Education by Radio (1937)

The new YORK state college of AGRICULTURE, Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y., is broadcasting regularly over twenty-five radio stations programs which are intended to be of special interest to farmers, gardeners, and homemakers. Charles A. Taylor is in charge of the radio programs. Recently a survey was made to determine the preferences of listeners, their regularity of listening, and place of residence, i. e., rural, suburban, urban. Results of the survey were based on replies to 1500 letters of inquiry. In spite of the fact that the broadcasts place much greater emphasis on agricultural topics than on homemaking, the number of women found to be listening nearly equalled the number of men. Sixty-two percent of the replies were from rural residents, 17 percent from suburban, and 21 per cent from urban. It was found that rural and urban men listen more regularly than suburban men, whereas rural and suburban women listen regularly. Outstand¬ ing preferences were for “Seasonal Advice and Reminders” and for “Experiences of Farmers and Homemakers.” “New Scientific Discoveries” found especial favor with suburban listeners. Professor Taylor has also been experimenting with shortwave in broadcasting agricultural pro¬ grams for reception in other countries. Purposes of the shortwave broadcasts are to build up good¬ will, especially between educational institutions in the different countries, and to e.xplore the methods and possibilities in agricultural broad¬ casting by shortwave to other countries. Professor Taylor reports that they are finding out many interesting things that nobody seems to have known about international interests in agriculture. • STATION WNAD, University of Oklahoma, Norman, is broadcasting from beautiful new studios on two floors of the Union Tower on the campus. The tower and studios were built with the aid of Federal funds thru the Works Progress Administration. They represent the finest in acous¬ tical and engineering treatment, are beautifully decorated, and are equipped with the latest word in broadcasting equipment. WNAD is now broad¬ casting thirteen hours each week, and estimates that approximately 150 students go before the microphone during this period. A course in radio announcing was inaugurated this year, and the de¬ mand was so great that candidates for admission to the class had to pass a strenuous audition. • Radio as an aid in teaching, a new pamphlet by I. Keith Tyler and R. R. Lowdermilk, contains the following five articles reprinted from The Ohio Radio Announcer: “Using Radio News,” “Radio in the Social Studies,” “Music and Radio,” “Radio and Eng¬ lish,” and “Radio and Science.” Since the useful¬ ness of these articles was by no means confined to Ohio readers it seemed desirable to make them available to a wider public than that represented by the mailing list of the Announcer. The pam¬ phlet may be secured without charge from the Bureau of Educational Research of the Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio. raphy. The committee will canvass developments in these fields and set up experiments and demonstrations in each. In this way it will explore possibilities and stimulate progress. The offices of the com¬ mittee will be in New York, N. Y. Other specific developments are worthy of mention in this over¬ view of broadcasting, but for the moment it seems well to focus attention on a general problem of increasing importance. There is a growing feeling in this country that, just as citizens’ groups are participating more actively in politics, such groups should have a larger participation in broadcasting. Leaders of these groups feel that they represent resources of program materials which are worthy of a place on the air. They demand time for their programs. Broadcasters have not yet developed a satisfactory pattern for handling such claims. Radio is new. Its leaders have sometimes made the mistake of considering themselves engaged in a strictly private enterprise. They have dealt with citizens’ groups as tho they had a minimum of public responsibility. They have aroused unnecessary antagonism and suspicion. A pattern for handling such problems exists. It has been devel¬ oped by the National Committee on Education by Radio out of the experience of thousands of educators. Education is old. Its adminis¬ trative leaders are accustomed to demands being made upon them by citizens’ groups. These leaders have always recognized that they have a public responsibility. While they cannot accept the dictates of any group, they have been forced to find a formula which gives to all groups a satisfactory hearing and the sense of a real oppor¬ tunity for participation in the educational program of a community. On the basis of this educational experience the NCER has devel¬ oped a cooperative plan which is available to commercial broad¬ casters as soon as those representatives of the industry are ready to make use of it.® It is only a matter of time before the logical aspects of such co¬ operative organizations will compel their acceptance. The only ques¬ tion about which real uncertainty continues to exist is the form which they will take when they finally arrive. The answer to that question will be determined largely by the source from which comes the finan¬ cial support. One possibility is that such organizations may be financed by the government. The beginnings of such a pattern already exist in the radio project now being operated by the U. S. Office of Education. That organization is finding necessary the creation of special com¬ mittees for the checking of its work. It may have to establish a general supervisory committee for the review of its whole program. Then it will be in essence an equivalent of the program advocated by the National Committee on Education by Radio. Another possibility lies in a cooperative organization financed by private groups. The pattern for this kind of organization is estab¬ lished in embryo in the University Broadcasting Council of Chicago. The expansion of that plan to include not only colleges but also important citizens’ groups is inevitable. There are other patterns being developed, notably one for the Rocky Mountain region. Any number could be set up on short notice if necessary financial sup¬ port were in sight. The plan is certain to materialize. Whether it comes under the aegis of government or thru the initiative of private groups depends upon the convictions of the holders of the pursestrings as to which procedure is most in keeping with the requirements of radio and the needs of American democracy. ^Education by Radio 6:2-3, 13-lS, 45-48, January-February, June, and December Supplement, 1936. [34]