U. S. Radio (Jan-Dec 1960)

i!llll|||||||||||||||||||||||||||lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll»^ Public Interest Performance The following figures are based on questionnaire returns to the U. S. RADIO survey. The dollar equivalents for public interest programming are based on station rate cards: Hours of Public Interest Programming in 1959 Expectations for 1960 Number of Announcements in 1959 Expectations for 1960 Dollar Value for 1959 Based on Rate Card Average Station Average Station Average Station In Markets of In Markets of In Markets of Up to 499,000 Between 500,000 and 999,000 1 Million or Over 432 590 833 449 677 867 7,416 8,287 16,126 7,779 9,536 76,376 $57,523.22 $112,073.22 $461,484.06 lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll!lilllll»^ performance were torwarded to Representative Celler. In reviewing the reports, he inckided the following esiihs under each category: • Civil defense — "In all, during 1959, the New York City broadcasters have contributed thousands of staff man hours and many thousands of dollars in the cost of equipment, broadcast time and tests to implement civil defense plans. . . ." • Non-commercial spot announcements — ". . . free air time contributed . . . aggregated over 90,000 minutes valued at more than $61/2 million, and provided more than 110,000 announcements to over 2,400 organizations. I consider that the sheer magnitude of these figures is worthy of note." • Community service programming — ". . . such programming on the part of the nine stations which participated in the study accounted for more than 220,000 minutes of broadcasting time of an estimated value in excess of $10 million." • Public affairs programming — -". . . in all, the nine stations . . . provided over 1,500 public affairs programs during 1959, and these programs represented 42,000 minutes of air time of an estimated value in excess of $1.3 million." Congressman Celler declared, "Behind the bare statistics of time and dollars are the specific achievenents of these stations in the public interest . . . these iioadcasters are making significant day-to-day conriljutions to their community. . . . "Over the years the broadcasting industry has played m important part in our nation's growth and welare. The people and policies that contribute to this ire, I believe, entitled to recognition and encouragenent. . . ." Many stations because of recent adverse criticism lave been keeping a special check on their public inerest accomplishments and are determined to give this side of the story "equal time." One such effort is reported by WOIC Columbia, S. C. Russell George, general manager, states that a year ago the station "instituted a system of handling all public service accounts just as we woiUd a commercial account." A separate account sheet is posted with the nimiber of announcements and/or program time devoted to the particular service agency or association. The station sends out a "bill" to the service or welfare agency stating, "There is no charge. We enjoyed serving you and hope to continue in the future." The response has been very favorable, says the station. "Some agencies have admitted that our 'hiW gave them renewed appreciation of something they had been taking for granted, the valuable contribution of radio to the American public." The extent to which stations program in thepublic interest often depends upon individual approach rather than actual performance (for, in reality, stations of varying formats serve the public interest in ways that are congruous with their objectives) . Some stations set fixed percentages to guide their public interest activities, others design their public interest announcements and programming efforts as the need arises throughout the year, still others plan in advance major community service projects lor a cause or charity. Some stations, like WFMT (FlM) Chicago, believe they are operating in the public service their entire program day (this station carries fine arts programming for its entire 19-hour schedule) . Whatever its approaches, radio across America echoes this sentiment by James Quello, operations manager, WJR Detroit: "At ^VJR the licensing recjuirement of serving the 'pul)lic interest, convenience and necessity' is regarded as a privilege rather than a mandate." • • • V. S. RADIO May 1960 27