Radio today (Sept 1935-Dec 1936)

length as to run for over a month, but a week is usually a sufficiently long period of time, for the record soon becomes passe and valueless. Although perfected two and onehalf years ago by Professors B. F. Elder and L. F. Woodruff of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the device has only recently been put into production. With the information obtained from a survey using these instruments installed on some five hundred to a thousand receivers, the broadcaster would be in a position to talk to his customers in terms of the percentage of the listening audience who tune to his station. The advertiser can then know the effectiveness of his programs and advertising talks. A station management is able to obtain statistics on the value of various hours and charge extra prices for times when the listening public is greatest. The cost of conducting a survey of a metropolitan area by this new method is about one-tenth of the cost of conducting a similar, though less comprehensive, survey by telephone. Outstanding is the fact that the record covers all hours of the day. Radio's Pulitzer Prize * The annual uproar which accompanies the awarding of the Pulitzer prizes in letters may find itself duplicated in radio, if the provoking proposal of the Radio Manufacturers Association is taken seriously as it deserves. The idea would be to pick yearly best features in broadcasting, similar to the plan of the Pulitzer board. Probably unaware of what they started in the way of critical fanfare, executives of the BMA, led by Powel Crosley, Jr., Cincinnati, presented the proposal to the National Association of Broadcasters, where it was roundly liked. European programs — Royal * John F. Royal, NBC vice-president and program mentor, is back from 17 European countries and uses the word "radio-conscious" to describe it all. Propaganda broadcasting, "Listening groups," and a popular passion for American dance music are in his report. Mr. Eoyal found the Germans planning a big new short-wave station. The Dutch still support their broadcasting by popular subscription. The Italians accent opera. All show a tendency toward world broadcasting. Plans for coming NBC broadcasts from Europe were mentioned on Mr. Royal's return, and it appears that the war zone, if any, in Ethiopia, will receive NBC's serious attention. A trial pick-up of ancient history lessons from the Colosseum, the Acropolis, the Appian Way, and other famous historical spots is on the way. Broadcasts from Greenland and Iceland are also in the plans, as well as an increased number of exchanges with the British Broadcasting Corporation. Hearing him "Tell the Judge' Recognizing that everyhody Wees to listen in on court-room testimony, station WIP, Philadelphia, has been broadcasting traffic-court proceedings. Advice to listeners * High time, say resourceful observers, we had some well-planned guidance in the mass of programs now rampant in the ether. Check, says Mr. Pitts Sanborn, and points to the efforts of his Eadio Institute of the Audible Arts, as an earnest and systematic endeavor in that direction. The Institute, founded by the Philco Eadio and Television Corporation, has had results. After only a few months of operation, its method has attracted the interest of several thousand scattered educators, librarians, and musical leaders. The Institute originally contacted civic leaders, community centers, music groups, school executives, club officials, welfare leaders, library supervisors, and other key persons whose activity concerns local organizations. The list of correspondents soon mounted to 25 grand. It promised to become a clearing house for program ideas and criticism; it set out to sharpen the public appetite for the quality programs by accenting the advantages and special uses of the better program material. The Institute also outlined plans for lecture and discussion meetings, and listening groups, and it issued brochures with recommended programs and pertinent advance information. It got up a list of available literature on the subject and distributed it free. (Example: How To Utilize Eadio in Teaching Music.) Kathleen Goldsmith, Mr. Pitts' director, gets many letters from dealers who actually say that sales have increased because prospects made program discoveries through the Institute's work. Parent Teachers' Associations and similar organizations have taken up the idea of "listening groups." Elderly people and shut-ins have unearthed new program possibilities to interest them. Studio on sideivalk • WIMB studios, Jackson, Mich., are on the ground floor and are doing plenty about the prospects for a street spectacle. Main Studio "A" has the look of a huge show window, resplendent with ultra modern fixtures, flood lights, and new style reflector buttons. Not content, WIMB has engaged artist Allan Thomas to do a huge 38 by 7 mural for a side wall and when the finished canvass gets the lights on it, it's supposed to be the most spectacular spot in Jackson. 20 Radio Today