Tape Network, 1950-1953 (1) (1950-1953)

11-13-53 i NAEB NETWORK REPORT t t MEB Annual Convention Oct® 30, 1953 The following report will attempt to answer such questions as are ©pst often asked about the Network operation, to show something of the conditions ua— der which its Headquarters works* to show both progress and Current problems, and to express recommendations for the improvement of Network service<> 1) NETWORK OPERATION AND EQUIPMENT * The Network Headquarters manner of operation and its equipment are substantially the same as at this time last year* The Net¬ work has squired a little more shelving, a few more tapes (we have almost 7,000 reels), and some minor equipment replacement® It has had two tape inspection de¬ vices built in an attempt to reduce the number of bad tapes being circulated® The Network employs the same number of workers, and for a time during the summer of 1953 it employed fewer® 2) NETWORK OUTPUT ,, Since the installation of the Network 0 s mass duplicator and the commencement of the individual distribution system (as opposed to the old ,! leg system”) last year, the Network output has increased considerably* As many as twenty-two master tapes are duplicated and distributed each week, and as many as 1,250 tape recordings are dispatched® Not all of these recordings are mass duplicateds a greatly varying number of individual dubbings are done each week® The number of series distributed (counting a series as consisting of up to thirteen programs, twenty-six programs as two series) has increased thirty per cent® The numoer of stations to which the Network sends recordings (as distinguished from the number of transmitters or call letters using the recordings* 102 ) has dropped from 85 to 79, but the number using in-sehool programs has increased from 30 to 47 * Ten in-school program series were distributed during the • school year of 1952-53 l 17 series are being distributed during the present school year* Last winder NAEB and Network Headquarters made a count of its outgoing mail® The results 2,000 envelopes and 1,000 packages a month® The envelopes included letters, cue sheets, special announcements. Newsletters * etc®; the packages were mostly tape recordings® This quantity has been increased an estimated thirty per cent, and Headquarters predicts a continued sharp increase® ^ 3) IN—SCHOOL AND GENERAL PROGRAMMING * Because the problem of satisfactorily hand¬ ling the in-school program project is quite different from that of the week-to- week distribution of general programs, the Network at one time regarded the two projects as quite separate and as running more or less parallel in the same office® This proved quite impractical® Neither project can be regarded simply as something done “over and above” or even “along with” the other—especially since the great expansion of the Network operation® There is only on© Network organization in one office, and every job must be coordinated with every other and the whole inte¬ grated into one project* Since last fall, progress has been made toward such an integration but no perfect system has been developed because of the pressures re¬ quiring maximum effort to keep on top of daily output* Unlike the general week- to-week series, in-school programs are mailed in complete series 5 that is, 14 pro¬ grams of a series go to a station at one time* Also stations receive an audition tape for a series before they definitely order it. During the offering and distri¬ bution of these in-school programs, the week-to-week distribution must lessen in quantity to allow time and tape for this work® Or, to put it positively, between