NAEB Newsletter (September 15, 1939)

NAEB News Letter* •«*S©pt* 15 , 195.9 Page 16 chain of arguments back and forth and hae really enjoyed something which at the salt© time improves hie mind*, 1 am inclined to think that such a program on the one hand and on the other hand really good discussions such ae the Chicago Round Table has* or hook talks as Professor Frederick at Northwestern University puts them on the air* will probably cover the different needs for information better than the dramatizations of scion©© or history which sound so popular but are neither fish nor fowl* I sm not quite sure whether I am right on this point* but it is a good example of the t] r p© of problems w© research people 'try to study for you in the knowledge division of your educational problems* "Now whan It comes to the dissemination of psychological insight* we are in a slightly different position* It seems that the need for help in straightening out personal difficulties is so great that the commercial broadcasters were forced into providing such far© just in order to .keep largo audiences* You have on the on© hand such very successful self-improvement programs as the Good Will Hour on Sunday night* and on the other hand the family serials * Th© great success . of all those family stories is partly due to the fact that women use the experiences of families like th© Goldbergs and th® Kellys to learn something in regard to their own hom© life* Professional psychologists frown on self-improvement programs with the-result that educational broadcasters neglect thorn and lose part of their potential audience to commercial stations* What we try her© is to set up standards so that self-improvement programs can be developed which do a minimum of harm* We have not yet started similar work on family serials, but I think it is our duty to let you know that if Lum and Abner mention a local rural library they probably do more for making people road then many a speech by a librarian could do* "I am embarrassed when I come to th© question of how to disseminate social perspectives over the air® Everyone is so cagey on this score that there is practically no experience to report on® The ^ only thing we research people can do is let you know that w© find her© a blank in the radio field and 'that we hop© you educational broadcasters will find your way to being more out-spoken on. social issues than you have been so far* Summarizing this point, then, I might say that this is what w© can do to help you clarify the goals and tools of educational broadcasting? We f ollow carefu lly the discussions of educe tors and keep in mlncTHSKa generaTTdeas on which lJE®y~seem^fo§^^T‘ m Wen w® gllim’'T SiTwSo le fieldHoT^roadoasting anS oinf^wEaY"© o mlTTllS ' ten., e ar anS'^ifhy theyufke f t® IjSSiT we 1 start * to"tU Tnlc wlia¥ c hange s’^ios© alfferent kind of^Tucc e is ful prog ;: uH olr ^o so tlYaT tffi ey really serveriEigineral .goal s ofe’IucaTion* AnT^Sen wo tufiiHB:: m. ‘ over to* you for production! M {2) When you then go about producing such a program wa try to help you make it successful in the sens© that people like to listen to It* Th© main technique we have developed h©r© is the listener pane l. It is my conviction, which X cannot prove her© In detail, that if you get in contact with a small group of listeners, maybe as few as fifty, and ask them, to listen regularly to your program, you can get a wealth of information to help you improve the program as > time goes on* If you try it you will be surprised how much constructive criticism listeners can give you on points which you are not likely