Education by Radio (1937)

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They want to make their contribution to it in a way which will leaven the whole and make it more socially constructive. As part of the present system of broadcasting there are stations owned and operated by educational institutions. These are used largely in the extension services of colleges and universities. They bring to extension education an increased effectiveness and a wider range of serviceability. It is the purpose of education to keep these stations and to secure new ones whenever opportunity offers. Dr. John W. Studebaker, U. S. Commissioner of Education, has requested already that a por¬ tion of the shortwave bands, which are now being made available, be reserved by the Federal Communications Commission for the exclu¬ sive use of educational institutions. This is an outstanding recogni¬ tion of the social value of broadcasting to schools. In addition to Dr. Studebaker’s blanket request, there are at frequent intervals requests by educational institutions for facilities with which to accomplish specific purposes. The number of these requests may be expected to increase with the growth in appreciation of radio’s possibilities and with the removal of education’s present financial stringencies. Quite apart from any question of educational ownership and use of station facilities for specific educational purposes, there is the great problem of what share educational and cultural interests should have in the general program service of the nation. That they should have a share is a matter of common agreement. The Communica¬ tions Commission has accepted them as an important factor in de¬ termining the extent to which commercial stations are meeting the requirements of “public interest.” Commercial stations proudly declare the amount of time given to education. Audience reactions have justified this interest. A careful distinction should be made between a program designed for specific educational use such as broadcasting to schools and a program of informative or cultural content designed for a general audience. It is probably to be expected that programs on commercial stations, particularly those with chain affiliations, will be predom¬ inately of the latter character. Perhaps, with these understandings, it may be easier to return to the question of what the educational and cultural interests of the nation want from broadcasting. It may now be possible to list a few of the safeguards which seem essential if the total program output of all the stations in the United States is to represent a socially constructive force. In the first place, educators want some assurance that radio pro¬ grams will be planned to serve a broad social purpose. Up to now they have been largely haphazard. Some subjects have been greatly overemphasized. Others have been ignored. There needs to be some comprehensive planning to avoid the present excessive duplication, to insure that, so far as possible, all subjects are given consideration in accordance with their importance, and to maintain the oppor¬ tunity for the continuing use of radio in the service of education. In all fairness it must be said that many aspects of the present general program service have been improved. Thru the self-interest of advertisers, the evening’s program on almost any important sta¬ tion represents a carefully planned and varied program. There is no consideration, however, of the educational effect of such a pro¬ gram and cultural considerations are for the most part subordinated to commercial ends. Indeed, there is a real scarcity of periods among the more salable hours of the day when anything can be heard which is not primarily commercial. Representative emanuel celler of New York has introduced a bill authoriz¬ ing the construction in Washington, D. C., of a high-power shortwave government broadcasting station to be known as the Pan-American Radio Station. In connection with his bill, Mr. Celler made the' following statement: “The U. S. Com¬ missioner of Education is instructed to provide programs of national and international interest. There is to be appropriated $750,000 for the con¬ struction of such station. . . . “The plan and purpose of such legislation has had the approval and encouragement of respon¬ sible officials of the Department of State, Depart¬ ment of the Interior, Department of Agriculture, Federal Communications Commission, National Committee on Education by Radio, and the PanAmerican Union. Also, such project has already had the approval specifically of President Roose¬ velt, Secretary of State Hull, and Secretary of the Navy Swanson. It grows out of the radio resolu¬ tion adopted January 1932 at Montevideo by the Seventh International Conference of the North, Central, and South American countries forming the twenty-one sister republics of the Pan-Amer¬ ican Union. “Each American nation participating at the Conference agreed to set up shortwave broad¬ casting stations and to broadcast such programs as to cement bonds of friendship and cultural understanding between the peoples of the twentyone countries of the Pan-American Union. . . . In all the world there are no more unassigned or ‘empty’ channels for new shortwave broadcasting stations — except one; that is the channel pre¬ empted at the Montevideo Conference for exclu¬ sive use of Pan-American republics. “President Roosevelt, in pursuance of such pre¬ emption, and in accord with our sister nations, issued Executive Order No. 6472, dated Decem¬ ber 2, 1933, making available for the U. S. Gov¬ ernment the following frequencies: 6120 kc., 9550 kc., 11730 kc., 15130 kc., and 21500 kc. “In pursuance of such Executive Order, a sta¬ tion was to be set up in Washington, D. C., under the joint control and auspices of the State Depart¬ ment and Navy Department. The station was never set up. Many obstacles were thrown across the path of this much needed reform by mis¬ guided and selfish persons. It is feared that this would be the entering wedge into governmental control of radio. That is ridiculous. . . . One PanAmerican shortwave station, set up in pursuance of the treaty in an unassigned channel on a non¬ competitive basis, will not in the slightest militate against private initiative. It will not lead to government monopoly. . . . “Because of the pressure against carrying out the President’s Executive Order I have introduced my bill. . . . Every nation in the world has a broadcasting station except the United States. . . . There are two million shortwave receivingsets in this country and the number is mounting daily by leaps and bounds. Such increasing short¬ wave receptivity might well command a federal station. “Such a federal-controled station could be used [1] to create good will between this and other nations, [2] to eradicate international misun¬ derstandings, and [3] to develop two-way trade between the United States and other nations.” [ n 1