NAEB Newsletter (Apr 1958)

and Cecil Bidlack have also been on the road a good deal for meetings at which they best represent the NAEB. This helps explain why, particularly at such a time, you may not necessarily receive a reply from the person you address. None of this is by way of complaint. I think it proves that we’re growing. Certainly all of us, in¬ cluding president, committee chairmen, officers and directors, are very busy. We think all this is a good sign. We hope you agree and understand. NETWORK NEWS —Bob Underwood During the past few weeks we have offered and sent quite a few special programs to member stations. Foremost among these programs was a reading of Dr. Albert Schweitzer’s “Declaration of Conscience.” (To my knowledge we are the only American net¬ work to make this Declaration available to its listen¬ ers, and I think we should be proud of this fact.) Some of these special programs are made available to us by member stations; however, the vast majority of them come from independent producers who either have access to certain individuals who would not otherwise appear on the air or who have produced programs which the commercial stations either can not or will not carry. We feel that the programs we offered to you were appropriate material for educa¬ tional stations. In connection with these special programs the only request we make is that stations broadcasting them so inform us. We assume that stations order¬ ing a given special program will broadcast it; how¬ ever, when a program of great importance and gen¬ eral interest (like the Schweitzer program) comes along, we send it to all network stations without go¬ ing through the routine of offering and ordering. It is the broadcasting of this type of special program with which we are concerned'. Consider the Schweitzer program: when the an¬ nouncement about its distribution went out, it car¬ ried a simple form stating that Station So-and-So broadcast the program. Stations which did broadcast the program were requested to return the form. Now, over two weeks later, the number of forms returned is negligible. If we are to continue offering special programs of this nature we must have some evidence that they are being broadcast and heard throughout the coun¬ try. It is imperative that we have something con¬ crete to show the producers so that they will continue to make their programs available to us; and we our¬ selves must determine if the time and' tape utilized in distributing these programs is worth the effort. Time and time again we have been approached by members requesting that the network make every effort to obtain programs of special interest to listen¬ ers to educational stations. We, are happy to do this, and we have succeeded in obtaining such programs. However, we cannot continue to obtain such pro¬ grams unless you are going to broadcast them and inform us of your actions. May we have your coopera¬ tion? If you broadcast or intend to broadcast the Schweitzer Declaration please let us know by return¬ ing the form we supplied. Thank you. PUBLICITY AND PUBLIC RELATIONS —William Bender, Jr. WUOM, University of Michigan One critical phase in any publicity operation comes after your research is finished, your information is all organized and your story is written. Now, who can you get to print it? How far will it go? Each additional outlet you find for a given story has the same, functional effect as researching, organ¬ izing and writing an entirely new story. Hence the problem of distribution—or “mileage”—takes on con¬ siderable importance. Most broadcasting stories peter out after distribu¬ tion to local newspapers. A few are pushed along to out-of-town papers and to publications like Broad¬ casting-Telecasting, Variety, TV-Guide, Radio-TV Daily and our own NAEB Newsletter. Occasionally, there will be one worth sending to the wire services for regional, state or national distribution. Your story might find a home in campus pub¬ lications, too: the yearbook, student paper, alumni magazine or faculty newsletter. In larger colleges and universities, a flurry of special publications originate in the various schools and departments. Often the editors welcome items about the broadcasting work of their faculty and students. One of the most challenging and richly rewarding outlets for your stories may be found in the field of trade journals. The September 1957 issue of Pride, published by ACPRA, had a stimulating article on this subject. APRIL, 1958 3