. National unity has been promoted, musical culture and appreciation widely extended, messages of men and women of outstanding achievements and mentality are now heard by millions thru the networks, geographical provincialism is being banished rapidly, thus preventing the disintegration of our vast population into classes. Common sources of entertainment, common economic inter¬ ests, common ideals, problems, and dangers constitute bonds for making our people homogeneous. This new means for nationwide communication is proving a valuable adjunct to the government at this critical, changing era, informing the people concerning the economic readjust¬ ments being made designed to restore prosperity. Our plan has developed, in all citizens, a deeper consciousness of the functions of our national government and the manifold and complex problems confronting it. Educational programs are provided daily on many stations. Special efforts are made by the Commission to provide radio facilities for educational institutions. Emphasis is put on agri¬ cultural programs by many stations which are designed to aid farmers in rural sections. The late Edwin A. Alderman, president of the University of Virginia, in an official report on the American system of radio broadcasting said: Already many of the problems have been solved. Entertainers have achieved fame and fortune by furnishing amusement for millions of homes. Great musicians, freed at last from the limitations of the con¬ cert stage, have found in radio a national Peoples’ Theater, and the works of immortals belong no longer to the few. Government officials, statesmen, and political candidates now can and do address the whole people directly. The church has carried its message of faith far beyond its own doors. A death blow has been dealt to isolation and exclusiveness — whether geographical, cultural, or social. Dr. Alderman added that if one evaluates current programs “it is surprising to find how many of them possess real educa¬ tional merit.” The President’s Research Committee on Social Trends [which served under President Hoover] composed of noted economists and sociologists, after an exhaustive study of the use of radio in America, found 150 different ways in which it has contributed to the progress of the nation and the social habits of the people, adding much to their comfort and happiness. In creating the Radio Act, Congress, in effect, ordained that the operation of radio stations would entail no expense to listeners, that no taxes should be imposed on the listening public for the support of stations or their programs. Proposals for taxing receivingsets, made during the debates on the pro¬ posed law, met with strong opposition from the general public. The phenomenal growth of American broadcasting and of the radio audience in this country is tangible evidence of the soundness of our system. It is estimated that we have an audience comprising more than seventeen million radio fam¬ ilies, representing 45 percent of all the radio families in the world and constituting a higher per capita set-ownership than that of any nation except the small country of Denmark. This, I believe, would not be so unless our system were funda¬ mentally sound. Six years after private enterprise had developed the radio broadcasting industry, the soundness of the system was rec¬ ognized by Congress when it formulated and passed the Radio Act of 1927. At that time, as today, Congress had the power to create any system of broadcasting which it saw fit to bring into being. Congress, however, chose to continue the system of broadcasting already established. Advertising furnishes the needed revenue just as it supports our magazines and newspapers. Radio broadcasting in this country has been criticized be¬ cause of this method of support. Personally, I see no objec¬ tion to this plan providing the advertising is carefully regu¬ lated and intelligently presented. Advertising itself is a constructive force. It would require vast sums to provide radio service to the American people under any other system which might be devised. Under the present plan, according to a recent survey made by the Commission to supply data for the United States Senate, it was disclosed that the investment of stations as of December 31, 1931, totaled approximately forty-eight million dollars. Since then considerable sums have been added. That survey also shows that in 1931 the gross receipts of all radio broadcasting stations amounted to $77,758,049; gross expenditures to $77,995,405, which included $20,159,656 for talent and programs; $16,884,437 for regular employees; $4,725,168 for equipment; and $36,226,144 for miscellaneous. All except forty of the stations in the United States are privately owned and operated, the exception being stations owned directly or indirectly by states and municipalities. About two hundred stations buy part of their programs from companies engaged in chain broadcasting. These stations are for the most part independently owned and operated, and join the network at intervals to obtain programs of national inter¬ est. The chains also provide highclass programs to many rural communities lacking talent. t is now WOSU since the Ohio State University recently secured permission from the Federal Radio Commission to change the call letters of its publicly-owned non-commercial radio station. The station formerly used the letters WEAO. Education by radio is published by the National Committee on Education by Radio at 1201 Sixteenth Street, Northwest, Washington, D. C. [48]