COMMERCIAL AND COMPETITIVE

New Zealand Listener, Volume 8, Issue 202, 7 May 1943, Page 5

COMMERCIAL AND COMPETITIVE

How American Radio Differs From New Zealand

e¢ OW does broadcasting in New Zealand differ from radio work in the States?" The Listener asked Captain Ben K. Weatherwax, of the U.S. Marine Corps, in an interview. Captain Weatherwax is already familiar to New Zealand listeners for the part he has taken in building up the "Semper Fidelis" programmes, which are recorded by the CBS for release in the United States, and which are also broadcast locally. He was for seven years closely connected with radio work, having been office manager and programme director of a Washington station of the Mutual Broadcasting System. "That is not a hard one to answer," Captain Weatherwax replied to our question. "Our system is bound to be very different, because so much depends upon competition. There are four main broadcasting networks, all commercial, all separate, and all competitive. These are the National Broadcasting Company, the Blue Network, the Columbia Broadcasting System, and the Mutual Broadcasting System. There are also a good many smaller local stations and companies, but these four spread from coast to coast and cover much the same ground-or should I say air? In order to exist we have to be very economical and efficient. We have to give programmes that people will listen to, and we have to persuade sponsors of this. Suppose I want to-get hold of a button manufacturer to sponsor a programme, I have first to persuade him that we have the best programmes, that more people listen to our station, and that the people who listen also buy buttons. "We also have to be more economical in our station management. I should

Say we use proportionately about onethird of the personnel. We try to give each person several types of jobs. A man may be sports announcer, write news copy and sell advertising. In this way we have very few specialists and a high proportion of people who can do many things. This prevents a guy from getting stale.on the job. News is Important "News is an important feature in any radio station in the States. Every radio has its special news bulletins and news set up. Often news is handled in collaboration with an independent paper. This has many advantages. There was in the past open warfare between the newspapers and radio. Both were trying to sell the same thing. Now certain newspapers own radio stations, and by using them increase their efficiency. We asked how much official check there was on the radio. "Every radio station must of course have a licence to operate," Captain Weatherwax replied. "But the creed of the system is that radio shall provide that which is to the public interest, convenience, and necessity. Educational Broadcasts "Most of the networks give a certain percentage of their time to educational programmes. Then there is a good deal of building of special programmes for special classes of people-rural communities, loggers, factory workers, housewives, and so on. A typical rural programme would include agricultural hints, music specially designed to appeal to farmers (what, for instance, we wondered: "Deep in the Heart of Texas"? or "Broadway Melody"?), market quotations, weather information and possibly information on pending demands. The whole programme would be designed to attract a special type of listener. We might run special programmes in the same way to attract users of car radios. Millions of cars in the States have radios, so there you have another type of listener. ("Rolling Home"? "The Road to Mandalay"?

"The King’s Highway’? "Show Me the Way to Go Home"?). Again a station might take advantage of a particular hour to sell a particular product. For instance, one station used the time from 12 midnight to 3.0 am. to advertise engagement rings, "As far as purely educational programmes go they must be interesting as well as educational. Certain companies run ‘Schools of the Air:’ one day they might run a musical programme, and on another day feature the history of some industry. They also encourage the high schools to use the air. I remember one town with three big high schools: each school chose its news reporter from the students, and the schools were given 15 minutes between them for short news reports on school activities. Once a week each school had the opportunity to present the work that it was doing. "Greater Intimacy" *It seems to me that your radio here in New Zealand on the whole lacks intimacy. There is an opening here for programmes about ordinary everyday people, and for them. People like to hear themselves and their doings mentioned over the air. I once al.auge’ a programme based on happenings of past years called "That Was the Time." It was popular because it was full of mentions of actual people who were known in that part of the country."