Sponsor (Oct-Dec 1962)

hibitive to farmers who would have had to pay $41.25 per bale for picking alone. Since purchase of new machines was out of the question, the Texas Employment Commission was called upon to procure machines to custom-pick the crops at a cost of $20-25 per bale. The TEC; asked KRGV (AM & TV) , Weslaco, for assistance. Farm director Charlie Rankin immediately aired the needs of the valley's farmers tvpe of machine, acreage, first or second picking, etc. This was repeated, as a public service, on Rankin's morning and afternoon radio and tv programs. When the dust settled, the TEC congratulated the station for helping to get 90-95% of the 370,000 hales machine harvested and bringing the 1962 cotton season to a successful close. TEC hails RFD. The TEC letter read in part: "Charlie Rankin's farm program was directly respon sible for turning out more than 50 cotton picking machines at times when they could not be located by any other manner in time to meet the demand. Idle machines were located in Hidalgo, Cameron, and Willacy counties and referred to the points of need in a matter of hours, whereas the normal placement process would have taken days." One of the more unusual farm events this year, the International Mushroom Conference from 28 October to 2 November, was covered by WFIL (AM & TV), Philadelphia. Nearly 300 people from eight foreign nations attended the meeting which is held in a different country every three years. This conference, the fifth, was the first to be held in the U. S.; the next to be held here will be in 1977. Chester County, Pa., annually produces $38 million worth of mushrooms and is the largest mushroom producer in the world. WFIL shot 10 minutes of film as the visitors toured farms in the mushroom center, according to TRFD, Dr. George Webster. Mushroom story taped. Later, a half-hour show was taped which included the film, parts of meetings and interviews. The biggest problem among mushroom growers of the world this year? Formosa, with its cheap labor and low standard of living, is trying to steal the market away. More typical farm broadcasting activity was KWKH's (Shreveport) sponsorship in January of a daylong agricultural conference, "ArkLa-Tex Hay Day" in Shreveport. Highlight of the event was the judging of more than 250 hay samples. The station's farm service department director, Jack Dillard, awarded prizes. In Grand Island, Neb., WOW Universities, C4As prepare youth for ag-communicator's job Long aware of the need for competent young people in the field of farm communications, and especially in agriculture advertising, the University of Illinois (in photo above) last fall offered a major in Agricultural Communications to undergraduates in the College of Agriculture and College of Journalism and Com munications, Urbana, III. Students taking the major follow one of three options: 1) advertising; 2) news-editorial, and 3) radio-tv, while at the same time satisfying all the requirements for a degree in agriculture. This step by a highly respected institution was heartening for the Chicago Area Agricultural Advertising Assn. which has long been concerned about the dearth of qualified young people interested in an agcommunications career. For years the C4As had questioned university officials, journalism professors, and students on college campuses to find out how best to interest young people in entering the field. Two years ago, a plan was outlined to spell out the opportunities in agricultural communications and to give some idea of the kinds of jobs which communications provided by Don McGuiness, vice president of Aubrey, Finlay, Marley & Hodgson, Chicago advertising agency, and Dix Harper, vice president, radio-tv, AFM&H. This January, as a result, the C4As will start to send two-man teams to conduct 30-to-40-minute seminars (to fit in with classroom schedules) at the universities of Illinois, Iowa State, and Minnesota as a start, followed by Wisconsin, Missouri, Kansas, Purdue, and Michigan State. Cornell, Oklahoma, Ohio State, and Nebraska also may be added to the list, in addition to other "schools that have an agricultural journalism curriculum which amounts to something." The seminar outline includes these points: Farming Today (facts and trends); Agricultural Communications (what they involve, definition and scope, how they are used); Job Opportunities, and Basic Qualifications for Employment. The C4As, presided over this year by Joe Pettit, advertising manager of International Harvester, was formed in 1957. 34 SPONSOR/26 November 1962