"RADIO IS MASS COMMUNICATION"

New Zealand Listener, Volume 3, Issue 62, 30 August 1940, Page 10

"RADIO IS MASS COMMUNICATION"

Head of Great American Network Airs His Views

AJOR LENOX H. LOHR, president of the National Broadcasting Company of America, has a blanket definition of radio. "It is mass communication," he says. According to the "Montreal Gazette," which interviewed him recently, Major Lohr includes in his definition every phase of radio from European news " flashes," through Jack Benny’s programme, to the broadcast concerts of the NBC Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Arturo Toscanini. He does this to emphasise the tremendous responsibility owed by the broadcasters to the public. "We are a public service, whether or not we conduct competitive networks." The NBC president contends that tadio is playing now, and will play in the future, a dominant role in the maintenance or destruction of the democratic way of life. To the representative of the "Montreal Gazette" he quoted the example of the totalitarian countries to show how potent a weapon broadcast- : can be when it falls into the hands of one party of the propagators of a Single. idea. In this respect he claimed that radio in the United States will always be free, even if the country is at war. Absolute impartiality in regard to every controversial subject was the basis rule of NBC broadcasting, Major Lohr claimed. And, he added, this must hold good just as much in regard to progtammes for private concerns as for European political broadcasts. "We cannot sell time to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. We can only give them time. Our religious broadcasts must consist of donated time and must be absolutely free from sectarian influence. They must be neither Catholic, Protestant nor Jewish but for Catholics, Protestants and Jews alike." No Threat to Press When asked what he thought about the present relations of the radio and the press, Major Lohr claimed that they Were complementary. "It has yet to be proved that radio has interfered in the slightest degree with newspaper circulation," he said. "In fact, there is evidence to prove that radio has, if anything, helped to increase the circulation of the dailies, weeklies and magazines on this continent. It must always be borhe in mind that a radio network is not and Mever can be a news agency. We deal in flashes. The newspaper gives the full report and commentary. "I also believe that freedom of the — and freedom of air are indissolubly the NBC president continued. "Destroy the one and you destroy the other." Major Lohr also stated that to- & his company enjoys practically a ndred per cent co-operation with the

great news agencies of the world. "It must not be forgotten," he added, "that a third of the radio broadcasting stations in the United States are actually owned and operated by newspapers." Farmers Before Foreign Office In speaking of the news flash, Major Lohr pointed to the role played by the radio in relaying the terms of the Munich Pact in September, 1938. "There is an amazing thought in the fact that farmers in Alberta knew the terms of that pact before the British Foreign Office did. We rented a line from Munich, and had the whole communication way cleared to Radio City in New York. Our European man raced with the terms of the treaty from the Brown House in Munich to the telephone, shouted "Give me the air,’ which was the signal for instantaneous clearing of the coast-to-coast networks on this continent. Our Munich man then read the terms directly to the millions of North American listeners. It took British offi-

cials at least 20 minutes to communicate the terms by telephone to the Foreign Office in London." Major Lohr quoted another case where a woman sat by a radio watching war raging in a Spanish town. She could see the battle, but could get no idea of who was who or what was happening. Those facts she learned by shortwave from the United States, as she watched the fighting. The NBC official placed great stress on "integrity" in broadcasting. No recordings are allowed on the NBC networks, "If we want to broadcast a song sung by Lily Pons, we pay three thousand dollars for it. We could, of course, go out and buy a record of it and pay a small royalty. But we figure the public must have the real thing." Radio in Wartime Major Lohr has scant faith in the effect of radio propaganda in wartime so far as the belligerents are concerned. "An Englishman naturally won’t believe

what a German broadcaster says." He thinks, however, that the influence on neutrals is pretty considerable. Speaking of education by radio, Major Lohr claimed that it must be served in an entertaining form. He compared it with the English university system where students attend lectures if they want to, and, where consequently, the most interesting lecturers draw the largest classes. He thinks also that its appeal must not be restricted to one section or group of the people. In this respect, he quoted the instance of a New York clergyman who preached a very successful sermon in his church, so successful that he considered giving it over the air on his weekly radio programme. But when he examined it in the light of broadcasting, he found not only that it was too narrow in its doctrinal and social appeal, but that it was "positively unChristlike’ when considered in relation to all classes of the population.