Radio Broadcast (Nov 1926-Apr 1927)

EDUCATE THE MASSES / EDUCATE the Masses! There is a slogan. Sure fire! nary a failure. And when you make it plural — everyone do his bit, no matter how small— it is the bahoo that brings them, breathless. Ever been one of the home town's circle of Purposeful People? Everybody I know has; or nearly everybody. If you care for statistics on the subject, I'd say offhand that at least 9,751,624 deserving but unDutch cleansed pots and pans have in dullness contemplated days nothing short of countless while theretofore tidy housewives answered that particular clarion call. Aside from that, mothers have left their infants, poets their inkpots — so many things just happen, each time someone rediscovers the Message! And each time, he permits the word to leak out, very quietly, through the local press, plus twocolor posters and handbills, that the Movement is on; this time they may meet at Mrs. U. R. Moron's charming residence on the Boulevard, Tuesday at four. For they must be elevated, those Masses. Regularly. And it is not an indoor sport. Please . . . . Very serious business. Practical? Absolutely. For those who have had political aspirations, it has been great stuff, locally. And if it happened that Nell was not appreciated by the neighbors in the just-moved-into suburb, plenty of sunshine dripped into the Little Woman's heart when with disarming artifice a Serious Thinker was enticed out to the little nest — just pot luck, professor, we're simple folk but will try to make you comfy in a homey sort of way — and the best people invited; and others. Follow Drawings by Fran\lyn F. Stratford ing which provision had to be made for the uplifters to be parked on the radiator and on the window seat; even the kitchen chairs brought in. With an orator who had a Name and a collar which offered no restraint to an Adam's apple passionately genuflexing to each point made— success! What was said didn't matter. The big Idea was the thing. Yes, Educating the Masses has been awfully useful. But those homey gatherings of an intimate circle of about 165 palpitating neighbors have been shot to pieces.' It looks now as if it is all over. Or at least, is not so good, any more. And the cause of it all is radio. It is organized broadcasting, on a national scale; and all that. Educational conferences and committees andcurriculums CJyTAfiOR J. ANDRE W WHITE is one of the J O t old-timers of broadcasting and one of the newtimers, too. And as such, he is certainly qualified to be heard when he writes about the art or industry call it what you will. His experiments date before the early days of wjz at Newark — but that is another story which has already been told in these pages. Although Major White is not now, in fad he never has been, a professional broadcaster— he has announced and officiated at pri\e fights and all manner of sporting events, public affairs and other ceremonies which make terrific demands on the announcer. His excellent job of the Dempsey-Tunney figh added one more laurel to those figurative ones he now has He knows broadcasting. So much piffle has been written about the great mission of broadcasting that it is a reliej to find a real authority laying about him with a club at many of the fundamentals in the radio Credo. — The Editor. and all sorts of imposing things are to be utilized. The utter, the absolute uttermost parts of the country are to be taken in, so to speak, in one fell swipe. Radioed culture is to enter every home. The mere thought is staggering. As an Average Fellow, I can't quite get it. For fifteen years radio to me has been a business; something to work at and with; my sole occupation. Look at the darn thing now. That is, look at broadcasting, something for which I have a sort of paternal love; a pet of mine. The healthy infant is becoming overweight with bewildering suddenness to us who had a good deal to do with introducing the general public to air entertainment away back in 1921. And a pretty crude inaugural it was, as I see it, enlightened, now. Imagine selecting such a thing — yes, actually— as the heavyweight fisticuff contest between Monsieur Carpentier and J. Dempsey to intrigue public attention. And that isn't all! In the various years of life to come, I'll have to sit around miserably contemplating in retrospect all those hours of concentration upon preparation of pioneer programs that featured bands and orchestras, interspersed with comedians and comelier persons; even instrumentalists with sighing violins and sobbing 'cellos; recitations, opera recitals, sporting events and— O Allah!— bedtime stories. Unhappily there is no escaping the responsibility for that bad early steersmanship. For look at what happened: some 560 transmitting stations scattered through the country blindly walked into the trap, patterning their radio programs alter that unfortunate initial error.