Safeguarding Rights of Listeners

Radio Record, Volume III, Issue 21, 6 December 1929, Page 3

Safeguarding Rights of Listeners

Is Advertising Popular in America?

TAN -Amaérican: sien: e. "Oakland Tribune," recently . a , questionnaire, with the object ‘of: ascertaining the, views of radio listeners. on a number of -subjects.. Circulars, were sent to 35,000-individuals by. the -Commonwealth Club of California. The: recipients comprised housewives, : business" men, Shop workers, . editors, ..and clubmen, . The response totalled. 6000, and these have:been summarised by the journal concerned with rather -interesting results. Hundreds of listeners professed. saturation with jazz. Hundreds. .more evinced a decided preference for male singers, as compared with the

ahi aaah ahaha tale ch heated feminine ‘voide, " Others urged’ a‘strong censorship in the’ programmes." A .sumlisteners is.of decided interest to. New Zealariders.. ‘The ‘paper: ‘Says: "Pet peeves of thase , who tune in each ‘day are many and varied." They include complaints as to ‘too many.. stations, mediocre programmes, ' obseenity and’ smut, women ‘announcers, too muc¢h' advertising,: high :cost of..sets,.and too. much preaching." Some. of the objections listed above will, we. think, come as a surprise to New. Zealand listeners. .A.desire was .expressed for more educational -talks, radio’ talks, classical and semi-classical music, less: jazz,and the elimination of talking. and tiresome announcing, Seven out of ten ddults confessed that they. were ‘getting a thrill ‘out of ‘the children’s’ hour: One of. the questions submitted * t (0) listeners was how an ideal radio service could be best financed without advertising, which, as listeners know, is the mainspring of the American radio service. The suggestions made included a tax on radio manufacturers or on set owners, a. Government subsidy, the provision of. radio clubs,. slot ° machine sets, voluntary contributions, philanthropical Subsidies, tax. on *phone bills, railroad tickets -or- street-:

car transfers, and a. taxon sports and amusement:gate receipts. © : These suggestions are again. of interest .in New Zealand, listeners as showing the feeling of. listeners that , ‘some. alternative should. be devised to . the radio service being absolutely dependent upon . revenue derived from advertising service for its maintenance. Our own feeling on this matter is that the interests of listeners are of paramount importance in the radio service, and that being so, that, means should be adopted for financing a service which is best calcu lated to-preserve unimpaired those in-

ee ele LLL ELLE LL | terests.‘ There are three major ways by. which a radio service can be eco.nomically financed: First, by revenue derived from the listeners themselves; _ secondly, by revenue derived from the sale: of .advertising over the air; thirdly, by a Government subsidy. If the methods of finance were to in. clude either the provision of revenue | from the sale of advertising time or: a Government subsidy, then immediately a factor would be introduced which would establish conflict with the interests. of listeners. . The firm paying for ‘advertising time would naturally expect an effective quid pro quo for its cash payment. Those interests would, therefore, immediately conflict: with those of the listener. The owners of the broadcasting station deriving ‘revenue from advertising would necessarily have to. model their policy to accord, in greater or less degree, with the wishes of the advertiser. In that conflict the interests of the listener would necessarily take second place. Similarly, if a broadcasting service were to be maintained in whole or part by Government subsidy, then the authorities dispensing that subsidy would necessarily: exercise an influence upon the character of the service given to listeners.. We therefore come back to the .point.that.the best-means of pro-

tecting the interests of listeners is for the listener to be directly responsible for the revenue side of the radio serviee. Under those conditions those operating the service will necessarily mould the whole quality and type of the programme and the conduct of the stations, along lines. calculated to appeal to the listeners themselves, and to induce the greatest possible number of listeners to patronise the service. Thus the fullest: measure of independence and satisfactory service seems to be assured by the system" prevailing in New Zealand, where those paying for the service are the listeners, and they in their numbers .really dictate the character of the service provided; for it is only as a service is provided calculated to appeal- to: the. greatest possible number of listeners for the greatest possible length -of time that satisfaction will be given and good programmes maintained. S bearing on the foregoing and the suggestion that powerful adver-. tisers necessarily,’ in’ their own interests, seek to exercise pressure upon radio programmes, we note from a recent issue of "Editor and Publisher" that a conference was recently held in America between thirty advertising managers who use radio advertising. Their complaint was that, when they purchased a network of radio stations, they sometimes found they were unable to secure complete coverage, because some local station included in the chain was unable to "deliver the goods" in connection with a national advertising campdign, by reason of. having to switch the time to "a loea! advertiser with a pull." One of the advertising managers said: "There is’ too much politics and too little science in the buying of radio time. We are going to request that the national chains weld their stations into a compact national advertising medium, which will be delivered according to the terms of the . contract, just as printed advertising ‘is\delivered. When this is done we can merchandise our programmes in advance and carry them out on schedule." -Phis is admirable from the point of view of the advertiser who is paying the price, and to it no exception: can: be taken as a means of self-defence. , We quote the passage, however, emphasise the point that once a radio service relies upon | advertising money for its support, then the advertiser calls the tune, and not the nublie.