EXPLOITATION

Radio Record, Volume VII, Issue 52, 5 July 1935, Page 5

EXPLOITATION

Y the careful cultivation of a broadcasting personality and voice many international reputations have been built since the coming of wireless. In New Zealand there is less opportunity for performers to woo the microphone-limitations of population and revenue mean that the performer must make his broadcasting appearances infrequently, for the service is too limited to allow any casual speaker to earn a satisfactory living in front of the microphone. There are a few exceptions, of course. In America the position is very different. By the adroit exploitation of his voice and manner Father Coughlin has built up in the United States a vast organisation of fan listeners whose voluntary subscriptions provide him with all the money he wants to buy -: time on the air-and the best hours. By a similar exploitation Senator Huey Long has extended the influence of his slogans and his political machine throughout the Southern States, and not all the counterblows of General Johnson have been able to stop it. It is no idle suggestion that the successful wooing of public favour by Coughlin and Long has been in part responsible for the breaking up of the New Deal.