U. S. Radio (Jan-Dec 1961)

A Look at the Record Radio's status as a focal point of community service has been considerably embellished over the past year. The discharge of public interest responsibilities — once considered a stepchild of station operation — has emerged as an integral part of top-level decision-making. A look at the record, as reported by stations returning questionnaires to U.S. RADIO's second annual sample study, shows impressive gains that have been made in community relations and listener awareness of the world in which he or she lives. Enlargement of news activity, editorializing, community participation and support for hometown projects and funds are parts of the exciting story of Radio in the Public Interest. This past year, particularly, radio stations have exhibited a growing enthusiasm in the role they play as vital communications media. A change in attitude has appeared, interpreting public interest fare and lor activity as a key element of a station's programming schedule — not as something that is "clipped and pasted" merely to meet FCC requirements. The entire feature section is devoted to illustrating radio's public interest record in three main areas of activities — editorializing, news and community service. ming on other stations in his community, whether radio or tv, of the service offered by the published media, the community's various educational institutions and the ethnic composition of his audience. All of these factors play a part in his judgment of the fashion in which he must satisfy the public interest through his facility. . . . The (Federal Communications Commission) has not been given authority to try to change or mould the public taste to suit its own notions." In u.s. radio's second annual survey oL.Radio . . . in the Public Interest, Robert Mason, general manager of WMRN Marion, O., asks, "What really is 'public service' programming?" He says, "The commission can't agree on an interpretation and certainly the stations themselves do not seem to have the same concept. Would you call a high school graduation broadcast 'public service'? We do, even though we have it sponsored. "All I can say is that we do a tremendous amount of what we call 'public service' programming. Somewhere around 20 to 25 percent of our talk programs are 'public service' if you want to include road and weather conditions, and similar items, even though they are sponsored." One thing seems to be clear, however. The industry accepts the idea that public service programming can be sponsored. This applies to public interest fare in all its forms — news and information, community service activity and even editorializing. The question arises, too, as to "how is public interest programming and service measured?" Should it be measured by the number of hours and announcements devoted to it? Should it be gauged by the effort and manpower utilized to make the program or campaign successful? Should it be considered in the light of the results, whether measured in terms of impact or money collected for a fund or cause, or increasing listener awareness of the world in which he or she lives? It would seem ideal that any measure of station public service activity should include elements of all these things. According to questionnaire returns to u.s. radio's survey, here are public interest performances for the average station in each of three market categories. These figures measure the number of programming hours and the number of announcements of public service activities of the average station replying to the survey. • Average station in markets with a population up to 499,000 programmed 444 hours in the public interest last year and aired 7,620 such announcements; when added together these had a dollar rate card equivalent of $59,632. For 1961, this average station expects to increase public interest hours to 451 and announcements to 7,780. • Average station in markets with a population between 500,000 and 999,000 broadcast 602 hours of programming in the public interest in 1960, with 8,391 announcements; the equivalent dollar value for both was $121,898. For this year, hours of public interest programming for the average station are expected to rise to 623 and announcements to 9,467. • Average station in cities of more than one million in population aired 848 hours of public interest fare in 1960 along with 16,312 announcements; these had a dollar equivalent value of $482,304. For 1961, hours of programming in the public interest for the average station are expected to increase to 911 and announcements to 16,415. U. S. RADIO • February 1961 21