NAEB Newsletter (September 15, 1939)

HAEB n®m Letter*• *.Sept. 15, 1939 Pag© 12 minority gropps» There are hundreds , yes thousands of people perhaps K , who would like a different fare, but not enough of them in any one community to support the cost of the operation and program of a rad~o station* "But to be less pessimistic for a moment, her© are some of the things that could be done, that one would think of if given the job of running an educational radio station* Things probably which have been tried countless times, maybe so and maybe not* "There are better electrical transcriptions available now than in 1935* If 1 had any money at isy disposal, some of 1 fc certainly would go to pay for the best transcriptions which could be obtained, both musical and dramatico Some are expensive to be sure, but others ar© not s it depends in most instances on the size of the town and the station* A good dramatic serial* I say a g ood dramatic serial* running daily along with an adequate musical library, might very well be the foundation for my entertainment program* By and large, the caliber of those transcript** ions would be considerably higher than the caliber of local talent* "Then,. I would cooperate with every state and local agency available,, working with the Chamber of Commerce, with the school Board, with women*t organisations, welfare and fraternal groups, in an attempt to render the best community service possible* I say, "working with" « by that I mean, I would not merely say to any of them, *yes, you can have fifteen minutes or a halil an hour on such and such, a day or night *, but I would discuss the possibilities of an interesting program, helping them to make it more than 9 just another talk** I think rather than work Individually with each of these groups, I would attempt to get them to pool their resources and efforts and work together 0 In fact, I think I would try to set up a community advisory counoil for the station, which could be a clearing house for programs, They could also be my *hair shirt* by forming constructive listening groups* Those groups need not listen merely as an aid to the station^ but for their own edification as well* Valuable research work could be done this way, which might be tied up with the radio course which I would definitely establish in the University curriculum. By making this course available to the members of the advisory council or listening groans, at a small fee, a means of financing some of the work of the department might be found* The advisory group would need little money to finance itself - their wwn members could be trained to write and help in production, and members of student drama groups, courses or clubs could be cast for dramatic productions, if and when a dramatic production was needed* Personally, I think they are over-* don© in many instances, often times forcing material into the drama form when it is not dramatic to begin with* I would tie in the local board of education as well, so as to make the group all-inclusive as far as elementary and adult education was concerned in the community* "In my radio course, I would have the students working on new and different radio techniques, instead of trying to ape the programs which are on the air* I would make every effort to train speakers* You cannot give a person without a personality, a radio personality* But you can give him a better delivery and a real style. You can make the subject matter of any speech easier to listen to and easier to read, and if the material is interesting in itself, undoubtedly