TELEVISION PROGRAM PREFERENCES OF LISTENERS IN UTAH COUNTY, UTAH
DISSERTATION
Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University
By
JIM HAND LUDLOW, B. S., M. A.
The Ohio State University 1957
Approved-^y:
Adviser Department of Speech ACKNOWLEDGMENT
To Dr. Harrison B. Summers of Th.o Ohio State University
for the numerous hours and careful consideration that he has given the writer while he has been worlcing on this dissertation;
to my wife for her kind forbearance and wise counsel; and to the
students for helping with the survey.
ii TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. INTRODUCTION TO THE PROBLEM ...... 1
Need for Audience Research ...... 4
Statement of the Problem ...... 8
II. REVIEW OF LITERATURE ...... 10
Studies Conducted by Program Rating Services . . . 11
Cooperative Analysis of Broadcasting ...... 12
C. E. Hooper, I n c o r p o r a t e d ...... 12
The Recommendations of Frank N. S t a n t o n ... 13
A. C. Nielsen Company ...... 15
The Pulse, Incorporated ...... 16
V i d e o d e x ...... 17
T r e n d e x ...... * ...... 18
American Research Bureau ...... 18
Conlon Surveys ...... 19
Schwerin Research Corporation ...... 19
Forest L. Whan Surveys ...... 21
The North Texas Radio Audience of 1955 22
The Topeka Television Area Audience Survey . . . 25
Iowa Radio—Television Audience Survey ...... 27
The Boston Area Radio—Television Audience in 1952 . 30
Dimensions of the Television Audience ...... 32
When TV Moves In ...... 32
Television's Daytime Profile ...... 33
iii iv
CHAPTER PAGE
Videotown ...... 36
Attention Levels of Women Television Viewers . . 38
Advertising Effectiveness of Television ...... 41
Television Today, Its Impact on People
and Products ...... 41
Why Sales Come in C u r v e s ...... 43
How Television Changes Strangers
into C u s t o m e r s ...... •>...... 44
Motivational Forces in Radio Broadcasts ...... 46
The Invasion from M a r s ...... 46
Mass Persuasion...... 48
Radio and Television Program Preferences ...... 49
Radio Program Preferences of Listeners
in Philadelphia in 1930 ...... 50
Radio Program Preferences in 1 9 4 1 ...... 52
Radio Program Preferences in the United
States in 1945 and 1947 ...... 54
Radio Program Preferences in Two Central
Illinois Counties in 1946 ...... 57
Radio Program Preferences of the
Louisiana Farm Audience in 1948 ...... 60
Radio Program Preferences of Residents
of Champaign County, Illinois, in 1949 .... 62
Radio Program Preferences of Children in
School During 1949-1950 ...... • 65 V
CHAPTER PAGE
Television Program Preferences of Children
in School Between 1949 and 1952 ...... 67
Television Program Preferences of People
in Franklin County, Ohio, in 1954 ...... 69
Conclusions...... » . . . . 71
III. METHOD OF THE STUDY ...... 74
The Sampling P l a n ...... 74
Size of S a m p l e ...... 74
Distribution of the Sample Throughout the County. 75
Selection of the S a m p l e ...... 76
Construction of the Questionnaire ...... 77
Identifying Information ...... 78
Types of Questions ...... 78
Sequence of Questions ...... 79
Pre-testing the Questionnaire ...... 79
Physical Form of the Q u e s t i o n n a i r e ...... 80
The Field W o r k ...... 80
Selection of Interviewers ...... 81
Training of Interviewers ...... 81
The I n t e r v i e w i n g ...... 83
Tabulation of the D a t a ...... 84
Evaluation of the M e t h o d ...... 85
Evaluation of the Sampling P l a n ...... 85
Evaluation of the Questionnaire ...... 90
Evaluation of the Field W o r k ...... 92 vi
CHAPTER PAGE
Evaluation of the Tabulating Procedures ...... 93
IV. CHARACTERISTICS OF UTAH COUNTY, U T A H ...... 95
General Population Characteristics ...... 95
Place of Residence ...... 96
S e x ...... 96
A g e ...... 96
Education...... 97
Family Income ...... 93
Labor Force ...... 98
Radio and Television Characteristics ...... 99
Ownership of Radio S e t s ...... 100
Location of Radio Sets in the H o m e ...... 103
Ownership of Television S e t s ...... 103
Audience Availability ...... 106
Time Devoted to Broadcast Media ...... 108
S u m m a r y ...... 110
V. FINDINGS OF THE STUDY OF TELEVISION LISTENERS ....
IN UTAH C O U N T Y ...... 112
Preferences of Specific Groups of Respondents . . . 113
Top TV Preferences in Utah County ...... 113
Top TV Preferences of Each Sex Group...... 114
Top Program Preferences of Each Age Group .... 117
Program Types Preferred by Listeners in
Each Educational Classification ...... 119
Preferences for Particular Program Types ...... 123 vii
CHAPTER PAGE
Musical Program Types ...... 123
Dramatic Program Types ...... 127
Variety Program Types ...... 133
Quiz and Audience Participation Program Types . . 134
Sports Program T y p e s ...... 138
Informative Program Types ...... 142
VI. CONCLUSIONS...... 146
Relationship Between Place of Residence
of Respondents and Their Program Preferences . . 146
Relationship Between Sex of Respondents
and Their Program Preferences ...... 150
Relationship Between Age of Respondents
and Their Program Preferences ...... 152
Relationship Between the Level of Education of
Respondents and Their Program Preferences.... 154
Final Conclusions...... 156
BIBLIOGRAPHY ...... 158
AUTOBIOGRAPHY...... 165
APPENDIX ...... Back Cover LIST OF TABLES
TABLE PAGE
1. Number of Respondents in Each Subgroup ...... 86
2. Comparison of Percentages of Total Population
in Utah County, Utah, with Those Included
in Sample by Sex and Age Groups ...... 89
3. Percentage of the Population of Utah County
over Ten Years of Age, in Each Age G r o u p ...... 97
4. Years of School Completed by Adults over
Twenty-Five Years of Age in Utah County ...... 97
5. Percentage of Families by Income Levels
in Utah County ...... 98
6. Percentage of Respondents in TV and Non—TV
Homes in Utah County in Relation to the
Number of Radio Sets in the H o m e ...... 101
7. Percentage of Respondents in Low, Median, and
High Income Families in Utah County in Relation
to the Number of Radio Sets in the H o m e ...... 102
8. Percentage of all Respondents Who Have Radios
Located in Various Rooms of Their Homes
in Utah C o u n t y ...... 104
9. Percentage of Respondents in Each Subgroup
Who Live in TV Homes in Utah C o u n t y ...... 105
viii ix
TABLE PAGE
10. Percentage of Males and Females Over Ten Years
of Age Who Were Available at Hourly Intervals
Throughout the Day in Utah County ...... 107
11. Average Number of Hours per Day During which
Listeners were Available and Devoted to
Radio and Television Listening in Utah
County in Relation to Sex of Listeners ...... 109
12. Percentage of Respondents Who Checked a
Particular Program Type As One of Six
Best Liked Types in Television Homes
in Utah C o u n t y ...... 115
13. Comparison of Percentage of Males and Females Who
Checked a Particular Program Type as One of Six
Favorites in Television Homes in Utah County . . . 116
14. Television Program Preferences of Respondents in
Relation to Their Age in Television Homes
in Utah C o u n t y ...... 120
15. Television Program Preferences of Adults over
Twenty Years of Age in Relation to Their
Education in Television Homes in Utah County . . • 122
16. Preference for Musical Type Television Programs
of Respondents by Sex, Age, and Education in
Television Homes in Utah County ...... 125 X
TABLE PAGE
17. Preference for Dramatic Type Television Programs
of Respondents by Sex, Age, and Education in
Television Homes in Utah County ...... 128
18. Preference for Variety Type Television Programs
of Respondents by Sex, Age, and Education in
Television Homes in Utah County ...... 135
19. Preference for Quiz and Audience Participation
Type Television Programs of Respondents by
Sex, Age, and Education in Television Homes
in Utah C o u n t y ...... 137
20. Preference for Sports Type Television Programs
of Respondents by Sex, Age, and Education
in Television Homes in Utah C o u n t y ...... 141
21. Preference for Informative Type Television
Programs of Respondents by Sex, Age, and
Education in Television Homes in
Utah County ...... 144 CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION TO THE PROBLEM
Broadcasting is a billion dollar industry! In issuing the 1954 annual financial figures, the Federal Communications
Commission reported for the first time that the grand total of revenues of the radio and television industry had passed the one billion dollar mark.'*' Consideration of a few other facts and figures relating to the broadcasting business will indicate trends in the industry.
A nationwide sample study conducted in August of 1956 found that about 76.2 per cent of American households had television sets; this compares with 67.2 per cent as of June 2 1955. For several years radio sets have reached a point of near saturation of United States homes. As far back as 1953
Arthur C. Nielsen indicated that 98 per cent of the homes in 3 the United States had radios, and yet in 1956 more radio sets were sold by retail stores than had been sold during any other 4 year in the medium's history.
The story of radio and television set ownership is not yet complete. Color television sets are on the market-two
^Broadcasting Telecasting. December 5, 1955, p. 33. 2 Broadcasting Telecasting, January 21, 1957, p. 40.
Arthur C. Nielsen, Radio and Television Audience Research (Ann Arbor: Braun—Brumfield, Inc., 1953), p. 64. 4 Broadcasting Telecasting, February 11, 1957, p. 94. hundred thousand of them in 1956. It has been estimated that one-third of the television sets sold in 1960 and three—fourths g of those sold in 1965 will be color receivers. One may be safe in assuming that by 1965 practically every home in the
United States will have both radio and television sets, and that many of the latter will receive color programs.
Television audiences of from eighteen to twenty million homes have been frequently reported. The average television 7 set is turned on for approximately six hours each day. Multi ply that figure by the number of homes in the United States, and the product will indicate that the people in this country are spending over three hundred million hours watching tele vision each day!
Since people have spent large sums of money to equip
their homes with television sets, and since they are willing to
devote a great amount of time viewing television, an equally
great challenge and opportunity is presented to those respon
sible for the television programming received by these sets.
To take advantage of this opportunity and to meet this
challenge, programmers have found it necessary to spend more
and more money on television production, including talent costs.
5 Broadcasting Telecasting, December 19, 1955, p. 7. 6 Broadcasting Telecasting, February 20, 1956, p. 35. 7 Robert E. Kintner, "The Business of Television" (address delivered to the National Association of Radio and Television Broadcasters, Washington, D. C . , May 26, 1955), p. 4. A few years ago talent and production costs for a single tele vision program went as high as $50,000. This seemed astronom ical. Recently, during any evening of the week, listeners have had their choice of programs from a wide range of program types, with nearly all of them costing over $50,000. The cost of many television programs broadcast each week during the season of
1955—56 was over $100,000. The average cost for a one—hour drama was $55,900; for a half-hour drama, $32,380; half-hour situation comedy, $26,000; weekly half-hour quiz or giveaway, 8 $19,150; and daytime serials, $11,400. The cost of some of
spectacular type programs was in excess of $250,000.— and this represents production costs alone, not including the cost of network time.
From the facts presented it is evident that much is known about the present status of the broadcasting industry.
On the one hand, families in the United States are continuing
to buy more and more radio and television sets, and to spend more and more time before these sets; and, on the other hand,
the industry is spending more and more money trying to develop
bigger and better programs. This much is known.
It would seem that the more interesting programs would
attract more listeners. With more listeners the industry could
then interest more sponsors, and with more sponsors the industry
8|'Net TV Show Costs: This Fall 13 Top $100,000," Sponsor, September 5, 1955, p. 49. 4 would then have more money to further develop better programming.
And round and round this sequence of events could go until an infinite number of high quality programs would be attracting an even larger audience. This, everyone knows, is not true.
Need for Audience Research
Why has not the quality of radio and television programs developed to the extent that listeners, advertisers, and broad casters would desire? There is no simple answer. It seems probable, however, that the inherent blindness in broadcasting — the fact that the broadcaster never sees his audience — - is an important limiting factor. Individuals buy sets so they can receive radio and television programs, and advertisers endeavor to make their programs as interesting as possible. But it is extremely difficult to know who selects what program. No broadcaster ever has a very clear picture of the composition of his audience. This "blindness" of the broadcaster makes audience research not only necessary but imperative.
One of the more popular textbooks on this subject clearly indicates the broadcasters' dependence on audience research, partially to offset this "blindness" of the producer!
Listeners express judgments by tuning in and out of programs. Since these acts of judgment take place privately in millions of homes each day, it is im possible to determine with absolute certainty the overall attitude of the audience to a particular program. There is no formal expression of opinion as in political elections. There are no box-office or circulation figures, as with magazines and theaters. Eager to know what the public reactions 5
to any program will be, but handicapped by these limitations, program planners have been forced to rely on a priori speculations and on available audience research methods*
Although a great amount of audience research is being done, the need that the industry as a whole feels for additional audience research data is indicated by the number of clients who regularly subscribe to the services of one or more audience research agencies which provide "ratings" for network programs.
If it were possible to compile an annual total, it would not be a small sum that agencies, advertisers, and stations pay each year for these services. The largest research agency, A. C.
Nielsen Company, serves some 170 clients at prices generally
ranging from $10,000 to $200,000 a year per client.'*'0 Three
hundred and seventy subscribers pay each C. E. Hooper, Incor
porated about $1,500 for a complete package. Pulse supplies
data to approximately 500 subscribers. Cost for stations ranges
from $200 to $500 per month; for advertising agencies, $75 to
$500 per month. Videodex has about 150 subscribers with costs
up to $600 a report for each subscribing agency and advertiser.*''*
This listing is by no means all inclusive.
9 Giraud Chester and Garnet R. Garrison, Radio and Television (New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, Inc., 1950), p. 98. 10 Arthur C. Nielsen, Radio and Television Audience Research (Ann Arbor: Braun-Brumfield, Inc., 1953), p. 39.
^Herbert True (compiler), Television Dictionary: Hand book for Sponsors (New York: Sponsor Services, Inc., 1955), pp. 21, 32, 42. 6
Emphasizing the need for a more qualitative type of audience research, Arthur C. Nielsen commented:
It's very important to note that in order to achieve much in effecting improvements, audience research must go far bey^gd the production of a mere rating for each program.
Robert E. Kintner, president of the American Broadcasting
Company, was keenly aware of the need for more audience research:
. . . to increase the sales effectiveness of TV, I believe it behooves all of us to re-examine our most cherished beliefs and even our proudest accom plishments to date to permit pure research to analyze more completely than has ever been done, the emotional and persuasive potential of TV commercial presentation. . . . I think we in the television business also have to know a great deal more about the habits and inclinations of the people^gho control the television set and who sit by it.
More recently Mr. Nielsen stated in his book Television Audience
Research In Great Britain that to be effective, advertisers need
to know the type of audiences that are viewing their programs with respect to geographic location, areas and city size, and also the type of audiences by home characteristics, family size, 14 number of children, economic level, education, viewer age, etc.
While a detailed review of the major research efforts will
be given in the next chapter, a brief discussion at this point
12 Nielsen, 0£. cit. , p. 32. 13 Robert E. Kintner "Television and Radio Today and Tomorrow" (a report to the Association of National Advertisers, November 1, 1955), p. 11. 14 Arthur C, Nielsen, Television Audience Research In Great Britain (Chicago: A. C. Nielsen Company, 1955), p. 15. 7 of some of their common limitations will help to demonstrate the need for additional audience research.
The major part of the current radio and television audience research currently carried on is being conducted in the larger cities. The rural and small urban areas have been practically ignored. The top 36 cities, the ones where the most research has been done, contain only about 25 per cent of the 15 total homes in the U. S. The great number of homes and radio stations in small cities throughout the United States would seem to call for more audience research in such areas.
At least once a month most of the commercial network radio and television programs are given a rating. Some of these ratings can be used to determine the number of families lis tening to the program; others are just a popularity rating.
Mainly, these ratings indicate the probability that the program's
audience is increasing or decreasing. A series of low ratings may indicate that the audience is getting smaller, but these
ratings give no information as to whom has stopped listening.
A sponsor may drop a low—rated program that attracts a high
percentage of potential customers in favor of a high—rated
program with only a small number of potential customers. There
is a continued need for a type of audience research that may
describe at the very least the general population characteristics
l5Ibid., p. 34 8 of the people who listen to a particular type of radio or television program.
Statement of the Problem
The study reported in the pages which follow was planned to provide information dealing with the television program preferences of the people in Utah County, Utah, with the amount of time they devote to the radio and television media, with their availability at hourly intervals throughout the day, and with the extent of their radio and television set ownership.
The following are some of the specific questions this study intended to answer. What was the extent of multiple ownership of radio sets in homes with and without television sets, and in families of high, medium, and low incomes? To what extent were radio sets located in various rooms of the houses in the county? What percentage of all the people in the county lived in television homes? To what extent did television ownership vary in relation to the age, education, and family income of the people in the county? What percentage of the people in the county were available to the broadcast media at hourly intervals throughout the day? What was the average number of hours devoted to each broadcast medium per day? What were the major television program preferences of the following groups of people in the county: all respondents, males, females, those of different ages, and those with differ ent amounts of education. Finally, to what extent did the preference for various types of television programs vary in relation to the sex, age, and education of the people in
the county?
It is hoped that the information provided by this study will help to offset the "blindness" of the broadcaster with
respect to his audience. Information from this study should
help a broadcaster better determine who listens to different
types of programs, help him plan programs which would be at
tractive to particular types of audiences, and help him schedule
the release of these programs at a time when groups to be
reached would most likely be available to listen. CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Advertising agencies, network organizations, radio and television stations, many commercial research agencies, and a substantial number of students in colleges and universities have responded to the need for more research as to the nature and preferences of the radio and television audience. These groups have completed numerous audience studies, and many additional studies are in progress.
Much of the information obtained from radio and tele vision audience research is used by the advertisers and ad vertising agencies to help him determine how to spend adver tising dollars more effectively, and some radio and television audience studies have considerable commercial value. Conse quently, a great deal of caution is exercised to keep the results of the more valuable research from the hands of com petitors. Many of the advertising agencies and some of the networks give their research a confidential classification.
As a result, the review which follows of major studies of characteristics of radio and television audiences cannot be an all-inclusive one. It will be limited to significant studies
that are available.
Letters were sent by the writer to networks and most of
the major research agencies in an effort to obtain as many
pertinent studies as possible. Other studies mentioned have
10 11 been reported in books, journals, and miscellaneous types of bulletins and are available through regular library service.
The contents of this chapter will be arranged under several main heads: the research carried on by the various commercial rating services; the Whan surveys; the studies describing the dimensions of the television audience; the studies of the advertising effectiveness of television; two studies of the motivational forces operative in the radio broadcasting situation; and the studies dealing with the radio and television program preferences of specific groups of people. The studies under each main head are arranged chronologically, and each study that is reviewed is clearly
identified.
Studies Conducted by Program Rating Services
The type of radio and television research most familiar
to students of broadcasting is that which is carried out by the
program rating organizations. A program rating is a percentage
of a statistical sample of homes in which television viewers or
radio listeners who were interviewed personally, or checked by
a meter, telephone, or diary, reported that radio or television
sets in the homes represented were tuned to a specific tele~
vision or radio program. A number of different, organizations
are providing, or have provided, program ratings for 12 the broadcasting industry.^-
Cooperative Analysis of Broadcasting
Archibald Crossley gave radio programs their first ratings in 1929. The organization he headed, the Cooperative
Analysis of Broadcasting, based its ratings on responses re ceived from telephone calls made in thirty-three cities.
During the telephone calls respondents were asked what radio programs they had heard the previous day. Reports of the findings were issued to subscribers twice a month. This rating service was discontinued in 1946.
C. E. Hooper, Incorporated
The program rating business became competitive in 1934 when C. E. Hooper developed the coincidental telephone method of gathering data. He claimed his service was more accurate than the recall method used by the Cooperative Analysis of Broad casting organization, and his arguments received wide acceptance in the broadcasting industry. Originally, the Hooper organ ization concentrated in national ratings of network programs.
At the present time, however, Hooper provides information for
Information concerning services currently provided by commercial program rating agencies is taken largely from the following: Humphrey, H. B., Alley and Richards, An Introduction to Commercial Television Advertising (New York: Association of National Advertisers, 1951); and from Herbert True (comp.), Television Dietionary/Handboolc for Sponsors (New York: Sponsor Services, Incorporated, 1955). 13 for local areas in about 55 television and 90 radio markets, but it no longer provides a national rating for either radio or television programs.
The Hooper corporation now uses the diary method to gather data for the television ratings, but the coincidental
telephone method is still used for determining the radio ratings. The sample base for the television report is between
200 and 500 diaries in each market. For radio, the sample is
approximately 600 telephone calls in each market during each
period of time for which a rating is reported. The interview
period for television is usually during the first week of the month, but no regular interview week is used for radio; in most
local markets, radio ratings represent a consolidation of in
formation secured over a period of several weeks. Ratings for
television programs can be delivered to the client in about
20 days; the radio program ratings in about 30 days.
The Hooper report contains the same basic information
supplied by the other rating services. This includes radio and
television program ratings, (given in separate reports), share
of audience indices, and sets—in—use figures. Cumulative
audience, weekly audience, and ultra high frequency penetration
information is provided only for television.
The Recommendations of Frank N. Stanton
At the time the Hooper organization was beginning, Frank
N. Stanton, now president of the Columbia Broadcasting System, 14 was a graduate student at The Ohio State University. He realized the weaknesses of the methods then used in radio audience research, and in his study, "A Critique of Present
Methods and a New Plan for Studying Radio Listening Behavior,1' 2 which constituted his doctoral dissertation, he proposed a combination of a number of methods organized into a single procedure as a better means of studying the radio audience.
While Stanton's method was never used commercially, his proposals are reviewed at this point because they are a part of the history of the development of the present program rating services.
Stanton's procedure included the use of personal inter views, questionnaires, and mechanical recorders. In each home
from which information was secured a mechanical recorder was
attached to the circuit between the wall outlet and the radio.
It was able to measure the length of time a radio had been
turned on. The mechanism was left in the home one week. The
occupants of the home thought the machine was measuring the
amount of current used by the radio. At the time the recorder
was removed, the investigator conducted a personal interview;
and at the end of the interview he left a questionnaire for
each member of the family. The questionnaires were to be
2 Frank Nicholas Stanton, "A Critique of Present Methods and a New Plan for Studying Radio Listening Behavior" (unpublished Doctor's dissertation, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, 1935). 15 completed and returned by mail. Stanton's proposed procedure may be called a recorder—interview—questionnaire method of radio audience research.
In a pilot study these recording mechanisms were placed in 58 homes. Data from eight of these homes were lost because of mechanical or other failure of the recorders. Of the 170 peo ple in the 50 homes from which recorder information was pro vided, 139 completed and returned the questionnaire.
The value of the Stanton study lies in the proposing and testing of a new method rather than in the information obtained.
However, the results of the study indicated that the average use of radio per day in the 50 homes was four hours and twenty minutes. The rank order of the first six program preferences expressed by the respondents to the questionnaire were news, comedy, drama, popular music, classical music, and variety programs.
Stanton admitted that the recorder's inability to de
termine the station to which the radio set was tuned was a major weakness of the method. This study may have had an
influence in the development of the automatic recorder system
introduced by the A. C. Nielsen Company.
A. C. Nielsen Company
It was not until 1942 that Nielsen developed his
"audimeter" or mechanical recorder system and started using it
to obtain ratings for radio programs. Today the A. C. Nielsen 16
Company is one of the largest of the firms carrying on radio and television audience research. The Nielsen Company provides both radio and television ratings on a national, a multi—city, and a local—area basis.
The basic data for the Nielsen ratings are recorded by audimeters. These meters are located in an average of approx imately 1500 homes in the United States. A little more than half of these homes have television sets. A continuous record is made of the times the radio or television set is turned on in these homes. From three to five weeks are required to tab ulate and summarize the information obtained from the audimeters,
so that rating information is delivered to subscribers from five to six weeks after the broadcast date of the program rated.
Number of homes reached, average audience, share of
audience, total audience, program type comparisons, and costs
per thousand homes reached are the basic types of information
provided by the A. C. Nielsen Company.
The Pulse, Incorporated
The Pulse, Incorporated, was organized about the same
time as the A. C. Nielsen Company, and carries on audience
research on a nation-wide and local—area basis. Pulse research
data give rating information about radio and television pro
grams in approximately 100 television markets, and in equal
number of radio markets.
Pulse uses an aided—recall type of personal interview 17 to obtain the original data. For local ratings, a base sample of interviews with people in over 400 homes in each local city
is used to secure information on once—a-week radio programs;
this base sample is raised to 1,000 interviews for the five-
times—a-week radio or television programs; and for the once—
a-week television programs, the base sample is lowered to
between 200 and 400 interviews. The interview period is
usually the first seven days of the month, and delivery time to
the client is about three weeks after the original interviewing
is completed.
Pulse supplies both radio and television program ratings
for each quarter hour of the broadcasting day. The Pulse report
also includes the number of viewers per set, share of audience,
sets—in—use, and in the case of network shows the number of
stations broadcasting each program. Information concerning
audience composition is available but not a part of the data
included in the regular report.
Videodex
With offices in Chicago and New York, Videodex carries on
television audience research on a national, multi—city, and local
basis. Videodex local rating information is provided in about
70 television markets.
Videodex has one individual in each home complete a
diary covering one complete week's listening by members of the
family, and approximately 9,200 diaries are tabulated to 18 determine national ratings; from 200 to 600 diaries are used as the basis of reports in local areas.
Basic data from the Videodex diaries includes quartei— hour ratings, sets—in—use, share of audience, average viewers per set by time period and by program, number of homes reached,
number of cities carrying network shows, and audience composition.
Trendex
Trendex uses the coincidental telephone method of
audience research and covers 10 television and 45 radio markets.
The interview period covers the first seven days of the month
for television and the last three weeks of the month for radio.
Television data are delivered to the client within one week
after the end of the interview period; and for radio, four
weeks after the interview period.
Data are supplied for quartei— hour day daytime and for
half-hour evening shows. This information includes sets—in—use
figures and program ratings based on the average per minute
audience size. Audience composition information and sponsor
identification data are supplied three times a year.
American Research Bureau
The American Research Bureau limits its activities to
television audience research. It operates in some 60 markets
and provides ratings on both a national and a local—area basis.
National ratings are based on a sample of about 19
1,700 homes. As with some of the other rating services, diaries are used, and respondents are asked to complete the diaries during the first seven days of the month.
The American Research Bureau can supply quarter-hour program ratings, sets-in—use, total audience, audience com position, viewers per set, and cumulative audience information.
Conlon Surveys
5 A Conlon survey can be ordered for any station. Such a study covers listening activity through the period of one week. The coincidental telephone survey method is used, and as many as 30,000 telephone calls may be made during this period of the study. The Conlon report includes figures on sets—in—use, share of audience, quarter-hour ratings, and a constant to be used in a formula with these other figures to estimate the approximate number of listeners during each quarter-hour period.
Schwerin Research Corporation
The Schwerin Research Corporation measures the listener approval of programs and commercial announcements. The re spondents in the sample come together in theaters or auditoriums to watch or listen to a television or radio program. The respondents-— and there may be as many as 1,000 people— mark
3 Robert S. Conlan Associates, A Study of Listening Habits in Provo, Utah, August—September 1955 Tkansas City, Kansas; Robert S. Conlan Associates Incorporated, 1953). 20 their approval or disapproval of each part of the program, including the commercials, on a score sheet. A Schwerin com posite score is an indication of the probable audience accept ance of a radio or television program.
Many broadcasters, advertisers, and agencies spend thousands of dollars each year for the information provided by one or another of these rating or research services. These same clients also severely criticize, from time to time, the methods employed by, and the findings of, the rating services.
Much of this censure has been directed at the inadequacies of the samples used by the rating companies, and the criticism appears to be justifiable, for there are frequently wide vari ations in the ratings given the same program by different rating companies. Moreover, the types of information provided by the rating services are very limited in scope. The number of sets tuned to particular programs is the basis of most of the in formation provided by the various rating organizations.
Practically no information is obtained about the listener— his age, sex, education, income, etc. Only recently have a few companies given any consideration to the need for audience composition information, and such information is still not a part of the regular data most of the research services supply to their subscribers. Who is listening is just as important to the broadcaster as how many are listening. The limitation on the types of information provided is a major weakness of the program rating services that have been discussed. Forest L. Whan Surveys
Attention is directed next to the mumerous studies made by Professor Forest L. Whan of Kansas State College. In some details his studies are closely related to those of the rating services; in other details the Whan studies are entirely dif ferent. The focal point of the Whan surveys is the radio or television station; the focal point of the rating services is the radio or television program. The rating services may pro vide information that is either local or national in scope, but the Whan studies are usually limited to a local area— in most cases, to an entire state.
Whan’s method of audience research was initiated in
1937 by Dr. Harrison B. Summers, who is now Professor of Speech at The Ohio State University. In 1937 Summers, who at that time was a Professor at Kansas State College, made a state-wide study of the radio audience in Kansas. The next year he made similar studies in both Kansas and Iowa. Summers later moved to New
York City; and since 1943 his one-time student, Forest L. Whan, has continued these annual studies.
Before World War II, these studies were conducted only in Kansas and Iowa, or at least the infrequent studies carried on in other localities were not released in printed form.
Eighteen consecutive studies have been completed in these two states. The Westinghouse Radio Stations, Incorporated, sponsored a study in the Boston trade area in 1952 covering listeners in 22 five New England states. The same method was also used by
Dr. Whan in surveys made in the northern half of Texas in
1953 and 1955.
During the last few years Whan has employed a combi nation of the interview and diary methods in his studies.
Personal interviews are secured from a sample of from 8,000 to
10,000 adults over 21 years of age to represent each area studied. A stratified—random sample is used; stratified usu ally on the basis of density of population, place of residence, and economic levels within each county of the area. In rural areas the sample is further stratified on the basis of miles of dirt, gravel, or paved roads in the county. A diary is left with every third respondent interviewed. As a rule, from 50 to
60 per cent of the diaries are returned in usable form and in time for analysis.
Specific information follows relating to the Whan studies in each area where he has worked, and the most recent available studies in each area will be reviewed.
The North Texas Radio Audience of 1955
In January, 1955, Radio Station WFAA, Dallas, Texas, sponsored a Whan study of the radio listening habits in the 4 North Texas area. The North Texas area, as arbitrarily de
fined for the study, included approximately 90 counties in
4 Forest L. Whan, The North Texas Radio Audience of 1955 (Dallas, Texas: A. H. Belo Corporation, 1955). 23 northern and northeastern Texas. Roughly centering on Dallas,
Texas, this area approximated a rectangle 450 miles from east to west and 300 miles from north to south. The Bureau of
Census reported a million families lived in the area in 1950.
The interview—diary method used in this study followed the same pattern Whan had used in studying audiences in the
Midwest and the East. The interview sample was large,
9,355 cases. it included one out of every 107 homes in the area. A stratified—random method was followed in selecting the sample. Stratification was first made by assigning each county its portion of the whole sample; second, within each county the sample was further stratified on a basis of families living in urban, village, and rural homes. Next, within urban areas the sample was proportionally divided on the basis of standard of living. Finally, within the rural areas studied, the sample was stratified on a basis of miles of paved, gravel or dirt roads in each county. From that point on, a random method was used to select homes in which respondents were interviewed.
In this Texas study three different types of diary reports were used: (1) a two—day record of listening of every member of the family over four years of age; (2) a record of activity of each member of the family by quarter hours while they were in the home and awake; and (3) a one—day report of listening done outside of the home by each person reporting.
A distinguishing characteristic of the Whan studies is 24
the variety of information they include. The Texas study in cluded radio set ownership data, relative popularity of radio
stations, and radio program preferences of the people in the
area. Twenty pages of this report were used to present the
data relating to the analysis of the out—of—home use of radio
and the in—home activities of respondents.
Only a brief summary of the findings of this study can 5 be presented. During weekdays women were at home and awake
a little more than twelve hours a day, and men were at home and
awake a little less than ten hours a day. The families used
the radio an average of three and one—half hours a day. During
weekdays, also, women over 18 years of age listened to radio
outside of the home an average of three-quarters of an hour a
day, and men, one and a quarter hours a day. Men spent 14.5 per
cent, and women, 25.7 per cent of the time they were at home and
awake using the radio.
It is interesting to note in the study of the North Texas
area that the radio in the home was turned on approximately the
same amount of time as the television set. Women over 18, how
ever, used radio an hour more per day on the average than they
did television; but men, teenagers, and children watched tele
vision more hours each day than they listened to radio.
The five types of programs that women respondents in the
North Texas area liked best, together with the percentage of
5Ibid., pp. 12-35. 25 women respondents who chose each type, were as follows: news
broadcasts, 61.8 per cent; popular music, 51.3 per cent;
featured comedians, 49.3 per cent; religious programs, 45.0 per
cent; and audience participation programs, 43.1 per cent.
Preferences of the men were similar, but the order of the men's
preferences was different: news, 70.8 per cent; featured
comedians, 50.2 per cent; sports broadcasts, 45.9 per cent;
popular music, 44,4 per cent; and religious programs, 38.8 per
cent.
The Topeka Television Area Audience Survey
Whan had a busy year in 1955. The interviewing for the
North Texas and the Topeka areas started on the same day,
January 19, 1955. Television Station WIBW—TV was the sponsor
of the Topeka area study.
The Topeka television area was defined as including all
or part of 20 counties in the northeast corner of Kansas. This
area roughly coincides with the 100 microvolt signal of WIBW—TV.
According to the 1950 Census Bureau report there were 404,982
people living in 129,093 households in this area.
The Topeka area study has two parts: (1) reports of
personal interviews with 1,932 adults whose names were randomly
selected from homes in the area, and (2) an examination of
0 Forest L. Whan, The Topeka Television Area Audience Survey (Topeka: Television Station WIBW—TV, 1955). (Mimeo— graphed.) 26 two—day diary report from 1,115 television homes. The methods used in this study were similar to those used in the Whan study of the North Texas audience.
The content of the Topeka study was extensive: television
set ownership figures, in home and out—of—home viewing data,
television station preferences, information concerning use of
television by different persons in the home and their attitudes
towards this medium, and a discussion of the effect of tele
vision on the size of the radio daytime serial audience. These
last two topics, attitudes toward television and effect of
television on the size of the radio serial audience, were unique
to the Topeka study.
It is difficult to decide which of the facts reported
in a Whan study was most significant. The summary of the
Topeka survey here presented will include the findings most 7 related to the author's study. In the total Topeka area,
57.7 per cent of the homes had television receivers, and
98.7 per cent had radio receivers. Women over 18 years of
age spent an average of five and one—half hours each day of the
week listening to television. Children between four and eleven
years old spent four and a quarter hours each day viewing tele
vision. Teen-agers and men watched television approximately
three and one—half hours during an average weekday.
Entertainment value or the name of a specific program
7 Ibid. pp. 7-51. 27 were the answers practically everybody mentioned when asked,
"What do you personally like best about television in this area?" Dramatic, quiz, comedy, sports, and news programs were at the top of the list of programs that women named as their best—liked ones. Men named the same five programs, but sports was their first preference. Dramatic and news programs were in second and third positions in the men's list.
Both men and women had many suggestions for improving television in the Topeka area. The most frequently offered suggestions were: do something to improve reception, give stations more power, build more stations in the area, cut the number of commercials, and get better films. Among the program types named for use in improving television, educational pro grams were the most frequently named. Both men and women asked
for fewer crime or mystery shows.
One—third of the people questioned mentioned that some
one in the family listened regularly to a radio serial. The
response from the people in non—television homes was a little
higher than from those in television homes. Apparently, tele
vision has not drastically hurt the audience of the daytime
radio serial.
Iowa Radio—Television Audience Survey
A radio-television audience survey was taken in Iowa
during the months of March and April, 1955, making the 28 eighteenth consecutive annual study of listening habits in this 8 area. All of these studies have been sponsored by the Central
Broadcasting Company, owner of stations WHO and WHO—TV.
The traditional Whan method was used in this study, and the content of the survey followed closely the previous Iowa studies. In the 1955 study of the radio—television audience in Iowa, no unique questions were asked. No emphasis was given radio program preferences, and only a few questions were in cluded in the schedule that related to television program preferences. The report included information concerning in—home and out—of—home radio and television set ownership figures. A question was asked relating to the ownership of miscellaneous household appliances. The major part of the report listed the relative popularity of both radio and television stations. g From information gathered in the 1955 study of the
Iowa radio audience, Whan reported that 98.2 per cent of all homes in Iowa had one or more radio sets; 45.6 per cent, two or more radio sets; 14.4 per cent, three or more radio sets; and 3.8 per cent, four or more. The number of radio sets in the home had increased steadily since 1940.
The ownership of car radios in Iowa has also increased.
In 1950, 58.1 per cent of the families with automobiles had a
Q Forest L. Whan, The 1955 Iowa Radio—Television Audience Survey (Des Moines, Iowa: Central Broadcasting Company, 1955).
^Ibid., pp. 11-15. 29 radio in their car, and by 1955 this percentage had increased to 72.4 per cent.
On the basis of information secured from all counties in the state, 74.2 per cent of all homes in the sample had one or more television sets; few homes in Iowa in 1955 had two or more television sets. Of the families who had no television set, the major reasons given for not having purchased one were either that the family did not have the money to buy a television set or that the family did not care for the television programs.^
When asked, "What do you personally like best about TV in this area?” more than three—fourths of the men and women named some program type. Approximately 18 per cent of the women and 10 per cent of the men named dramatic programs;
22 per cent of the men referred to sports programs; and about
9 per cent of both men and women indicated comedy type programs as being what they liked best about television. News programs were mentioned by 7 per cent of the men and musical program types by 5 per cent of the women. There was no indication
in this report of the types of programs that were liked
best in relation to the age or educational status of
the respondents.XX
*"^Forest L. Whan, The 1955 Iowa Radio—Television Audience Survey, Part Two (Des Moines, Iowa; Central Broadcasting Company, 1955), p. 5.
1XIbid. , p. 23. 30
The Boston Area Radio—Television Audience in 1952
Between January 17 and 28, 1952, the interviewing was completed for a survey titled The Boston Trade and Distribution 12 Area Radio—Television Audience of 1952. This is the only survey that Whan has undertaken in the East. Westinghouse
Radio Stations, Incorporated, was the sponsor. As defined for this study, the Boston trade and distribution area included the states of Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and the southern half of Maine.
Because the methods used in this study were identical with those used by Whan in other areas, no further explanation need be given here. Personal interviews were secured with adults in the homes of 10,093 randomly selected homes. A diary report of a full week's listening to radio and viewing of television was obtained from 1,107 families.
The content of this survey was essentially the same as
Whan's other surveys. The study of the radio audience con sisted principally of a description of the number and location of radio sets in the area. To this was added the Whan station preference ratings and a quarter hour by quarter hour share of audience analysis. A very brief description of radio pro gram preferences was also included.
12 Forest L. Whan, The Boston Trade and Distribution Area Radio—Television Audience of 1952 (Boston, Massachusetts: Westinghouse Radio Stations Inc., 1952). 31
More of the men in this area preferred news broadcasts
than preferred broadcasts of sports, but these two types still
headed the list of program types most preferred by men. Other male program preferences were featured comedians, complete
drama, and popular music. Women liked news broadcasts and
complete dramas about equally well, and their other top pro
gram preferences were featured comedians, popular music, audi
ence participation, and variety programs. Neither men nor
women in the Boston area preferred religious programs to the
extent that the adults in the Midwest or South did. As im
provements, the adults in the Boston area suggested that more
educational programs and more classical or semi—classical
musical programs be presented, and fewer crime, mystery or
horror dramas.
Although it was not so extensive, the content of the
television part of the study was parallel to the content of
the radio part of the study. Greatest emphasis was placed on
the description of the number and location of television sets
in the home. These were important facts in 1952. There were
only a few television stations in the area; consequently, no
television station preferences were presented. The greater
part of the television report was used to present the data
concerning listening habits of the television audience. Re
grettably, no question was included in this survey to
obtain the television program preferences of the adults
in the Boston area. 32
Dimensions of the Television Audience
Each month the program rating services send their reports to subscribers, and each year additional Whan studies are made available to the industry. Many other organizations and in dividuals have used other research methods in an effort to obtain more information which would be helpful to the broad casting industry.
A review, therefore, of a few studies that have been made in an attempt to provide information dealing with the dimensions of the television audience is in order.
"Dimensions'1 of an audience is an elusive term. It is used here to mean the extent of television ownership, the amount of time people spend viewing television, and the habits,
activities, and attitudes of people in relation to television.
When TV Moves In
One of the first studies which attempted to determine
the effect of television on an audience was directed by Pro- 13 fessor Sherman P. Lawton of the University of Oklahoma in
1950. The purpose of this study was to trace the changes which
might take place in family living habits after there was a
television set in the home. At three intervals over the
period of a year, 3,615 individuals were interviewed in
13 " Sherman P. Lawton, "When TV Moves In" (Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma, 1950). (Mimeographed.) 33
2,864 different families. The first interviews were completed two months before there were any television stations operating in the area. These same individuals— or as many as could be reached— were interviewed again six months after television came to the area, and again six months later.
Comparisons were made between radio and television set 14 owners, between high and low radio listeners, and between high and low television viewers.
These comparisons indicated that television set owners were in the middle and upper income groups, and that they still had active outside interests. Most of the television set owners had more newspapers and magazines, more guests in their homes, belonged to more organizations, and took a more active part in outside activities than did owners of radio sets only.
The high radio and television listeners, however, were more withdrawn from these activities. They read less and spent less time with hobbies, organizations, and clubs.
Television's Daytime Profile
A most exhaustive study has been made by the National
Broadcasting Company in an attempt to describe the dimensions of the daytime television audience. During January and
February of 1954 the National Broadcasting Company sponsored
14 The adjectives "high" and "low" as applied to radio listeners and television viewers were not defined in this study. 34 15 a nation-wide study of the daytime television audience. This survey was conducted by W. R. Simmons and Associates Research,
Incorporated, of New York. The broad purpose of the study was to describe the markets reached by daytime television. The population studied included all female heads of households in which one or more women lived and all other women 18 years of age or older.
The development of the questionnaire extended over a period of two months. Fifteen drafts were pre-tested in order to arrive at the wording and design which would provide the most accurate information possible. A full-length interview was conducted with the lady of the house and a shorter interview with all other women in each family. A national pre—listed probability sample was obtained by interviewing 3,243 respond
ents living in 2,871 households in 450 interviewing areas in
185 counties. X6 The findings of this study were grouped into eight
sections: (1) household characteristics, (2) personal char
acteristics, (3) household purchasing and shopping, (4) per
sonal purchasing and interests, (5) ownership and purchase
of durable goods, (6) home ownership and improvement,
(7) television viewing and availability, and (8) viewing and
15 National Broadcasting Company, Television's Daytime Profile (Report of a Survey by W. R. Simmons & Associates, Research, Inc., New York: National Broadcasting Company, 1954).
16Ibid., pp. 4-74. 35 availability by population groups. The data within each of these sections were presented in table form. No attempt was made to interpret the significance of this wealth of data.
The section on household characteristics attempted to show the relationship between the people in television homes, non-television homes, daytime homes, and non—daytime homes for such household characteristics as family size and composition, age levels of children, annual family income, occupation of household head, geographic distribution, market size distri bution, city size distribution, and quality of market. For example, part of the information in one of the tables showed that 35.7 per cent of the homes under study contained one or two persons, while 29.3 per cent of the television homes and
44.1 per cent of the non—television homes were in this family size group. Another section of the same table indicated that per each 100 television homes there were 108 male adults,
120 female adults, and 132 children.
Age, education, marital status, position in household,
employment, and racial distribution were studied in the section
on personal characteristics. As an example of the information
in this section, 11.2 per cent of all women in the sample group
were 18 to 24 years of age; whereas, 10.7 per cent of the women
in television homes, and 11.9 per cent of the women in non-
television homes were in this age group.
The next four sections of the report were all related
to the marketing characteristics of the population studied. 36
The section on household purchasing and shopping presented data in relation to the day of the week, the time of the day, weekly expenditure, quantity purchased, and specific quantities of household items— -groceries, vegetables, and meats— that were purchased.
The seventh section of the report presented data on the amount of television viewing and audience availability; for example, 52.9 per cent of all women in the sample had viewed television ''yesterday," including 84.3 per cent of the women in television homes, and 9.1 per cent of the women in non- television homes, and for each hour between 9 A.M. and 6:00 P.M. no less than 63.1 per cent of all women studied were at home
"yesterday."
The final section of this report has four tables indi cating the viewing of members of various population groups
"yesterday," and four tables indicating the availability of these same members of population groups "yesterday." Each of these sets of four tables has a different base: total homes, tele vision homes, total women, and women in television homes. The characteristics used for comparison were family size, family
income, age level of children, area of residence, age of women,
education of women, marital and employment status of women.
Videotown
Of special importance in the description of the char
acteristics of the television audience were the annual studies 37 17 of Cunningham and Walsh, Incorporated. For the past eight years Cunningham and Walsh, Incorporated, have conducted an annual survey in New Brunswick, New Jersey. The purpose of the survey has been to describe the continuously changing effects of television on the lives of the people in New Brunswick. In these studies New Brunswick has been dubbed "Videotown."
Basically, these annual studies have measured the growth of television and the use of radio and television in the home.
During the first years of the study, every television set owner was included in the sample. In 1951 a probability sample was designed to include every fifth home recorded by the census, and by 1954 the television saturation had reached such a peak that the probability sample included only every tenth home. Each year a different sample of respondents has been used; the accuracy of the new sample has been checked by comparing it with the previous sample. In each year of the series, respondents were interviewed Tuesday through Saturday over a six-week period, which provided data for an average for
Monday through Friday of the week. 18 The series of Videotown studies indicates that by
1955 the individual had become more selective in his viewing;
that he did not watch television for so long at a time, but
that over the week his total viewing had increased. Daytime
17 Cunningham & Walsh, Inc., Videotown (Second edition; New York: Cunningham & Walsh, Inc., 1955). 1 ft Ibid. , pp. 15-25. 38 viewing had decreased slightly in 1955 as compared with 1954, but viewing in the evenings had slightly increased. Families who had owned television sets for several years spent more time watching programs than did families who had recently purchased television sets.
The total amount of time the average person spends listening to radio had decreased slightly. The television homes averaged two radios per home; the non—television homes averaged 1.7 radios per home. Movie attendance and magazine reading were increasing in "Videotown." Newspaper reading, which has apparently been unaffected by the purchase of a
television set, remained constant.
The average television set in Videotown in 1955 was
3.7 years old, and the desire for multiple sets in one home was not increasing. Those with two sets dispensed with one as
soon as it needed repairing. While the non—television families were slowly continuing to buy sets, there was little interest
in the purchase of color sets. The 21—inch black and white
television screen set continued to dominate the market.
Attention Levels of Women Television Viewers
The preceding studies in this section were quantitative
in nature. Joseph M. Ripley, a graduate student at The Ohio
State University, studied a dimension more qualitative in
nature. Ripley was not concerned with how many television
sets might be in the home, but rather with what was the degree 39 19 of attention given to the television program. He limited his investigation to women and studied their viewing activities during both the daytime and evening.
This study was made during the latter part of February,
1955, by using the coincidental telephone method. Nearly
8,000 telephone calls were attempted over a two—day period between 8:00 A.M. and 10:00 P.M., and a little under 5,000 calls were completed. Women who reported watching television at the time of the telephone call were asked additional questions that related to their viewing and other activities at the time of the call.
One of the major purposes of this study was to determine the proportion of women who were making television listening a full—attention activity as compared to those who were dividing their attention between the television program and other acti vities in the home.
The results of this study support the assumption that the level of attention given to a television program by women was related to the type of program they were watching, the time of day, and the presence or absence of children in the home. During the daytime as many as four women out of ten who were listening to television were not in the same room as the television set.
19 Joseph M. Ripley, Jr., "Levels of Attention of Women Listeners to Daytime and Evening Television Programs in Columbus, Ohio" (Columbus, Ohio: The Ohio State University, 1955), p. 8. (Mimeographed.) Three out of ten women listeners were in the same room as the television set but were also engaged in some other household activity. After 8:00 P.M. a larger proportion of both men and women gave their full attention to the television program, but even then one—third of the viewers between 8:00 and 10:00 P.M. were either not in the same room with the television set or were engaged in other activities which in come degree took their attention away from the televised program. Greater attention was given to variety, general drama, and mystery drama programs than to other types of programs in the evening; in the early evening, variety programs, talk programs, and news or informative talks attracted more complete attention; and in the daytime, variety programs and daytime serials were the types most likely to be watched as well as heard. More attention was given to television in families without children than in families with children. These, in brief, were the main findings of the
Ripley study.
Little criticism can be made of the four studies which have helped to describe some of the dimensions of the television audience. Two of these studies were carried out by commercial research agencies and two of them by university research groups.
In each study suitable methods were used and objectives were carefully defined. The information obtained from these studies has been helpful to the broadcasting industry. Four studies, however, cannot satisfy all the research that needs to be done to describe the dimensions of the television audience. Only one 41 of these studies was national in scope; the other three were limited to a single area. These studies could be repeated in other areas of the nation. None of these studies attempted to describe the program preferences of the television audience, or the changes of program preference in relation to length of time of television ownership. A thorough measurement of these dimensions needs yet to be taken.
Advertising Sffectiveness of Television
The advertising effectiveness of television is difficult to determine. University research groups have left this area of study to the commercial broadcasters; of these, the National
Broadcasting Company has been a leader.
Television Today, Its Impact on People and Products
During a two-month period ending January 23, 1951, the
National Broadcasting Company sponsored a study of the sales impact of television on people in the New York metropolitan 20 area. The field work of the interviewing of 5,067 adult family heads was performed by the Psychological Workshop of
Hofstra College under the direction of Dr. Matthew N. Chapell.
The sample disign was developed by Willard Simmons, and the development and analysis of the data was made by a special
National Broadcasting Company, Television Today, Its Impact on People and Products (New York: National Broadcasting Company, Inc., 1951). 42
National Broadcasting Company research staff supervised by
Dr. Thomas E. Coffin.
The questionnaire included a listing of the 111 television programs then on the air and a listing of the 187 different
brands being advertised on these programs. The respondent was
to check how recently he had seen any of the programs; if he
had seen a program within the past three months he was also
to make a further check indicating his degree of enjoyment of
that program. On another part of the schedule, he was to check
the names of any of the brands of products that he had purchased
during the last four weeks.
The major purpose of this study was to test the sales
effectiveness of television by correlating the television pro
grams respondents watched with the brands of products that they
bought.
Here is a brief summary of some of the findings of this
study: (l) the average sales in television homes of all
packaged products advertised on television in the New York
metropolitan area was 26.8 per cent greater than sales in
non—television homes; (2) among set owners in the area viewers
of sponsored programs provided 37 per cent more customers than
non—viewers; (3) a sponsor received 17.9 more customers per
dollar if his commercials were well liked; and (4) the brands of
merchandise advertised on high budget programs received about
one—third more extra customers per dollar than did brands
advertised on average—budget programs. 43
A complete technical report of this study was not provided in the printed summary, and the presentation was not so complete as it could have been; however, this study demonstrated that a relationship exists between one's program viewing and the products he buys. However, a correlation between two factors does not necessarily prove a cause and effect relationship between them.
Why Sales Come in Curves
In 1952 the National Broadcasting Company sponsored a multi— 21 city study in four cities in Iowa and Illinois. The area studied has been popularly called the "Quad-City" area, since the male and female heads of households in Davenport, Iowa, and in Rock Island,
Moline, and East Moline, Illinois, constituted the population stud ied. W. R. Simmons and Associates who planned the sample and han dled the field work used the repeated interview method. Respond ents were first interviewed during February and March of 1952; these same respondents were asked identical questions during May and June of the same year. In the first series of interviews no less than three calls were made to any household at which an inter view had not been obtained previously. In the second series no less than eight call-backs were made in order to obtain an inter view with the same respondents interviewed in February or March.
Ninety-one per cent of the people contacted in the first series of interviews were reinterviewed in May or June.
21 National Broadcasting Company, Why Sales Come In Curves (New York: National Broadcasting Company, Inc., 1953), p. 70. 44
The sample was basically a stratified probability sample of the area type. Interviews of 9,762 were reported, secured in
4,881 homes. Data were tested for significance of differences between percentages, and each major finding reported in this study was beyond the five per cent level of confidence.
The purpose of this study was to find out how television advertising affects customer gains, customer loyalty, and customer
losses. The report stated: "If they begin viewing, they begin buying. If they stop viewing, they stop buying. If they continue viewing, they continue buying. If they continue not viewing, they 22 continue not buying." The statisticians may not have been that
positive. However, in the author's opinion, this was excellent
research. The results of this study contributed more scientific
evidence to the fact that television advertising is effective.
How Television Changes Strangers Into Customers
In the fall of 1953 and the spring of 1954 a third study
to examine the effectiveness of television advertising was spon— 23 sored by the National Broadcasting Company. The study was
made in Fort V/ayne, Indiana, and the field work was again car
ried out by W. R. Simmons and Associates Research, Incorporated.
The purpose of this study was to provide projectable
22 Ibid. , p. 38. 23 National Broadcasting Company, How Television Changes Strangers Into Customers (New York: National Broadcasting Company, Inc., 1954). 45 information relative to the impact of television upon a new market.
This was a panel study. The panel members were interviewed one month before WKJG—TV went on the air in Fort Wayne and again in
six months. An area probability sampling plan was used to select panel members. Clusters of city blocks were selected, and dwel
ling units were chosen for the interviewing. In the first inter view, 7,535 interviews were completed; 6,554 were re-interviewed
six months later. Between the two interview periods, 1,548 of
the people had bought television sets, and 852 had not. The re
sults were obtained by comparing the responses of these groups.
Since the respondents were to be asked the same questions
twice, conditioning was contemplated to be a serious problem. Two
forms of the questionnaire were prepared and one-half of the sam
ple was given one form during the first interview and the second
questionnaire form for the second interview. The remaining half
of the sample was given the same form both times. The difference
in the final answers of the two groups was considered to be the
effect of conditioning. The amount of this difference was sub
tracted in order to eliminate the effect of conditioning.
The data were tested statistically in order to determine the
significance of the differences between the answers respondents
gave in their first and those they gave in the second interviews.
The significant results of this survey— those at one per
cent level of confidence— were as follows:
1. Television appears to be able to increase the awareness of television—advertised brands. 46
2. Television helps to increase the association between brand name and product.
3. Television has the ability to impress a visual image-— trademark— on the minds of viewers.
4. Television appears to be able to increase adver tising slogan identification among viewers.
5. Television seems to be able to raise television set owner's opinion of some television advertised products.
6. Television appears to be able to strengthen the com petitive position of television—advertised brands.
7. Greatest purchasing gains were obtained for those brands using the most television advertising.
Motivational Forces in Radio Broadcasts
Two prominent studies have been completed that relate to the persuasive power of radio. These studies were made in attempt to
identify and analyze the forces in a radio broadcast which move
listeners to action.
The Invasion from Mars
October 30, 1938, was a memorable date in the history of
American broadcasting. Mercury Theatre broadcast II. G. Wells'
"War of the Worlds," and thousands of Americans were panic-
stricken which provided the basic situation for a study by 24 Cantril, reported in his book, The Invasion from Mars.
Cantril's study is related to another work he did when
24 Hadley Centril, assisted by Hazel Gaudet and Herta Herzog, Invasion from Mars (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1940). 47 he was studying mass movements. In his book, The Psychology 25 of Social Movements, Cantril describes his theory of mass move ments; then he uses his theory as a basis for analyzing lynching in the South, the Father Divine movement, the Townsend Plan move ment, and Nazism. In his other book, The Invasion from Mars,
Cantril analyzes another mass movement, this one resulting from a radio broadcast. It represents an effort of a social psy chologist to describe the reasons why some listeners were induced to panic, whereas others were unmoved by the same radio stimuli*
Data for Cantril's study were obtained from detailed
interviews with 135 persons. Over 100 of these were upset by
the broadcast. Twenty—eight of those who were not frightened
had tuned into the broadcast late. The interviews were conducted
in New Jersey, and respondents who had heard the broadcast were 26 discovered largely through the initiative of the interviewers.
From these 135 interviews Cantril attempted to weave
together various threads to explain this panic, only to discover:
We have found no single observable variable consis tently related to the reaction, although a lack of critical ability seemed particularly conducti^^ to fear in a large proportion of the population.
This lack of critical ability was evident in the reactions of
some of the listeners who responded with panic. Some had
25 Hadley Cantril, The Psychology of Social Movements (New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1941). 26 Cantril, The Invasion from Mars, pp. xi-xii.
27Ibid. , p. 189. 48 readiness for panic, and they made no effort to find out the facts; others accepted the decision of those present and responded in like manner. Some reacted as though they had expected such a calamity and were immediately spurred into action; these were determined to give up and lose all. Most of those with more education did not so readily accept the 28 made up dramatization of the broadcast as true.
Mass Persuasion
A few years after "War of the Worlds" broadcast, another program occurred which provided additional opportunity for a study of the motivational forces in radio programs.
Kate Smith's marathon war bond appeal moved millions to action. 29 Robert K. Merton attempted to answer why.
Although the Merton study of the Kate Smith war bond drive over the Columbia Broadcasting System was conducted in
New York City, its implications are universal. The purpose of this study was to help obtain a more complete understand
ing of the social psychology of persuasion, and in the words of the authors, to
. . . analyze both the content of the propaganda and the responses of the audience to it. The analysis of the content, what it said, gives us clues to what might be effective in it.
28 Ibid., pp. 190 et seqq. 29 Robert K. Merton, e_t al. , Mass Persuasion (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1946). 49
The analysis of responses to the broadcasts enables us to check these clues. Working back and forth between these two, we may obtain the answer to the chief problem: why are certain types of listeggrs moved to action whereas others remain unmoved?'-
Specifically, the plan of this study was based on:
. . . three sets of interrelated data: content analysis of the Smith radio broadcasts; intensive focused interviews with a hundred persons who heard her bond broadcasts; and polling interviews, confined to certain specific questions, with a cross-section of almost one thousand persons. Each set of material has its own distinctive func tion. The content analysis enables us to determine the "objective" characteristics of the broadcasts to which various responses occurred; the intensive interviews permit us to discover the components and processes involved in persuasion; and the extensive interviews provide a^jartial check of some of these interpretations.
In brief, the results of the study were as follows:
It was within this context— a concert of effort motivated by a war, a kaleidoscopic set of public images of Smith and the tactics of the marathon— that Smith's appeals took effect. The context supplied cogency to words which might otherwise have been less than persuasive. But once this context was provided, the choice of appeals and their precise formulation became decisivg^in affecting the degree of mass persuasion.
Radio and Television Program Preferences
Of special interest in this review was a group of studies relating to the radio and television program preferences of
30Ibid., p. 12.
31Ibid., p. 17.
32Ibid., pp. 177-178. 50 specific groups of people. These studies extended over a period of twenty years, and the first study was made in 1930.
Radio Program Preferences of Listeners in Philadelphia in 1930
Herman S. Hettinger, a teacher at the University of
Pennsylvania, was among the first to study the radio audience.
He conducted a survey in Philadelphia using the personal 33 interview method between April 5 and May 5, 1930. The study was financed by the Universal Broadcasting Company.
The purpose of the study was to determine the times
during the day that Philadelphians used their radio sets the
most, the radio station they liked the best, and the types of
programs they most preferred. A sample of 2,250 families was
selected on the basis of density of population from ten areas
in Philadelphia. Interviewing was carried out at different
times of the day through the week by experienced students from
the Wharton School of Finance and Commerce of the University
of Pennsylvania. One person over 20 years of age was inter
viewed in each family; he was asked for his preferences and
directed not to speak for the family as a whole.
The findings of the survey indicated that 50 per cent
of the families owned radios, and this was high for the nation
as a whole at that time. The peak listening period was between
Herman S. Hettinger, "A Study of Habits and Prefer ences of Radio Listeners in Philadelphia" (Philadelphia: Universal Broadcasting Co., 1930). (Mimeographed.) /
51
7:00 and 10:00 P.M.; during these hours the sets—in-use figure reached a high of 90 per cent.
Ten program types were used as a means of determining program preferences. The ten program types ranked in order of preference were as follows: Music, comedy, drama, sports, religious, educational, news, special features, and children's programs. Of all respondents interviewed, 96.2 per cent pre ferred music; 66.5 per cent, comedy; 58.2 per cent, drama; and 44.0 per cent, sports. Only 25 per cent indicated that they preferred news. In 1930, little news was broadcast on radio, and what was given was largely taken directly from the local newspapers that were already in the hands of listeners.
Analysis breakdowns were made on the basis of sex, age, and income. Each age group ranked music, comedy, and drama as favored program types. Special features and news were ranked much lower. Older groups liked educational and religious pro grams and women's features; younger groups favored sports.
Music was sub-divided into classical, semi—classical,
dance, sacred, old-fashioned, and melodies. The instrumental
and vocal forms of each musical type were also given consider
ation. Of the different musical types, over 60 per cent of all
respondents liked dance music; 40 per cent, semi—classical;
30.4 per cent, melodies; 21 per cent, classical; and 18.6 per
cent, sacred music. None of the interviewed expressed a
preference for old-fashioned music. Men and women, regardless
of income, preferred instrumental music to vocal music. Male quartetes and male soloists were the most preferred types of musical groups. Only a very few expressed a preference for women’s choruses.
For historical purposes this study is very valuable.
The methods used by Hettinger are still modern. The analysis of the preferences for the more specific types of music gave evidence of careful planning and made the results of the survey highly useful. The sets—in—use figures obtained by Hettinger in 1930 were very similar to national sets—in—use figures for radio listening up to the time when television was introduced to the family. Although radio programming has changed since
1930, the rank order of program preferences in this study was similar to that found in more recent studies, with the exception of news.
Radio Program Preferences in 1941
For a description of listeners' program preferences
during the early part of World War II, attention is directed
to a study conducted by Allport and Cantril.^ They organized
a radio audience study sometime prior to 1941— the exact date
is not indicated in their publication. Their questionnaire
was distributed to 1,075 people in an urban community of
Massachusetts and rural areas in New York State. The
^Gordon W. Allport and Hadley Cantril, The Psychology of Radio (New York: Peter Smith, 1941), pp. 90—95. 53 occupational and cultural level of both men and women represented a cross-section of the American population. The respondents indicated by checking a list, which contained 42 program types, whether they would like to hear the program more frequently, somewhat more frequently, somewhat less frequently, or much less frequently.
The results of this study were expressed in terms of rank-orders. In tabulating the data, the more favorable responses were more heavily weighted than the unfavorable responses. The algebraic sum of individual judgments for each type of program determined its rank order. The data were classified on the basis of sex and age of respondent.
The six most preferred program types were old song favorites, dance orchestras, news events, symphonies, football broadcasts, and drama. Five program types met with disapproval from the majority of respondents: sermons, recipes, political speeches, business reports, and advertisements.
Men liked sports; women liked symphonies. Both men and women preferred old song favorites and dance orchestras. Other programs that women liked included short stories, literature, organ music, vocal artists, new jazz songs, poetry, educational methods, church music, sermons, and fashion reports. Men would like to hear more sports of all kinds, talks on national poli cies, detective stories, talks on engineering, physics or chemistry, and business news. Dance orchestras and sports ranked highest with the youth; but they also enjoyed new jazz 54
songs, talks on psychology, dance music, jazz singers, phonograph
records, and fashion reports much more than did older people.
Listeners over 30 listed old song favorites, humor, and news as
their favorites. The older people gave higher ratings than did younger listeners to talks on national policies, educational
talks in general, vocal artists, talks by famous people, operas,
health talks, organ music, talks on educational methods, history,
church music, physics or chemistry, poetry, sermons, recipes
and cooking, and political speeches.
Radio Program Preferences in the United States in 1945 and 1947
A little over ten years ago, the National Association
of Broadcasters commissioned the National Opinion Research
Center of the University of Denver to carry through the first 35 nationwide investigation of the public's attitude toward radio.
The National Opinion Research Center used its own staff;
and during November 1945, conducted 2,571 interviews throughout
the United States. In addition to this stratified nationwide
sample, 672 extra interviews were made in the Mountain and
Pacific areas. The data secured were analyzed by Professor
Paul F. Lazarsfeld of Columbia University.
Specifically, the scope of this study covered an in
vestigation of the amount of time respondents spent listening
Paul F. Lazarsfeld, The People Look at Radio (Chapel Hill, North Carolina: The University of North Carolina Press, 1946). 55 to radio, their radio program preferences, their attitudes toward advertising, and their attitudes toward radio as compared with attitudes toward the other mass media, and toward schools, churches, and local governments.
The results relating to program preferences were of the greatest value in relation to this review. Only a brief sum mary can be presented here. The six most popular types of evening programs were news (liked by 76 per cent), radio plays
(by 54 per cent), comedy programs (by 54 per cent), quiz pro grams (by 53 per cent), old familiar music (by 47 per cent), and popular or dance music (by 42 per cent). This rank-order of preferred program types was based on preferences of all respondents.
The rank-order of women's preferences was the same as for all respondents. Men, however, preferred talks or discus sions about public issues and sports programs over radio plays and popular or dance music. With few exceptions, when the data were presented in terms of age and education of the respondents, all categories listed the same six favorites in the same order as did respondents collectively. College graduates, however, had different preferences in the way of programs; their top six favorites included classical inusic and talks or discussions on public issues, and light musical types of programs were less popular than with respondents of less education. Respondents over 40 years of age preferred talks or discussions of public issues to popular or dance music type programs. 56
In the fall of 1947, the National Opinion Research Center, then located at the University of Chicago, conducted a second 36 survey for the National Association of Broadcasters. Many of the questions in the second questionnaire were taken over
intact from the first investigation; this provided a basis for
a comparison between the two studies.
A probability sample of 3,529 interviews was taken from
a cross—section of people in the United States. The character
istics of the 1945 and 1947 samples were very similar; with
respect to economic levels, educational levels, and geographic 37 regions the two samples were virtually identical. Data
provided were again analyzed by Professor Lazarsfeld of Columbia
University.
Ten of the program type classifications were identical
in both surveys, and Lazarsfeld, in commenting on the findings
of this study, reported:
Where a comparison was possible, we find great constancy of listener preferences. . . . with only minor exceptions, these program types are no more and no less popular today than they were two years ago. . . . General tastes apparently rem^jn rela tively unchanged over a two-year period.
36 Paul Lazarsfeld and Patricia L. Kendall, Radio Listening in America (New York: Prentice—Hall, Inc., 1948), p. iii.
37Ibid., pp. 128-130.
38Ibid. , p. 22 57
Radio Program Preferences in Two Central Illinois Counties in 1946
In the fall of 1946, interested groups at the University 39 of Illinois conducted a study in Champaign County, Illinois.
A companion study was made the following summer in 1947 in McLean
County. These studies were cooperatively sponsored by the
Bureau of Economic and Business Research, and Radio Station WJBC,
Radio Station WILL, and the Agriculture Extension Division.
The purpose of the study was to examine the kinds of programs to which people listen, as well as to determine the extent of their listening. Individuals, and not sets or families, represented the base of this analysis. The diary method was used to obtain data on individual listening. A diary was given to each cooperating person in the family over
18 years of age. The diary was large enough for one to record his listening by quarter-hour periods during 18 hours of the day for seven consecutive days. No explanation was given as to how the cross-section sample of cooperating individuals was obtained; however, 528 adults in Champaign County and 790 adults in McLean County completed the diaries. Tabulations were made in relation to area of residence, sex, age, and education of respondents.^ * 40
39 Charles H. Sandage, "Qualitative Analysis of Radio Listening in Two Central Illinois Counties," University of Illinois Bulletin, Vol. 46, No. 50, March, 1949, pp. 3—4.
40Ibid., pp. 26-40. 58
The age and education breakdown of the Champaign sample indicated a weakness in the total number of respondents in the study. In the youngest age group and in the oldest, there were only 44 and 43 cases, respectively. These same two age groups in McLean County had 63 and 75 cases, respectively. The age group with the largest number of cases in McLean County had
166 respondents.
Only the responses of females were analyzed to determine the effect of education on program preference. The results were as follows: (1) women with some college showed a greater preference for round-table discussion type programs than did those with less formal education; (2) college women were at tracted by classical, semi—classical, or popular music;
(3) women with grade school education were more attracted by folk music programs; (4) the greater the amount of formal education the greater the liking of the respondents for good drama; (5) detective stories were selected by women with a grade school education more frequently than by women who had attended high school or college; (6) no consistent differences were evident in the liking expressed by those in various educational groups for comedy and variety programs; and
(7) on the basis of education no clear pattern of preferences was indicated in relation to serial drama.
This study indicated that the area of residence of the respondent was less important than the effect of formal ed ucation in affecting his preferences for different types of 59 radio programs; however, area of residence did have some effect on listeners to some kinds of programs. Listeners in villages and on farms preferred religious programs, folk music, and some discussion programs more than did the urban listeners.
Comedy and variety programs appealed to urban listeners twice as much as to rural listeners.
The data in this study suggested only a few instances in which the listening of women over 18 correlated directly or inversely with age. The older women preferred some news or commentary programs more than did the younger women, and the younger women preferred popular music more than did the older women. The author of the study concluded that the sex of the respondent, as age, was not one of the stronger influences in determining the audience of a program. In relation to the sex of the respondent, only two program types seemed to have a greater appeal for men than for women: these were news com mentaries and sports programs. Because of this, the director of the study concluded that it was unnecessary to present male listening data from male respondents for each of the factors used in analyzing listening preferences of females.
The findings of this study as to the effect of sex and age on one's program preferences was not highly consistent with the findings of other studies. Perhaps the small sample lim ited the value of the findings, especially in determining the effect of the sex, age, and education of the listener on pro gram preferences expressed. The report states: "The sample for age and that for education do not always equal the total number of adult respondents, because interviewers did not secure 41 age or education data in a few cases." Presumably, the sample was made up primarily of women. Data from only 237 men were analyzed in the report. This would mean that there were
1,081 women in the sample. Since only 63 per cent of the women respondents indicated their age in the diary and only 72 per cent indicated their educational attainments, the size of the usable sample was greatly reduced. Less than one—half of the diaries from respondents were analyzed to determine the effects of the listeners' sex on their program selections. These discrepancies indicate that more than a few of the diaries were incomplete— especially since no reference was made in the report as to why so large a number of the diaries received had not been analyzed. Moreover, no reference was made to any systematic method of selecting a representative sample from the two counties. Since such major limitations were evident in the design of the study, the results should be considered as only indicative of the radio program preferences of the listeners in these two central Illinois counties.
Radio Program Preferences of the Louisiana Farm Audience in 1948
A study of the radio listening patterns and program preferences of farm people in selected areas of Louisiana
41Ibid., p. 8. 61 42 was made in 1948. Alvin L. Bertrand and Homer L. Hitt, of the department of rural sociology at the Louisiana State University, directed the study. This project did not cover all of rural
Louisiana, but rather the farm population within a 35 mile radius of four low—power radio stations. These stations were in different areas of the state, and the Agriculture Extension
Service had previously broadcast programs over these stations.
The sample, which comprised 1,268 farm men and women, was selected by dividing each area into quarters. The quarters were then subdivided into blocks three miles square; and each
of these blocks was numbered consecutively. Using a table of
random numbers, six blocks in each quarter were selected for
complete enumeration.
The purpose of the study was to obtain sufficient in
formation so that radio programs could be planned for farm
people that would give them the farm and home information they
desired at the most convenient time, and in the most pleasing 43 manner.
The results of the study were divided into four areas:
availability of the farm audience, most preferred daytime and
evening programs, preferences as to program length and person
nel, and suggestions for future broadcasts. On week days a
42 Alvin L. Bertrand and Homer L. Hitt, "Radio Habits in Rural Louisiana," Louisiana Agricultural Experiment Station, Bulletin No. 440, September, 1949.
43Ibid., pp. 7-13. 62 greater proportion of the farm audience listened to the radio regularly from 12:00 to 12:30 P.M. than at any other time. On
Saturdays the most popular time was from 8:00 to 9:00 P.M. On
Sundays there was no single period more popular than any other for the farm audience; the audience gradually increased through out the day, reaching a peak at 9:00 P.M.; after that hour, the size of the farm audience declined. The most preferred daytime program was news; at night, music, comedy, and variety programs led the list of preferred program types, with western and hill billy the most popular types of music. With respect to the structure of farm broadcasts, these Louisiana rural listeners preferred a 15-minute program featuring two or more persons and originating from a farm. Hoinemaking and health were the most frequently suggested topics for future broadcasts.
Radio Program Preferences of Residents of Champaign County,
Illinois, in 1949
In the Fall of 1949 a second study in Champaign County, 44 Illinois, was carried out. S. Watson Dunn collected data for his dissertation at the University of Illinois as part of a
larger project of the Institute of Communications Research.
His purpose was to study the listening of individual members of the family in order to find out what types of programs
44 S. Watson Dunn, "Qualitative Analysis of Listening in Radio Class Programming," Journalism Quarterly, Vol. 29, No. 2, Spring, 1952, pp. 176—179. 63 listeners of different age, sex, and educational status selected in the way of program fare. Each adult member of a cross sec tion of radio families in Champaign County was asked to keep a diary of his radio listening for the period of one week. Usable diaries were returned from 1,388 adults in the county. In the process of tabulating the diaries, 418 individual programs were classified under 14 program types. The programs that did not fall clearly under one of these composite program types were listed under the miscellaneous heading of "All Other" programs.
One of the major weaknesses of this study was that almost half of the programs listed in the diaries did not fall clearly under one of the 14 program types that were chosen for detailed analysis; as a result, much of the reported listening was not studied. Another weakness of this research was the smallness of the number of cases in the sub-groups. In the age, income, and educational breakdowns, only the diaries of urban and rural women were analyzed. After the diaries that were completed by the males and by village women were eliminated from the sample, all of the groups except three had fewer than 100 cases; and many of the sub-groups contained less than 50 cases. Dunn assumed, nevertheless, that the sub-groups were large enough
for statistically valid analysis. 45 If Dunn's assumption is accepted, the findings of
45Ibid. , pp. 176-179. 64 this study were extensive. The results of the research were divided into five areas: (1) mystery drama and sports were the only program types with significant appeal to one sex as compared with the other; (2) programs that held decidedly more appeal for urban than for rural listeners were classical, semi- classical, and popular music, and discussion and sports pro grams; whereas, folk music and religious programs were sub stantially more popular in the rural area. (3) Classical and semi-classical music listening increased directly with edu cational status of the respondent; news and discussion programs also held more appeal for those with a college education than for those with less education. Urban grade school women de voted much of their listening time to folk music, religious programs, and daytime serials. (4) Folk music and daytime serial listening tended to decrease as income level of respondent increased; whereas, the reverse was true of the preference for classical music, discussion programs, and news. (5) With regard to age, Dunn states:
The older women tended to listen more than the younger ones to religious and news programs. ...
Popular music and mystery programs appealed more strongly to the younger groups. Classical music listening was relatively high among the youngest women, but otherwise correlated directly with age. Daytime serials and variety programs appear tgghave been most appealing to the middle age groups.
46 Ibid., p. 180. 65
Radio Program Preferences of Children in School During 1949—1950
During the winter of 1949—1950, the departments of radio or speech in six universities— the University of Alabama, Boston
University, the University of Minnesota, The Ohio State Univer sity, Temple University, and the University of Texas— cooperated in a study of the radio preferences of children of school age.
Program preferences information were secured from more than
19,000 school—age children. The reports from each of the six 47 schools were combined and analyzed by Robert II. Stewart.
The sample in each city consisted of all of the children in schools that school officials thought would provide a fair cross-section of the children in their communities. Each
student filled out an individual questionnaire. The question naire included a list of 60 network radio programs that were
broadcast in the evening or after school hours. Each child was
asked to check from the list of 60, the 15 programs that he
liked best. The 60 programs were listed under 20 different
program types.
While this sample cannot be considered representative of
a cross-section of the United States, an analysis of the returns
. . . indicates strongly that acceptance of any given program is strongly influenced by the sex and the age of the listeners, by racial and cultural differences, by the intelligence level
47 Robert H. Stewart, "Radio Program Preferences of Children of School Age" (Columbus, Ohio: The Ohio State Univer sity, 1950). (Mimeographed.) 66
of boys and girls included in the prospective audience, and by differences in^jhe sort of communities in which listeners live. . . .
Specifically, more boys preferred comedy programs,
"thriller" drama, and sports broadcasts than did girls. Girls preferred musical programs, dramatic programs other than
"thrillers," and audience participation programs more than did boys.
According to the study, age was related to program preference in the following ways:
As age of listeners increases, preference for children's daytime "thriller" programs and for comedy dramatic programs decreases; but as the age of listeners increases, preference for musical programs, for sports broadcasts, and for dramatic programs wit^strong "love—interest" values tends to increase.
One of the major contributions of this study was the
discovery that regardless of the part of the country in which he
lives, the sex of the listener, his age, his cultural background
and his place of residence all influenced his radio program
preferences. The importance and magnitude of these findings
should not be overlooked by the broadcasting media. These
findings warrant additional studies along similar lines in still
other areas with different cultural influences.
48Ibid., p. 13.
49 - V ■ j -a Ibid., p. 1. 67
Television Program Preferences of Children in School Between
1949 and 1952
At the same time that the Stewart study was in progress, 50 a study was being conducted by Phillip Lewis at the South
Shore High School community in Chicago. Lewis analyzed the program preferences of children from age nine to 18 at four different times between May 1949 and January 1951.
All television programs were arbitrarily divided into
six categories: variety, drama, sports, music, news, and
education. The students were asked to list all six of these
types in order of their preference.
In the report of the study the six program types were list
ed in rank—order for each year of age by sex. Variety, drama,
and music were the top three favorite program types for the
girls of all age groups. Variety, drama, and sports were the
program types most preferred by the boys. News and educational
programs were the ones least preferred by both girls and boys.
The arbitrary division of all television programs into
six classifications was a major weakness of this study. Six
program types are not enough to identify clearly the complex
variety of materials presented on television. These categories
were so all-inclusive that the results of the study could be
only indicative.
'iO Phillip Lewis, "TV's Impact on Teen-Agers," The Phi Delta Kappan, XXXIII, (November, 1951), pp. 118—121. 68
Two additional studies were made of the interests of 51 school-age children in television by Paul Witty during May of 1950 and May of 1951. In the first study he obtained
2,100 questionnaires from Evanston, Illinois, elementary pupils; in the second study, 1,400 students provided information. The sample was obtained from three different schools in Evanston.
The enrollment in one of the schools consisted almost entirely of colored students. No description of the questionnaire was given in the report of this study.
Favorite programs were listed for children in grades four to six and grades seven and eight. The most favored types of programs for the younger group were western, action, fantasy- type drama, musical variety, and children's quiz programs. The
seventh and eighth graders preferred comedy variety, some mystery programs, and popular music programs more than the other program types. 52 Witty repeated his survey a third time in 1952. In
this third report the program preferences indicated were essen
tially the same as those reported in his studies of 1950 and 1951.
^ P a u l Witty, "Two Studies of Children's Interest in TV," Elementary English, XXIX (May, 1952), pp. 251—257. 52 Paul Witty, "Children's Reactions to TV——A Third Report," Elementary English, XXIX (December, 1952), pp. 469-473. 69
Television Program Preferences of People in Franklin County,
Ohio, in 1954
The only study that the author discovered which delt with the characteristics and preferences of the adult television 53 audience was the one conducted by Buell and Ripley in Franklin
County, Ohio, in April, 1954. At that time both Buell and
Ripley were graduate students at The Ohio State University.
The purpose of the study was to secure information concerning the viewing habits and program preferences of individuals over
14 years of age in television homes in Franklin County, Ohio— the county in which the city of Columbus is located.
Usable information was secured from 1,987 people by a combination personal interview—questionnaire method. In an attempt to obtain a representative sample, homes were selected from each census tract. The number of homes, selected in each area was proportional to the figures shown in the 1950 census for that area. The actual sample, however, was not strictly proportional, because too small a number of interviews were obtained from people in homes where both adults were employed; and a somewhat too high proportion of interviews came from people in homes with small children.
The program preferences of the respondents were secured
53 Stephen D. Buell and Joseph M. Ripley, "Character istics of the Television Audience of Columbus and Franklin County, Ohio" (Columbus, Ohio: The Ohio State University, 1954). (Mimeographed.) 70 by the check—list method. Each respondent looked over a listing of twenty—four television program types and checked the six types he liked best.
According to Buell and Ripley, the television program preferences of the people in Franklin County, Ohio, were as . .. 54 follows:
1. The most preferred television program types by men
in Franklin County were detective story drama, comedy variety,
boxing matches, straight variety, popular music, news, and
2. The television program types most popular with women
were straight variety, comedy variety, popular music, serious
music, detective story drama, panel quiz, and human interest
giveaway.
3. In relation to age, the number of listeners to all
types of dramatic programs decreased as listener age increased.
The same situation was found to exist for comedy variety and
popular music programs; the older the listener, the less his
liking for these types. The exact opposite trend was evident
for straight variety, panel quiz programs, amateur shows, public
affairs forums, news, sermons, old-time music, human interest
programs, and wrestling matches; as the listener's age in
creased, so did his interest in programs of these types*
4. Program preferences in relation to the extent of the
54 Ibid. , pp. 5-8. 71 listener's formal education and the amount of annual income seemed to parallel each other. The higher the level of education and income, the greater the liking for serious drama, panel quiz programs, informative programs, serious music, family-type comedy drama, news, straight drama, and baseball games. A reverse relationship existed for other program types. Detective story drama, mystery suspense drama, western drama, love story drama, human interest giveaway programs, old-time music and wrestling matches appealed more strongly to those with less
income and lower educational attainments.
Conclusions
As one examines as a whole the studies that have been
summarized in this chapter, the limitations of past radio and
television audience research became apparent. The information
that research agencies regularly provide for the commercial
broadcasting stations is limited largely to ratings of in
dividual programs. These program ratings, some national and
some local in scope, emphasize the total quantity of listening
or viewing, and the total number of families or sets that are
tuned to a particular program. Sometimes these commercial
research agencies provide information, at least on a national
basis, on the amount of time devoted to radio and television
listening by the average family per day.
A few of the studies which centered chiefly on some of
the problems related to discovering the effectiveness of 72 television programs in selling merchandise also went somewhat into the realm of obtaining qualitative information in regard to the radio and television audience. One or two of these
studies also gave a little information as to the changes in
social patterns that have occurred after the introduction of
television to an area.
The Whan studies, which are partly academic and partly
commercial, give information concerning the viewing and listen
ing habits, the audience availability, the program preferences,
and the station preferences of listeners in specific areas.
Whan's analysis of program preferences in relation to the
listener's sex, age, education, and place of residence has been
limited to his radio studies. Lazarsfeld also gives some
qualitative information relative to the radio audience in his
studies; for example, he gives an analysis of listener prefer
ence for types of radio programs as well as an analysis of the
extent of acceptance or confidence in radio as a social insti
tution in relation to other social institutions— schools, churches,
local government, etc.
A few other studies, more purely academic in nature, have
attempted to describe the characteristics, habits, and program
preferences of listeners in specific areas; however, some of
these studies were completed many years ago; others considered
only children; and in some, the classification of program types
was too general to be of value.
With very few exceptions, the academic studies and the commercial studies have not dealt with television program preferences in relation to listener characteristics; and, furthermore, these studies have been conducted primarily in large cities, omitting small cities, towns, and villages in essentially rural areas. Moreover, most of the television audience research has been confined to the eastern half of the
United States; very few television studies have been conducted in the Rocky Mountain area of the Western states. From an examination of the studies of the radio audience, there was reason to believe that there would be differences between the responses of television listeners in different geographical areas. For these reasons the over-all picture of television audience research seemed to need enlarging by additional research conducted in small urban areas of the western half of the United States; furthermore, there appeared to be a need
for television audience research that would give emphasis to a qualitative analysis of television program preferences— that is, the kinds of television programs preferred by people of different sex, age, and educational status. CHAPTER III
METHOD OF THE STUDY
The writer of this dissertation undertook research to help fill the need for additional information concerning the radio and television audiences in the Rocky Mountain area, especially with respect to the number of people who own radio and television sets, the times of the day that they can listen, the kinds of programs they like, and the general characteristics of the people who view each of the major types of television programs. To this end, then, in the fall of 1954 the writer conducted a study in Utah County in the state of Utah, using the personal interview—questionnaire method and securing information from more than 3,500 individual respondents.
The Sampling Plan
The universe under study included all individuals ten years of age and older who resided within the boundaries of
Utah County, Utah. The individual was the tabulation unit for this study, but since a complete list of every individual in the county did not exist, the household or family dwelling was selected as the sampling unit.
Size of Sample
The dominant factor in determining the size of the sample was the number of categories and classes into which the findings
74 75 were to be grouped later; obviously, the greater the number of subgroups or minor universes to be considered, the greater the total sample would need to be to yield reliable results. The
United States Census'*' will not publish percentages for which the base is less than 100 cases. This limit also was arbi trarily selected for this study. On the assumption that a total sample of approximately 3,500 cases would provide more than the minimum of 100 cases in the smallest of the subgroups that were to be used in the analysis of the findings, question naires were placed with 4,316 individuals. Eighty—six per cent of the 4,316 individuals completed and returned the question naires; as a result, the total sample for this study was
3,596 cases.
Distribution of the Sample Throughout the County
After the total size of the proposed sample had been
determined, the next step in preparing the sample was to classify
the entire county into one of three general types of communities.
Provo, the largest urban area in the county, and its immediate
environs made up one community type; the smaller urban areas,
small cities, and other incorporated areas constituted the
second community type; and the open country area, farms, and
unincorporated areas comprised the third type of community area
^Mildred Parten, Surveys, Polls, and Samples: Practical Procedures (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1950), p. 298. 76 in the county. After this division was made, the total sample was then allocated in proportion to the population of these three general types of areas.
Selection of the Sample
In the actual selection of specific homes, three dif
ferent methods were used, one for each of the three types of communities. In Provo and its immediate environs, up-to-date
listings of the addresses of the dwelling units were obtained
from the city directory, recent building permits, and postal
route lists. The proportionate number of dwelling units in which
interviewing was to be conducted was then selected from a fixed
position on the pages of these lists.
Essentially, the block system was used in selecting the
sample from the smaller urban areas in the county. The blocks
in each of the 1950 Census enumeration districts within each
of the small cities were numbered. There were some blocks
which had only a small number of dwellings; these blocks were
combined with adjacent blocks in order that all blocks would
contain approximately the same number of dwelling units. Then,
the specific blocks to be included in the sample were selected
by lot.
In open country areas it was necessary to modify the
block system in order to select the sample. Information from
building permits was pencilled onto the most recent United
States Geographical Survey maps, so that nearly every dwelling 77 unit was designated on a map. Then, when the total number of dwelling units in any census enumeration district was thus ascertained, this total was divided into a number of "blocks" with each one containing approximately the same number of dwelling units. Each "block" as numbered and the ones that were to be used in the sample were selected by chance.
A note of explanation relative to the sample may be helpful here. The interviewers were assigned to visit specific addresses or, in cases where there were no addresses, dwellings otherwise clearly marked on a map. They had no choice in deciding which households were to be used in the sample, nor had they any choice as to who would be interviewed, since within each household in the sample every person ten years of age or over was designated for an interview. Up to four and five calls were made at the dwelling units in order to contact residents who had been selected for the sample. In addition, where necessary, two letters were sent to some people to encourage them to complete and return their questionnaires.
Construction of the Questionnaire
The questionnaire used for this study was first presented in brief outline form as part of a dissertation prospectus to
Dr. Harrison B. Summers of The Ohio State University. Using the suggestions in this prospectus, Dr. Summers made up a question naire for the purposes of classroom discussion. Later, Stephen
D. Buell and Joseph M. Ripley used this same questionnaire to 78 obtain information on the "Characteristics of the Television
Audience in Columbus and Franklin County, Ohio." The question—
naire used in the writer's study was a refinement of the one
used in the Buell—Ripley study, and a copy of it may be found
in the envelope in the Appendix.
Identifying Information
The identifying information was on the cover page of the
questionnaire. It consisted of the name of the survey, the area
under study, the individual number of each questionnaire, and
a blank space for the interviewer to record the number of the
enumeration district in the county where the questionnaire
was placed.
Types of Questions
Two general types of questions were used in the question
naire: (l) direct factual questions, and (2) questions involv
ing the respondent's opinions, preferences, or judgments. Since
the findings of this study were to be presented in relation to
the sex, age, and educational statis of the respondents in the
county, direct, factual questions were used to learn these
characteristics of each respondent. Other direct, factual
questions were asked in the questionnaire to determine the
number and location of radio and television sets in the home,
the actual hours of day each respondent was at home and awake,
the amount of time that was spent listening to or viewing, 79 and at what hours, on the day preceding the interview, television listening or viewing was done. The items in the questionnaire dealing with the favorite types of television programs were opinion—type questions. These opinion questions were presented in the form of check—lists, giving each respondent an opportun ity to select favorite programs or program types.
Sequence of Questions
The census—type factual questions were placed first in the schedule. This was done because they were easy questions to answer. Since the questionnaire was long, questions that could be easily and quickly answered were placed at the be ginning, so that the respondent might thus be encouraged to go on and answer all of the other questions. The order of the remaining questions was greatly influenced by what would make the best page arrangement. All questions on one topic were, of course, grouped together.
Pre-testing the Questionnaire
The items in this questionnaire had been rather thoroughly pretested by their use in the Buell—Ripley study. It was evident from their study, however, that a number of "no preference" alternatives needed to be added.
Since the printed form of the questionnaire was different
from that which had been used by Buell and Ripley, and since
some of the television programs used to illustrate each of the 80
30 program types listed had been changed, a further pre—testing seemed necessary. For this purpose, questionnaires were dis tributed to, and completed by, about 100 people. An analysis of these responses did not reveal any major weaknesses in the general structure of the questionnaire. Each item in the schedule seemed to have been understood clearly, and not too much time— fifteen to twenty minutes in most cases—-had been needed to answer all of the questions.
Physical Form of the Questionnaire
It was determined that a distribution of 5,000 question naires was required for the survey; this number allowed for a few extra questionnaires for the training of the interviewers and for other miscellaneous purposes. The printer suggested 2 that the questionnaire be printed in the form of a small booklet and his suggestion was followed. The finished questionnaire contained eleven pages. The untrimmed dimensions of the booklet were four and one—half by ten and one—half inches. In this form the questionnaires were easy to carry and handle. A high quality slick paper was used, making the booklet stiff enough so that it could be held in one's hand while filling it out.
The Field Work
All of the field work for the survey was conducted under
Sample of the questionnaire is contained in the envelope in the Appendix. 81 the direct supervision of the writer. The basic procedure fol lowed in the field was to locate the pre—selected dwelling, enlist the cooperation of every member in the family over ten years of age, go through the questionnaire with one member of the family to clarify his understanding of each question, leave the required number of questionnaires in the home, and set a date to pick up the completed questionnaires.
Selection of Interviewers
Serving as interviewers were 27 students of either junior or senior standing at the Brigham Young University in
Provo, Utah. Some of them were in a class studying radio and television programming; the rest of them were students in a class in marketing research methods.
Training of Interviewers
Several class periods were devoted to the training of
the interviewers. The purpose of the training was, first, to
give the interviewer a general understanding of the study; and,
second, to outline carefully the interviewing procedures to be
followed in this study.
The interviewers were told of the purpose of the study,
its scope, and methods. A brief explanation was made of the
procedure followed in constructing the questionnaire. Some
general information on the theory of sampling was also given;
then, a description was given of the specific sampling method 82 used in this study. To stress the importance of following instructions, the writer demonstrated the procedures that had been followed in selecting the interviewing clusters.
Having been generally oriented to the study, the inter viewers were ready at this point to receive their specific
instructions. Each interviewer was given an instruction kit.
Within the kit were four pages of specific instructions for the
interviewers, extra copies of the questionnaire for practice
interviewing, a map, and a small notebook. The instruction
sheets contained the following information: a summary statement
of the general background information; the number and exact
location and number of dwelling units to be visited; suggestions
for getting cooperation; directions for making a record of each
interview; a five-step plan for conducting the interview; an
explanation of the procedures to be followed when picking up
the questionnaires; instructions as to the procedures to be
followed when families were not at home; and a statement
designating the place which to report after each interviewing
period. These instructions were then read aloud to the inter
viewers ia the training group, after which all students were
given an opportunity to ask questions. Next, each interviewer
filled out a trial questionnaire; and when he was certain that
he fully understood his assignment, he was given a trial inter—
viewing assignment. When the interviewers returned with the
questionnaires from their trial assignment, they were given
another opportunity to ask questions. Any individual problems 83 that had arisen were discussed, and methods of dealing with them suggested. Most of the interviewers had completed the trial assignment without difficulty.
The Interviewing
A packet similar to the instruction kit was provided for
each interviewer. It contained a map of the interviewing area, with the specific dwelling units for interviewing purposes
clearly marked, a supply of questionnaires, letters and en
velopes to be used when a desired respondent was not found at
home, and an additional set of interviewer instruction sheets.
The anrne of the interviewer, a code number which identified the
interviewing area, and the number of enclosed questionnaires
were written on the outside of the packet envelope.
A master record was kept to account for each question
naire. From this record one could determine the interviewer
for any given area, and the area in which each questionnaire
had been placed. Each interviewer also made a record that
indicated the name and address of each person with whom he left
a questionnaire, the date he left it, and the pick-up date.
A working schedule was made for each interviewer, and
most of the week-day interviewing was arranged for the early
evening hours, usually between 4:00 and 6:30 P.M.
As interviews were completed and questionnaires picked
up and returned, they were checked for accuracy and completeness
and then placed in another envelope. 84
Staff meetings to solve problems or adjust interviewing schedules were held each Monday at 11:00 A.M. of the month during the period that interviewing was done.
As a check on the integrity of the interviewers,
100 double postcards were sent to a sampling of addresses of people who had returned the questionnaires. On the return half of the card the recipient was asked to check whether or not he
had recently marked his radio and television preferences in a
booklet given him by a student from the Brigham Young University.
Of the cards that were returned, only two indicated that no such
booklet had been filled out. These two cards were unrelated
as to area or interviewer; in view of this, and inasmuch as in
the editing of the returned questionnaires no evidence was found
which would lead one to question the integrity of the inter
viewers, no further check on the interviewers was deemed
necessary.
Tabulation of the Data
The information obtained from the questionnaires was
machine scored. All data in the questionnaires were coded,
and the code numbers were punched into a standard IBM card.
The accuracy of all the card punching was verified in accord
ance with standard IBM practices. The actual tabulation used
three IBM machines. The first machine divided the cards into
designated subgroups, and the second counted and recorded the
answers that the respondents in each subgroup had given to each item in the questionnaire. This information was punched into a second set of IBM cards, and a third machine changed the numerical scores to percentage scores. These final percentages were then printed in IBM table form. With the data expressed in percentages, the tabulation was complete.
Evaluation of the Method
After the data from the survey had been tabulated, the
findings were ready for interpretation. In order that the results of this study may be presented only for what they are and for what they represent, an evaluation of the entire method used in this study is in order.
Evaluation of the Sampling Plan
The sample is an important part of this study and should,
therefore, be carefully evaluated. As the writer previously
stated, the completed questionnaires were returned from 86 per
cent of the people in the total theoretical sample. With such
a high percentage of returns, the numerical base of each sub
group was sufficient to keep the larger margins of error well
within usable limits. The exact number of cases in each of the
major subgroups used in this study is shown in Table 1. Except
for three subgroups the base of all percentages reported in this
study included over 300 cases, and the maximum standard error
for percentages based on 300 cases is less than three per 86
TABLE 1
NUMBER OF RESPONDENTS IN EACH SUBGROUP
Number of Subgroups Respondents
All respondents 3,596
Non—TV owners 981 TV owners 2,615
Sex* Males 1,231 Females 1,384
Age*" 10 to 14 414 15 to 19 358 20 to 29 478 30 to 44 765 45 to 59 418 60 and over 153
Education*"* 8th grade 158 Some high school 309 High school graduate 692 Some college 442 College graduate 191
•The sex breakdowns include only respondents in TV homes*
■•The age breakdowns include only respondents in TV homes.
***The education breakdowns include only respondents over 20 years of age in TV homes. 87
3 cent. The three smallest subgroups-—respondents over 60 years of age, respondents with an eighth grade education or less, and respondents with a college degree— had between 150 and 200 cases each. The standard error for percentages based on the number of cases in these three small groups might be as high as four 4 per cent. In this study small differences have not been over emphasized; differences of less than ten per cent have rarely been mentioned.
Great care was exercised to select an accurate sample.
It is possible that accidental mistakes could have been made during the process; but these errors would not have been in any consistent direction, and one error, in all likelihood, would nullify the effect of another.
An indication of the representativeness of the sample was procured by comparing the proportional size of each sex and age subgroup in the final sample with proportions of the entire population of the county reported in corresponding groups according to the 1950 Census Report. In the population of the county the males and females were evenly divided, but in the sample there were more females than males. To correct this unbalance the number of males and females in the sample were weighted equally in all data that represented both groups. The percentage of all the respondents in the sample in each age
3 Parten, ££. cit., p. 309.
4Ibid. 88 group was very similar to the proportion of the total population of the county in these same age groups. The exact, unweighted percentages used in this comparison are shown in Table 2. The final sample was a little short of respondents in the group over sixty years of age. The two youngest age groups in the final sample were a little larger than comparable groups of the total population, but these increases may have been due to the natural increase in population since the time census information was secured in 1950 and in any case, did not indicate any serious error in the sample.
Further evidence that the sample used in this study was reasonably representative of the actual population of the county can be drawn from the fact that returns were received propor tionally from the interviewing areas in the county. When the interviewing neared completion, the number of returns from each area was computed; and special assignments were made to revisit the families in areas where less than 75 per cent of
the questionnaires placed had been returned. In the final
analysis, 75 per cent or more of the questionnaires were re
turned from each interviewing area except two.
The major weakness of the sample is probably results
from the fact that of all questionnaires placed by interviewers,
14 per cent were not completed and returned. In a high propor
tion of cases the people who did not return the questionnaires
were those who were not at home when the interviewer called.
Although questionnaires accompanied by a letter requestion 89
TABLE 2
COMPARISON OF PERCENTAGES OF TOTAL POPULATION IN UTAH COUNTY, UTAH, WITH THOSE INCLUDED IN SAMPLE BY SEX AND AGE GROUPS
County Sample
• ft Males 50.1% 46.5% Females 49.9 53.5 100.0% 100.0%
■: 10 to 14 12.9% 14.4% 15 to 19 13.1 14.2 20 to 29 22.6 22.8 30 to 44 25.1 26.1 45 to 59 15.5 15.1 60 and over 10.8 7.4 100.0% 100.0% 90 cooperation were left at the door of the not—at—home families, this letter and additional follow-up steps was not sufficient to motivate all of the members of the family to complete and return the questionnaire. In some of the homes where inter viewers called, cooperation was promised by some members of the family who failed to keep their pledges. The unreturned questionnaires may not distort the findings based on the total sample or on the larger subgroups, but their absence may affect somewhat the accuracy of data related to the smaller subgroups.
Even so, as previously stated, the standard error of these data should not be more than four per cent.
Since in all cases the questionnaire was filled out by the respondent in the absence of the interviewer, there was little chance for interviewer bias; but the chance that one member of the family might affect the answers given by another member of the family or that untruthful answers may have been reported were real possibilities. The extent of these sources of bias is unknown. If serious evidences of carelessness were noted in any questionnaire, it was discarded. This happened
rarely; only a small number of questionnaires had to be discarded.
Evaluation of the Questionnaire
Respondents had no difficulty answering the questions
dealing with radio and television set ownership, or with
questions on the location of sets in the home. The procedure
devised to determine audience availability, time spent watching 91 television, and time spent listening to radio was not difficult for the respondents to understand or follow. However, it was apparently asking too much of them to request that they "circle" the times they listened to radio in a car, and to "X" the times they listened to a radio at work or anywhere else outside of the home. These instructions were not followed by a large enough number of the respondents to make tabulation of the results worthwhile. The check—list of program types was per haps the best constructed part of the questionnaire. Not only did respondents answer this part of the questionnaire without any trouble; but from their many verbal comments when the questionnaires were picked up, they seemed actually to enjoy checking their favorite program types most of all.
Having the questionnaire printed in the form of a small booklet was a great help to the survey. This form helped convey the impression that the questionnaire could be completed quick ly, thereby facilitating the placing of the questionnaires in the home. The booklet form helped the survey most of all in that it reduced the size of the questionnaire; this made it fit perfectly in an envelope so that it could be returned easily through the mail. The cost of interviewing was thereby reduced because it saved return trips and at the same time increased the number of returns. 92
Evaluation of the Field Work
The best sampling plans are of little value unless they are accurately and completely carried out. At every step in the interviewing procedure for this study errors were possible.
Consideration is given in this section to possible sources of error and bias incident to the field work.
In the field, interviewers followed specific directions
to locate dwelling units. The interviewers were not "on their own," and each interviewer was checked to make sure that he was
following instructions; thus, the possibility of non—random
field selection of homes was reduced to a minimum. Errors were undoubtedly made, but not in sufficient number that the
sample would be seriously affected.
Although a plan had been formulated to place and pick
up questionnaires from families who were not at home, no in
structions had been given to interviewers as to how to proceed
when families did not keep their pick-up appointment date. A
second type of not—at—home letter was later prepared to deal
with such situations. This letter was stapled to a stamped,
self-addressed envelope. The letter renewed the cooperation
"pitch," and stressed the importance of a prompt return of the
questionnaires. Immediately after this procedure was employed,
a considerable number of questionnaires was returned by mail.
Even though office procedure was not extremely detailed,
two errors were made: one interviewing assignment was over
looked and not completed at all, and a small number of returned 93 questionnaires were lost before they had been tabulated. Com bined, these errors reduced the number of possible tabulated returns by something less than 100. This undoubtedly did pro duce some inaccuracies in the sample, but since the "unreturned11 and untabulated returns were presumably pretty well distributed among respondents in all classifications, it is assumed that these errord did not seriously distort the final sample.
Evaluation of the Tabulating Procedures
The use of IBM machines facilitated the accuracy of the tabulating procedures followed in this study, but the possibility of error was not completely eliminated. In ad dition to card punching errors, which were presumably reduced to negligible proportions by use of standard I®! verifying procedure, other tabulating errors were possible. An error could, of course, be made in the wiring of the accounting machine. To prevent errors of this kind, a special set of test cards was punched and whenever the wiring was changed these test cards were run through the machine to check the accuracy of the wiring. Another type of error could occur if the data cards were placed in the machine in the wrong order, causing the machine to print totals at the wrong time.
However, such mistakes were immediately apparent and rectified at once.
The tabulation machines used in this study printed the data in table form; and as soon as one tab sheet was completed the column headings, table numbers, and titles were written on it. The table-numbering system that was used also identi fied the subgroups and the particular questions tabulated.
Although the possibility of error was everywhere present, the use of IBM tabulation undoubtedly increased the accuracy of the report of the findings in this study. CHAPTER IV
CHARACTERISTICS OF UTAH COUNTY, UTAH
Utah County is located in the center of the state of Utah; and the county seat, Provo, is 45 miles south of Salt Lake City.
The boundaries of Utah County and of Utah Valley nearly coincide. The valley is encircled with mountains ranging from
2,500 to 6,000 feet above the level of the valley floor. Almost one—third of the central area of the valley is covered by Utah
Lake. The area west of the lake is barren, but the land on the north, east, and south sides of the lake is most habitable.
The population of the county resides on this habitable portion of land that lies between the lake and the base of the surrounding mountains. The total population of the county in
1950 was 81,912^ people; however, informal estimates placed the population in 1954 at nearly 90,000.
The purpose of this chapter is to describe the general population characteristics as well as the radio and television characteristics of the people in Utah County.
General Population Characteristics
The factual information in this part of the chapter
that relates to the general population characteristics of the
^United States Bureau of the Census, U. S. Census of Population: 1950. Vol. 1, Chap. 44 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1952), p. 11.
95 96 people in Utah County is based on information obtained from the
United States 1950 census. Tables 3, 4, and 5 of this study did not appear in the census report; however, these tables are based on information contained in that report.
Place of Residence
In 1950 the population of the largest city in the county was a little less than 29,000 people, and the population of the
eight next largest cities ranged from 5,000 to 10,000 people
each. Approximately 80 per cent of the population lived in
urban areas; 10 per cent in rural non—farm areas; and the
remaining 10 per cent in rural areas.
Sex
The number of males and females in the county in 1950
was practically equal. Fifty—one and one—tenth per cent of the
total population was male, and 49.9 per cent was female. This
is a more even split between the sexes than exists in the
nation as a whole; it has 98.6 males for every 100 females.
Age
The age distribution of the people in the county is
shown in Table 3. Approximately 50 per cent of the population
over ten years of age was between 20 and 45 years of age. The
median age in the county was 22.9 years; this was about seven
years younger than the median age of the total population 97 of the United States.
TABLE 3
PERCENTAGE OF THE TOTAL POPULATION OF UTAH COUNTY OVER TEN YEARS OF AGE, IN EACH AGE GROUP
Age Groups Per Cent
10 to 14 12.9 15 to 19 13.1 20 to 29 22.6 30 to 44 25.1 45 to 59 15.5 60 and over 10. 8 Total 100.0
Education
The educational achievement of the people in the county was well above the national average. People 25 years of age and older had completed a median of twelve school years, and this
figure was almost three school years above the national median.
The amount of education received by people in the county is
indicated in Table 4.
TABLE 4
YEARS OF SCHOOL COMPLETED BY ADULTS OVER TWENTY—FIVE YEARS OF AGE IN UTAH COUNTY
School Completed Per Cent
None beyond 8th grade 26.0 Some high school 22.0 High school graduate 27.4 Some college 14.6 College graduate 8.0 School year not reported 2.0
Total 1 0 0 . 0 98
Family Income
In 1949 Utah County families earned a median income of
$3,130.00. This amount was two hundred dollars below the national median. The percentage by income levels of these families may be seen in Table 5.
TABLE 5
PERCENTAGE OF FAMILIES BY INCOME LEVELS IN UTAH COUNTY
Family Income Per Cent
Under $1,000 10.3 1,000 - 1,999 12.5 2,000 - 2,999 21.5 3,000 - 3,999 26.5 4,000 - 4,999 13.8 5,000 - 5,999 5.9 6,000 - 6,999 2.8 7,000 - 9,999 2.1 10,000 or over 1.1 Income not reported 3.5 Total 100.0
Labor Force
Of those over 14 years of age, 73.6 per cent of the men and 19.6 per cent of the women were classified as being included in the labor force. A little more than 95 per cent of the labor force was employed. One fourth of the working people were employed in manufacturing.
The major occupational groups for men in the county were craftsmen, foremen, and kindred workers; operatives and kindred workers; laborers, except farm and mine; and fanners and farm 99 managers. The major occupational groups for women were clerical and kindred workers; service workers, except private household; and professional, technical, and kindred workers.
Radio and Television Characteristics
Although one can find a great deal of information on the general population characteristics of people by counties in the
1950 Census, very little information can be found relating to
their characteristics with respect to use of radio and tele vision; consequently, part of the questionnaire used in the
author's study was planned for the express purpose of obtaining
data that would help describe the radio and television charac
teristics of the people in Utah County. In this regard, the
factual information in the discussion that follows, including
the data in the tables, is based on the results of the writer's
study.
It might be well to state again at this point that the
tabulation unit of this study is the individual, not families
or homes or radio or television sets. The figures in the rest
of this chapter and the following chapters will relate to
individuals with certain characteristics living in homes with
radio and/or television sets, and not to homes or sets as
such. Individual respondents form the base of the per
centage figures which indicate the results of this
study. 1 0 0
Ownership of Radio Sets
Few individuals in the county were without a radio set, and many people had two, three, four or more radio sets. Forty- five per cent of all respondents reported a single set in their homes; 35 per cent, two sets; 13 per cent, three sets; and
6 per cent four or more radio sets in their homes. Only 3 per cent of all those queried lived in homes without a radio.
The extent of ownership of multiple radio sets by in dividuals living in television and non—television homes is shown
in Table 6. Although only minor differences are apparent, the
respondents in television homes appeared to own a few more radio
sets than did those who resided in non—television homes.
The data in Table 7 suggest that the number of radio
sets owned by individuals in a home was related to the level
of the family income. As a rule, the respondents from high
income families reported the larger number of sets in their
homes than did the respondents from families with a lower
income. The percentage of respondents with only a single radio
set in their home was greatest in the low income group.
Seventy-two per cent of all respondents indicated that
the family had at least one car with a radio, and 13 per cent
reported two cars with radio in the family. The percentage
of all respondents who had three or more cars with radios
was negligible. 1 0 1
TABLE 6
PERCENTAGE OP RESPONDENTS IN TV AND NON-TV HOMES IN UTAH COUNTY IN RELATION TO THE NUMBER OF RADIO SETS IN THE HOME
Per Cent of Per Cent of Number of Respondents Respondents Radio Sets in TV in Non-TV in Home Homes Homes
Number of respondents (2,635) (932)
1 or more sets 97* 99
1 set 40 53 2 sets 36 32 3 sets 14 10 4 or more sets 7 4
•Percentages are based on the number of respondents indicated in parentheses at the top of each column. 1 0 2
TABLE 7
PERCENTAGE OF RESPONDENTS IN LOW, MEDIAN, AND HIGH INCOME FAMILIES IN UTAH COUNTY IN RELATION TO THE NUMBER OF RADIO SETS IN THE HOME
Number of Income Levels Radio Sets in Home Low Median High
Number of respondents (355) (986) (492)
1 or more sets 97%* 97% 99%
1 set 59 45 36 2 sets 30 36 34 3 sets 5 11 21 4 or more sets 3 5 8
•Percentages are based on the number of respondents indicated in parentheses at the top of each column. 103
Location of Radio Sets in the Home
Since television has invaded the home, much has been written in the trade publications emphasizing the fact that radio sets have been banished from the living room to other rooms of the house. The data in Table 8 indicate that the living room was still a popular place for a radio set in Utah County.
Sixty—two per cent of the people interviewed checked the living room as the location of the radio set. Bedrooms and kitchens were the next most popular locations for radio sets. Forty per cent of all respondents reported having radios in their bed rooms and 38 per cent said they had radios in their kitchens.
Only eight per cent of those answering the questionnaire in dicated that portable radio sets were to be found in their homes.
Ownership of Television Sets
Of all respondents there were 73 per cent who said that their families had television sets. It is interesting to note that the percentage of people reporting family ownership of car radios was only one per cent less than the percentage of people in homes with television sets.
The data in Table 9 describe the nature of the popu
lation living in homes having television sets. In terms of
age there appeared to be some differences. Of all respondents
between ten and fourteen years of age, 81 per cent reported TABLE 8
PERCENTAGE OF ALL RESPONDENTS WHO HAVE RADIOS LOCATED IN VARIOUS ROOMS OF THEIR HOMES IN UTAH COUNTY
Location of Radios Per Cent in the Home
Number of respondents (3,567)
Living room 62* Bedroom 40 Kitchen 38 Portable set 8 Dining room 6 Den or shop 3 Playroom 3 Bathroom 1 Other rooms 2
“Percentages are based on the number of respondents indicated in parentheses at the top of the column* TABLE 9
PERCENTAGE OF RESPONDENTS IN EACH SUBGROUP WHO LIVE IN TV HOMES IN UTAH COUNTY
Classification of Percentage of Respondents in Respondents TV Homes
Age: 10 to 14 81 15 to 19 72 20 to 29 59 30 to 44 82 45 to 59 78 60 and over 59
Education: 8th grade 76 Some high school 79 High school graduate 77 Some college 63 College graduate 61
Family Income: High 84 Median 78 Low 52 106 having television sets in their homes. It follows that those between the ages of 30 and 60, the paretns of this younger group, also had television sets, and this was borne out by the data.
The amount of one's formal education seemed to have a relationship to his ownership of a television set, but hardly
the sort of relationship that might have been expected; a
larger percentage of the respondents at relatively low edu cational levels lived in homes with television sets than did
respondents at higher educational levels. More than 75 per cent of the high school graduates lived in homes with televi
sion; whereas, only 60 per cent of the college graduates lived
in television homes.
Also, there appeared to be a strong relationship between
the level of family income and television set ownership. Eighty-
four per cent of the interviewees from high income families had
a television set, but only 52 per cent of the interviewees from
low income families owned a television set. In the median
income group 78 per cent of the respondents lived in homes with
television sets.
Audience Availability
At all hours of the day in Utah County females made up
a substantial portion of the total available audience. At some
hours there were three times as many females as males in the
available audience. The peak periods of availability of TABLE 10
PERCENTAGE OF MALES AND FEMALES OVER TEN YEARS OF AGE WHO WERE AVAILABLE AT HOURLY INTERVALS THROUGHOUT THE DAY IN UTAH COUNTY
Percentage Time Periods Available Beginning Males Females
Number of (1,668) (1,928) respondents
Morning
6:00 24%* 25% 7:00 47 57 8:00 34 64 9:00 20 53 10:00 16 51 11:00 16 48
Afternoon
12:00 28 54 1:00 21 47 2:00 18 45 3:00 18 44 4:00 27 56 5:00 42 61
Evening
6:00 61 72 7:00 65 71 8:00 59 63 9:00 57 60 10:00 44 51 11:00 25 31
•Percentages are based on the number of respondents indicated in parentheses at the top of each column. 108 listeners collectively were around seven o ’clock in the morning,
twelve o'clock at noon, and after six o'clock in the evening.
The available audience reached its lowest level between one and
three o'clock in the afternoon. The percentage of all male and
female respondents who were available at hourly intervals is
shown in Table 10.
Time Devoted to Broadcast Media
Female respondents in television homes indicated that
they were available to listen to radio and/or view television
on an average of 8.25 hours per day, and that they actually
were listening a little more than one—half of this available
time to one or the other of the broadcasting media. The male
respondents in television homes were available an average of
6.25 hours per day, and during 3.75 of these hours the males
were listening to either radio and/or television sets. The
average number of hours that male and female respondents in
television and in non—television homes devoted to the broad
casting media each day is shown in Table 11. One may note that
the average person in a non—television home listened to tele
vision an average of one—half hours per day.
The average amount of listening to radio and television
by people in Utah County appears to be about the same as the
average amount of listening done by people elsewhere in the
United States. It is difficult to say for sure, however,
because there are no data available which gives the average 109
TABLE 11
AVERAGE NUMBER OF HOURS PER DAY DURING WHICH LISTENERS WERE AVAILABLE AND DEVOTED TO RADIO AND TELEVISION LISTENING IN UTAH COUNTY IN RELATION TO SEX OF LISTENERS
Average Hours Per Day
Spent Listening Spent Listening Available to Radio to Television
Males
In TV homes 6.25 1.00 2.75 In non-TV homes 5.75 2.25 0.50
Females
In TV homes 8.25 1.75 3.00 In non—TV homes 9.00 3.50 0.50 1 1 0 amount of listening per day by individuals in the nation as a 2 whole. Nielsen does have information which indicates the average number of hours that the radio and television sets were turned on per day. For the year of 1956 and on the basis of all homes in the United States, the average home used its radio set(s) an average of 2.15 hours per day and used its television set an average of 3.86 hours per day; or the average home in the United States, then, had either its radio or tele vision sets turned on for an average of 6.01 hours per day. At this time approximately 75 per cent of all homes in the United
States had television sets.
Summary
For the most part, the 90,000 people in Utah County, Utah, live in small urban areas. The median age in the county was about seven years younger than the median age of all people in the United States. In general, the people in the county have had more formal education than the average person in the United
States. The median of twelve school years completed by Utah
County residents 25 years of age or older was high compared with the median for people in other counties in the nation.
Family income was modest, $3,130.00 in 1949. Only three per cent of the people queried were without a radio, and more than
2 A. C. Nielsen Company, Nielsen Radio Index (second report; Chicago, Illinois: A. C. Nielsen Company, 1957), p. 76. half of the families had two or more radio sets in their homes.
The large majority of the radio sets were located in living rooms, bedrooms, and kitchens, in that order. Seventy-three per cent of all respondents lived in a home with a television set. The males were available to use the broadcasting media an average of six hours a day, and they actually did listen to radio or watch television nearly four hours a day. The females devoted approximately four hours, or more than half of their available time, to the broadcast media each day. CHAPTER V
FINDINGS OF THE STUDY OF TELEVISION LISTENERS IN UTAH COUNTY
The heart of television is the television program. Some programs are planned to appeal to people in general; others are
directed only to people with special interests. If advertisers
and program managers are to plan programs that will attract potential customers rather than viewers only, then they must
know the characteristics of the people who view the different
types of programs. Although there were other reasons for this
study, the author's primary purpose was to ascertain the tele
vision program preferences of people of different sex, age, and
education in Utah County, Utah.
In futherance of this purpose, over 3500 respondents
were asked to look over a list of 30 types of television pro— 1 2 grams, and to check their six favorites. The results of this
inquiry are presented in this chapter.
The discussion that follows is divided into two major
parts. The first part presents the program types that were most
preferred by specific groups of respondents: all respondents,
males, females, those in six age groups, and those at five
"^Specific programs illustrating each of these 30 types may be found in the questionnaire which is in the envelope attached to back cover. 2 Eighty—eight per cent of the respondents checked exactly six program types; 4 per cent checked more than six; 4 per cent less than six; 3 per cent had no favorites; and 1 per cent did not answer.
112 113 educational levels. The second part treats the same data, but from a different point of view. The 30 program types are taken up, one by one; and the discussion emphasizes the variations in response accorded each program type by the groups of respond ents mentioned above.
Preferences of Specific Groups of Respondents
It is important for program planners to know the program types that are most preferred by specific groups of viewers.
The significance of such knowledge is readily apparent. The program planners can then plan the daily program fare of the television station accordingly.
Top TV Preferences in Utah County
Popular music was the television program type most
frequently selected as a favorite by the respondents in Utah
County; 45 per cent of them included it as one of their six
favorites. Serious drama and overdrawn comedy drama were checked
by 42 and 41 per cent, respectively; then Hollywood movies and
love story drama with 36 and 35 per cent, respectively; next,
straight variety and comedy variety, with 32 per cent each;
detective drama, 29 per cent; and light comedy drama and suspense
drama were tied, 26 per cent each. These, then, were the tele
vision program types, ten in all, selected as favorites by more
than 25 per cent of the respondents in television homes. The
percentage of all respondents in television homes who checked 114 a particular program type as one of six favorites is shown in Table 12.
Top TV Preferences of Each Sex Group
As would be expected, with only minor exceptions, these same types were the types preferred by largest proportions of males and females, alike. A listing of the ten program types most popular with the males would include boxing and football in place of light comedy and love story drama; and a similar listing for the females would find serious music in the place of suspense drama. Excepting principally the sports programs, many of the preferences of the females were very similar to those of the males, as both sexes liked and disliked many of the same program types; see Table 13 for specific percentages on each program type studies.
The preference for the more popular program types appeared to be more intense among the females than the males.
For example, popular music was checked by 54 per cent of the females, making it clearly their first choice; whereas, boxing, the first choice of the males, was checked by only 43 per cent of the male respondents. Serious drama was a favorite of both sexes, but it was checked by 48 per cent of the females but by only 36 per cent of the males. Since the females cared so little for the sports type programs, in effect they had fewer program types from which to choose, and this con dition resulted in an increase in the magnitude of the 115
TABLE 12
PERCENTAGE OF RESPONDENTS WHO CHECKED A PARTICULAR PROGRAM TYPE AS ONE OF SIX BEST-LIKED TYPES IN TELEVISION HOMES IN UTAH COUNTY
Television per Cent Qf
Types'11 Respondents
Number of respondents (2,615)
Popular music 45 Serious drama 42 Overdrawn comedy drama 41 Hollywood movies 36 Love story drama 35 Straight variety 32 Comedy variety 32 Detective drama 29 Light comedy drama 26 Suspense drama 26 Boxing 24 Serious music 23 Human interest giveaway 21 Panel quiz 21 Religion 19 Quiz audience part'n 18 Western music 18 Football 15 Basketball 14 Wrestling 14 Action drama 14 News 11 Baseball 10 Comedy audience part'n 10 Informative drama 9 Spectaculars 8 Public affairs forum 5 Sports news 4 Serial drama 3 Political talks 2 116
TABLE 13
COMPARISON OF PERCENTAGE OF MALES AND FEMALES WHO CHECKED A PARTICULAR PROGRAM TYPE AS ONE OF SIX FAVORITES IN TELEVISION HOMES IN UTAH COUNTY
Television Per Cent Per Cent Program of of Types Males Females
Number of respondents (1,231) (1,384)
Popular music 35 54 Serious drama 36 48 Overdrawn comedy drama 35 46 Hollywood movies 33 39 Love story drama 21 49 Straight variety 28 35 Comedy variety 36 29 Detective drama 31 28 Light comedy drama 23 29 Suspense drama 30 22 Boxing 43 4 Serious music 16 30 Human interest giveaway 14 28 Panel quiz 17 25 Religion 13 25 Quiz audience part'n 15 20 Western music 21 15 Football 28 3 Basketball 23 6 Wrestling 21 7 Action drama 19 9 News 14 9 Baseball 18 3 Comedy audience part'n 10 11 Informative drama 7 10 Spectaculars 6 11 Public affairs forum 5 4 Sports news 8 1 Serial drama 1 5 Political talks 2 1 117 percentages of females selecting each program type.
Top Program Preferences of Each Age Group
In tabulating the preferences of respondents in various age groups, the responses of both males and females were in cluded and weighted equally in each age group.
Although the youngest group had strong interests in five or six different types of programs, their liking for overdrawn comedy drama exceeded all others. Seventy—six per cent of this group checked overdrawn comedy drama as a favorite. Detective drama was the second choice of these ten to fourteen year olds.
Four other program types so closely followed detective drama in popularity that it is doubtful whether or not a real difference in preference existed among them. These types were Hollywood movies, comedy variety, light comedy drama, and love story drama. Western drama was notably absent from this list of top
favorites. The data seem to indicate that these ten to four
teen year olds were more entertained by comedy than by adven
ture, for three of the six types of programs checked most
frequently by them were comedy type programs.
The program preferences of the teen-agers were not much
different from those of their younger friends; however, popular music was definitely the first choice of the high school age
group, instead of overdrawn comedy drama. These 15 to 19 year
olds still enjoyed the overdrawn comedy programs, but such
programs became their second choice. For their third choice, 118 no single program type stood out; but rather there were five types of drama and comedy variety practically equal in popularity.
The programs most strongly preferred by listeners in the three age groups extending from 20 to 59 years differed somewhat from those in younger groups, but the group choices of these older listeners were very similar to each other.
Serious drama and popular music were the two types all three of these age groups liked the best. Serious drama was the first and popular music the second choice of the 20 to 29 year old group. These same two types of program materials were similarly in first and second position among those in the 30 to 44 year old group. Hollywood movies and comedy variety were their third and fourth choices. When we come to those listeners between
45 and 59 years of age, serious drama and popular music were still the two leading types of programs, but the liking for popular music had fallen off appreciably, so that serious drama was in first place in rank of preference by a very definite margin. In fact, the liking for popular music was equalled,
for those in the 45 to 49 year group, by the liking for straight variety programs.
Unlike the younger groups, the respondents over sixty
years old were little interested in either serious drama or
popular music. Straight variety was the one type of televi
sion program that they liked best, and human interest giveaway
programs and religious programs were their next choices. 119
A complete listing of program preferences by age groups is shown in Table 14.
Program Types Preferred by Listeners in Each Educational
Classification
In the analysis of the program preferences of respondents by educational levels, only the responses of adults 20 years of age and over were considered. As with the age groups, responses of men and women were weighted equally. Straight variety was the first choice of all those respondents over 20 years of age ivhose education did not go beyond the eighth grade. Next to straight variety, those in this group liked popular music, box ing, and human interest giveaway programs equally well. Western music, wrestling, serious drama, overdrawn comedy drama, love story drama, and religion were all named by 30 per cent or more of the adults with no more than an elementary school education.
Among the adults who attended high school but did not graduate, popular music was preferred well above any other type
of program. Two contrasting program types— western music and
serious drama— were their second and third choices; and Holly
wood movies, love story drama, and human interest giveaway, and
boxing programs were in a three-way tie for fourth place.
High school graduates showed strongest preference for
two program types, serious drama and popular music. Approxi
mately half, 48 and 50 per cent, respectively, of these respond
ents selected these two program types a3 their favorites. 120
TABLE 14
TELEVISION PROGRAM PREFERENCES OF RESPONDENTS IN RELATION TO THEIR AGE IN TELEVISION HOMES IN UTAH COUNTY
Television Age Levels Program Types 10-14 15-19 20-29 30-44 45-59 60 and over
Number of respondents (414) (358) (478) (765) (418) (153)
Popular music 37%* 64% 45% 46% 38% 25% Serious drama 22 36 55 45 44 28 Overdrawn comedy drama 76 55 31 31 27 26 Hollywood movies 48 40 40 38 22 21 Love story drama 44 41 33 33 30 25 Straight variety 29 23 30 30 39 51 Comedy variety 48 40 35 28 22 21 Detective drama 51 36 23 21 24 23 Light comedy drama 46 32 18 22 20 17 Suspense drama 29 36 30 24 18 14 Serious music 12 16 21 31 29 24 Human interest giveaway 9 13 20 22 34 42 Boxing 5 14 28 26 30 30 Panel quiz 15 18 20 23 25 26 Religion 8 8 18 20 31 41 Quiz audience part'n 12 13 16 20 23 26 Western music 14 13 18 19 20 24 Football 12 23 18 14 13 12 Basketball 11 17 15 17 15 12 Wrestling 11 11 7 15 18 27 Action drama 45 10 5 7 9 13 News 1 4 10 14 18 28 Baseball 9 9 10 11 12 13 Comedy audience part'n 21 11 9 6 8 11 Informative drama 3 4 11 10 11 14 Spectaculars 4 13 13 7 5 5 Public affairs forums 1 2 2 6 10 13 Sports news 3 4 4 3 5 9 Serial drama 1 1 2 3 2 8 Political talks 1 1 4 9
■The numbers in the columns indicate the percentage of respondents in each category who checked a particular program type as one of six types which were liked best. 121
Overdrawn comedy drama, Hollywood movies, love story drama, boxing, and straight variety were next in popularity among the high school graduates. For practical purposes the percentage selecting each of these types was equal. The other interests of this group were scattered over a number of different pro gram types, with no type being selected by as many as 30 per cent of the high school graduates.
Of the respondents with some college training, 55 per cent selected serious drama as a favorite. This percentage was well above the proportion that selected popular music, the second choice of those in this educational group. And respond ents with college training were almost as much interested in serious music as they were in popular music. Straight variety, love story drama, and comedy variety were other program types preferred most generally by respondents in this educational category.
The college graduates' major television interests were more limited than were the interests of respondents with less education. Serious drama, serious music, straight and comedy variety programs were the program types that college graduates liked best. Sixty—two per cent of these graduates selected serious drama as one of their favorites; 43 per cent, serious music; and 28 and 30 per cent, respectively, chose comedy variety and straight variety. Relative popularity ratings of other program types are shown for each educational level in Table 15. 122
TABLE 15
TELEVISION PROGRAM PREFERENCES OF ADULTS OVER TWENTY YEARS OF AGE IN RELATION TO THEIR EDUCATION IN TELEVISION HOMES IN UTAH COUNTY
Television Educational Levels Program None Some High Some College Types beyond high sc hi college grad. 8th grade sc hi grad.
Number of respondents (158) (309) (692) (442) (191)
Popular music 37%* 46% 50% 39% 28% Serious drama 35 35 48 55 62 Overdrawn comedy drama 32 26 36 27 22 Hollywood movies 32 33 35 29 24 Love story drama 33 31 35 30 25 Straight variety 48 33 32 34 30 Comedy variety 21 24 29 31 28 Detective drama 25 28 22 21 17 Light comedy drama 20 16 20 23 21 Suspense drama 22 17 27 24 20 Serious music 16 21 23 36 43 Human interest giveaway 41 33 22 22 22 Boxing 35 32 32 24 25 Panel quiz 24 22 22 27 22 Religion 31 23 19 28 26 Quiz audience part'n 24 27 20 16 14 Western music 30 35 21 10 6 Football 4 11 13 17 23 Basketball 9 14 14 17 17 Wrestling 31 27 11 7 5 Action drama 18 10 7 4 2 News 17 17 14 15 20 Baseball 12 10 12 10 9 Comedy audience part'n 12 11 8 5 4 Informative drama 9 5 8 13 26 Spectaculars 4 5 7 11 11 Public affairs forums 6 6 3 8 17 Sports news 2 5 4 5 7 Serial drama 9 3 3 2 2 Political talks 3 3 2 3 4
•The numbers in the columns indicate the percentage of respondents in each category who checked a particular program type as one of six types which were liked best. 123
Preferences for Particular Program Types
The preferences of specific groups of respondents have been presented in the foregoing part of this chapter. Program managers possess valuable information when they know the prefer ences of these groups, but they can still use more detailed in formation. In order to clarify further the whole matter of program preferences, the second part of this chapter will present the same data, but from a different viewpoint. The
30 program types will be considered with emphasis on the variations in response accorded each program type by the same groups of respondents described in the first part of this chap ter; that is, all respondents, males, females, those in six age groups, and those at five educational levels.
The 30 program types have been classified under six general categories: music, drama, variety, quiz and audience participation, sports, and information. The preferences for the program types within each of these categories will be discussed separately.
Musical Program Types
When the people in Utah County were considered as a whole, there was no doubt as to the types of musical programs
they preferred. Popular music stood at the very top of the
list. In fact, 45 per cent of all respondents selected it as
one of their six favorites. This heavy preference for popular 124 music was no surprise, since social dancing has long been one of the major recreational activities in the county. Dances are regularly sponsored by the high schools and by many of the churches. Dancing clubs are popular even among the older groups; and for as long as one can remember, public dancing has been a profitable business. The relationship between dancing and a strong interest in popular music seems self-evident.
Although both sexes were extremely interested in popular music, the preference of women for this type of program was very much stronger than that of men. Although the appeal of popular music extended to both young and old, it was the strongest among those of high school age, for 64 per cent of those in that age group selected popular music as a favorite. This was much higher than the preference expressed for any of the other program types.
The attractiveness of popular music generally decreased with age of 59, and more than 25 per cent of those 60 years of age and older checked it as a favorite. Although preference for popular music seemed to be more related to age than to education, the college graduate was less interested in popular music than was the high school graduate who had not attended college. Specific data indicating the relationships between sex, age, and edu cation on the preference for popular music are given in Table 16.
This table also shows the extent of preference of various groups of respondents for serious and western music. In the county as a whole, serious music was more popular than western music, but both were named by a smaller proportion of respondents 125
TABLE 16
PREFERENCE FOR MUSICAL TYPE TELEVISION PROGRAMS OF RESPONDENTS BY SEX, AGE, AND EDUCATION IN TELEVISION HOMES IN UTAH COUNTY
Respondents Musical Pr°gram T* >es By Groups Popular Serious Western
All respondents 4554* 2Z% 1854
Sex: Males 35 16 21 Females 54 30 15
Age: 10 to 14 37 12 14 15 to 19 64 16 13 20 to 29 45 21 18 30 to 44 46 31 19 45 to 59 38 29 20 60 and over 25 24 24
Education: 8th grade 37 16 30 Some high school 46 21 35 High school grad. 50 23 21 Some college 39 36 10 College grad. 28 43 6
•The numbers in the columns indicate the percentage of respondents in each category who checked a particular program type as one of six types which were liked best. 126 than was popular music. The taste for serious music was rel atively strong, with 23 per cent of all respondents expressing 3 a preference for this type. This percentage equals what Whan found in his study of radio program preferences in the Boston 4 area, and xs higher than the figure he found in Texas. The
Buell-Ripley study of television preferences in Franklin County, 5 Ohio, showed only 13.5 per cent checked serious music.
This high degree of interest in serious music in Utah
County may have resulted from the musical opportunities the
Brigham Young University has brought to the county over the years. The university occupies an important position in the cultural life of Utah County residents, and has consistently emphasized the values of serious music. As a typical example, one might consider the tour of the French National Orchestra several years ago. Although this orchestra gave only a limited number of concerts in the entire United States, it stayed two full days at the university in Provo, Utah, and gave afternoon and evening concerts on both days to a full auditorium. Also, the university musical organizations present a full series of concerts each winter; and there is also a community concert series.
5 Whan, The Boston Trade and Distribution Area, 1952, p. 41. 4 Whan, The North Texas Radio Audience of 1955, p. 42. 5 Stephen D. Buell and Joseph M. Ripley, "Characteristics of the Television Audience of Columbus and Franklin County, Ohio" (Columbus, Ohio: The Ohio State University, 1954), p. 5. (Mimeographed.) 127
In contrast to serious music, western music has never been fully accepted by the people in this county. The management of the third radio station to locate in this area decided to characterize its programming by playing an abundance of western music. The result was not a profitable one.
Factually, the females liked serious music much better than did the males, the relative indices being 30 to 16 per cent.
The reverse was true for western music. The popularity of western music changed little with age. The taste for serious music increased with age up to middle age, then dropped for the two top age groups. As one would expect, the data in Table 16 indicate a direct relationship between the popularity of serious music and the extent of one's education. The preferences for western music, however, was inversely related to education.
Dramatic Program Types
Some of the dramatic program types were very popular in
Utah County, and Table 17 has been prepared to show specific preferences. A study of the percentages shows clearly that for the county as a whole, serious and overdrawn comedy were the best—liked dramatic types. It would require special research to explain why two completely different types of drama shared the top preference position, or to give the reasons why these two types of drama were liked more than other types. The in terest in television drama, generally, was neither higher nor lower in this county than elsewhere. This was surprising. 128
TABLE 17
PREFERENCE FOR DRAMATIC TYPE TELEVISION PROGRAMS OF RESPONDENTS BY SEX, AGE, AND EDUCATION IN TELEVISION HOMES IN UTAH COUNTY
Figures Show Percentages of Respondents Selecting Each Type of Material As One of Six Types Liked Best
Over Holly Love Detec Respondents Serious drawn wood story tive by Groups comedy movies
All respondents 42% 41% 36% 35% 29%
Sex: Males 36 35 33 21 31 Females 48 46 39 49 28
Age: 10 to 14 22 76 48 44 51 15 to 19 36 55 40 41 36 20 to 29 55 31 40 33 23 30 to 44 45 31 38 33 21 45 to 59 44 27 22 30 24 60 and over 28 26 21 25 23
Education: 8th grade 35 32 32 33 25 Some high school 35 26 33 31 28 High school grade. 48 36 35 35 22 Some college 55 27 29 30 21 College graduate 62 22 24 25 17
(continued) 129
TABLE 17 (continued)
Respondents Light Sus Inform Action Serial by Groups comedy pense ative
All respondents 26% 26% 14% 9% 3%
Sex: Males 23 30 19 7 1 Females 29 22 9 10 5
Age: 10 to 14 46 29 45 3 1 15 to 19 32 36 10 4 1 20 to 29 18 30 5 11 2 30 to 44 22 24 7 10 3 45 to 59 20 18 9 11 2 60 and over 17 14 13 14 8
Education: 8th grade 20 22 18 9 9 Some high school 16 17 10 5 3 High school grad.. 20 27 7 8 3 Some college 23 24 4 13 2 College graduate 21 20 2 26 2 130
Since the Mormon Church provides opportunities for many indi viduals to participate in dramatic activities, one might suppose that this participation would heighten the interest in televi
sion drama; but the data do not support this assumption.
Love story drama and Hollywood movies ranked next in popularity, being selected by practically the same number of
respondents. Detective, light comedy, and suspense dramas were substantially in a three-way tie for fifth rank position.
Action drama, informative drama, and serial drama, in that
order, were the least preferred dramatic types. '
Females liked most of the dramatic program types better
than did males. The most extreme example of this was love
story drama; the female respondents liked it better by 49 to
21 per cent. Of the ten dramatic types studies, the males
selected only three more frequently than did the females.
These were action drama, 19 to 9 per cent; suspense drama,
30 to 22 per cent; and detective drama, 31 to 28 per cent.
This last difference is so small that its significance is
doubtful. The date in Table 17 generally support the assumption
that the dramatic program types were more favored by females
than by males.
The younger viewers, likewise, were attracted more by
the dramatic forms than were the older viewers. Seven of the
ten types of dramatic programs listed in the questionnaire were
checked by a larger percentage of those under 20 years of age
than by those in any other group; for example, 76 per cent of 131 ten to 14 year olds selected overdrawn comedy drama as a favor ite. Overdrawn comedy drama included such programs as "Our Miss
Brooks," "My Little Margie," and "Topper." The percentage pre
ferring overdrawn comedy drama dropped to 55 per cent for the
15 to 19 year olds; to 31 per cent for each of the middle-aged groups; and to 27 and 26 per cent, respectively, for the two older groups. Another example which indicates youth's interest
in drama is love story drama, a type of which programs like
"Loretta Young" or "Ford Theatre" are examples. This type was checked by more than 40 per cent of each of the two younger
groups; by 33 per cent of the middle-aged groups; and by an
average of 27.5 per cent of the two older groups. The emotional
appeals of the dramatic programs apparently make their strongest
impact on the feelings of the young viewers. These data seem to
indicate that generally the popularity of the dramatic programs
was inversely related to age.
There was an interesting variation in this general
pattern. Action drama was liked very much by the youngest age
group, but it differed from other dramatic types in that the
liking for it dropped off sharply in the three middle age groups,
and then came up again in the last age group. It might be that
as age interrupts or limits participation in some of life's
struggles, the need or desire for activity can be satisfied to
some extent by watching action—type dramatic programs on tele
vision.
The preference for serious drama, serial drama, and 132 informative drama also failed to conform to the general pattern.
Serious drama was liked much more by the 20 to 29 year old group than by the younger or older groups. From these facts it would seem that serious drama is particularly adult drama, but that young adults enjoy it more than do the older adults. The over all appeal of serious drama was greater than that of the other dramatic types, while serial drama, on the other hand, was the least popular. Only one per cent of the two youngest groups selected serial drama as a favorite. Serial drama did not fare much better with listeners between the ages of 20 and 59, and only eight per cent of the oldest group selected it as one of their favorites. All respondents over 20 years of age held approximately the same degree of preference for informative drama; their preference for informative drama neither increased nor decreased with age.
Variations in preference for dramatic programs between listeners of different educational levels were not so great as those between respondents in different age groups. Neither were they as consistent. The popularity of serious and in formative dramas appeared to be directly related to education.
An inverse relationship seemed evident for detective and action dramas, and serial drama similarly appealed most to viewers with little education. For four of the dramatic types— overdrawn comedy drama, love story drama, Hollywood movies, and suspense drama-—the greatest difference in preference existed between the high school educated respondent and the college graduate, with 133 the high school graduate having the higher degree of preference.
Only minor differences of preference for light comedy drama were found between listeners of different educational levels. With such a variety of responses it is not possible to make a single generalization that would describe the relationship between the extent of formal education and the degree of preference for all of the dramatic types of television programs.
Variety Program Types
Three types of variety programs were included in this study: straight variety, comedy variety, and spectaculars. At the time of the survey the spectacular type of program was so new that any generalization relating to its popularity could be easily in error; therefore, none will be attempted here. Both straight and comedy variety were among the top program prefer ences in Utah County, with approximately one—third of all respondents selecting each of these types as favorites. Only popular music and three or four dramatic types were mentioned more frequently.
While an equal percentage of all respondents selected comedy and straight variety, an analysis of the popularity of the two program forms on the basis of sex and age of respondents revealed a wide range of differences in preference. Males and females had opposite interests in these two types; straight varietybeing checked by 28 per cent of all males and 35 per cent of all females, but comedy variety being selected by 134
36 per cent of the male respondents and only 29 per cent of the females. With respect to age the older viewers preferred straight variety, and the younger viewers preferred comedy variety. The exact percentages are shown in Table 18. These sex and age variations in the popularity of straight and comedy variety programs closely paralleled the relationships reported in the Buell—Ripley study.
The influence of education was not as strong as that of sex or age in affecting the interest of respondents in variety type programs. With one exception, only minor differences in preference existed between listeners of different educational levels. Almost half of the respondents who had had no more than eight years of schooling selected straight variety as a favorite. Since most of those with little education were well on in years, this high percentage could well have resulted from the effect of age rather than of education.
Quiz and Audience Participation Program Types
This survey was taken before the era of the big tele vision quiz program; consequently, the popularity of programs in this category may later have changed. At the time of the survey, however, the people interviewed in Utah County were only moderately interested in quiz and audience participation type programs. The three program types— human interest
g Buell and Ripley, loc. cit. 135
TABLE 18
PREFERENCE FOR VARIETY TYPE TELEVISION PROGRAMS OF RESPONDENTS BY SEX, AGE, AND EDUCATION IN TELEVISION HOMES IN UTAH COUNTY
Respondents Variety Pr0gram ^ pes by Groups Straight Comedy Spectaculars
All respondents 32%m 32% 8%
Sex: Males 28 36 6 Females 35 29 11
Age: 10 to 14 29 48 4 15 to 19 23 40 13 20 to 29 30 35 13 30 to 44 30 28 7 45 to 59 39 22 5 60 and over 51 21 5
Education: 8th grade 48 21 4 Some high school 33 24 5 High school grad. 32 29 7 Some college 34 31 11 College grad. 30 28 11
“The numbers in the columns indicate the percentage of respondents in each category who checked a particular program type as one of six types which were best liked. 136 giveaway, panel quiz, and quiz audience participation-appeared to be preferred almost equally, being named by 21, 21, and 18 per cent, respectively, of all respondents. The interest in comedy audience participation, however, was significantly less, with only 10 per cent of the respondents selecting this type of program. Apparently, the introduction of the type of comedy resulting from the antics of participants in programs like
"Beat the Clock" or "Dollar a Second" reduced the appeal of the audience participation type of program.
However, the percentages in Table 19 indicate that it was primarily the females who did not like the comedy audience par ticipation type of program. Male respondents liked programs of this type almost as well as they liked the other types of quiz or human interest programs, but less than half as many females checked comedy audience participation as checked the other pro gram types in this category. As a rule, the human interest and quiz type of programs were much more appealing to females than to males.
The percentage of respondents selecting human interest giveaway programs as a favorite increased noticeably with each successively older age group, and this same relationship was also apparent for the panel and audience participation quiz programs. But again, the liking for comedy audience partici pation programs did not follow the pattern of the other types in this category. Respondents in three age groups, from ages
20 to 59, cared less for comedy audience participation program 137
TABLE 19
PREFERENCE FOR QUIZ AND AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION TYPE TELEVISION PROGRAMS OF RESPONDENTS BY SEX, AGE, AND EDUCATION IN TELEVISION HOMES IN UTAH COUNTY
Quiz and Audience Participation Program Types
Human Quiz Comedy Respondents Panel interest audience audience by Groups quiz giveaway part'n part'n
All respondents 21%* 21% 18% 10%
Sex: Males 14 17 15 10 Females 28 25 20 11
Age: 10 to 14 9 15 12 21 15 to 19 13 18 13 11 20 to 29 20 20 16 9 30 to 44 22 23 20 6 45 to 59 34 25 23 8 60 and over 42 26 26 11
Education: 8th grade 41 24 24 12 Some high school 33 22 27 11 High school grad. 22 22 20 8 Some college 22 27 16 5 College grad. 22 22 14 4
"The numbers in the columns indicate the percentage of respondents in each category who checked a particular program type as one of six types which were best liked. 138 types than did respondents in either the younger or older age groups.
At this point it might be well to indicate what seems to be a general truth with respect to the effect of age on television program preference. Comedy type programs appealed most strongly to young viewers. Preferences for overdrawn comedy drama, light comedy drama, comedy variety, and comedy audience participation are generally inversely related to the respondent's age.
Returning to a consideration of audience participation programs, education seemed to affect the interest of listeners in the program types in this category, with liking for audience participation programs generally decreasing as level of edu cation is increased. Panel quiz, rather than comedy audience participation, was in this case the type that deviated from the standard. Approximately the same percentage of college grad uates as those with less education liked to match their wits with the "professionals" on panel type quiz programs.
Sports Program Types
As far as the female respondents in the county were con cerned, all sports programs might just as well be discontinued.
Basketball and wrestling were the two best liked sports programs among female listeners; but even so, only six per cent of the females checked either of these types as one of their favorites.
The interest in sports programs was almost exclusively 139 reported by male respondents. Boxing was the television program
type most frequently selected as a favorite by the male respond
ents; 43 per cent of all males providing information included
boxing as one of their six favorite kinds of television pro grams. This strong appeal of boxing was not typical of the
interest in sports broadcasts generally. The popularity of wrestling, for example, was only half as great as that of boxing;
and the interest in baseball telecasts was even less than that
in wrestling. However, the males in the county were more
interested in football and basketball. Twenty—eight per cent
of them selected football as a favorite, and 23 per cent checked
basketball. This higher appeal of the college sports may have
been a result of a general interest in the athletic activities
of the Brigham Young University which is located in this county.
The liking for boxing is more difficult to explain. From
outward appearances basketball might be expected to be the most
popular sport in the county. It is the basketball games that
have enjoyed record breaking attendances. The people in Utah
County have recently contributed heavily toward the construction
of a million dollar fieldhouse for the Brigham Young University,
the principal use of which is for basketball games. The state
high school basketball tournament is held in this county each
spring. This is no minor sports event. In addition to the
emphasis given basketball by the high schools and the univers
ities of the state, the Mormon Church sponsors basketball in
its organizations throughout the world; and each spring the 140 all-church championship tournament is held in the new fieldhouse.
With all the emphasis on basketball in this area, one would normally expect it to be the most popular sport. But an analysis of the data in Table 20 indicates that almost twice as many males selected boxing as selected basketball as a favorite type of television program. Apparently, the games the male respondents in this county played the most were not the ones they enjoyed the most as spectators.
Further study of the data in Table 20 reveals no con sistent relationship between age of the respondent and liking for sports programs in general. The preference for boxing was lowest among the youngest respondents; this interest doubled in the 15 to 19 year old age group; and it doubled again in the
20 to 29 year old age group. In this group, 51 per cent of the respondents selected boxing as a favorite, and this percentage was matched by the remaining older age groups. Football and basketball were more popular with the high school and college age males than with either younger or older respondents. The liking for wrestling generally increased with age; the interest in basketball and sports news, however, changed very little with changes in age of the listener.
Definite relationships seem evident between the extent of the respondent’s education and his interest in sports type programs.
The popularity of football and basketball was directly related to education; the popularity of boxing and wrestling was inversely re lated. The interest in baseball was the same at each educational level. 141
TABLE 20
PREFERENCE FOR SPORTS TYPE TELEVISION PROGRAMS OF RESPONDENTS BY SEX, AGE, AND EDUCATION IN TELEVISION HOMES IN UTAH COUNTY
Sport Program Types Respondents by Groups Box Foot Basket Wrest Base Sports ing ball ball ling ball news
All respondents 24%* 15% 1 4 % 14% 10% 4%
Sex: Males 43 28 23 21 18 8 Females 4 3 6 7 3 1
Age: (Males only) 10 to 14 11 25 23 16 17 7 15 to 19 26 42 29 18 15 7 20 to 29 51 33 25 11 18 9 30 to 44 57 25 25 23 18 6 45 to 59 52 22 20 25 19 8 60 and over 53 22 15 42 20 12
Education: (Males only) 8 th grade 60 11 11 45 15 4 Some high school 58 20 22 42 19 11 High school grad. 59 24 21 18 20 6 Some college 45 31 27 10 17 8 College graduate 47 39 25 8 17 8
•The numbers in the columns indicate the percentage of respondents in each category who checked a particular program type as one of six types which were best liked. 142
Informative Program Types
The informative program types to be discussed next are not as homogeneous as those in the other general categories. News, public affairs forums, and political talks have more in common with each other than any of the three types have with religion.
Yet, for convenience, these four program types are included in a general category of informative type programs.
Religion was the most frequently selected program type in this category. This was undoubtedly influenced by tele casts of the semi-annual conference of the Mormon Church. It
is impossible to accommodate all the people who would like to attend these conferences; consequently, television is an ideal medium to take conference speakers to the homes of members of
this church.
Television news was less preferred by Utah County res idents generally than were religios programs, 11 to 19 per cent.
Because people in general have had a strong interest in radio
news, one might expect a similarly strong interest in tele
vision news. This was not the case with respondents in Utah
County. The low appeal of news may be a result of television's
inability to present news quickly and effectively. Another
possible clue as to its low appeal might be found by analyzing
the news presented by the stations serving the county. Of the
few news programs telecast, much of the content was national
or international in scope, with little or no local interpre
tation. At the time the survey of listener preferences was 143 made, television coverage of local news events was limited to an oral or still—picture type of presentation. The characteristic habits and attitudes of the people in the area may also be related to their lack of interest in news. These people take considerable pride in their local community and religious institutions, and many leisure hours are devoted to church and civic projects. Often there is little time left for concern about other events. It would seem that the re spondents obtained what news they cared for from the radio and newspaper.
The data in Table 21 show the effects of the viewer's sex, age, and education on his interest in informative type programs. Religious programs were preferred by females more than by males in a ratio of 25 to 13 per cent; but news was more popular with the males than with the females, 14 to 9 per cent. The interest in public affairs forums and political talks was low with both males and females.
Without exception the informative types of programs seemed to have been more popular with the older viewers than with the younger viewers. Religion was an example of this.
Only 8 per cent of the youngest group selected religion as a favorite type of program, but 41 per cent of those in the oldest age group selected it as one of their six best—liked types of programs.
College graduates appeared to have a little more interest in news and public affairs forums than did respondents with less 144
TABLE 21
PREFERENCE FOR INFORMATIVE TYPE TELEVISION PROGRAMS OF RESPONDENTS BY SEX, AGE, AND EDUCATION IN TELEVISION HOMES IN UTAH COUNTY
Informative Program Types Respondents Public by Groups Political Religion News affairs talks forums
All respondents 19%“ 11% 5% 2%
Sex: Males 13 14 5 2 Females 25 9 4 1
Age: 10 to 14 8 1 1 — 15 to 19 8 4 2 - 20 to 29 18 10 2 1 30 to 44 20 14 6 1 45 to 59 31 18 10 4 60 and over 41 28 13 9
Education: 8 th grade 31 17 6 3 Some high school 23 17 6 3 High school graduate 19 14 3 2 Some college 28 15 8 3 College graduate 26 20 17 4
“The numbers in the columns indicate the percentage of respondents in each category who checked a particular program type as one of six types which were best liked. 145 education. In relation to educational level the preference of the respondent for religious type programs followed a bi-modal pattern. The high school graduate had less interest in re ligion than respondents of either higher education or lower educational attainments. CHAPTER VI
CONCLUSIONS
The previous chapter presented a detailed account of the findings of the author's study. The purpose of this chapter is to compare these findings with those of related studies in other sections of the country, and to present conclusions rel ative to the extent of liking of different program types by people in different regions, and also to draw relationships between the sex, age, and educational status of respondents and their program preferences.
Relationship Between Place of Residence of
Respondents and Their Program Preferences
c ?
Diversity of preference seemed to be one of the chief characteristics of the television program preferences of the people in Utah County. The respondents reported strong inter
ests in musical, dramatic, and variety types of television
programs. Their program preferences focused on popular music,
three different types of drama-—serious, overdrawn comedy, and
love story— and both straight and comedy variety.
The respondents in the county were only lukewarm in their
liking for other types of programs. Excepting religious pro
grams, they had little interest in informative type programs.
Sports programs, other than boxing, and some of the audience
participation types of programs were the least popular types
146 147 of programs in Utah County.
The program types that were strongly preferred by the people in Utah County were not altogether the same as the pro gram types that were very popular in the nation as a whole.
Actually, there is no information on a nation-wide scale that parallels the information obtained in the author's study. The program rating type of information is the most similar; yet it treats individual programs and not program types. However, since Nielsen made one of his national studies in January of
1955, just two months after the author's survey, it might be of interest to make an informal comparison of results of the two surveys.
The average Nielsen rating given a spectacular was approximately 25, but only eight per cent of the respondents in Utah County selected a spectacular type of program as one of their six favorites. Further comparison of the Nielsen data with the author's findings seems to indicate that the people in the national survey preferred comedy audience par ticipation programs, news and commentary programs, and sports broadcasts— except boxing— more than did the respondents in the author's Utah County survey. I^usical programs and serious drama type programs were not so popular nation-wide as they were in
Utah County. The highest Nielsen rating given a musical pro gram was 36, and serious drama received 31 as its highest.
These ratings were by no means the highest ones in the report; whereas, in Utah County, popular music and serious drama were 148 at the top of the preference list. These informal comparisons give some indication of the differences in television program
preferences between the people in Utah County and the people
in the nation as a whole. One may recall that Franklin County,
Ohio, is the only place where a study similar to the author's
has been carried out; therefore, a direct comparison of findings
can be drawn only between these two places. Popular music,
serious drama, and overdrawn comedy drama were the program types
that were the most popular with the viewers in Utah County.
Neither of these three types enjoyed such popularity among
viewers in Franklin County. Rather, Buell and Ripley^ found
that in Franklin County detective drama and comedy variety were
the program types that were best liked by respondents.
The extent of liking for some program types was much
different in Ohio than in Utah. Of the 21 program types in
cluded in both studies, Franklin County residents liked f i v e -
detective drama, comedy variety, news, straight variety, and
baseball—-much more than did the Utah County residents; where
as, the Utah County dwellers liked love story drama, overdrawn
comedy drama, serious drama, serious music, and religious pro
grams much more than did the Franklin County residents. PreSum—
ably, these differences in television program preferences were re
flections of differences in the culture of these two counties.
"^Stephen D. Buell and Joseph M. Ripley, "Characteristics of the Television Audience of Columbus and Franklin County, Ohio" (Columbus, Ohio: The Ohio State University, 1954), p. 5. (Mimeographed.) 149
Such a small part of Whan's studies of television audi ences was devoted to determining program preference— in fact, only one question was asked for this purpose— that direct com parison is difficult. However, Whan's findings relative to the
"best liked" television program of respondents in the Topeka 2 3 area and in Iowa were very similar to each other, which was
to be expected, since these two areas are in the same general
section of the United States. But the preferences of the people
in these areas were not in agreement with the findings of Buell
and Ripley in Franklin County, nor with the findings of the writer of this paper relative to the program preferences of people in Utah County. In the Topeka area and in Iowa, sports programs and educational programs were much more strongly pre
ferred, and musical programs and variety programs much less
preferred than they were in either Utah County or Franklin
County.
Although there may not be much value in comparing radio
studies with television studies, some evidence of regional
differences in program preference can be obtained by comparing
the findings of Whan's radio studies in some areas with his
2 Forest L. Whan, The Topeka Television Area Audience Survey (Topeka, Kansas: Television Station WIBW—1TV, 1955), p. 48. (Mimeographed.) 3 Forest L. Whan, The 1955 Iowa Radio-Television Audience Survey, Part Two (Des Moines, Iowa: Central Broadcasting Company, 1955)', p. 23. 150 4 5 findings in other areas. Listeners in Iowa, the Boston area, 0 and the North Texas area greatly enjoyed radio news programs; but the percentage of all respondents selecting news was larger in Iowa than in either of the other areas. A strong interest
in market reports was also characteristic of listeners in Iowa.
Complete drama, variety programs, talks, and classical music were more popular in the Boston area than in either the North
Texas area or in the State of Iowa.
In view of the foregoing, one may conclude—
1 . that in their over—all preferences for television
programs, Utah County residents were not exactly like
those in other areas; and
that place of residence was one of the factors
related to the kinds of television programs that
people liked the best.
Relationship Between Sex of Respondents
and Their Program Preferences
A definite relationship seemed to exist between the sex
of the respondents in Utah County and their television program
preferences.
^Ibid., Part One, p. 81. 5 Forest L. Whan, The Boston Trade and Distribution Area Radio-Television Audience of 1952 (Boston: Westinghouse Radio Stations, Inc., 1952), p. 41.
Forest L. Whan, The North Texas Radio Audience of 1955 (Dallas, Texas: A. H. Belo Corporation, 1955), p. 42. 151
1. Males had a consistently greater liking than
did females for western music, detective drama,
suspense drama, action drama, comedy variety, news
broadcasts, and all sports programs.
2. Females showed a stronger preference than did
males for popular and classical music, for all dramatic
programs except the "thrillers,11 for straight variety,
for quiz and audience participation, and for religious
programs.
3* The low preference respondents expressed for
comedy audience participation programs, public affairs
forums, and political talks was essentially the same for
both males and females.
The differences in program preferences between males and females in Utah County were similar to the differences in prefer ence between the males and females in Franklin County. Although the findings of the Whan studies are not directly comparable, an examination of the findings of his studies of the television audience in the topeka area and in Iowa as well as the findings of his studies of the radio audience in the Topeka area, Iowa, and in the Boston area also indicates that male respondents liked sports programs, news, "thriller" type dramas, and comedy type programs better than did the females— exactly as was the case both in Franklin County, Ohio, and in Utah County, Utah.
Dramatic programs, musicals, quiz and human interest giveaway programs were better liked by females than by males. Presumably, 152 then, differences in program preferences on the basis of the sex of respondents seemed to be very similar in various sections of the country.
Relationship Between Age of Respondents
and Their Program Preferences
Among the respondents in Utah County there appeared to be a marked relationship between the age level of the respondents and their degree of preference for particular types of television programs.
1. As the age of adult viewers increased, the
preference for the following program types decreased:
popular music, overdrawn comedy drama, Hollywood
movies, love story drama, light comedy drama, suspense
drama, comedy variety, football, and basketball.
2. But as the age of viewers increased, their
preference for the following program types also
increased: straight variety, human interest
giveaway, panel quiz, quiz audience participation,
wrestling, religion, news, public affairs forums,
and political talks.
4. As the age of viewers increased, their pref
erence for serious music and serious drama increased
to a point, then dropped off; but the popularity of
action drama and comedy audience participation pro
grams followed a reverse pattern; it decreased with 153
age until respondents reached middle age, and then in
creased somewhat among older listeners.
The appeal of western music, informative drama,
serial drama, boxing, baseball, and sports news
changed little with increases in the age of respondents.
An examination of the data from the Buell and Ripley 7 study in Ohio with regard to variations of program preference
in relation to the age of respondents, revealed patterns similar to those that existed in Utah County. There were minor ex ceptions. The appeal of serious music continued to increase with the age level of respondents in Franklin County, but popularity of programs of that type dropped off a little among viewers over 35 years of age in Utah County. Also, the popu
larity of comedy audience participation programs first decreased
and then increased in Utah County, but except for teenagers the
appeal of such programs remained fairly constant for people in
all adult ages groups in Franklin County.
In Whan's 1955 studies of the television audience in the
Topeka area and in Iowa, no analyses were provided of program
preference on the basis either of the age or of the educational
status of respondents; but there were analyses on the basis of Q age in Whan's radio studies in the North Texas area and in the
7 Buell and Ripley, op. cit., p. 8 .
®Whan, The North Texas Radio Audience of 1955, p. 43. 154 9 Boston area. A comparison of the findings of these two studies indicated similar patterns of changing program preference for respondents of different ages, and these patterns of variation in general paralleled the age variation patterns in Franklin
County and Utah County for programs on television. Of the pro gram types that were comparable in the four studies, slight differences in variation of preference with change in age level occurred with only three program types; for example, the prefer ence for serious music increased with the age of respondents in the Boston area and in Franklin County, but in the North Texas area and in Utah County the popularity of serious music de creased among those in the older age groups. Such minor dif ferences do not weaken the general assumption that the variations in program preference between respondents of various ages were much the same in the different areas considered.
Relationship Between the Level of Education of
Respondents and Their Program Preferences
In Utah County the amount of a respondent's education seemed to have a definite relationship to his interest in dif ferent types of television programs.
1. As the level of education of respondents
increased, their preference also increased for the
following program types: serious music, serious drama,
9 Whan, The Boston Trade and Distribution Area Radio- Television Audience of 1952, p. 42. 155
informative drama, football, and basketball.
As the level of education of respondents in
creased, the preferences decreased for the following
program types: western music, detective drama, action
drama, human interest giveaway, quiz audience partici
pation, and wrestling.
3. Popular music, overdrawn comedy drama, Hollywood
movies, love story drama, and suspense drama were more
frequently selected as one of six favorite program
types by high school graduates than by college graduates.
The popularity of light comedy drama, straight
variety, comedy variety, panel quiz, news, baseball,
and sports news types of programs remained essentially
the same for respondents at each educational level.
The patterns of variation in program preference between respondents in Franklin County and Utah County relative to dif ferences in level of education were not quite as similar as were the patterns of variation in preference relative to the sex or age of the respondents; still, only minor differences were evident. These differences were in degree, not kind.
With regard to radio program preferences, as many dif ferences as similarities were evident when a comparison was made between the findings of Whan in the Boston area with his findings in North Texas relative to the education of the respondent. Again, these differences were not great, and none of them were directly opposite in the two areas. Listeners 156 in the North Texas area with a greater amount of education had a stronger preference for popular music, comedy and variety pro— grains than did those with less education; but in the Boston area the preference for these program types was approximately equal at each educational level. In the Boston area those with little education had a stronger liking for audience participation pro grams and talks on farming than did their counterparts with more education, but in the North Texas area those at all educational levels liked these program types equally well. On the whole, the effects of education on the respondent's program preferences did not seem to be so consistently in the same direction as did the effects of age or sex of the respondent.
Final Conclusions
As one considers the findings of the television program preference studies in Franklin County and Utah County in relation to the radio and television program preference data of some of the Whan studies, two basic conclusions stand out:
differences that existed in over—all
preferences for programs between respondents in
different sections of the United States seem to
indicate that there will be regional variations in
extent of liking for programs by listeners in dif
ferent regions, presumably reflecting differences
in the culture of different sections; 157
2 . however, with respect to variations in. pro
gram preferences resulting from differences in sex,
age, or educational status of respondents, it was
found that these variations were at least in the
same general direction in practically any part of
the country from which information has been secured.
When one examines the data collected in Utah County, Utah, he may question whether or not any television program can have a truly mass appeal, for when viewing is analyzed on the basis of personal preference, the definite appeal that certain types of programs have for particular groups of viewers becomes evident.
With such audience research data available, the broadcaster need no longer be "blind;" he can determine the characteristics of the viewers who are attracted to different types of pro grams; and through an analysis of market research data, he can
determine the characteristics of potential customers. The
selection of the particular program type that will interest
the "right" viewer then becomes a possible and practical approach
to the broadcaster who is attempting to use the television media
effectively. BIBLIOGRAPHY
158 BIBLIOGRAPHY
A. BOOKS
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Chester, Giraud, and Garnet R. Garrison. Radio and Television. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, Inc., 1950.
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Lazarsfeld, Paul F. The People Look at Radio. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: The University of North Carolina Press, 1946.
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159 160
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Lawton, Sherman P. "When TV Moven In." Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma, 1950 (mimeographed).
Ripley, Joseph M . , Jr. "Levels of Attention of Women Listeners to Daytime and Evening Television Programs in Columbus, Ohio." Columbus, Ohio: Ohio State University, 1955 (mimeographed).
Stanton, Frank Nicholas. "A Critique of Present Methods and a New Plan for Studying Radio Listening Behavior." Unpublished PhD dissertation, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, 1935.
Stewart, Robert H. "Radio Program Preferences of Children of School Age." Columbus, Ohio: The Ohio State University, 1950 (mimeographed). AUTOBIOGRAPHY
I, Jim Hand Ludlow, was born in Benjamin, Utah,
January 6 , 1922. I received my secondary education in the public schools of Spanish Fork, Utah, and my under graduate training at the Brigham Young University, which granted me the Bachelor of Science degree in 1946. From the College of the Pacific, I received the Master of Arts degree in 1949. Between September, 1948, and June of 1950,
I was an instructor of speech at the Brigham Young University.
In September, 1950, I was appointed as a graduate assistant at The Ohio State University, where I specialized in the
Department of Speech. I held this position until September,
1952. While completing the requirements for the degree
Doctor of Philosophy, I was an Assistant Professor of Speech at the Brigham Young University until June, 1955, at which time I accepted a position as a teacher at the Modesto Junior
College, which position I still hold.
163 YOUR
RADIO
AND
TELEVISION
PROGRAM
PREFERENCES
Independent Radio and Television Survey of Homes in Utah County
2312 E.D. No. RADIO AND TELEVISION QUESTIONNAIRE
1. First, please give us some personal information about yourself . . . Sex (check one) ( ) . Male ( ) Female Age (check one) 1. ( ) 10 to 14 4. ( ) 30 to 44 2. ( ) 15 to 19 5. ( ) 45 to 59 3. ( ) 20 to 29 6. ( ) 60 or older Last grade of school completed (check one) 1. ( ) None None beyond beyond 4. () ) Less than 4 yrs. the 8th grade college 2. ( ) Less than 4 yrs. 5. ( ) Graduate from 4 PURPOSE OF QUESTIONNAIRE high school yr. college 3. ( ) High school graduate We are making this survey to find out more about the 2. Are you attending school this year full time ? kinds of radio and television programs that people like. This will help the radio and television stations to broad ( ) Yes ( ) No cast more of the programs you enjoy. We are asking the Are you employed full time working outside the home? members of 1,000 families in Utah County to answer the questions on the following pages. We’d like to have a ( ) Yes ( ) No separate booklet filled out by every member of your family If so, w hat type of work? ...... who is 10 years of age or older. Your name will not be used in any way in connection with the information you 3. How many radio sets does your family have in the home ? give. Thanks so very much for your help...... sets. Where in the home are the sets located? Jim H. Ludlow Brigham Young University 1. ( ) Living room 6. ( ) Bedrooms 2. ( ) Dining room 7. ( ) Den or shop 3. ( ) Playroom 8. ( ) Portable set 4. ( ) Bathroom 9. ( ) 5. ( ) Kitchen (other) How many car radios? ...... radios. Does your family have a TV set? ( ) Yes ( ) No If so, how many? ...... and where in the house is the set or sets located? 1. ( ) Living room 5. ( ) Kitchen 2. ( ) Bedrooms 6. ( ) ...... 3. ( ) Dining room (other) 4. ( ) TV room If you do not have a TV set, do you watch television on friends sets? 1. ( ) Often 2. ( ) Occasionally 3. ( ) Rarely If you do not have a TV set, what is the reason?
5. Monthly family income: (check nearest amount) 1. ( ) $250 or less 4. ( ) $750 or more 2. ( ) $300 to $400 5. ( ) Don’t know 3. ( ) $500 to $600 6. ( ) Rather not say 6. What is your religious preference? 1. ( ) Catholic 4. ( ) L.D.S. 2. ( ) Protestant 5. ( ) . 3. ( ) Jewish
2 3 7, Which television station do you watch MOST in the: TIME SPENT VIEWING AND LISTENING a. daytime? b. evening? Now, we’re asking for information about the times when you listened to radio or television programs yesterday. 1. ( ) KSL-TV 1. ( ) KSL-TV In the charts below, each 15-minute period is represented 2. ( ) KTVT 2. ( ) KTVT by a square □ and a group of such squares □□□ □ 3. ( ) KUTV 3. ( 1 KUTV represents an hour. 4. ( ) Rarely watch 4. ( ) Rarely watch in the daytime in the evening To ‘check’ a particular square or a group of squares, 5. ( ) Each about the 5. ( ) Each about the simply draw a line through the square or series of squares same same to be ‘checked’ as below: 6 7 8 9 10 11 □ □□□ □□□□ □□□□ □□□□ □□□□ □□□□ Which radio station do you listen to MOST in the: 1. First, in the chart below, please check the periods when a. early morning ? b. at noon? you were at home, and awake, yesterday. (In other words, periods when you could have listened to radio or 1. ( ) KDYL 1. ( ) KDYL i TV programs, if you had wanted to.) If you were at 2. ( ) KEYY 2. ( ) KEYY home and awake during most of any 15-minute period, 3. ( ) KIXX (KCSU) 3. ( ) KIXX (KCSU) please check that as an ‘at home and awake’ period. 4. ( ) KOVO 4. / ( ) KOVO At Home and Awake — 5. ( ) KSL 5. ( ) KSL 6. ( ) No one more 6. ( ) No one more Morning: than another than another 6 7 8 9 10 11 7. ( ) Rarely listen 7. ( ) Rarely listen □ □□□ □□□□ □□□□ □□□□ □□□□ □□□□ early at noon Afternoon: 12 1 2 3 4 5 9. Which radio station do you listen to MOST in the: □ □□□ □□□□ □□□□ □□□□ □□□□ □□□□ Evening: a. late afternoon? b, evening? 6 7 8 9 10 11 □ □□□ □□□□ □□□□ □□□□ □□□□ □□□□ l. ( ) KDYL 1. ( ) KDYL 2. ( ) KEYY 2. ( ) KEYY 2. Next, check those periods during which you were watch 3. ( ) KIXX (KCSU) 3. () KIXX (KCSU) ing television programs yesterday. If you ‘heard’ the pro 4. ( ) KOVO 4. ( ) KOVO gram—in the next room, perhaps—but did not watch 5. ( ) KSL 5. ( ) KSL the 'video' portion of the TV screen, don’t count it as 6. ( ) No one more 6. ( ) No one more ‘watching’ the program: check only those periods during than another than another which you were actually watching the TV screen, for 7. ( ) Rarely listen in 7. ( ) Rarely listen in half or more of the total 15-minute period. late afternoon the evening Watching Television — Morning: 10. About how many times during the past four weeks have 6 7 8 9 10 11 you gone to a movie theater, or to a 'drive-in' ? □ □□□ □□□□ □□□□ □□□□ □□□□ □□□□ Afternoon: ...... times 12 1 2 3 4 5 □ □□□ □□□□ □□□□ □□□□ □□□□ □□□□ About how many times during the same past four weeks Evening: 6 7 8 9 10 11 have you watched a ‘late-night’ movie on television? □ □□□ □□□□ □□□□ □□□□ □□□□ □□□□ ...... times 3. And now, check below those periods during which you were listening to radio programs yesterday. If you listened at home, mark the squares with a straight If you watch late-night movies on TV (after 11:00 p.m.), line. on which TV station do you usually watch them? If you listened in a car, circle the squares. If you listened at work or anywhere else, mark the squares with an X. Listening to Radio — About how many books (other than school books) have Morning: you read any part of during the past seven days? 6 7 8 9 10 11 □ □□□ □□□□ □□□□ □□□□ □□□□ □□□□ Afternoon: 12 1 2 3 4 5 About how many magazines have you read any part of □ □□□ □□□□ □□□□ □□□□ □□□□ □□□□ Evening: during the past seven days ? ...... 6 7 8 9 10 11 □ □□□ □□□□ □□□□ □□□□ □□□□ □□□□ About how much time in hours and minutes have you And — this is important! What day of the week was spent in the last 24 hours reading newspapers? ‘yesterday’ ? (circle) M T W Th F Sa Su ...... hrs ...... minutes Novem ber ...... , 1954. TYPES OF TELEVISION PROGRAMS
On these pages, we’d like to know something about 16. ( ) ‘Comedy’ audience participation programs. (Pro the types of television programs that you, personally, like grams like: Beat the Clock, Dollar a Second, etc.) best. Look over the list and check your six favorite types. Please check exactly six—no more. Remember, just 6. 1Y. ( ) Quiz programs, with audience participation. (Pro grams like: You Bet Your Life, Two for the Money, 1. ( ) ‘Serious’ or •semi-serious’ music. (Programs like: Stop the Music, etc.) Voice of Firestone, Liberacc, etc.) 18. ( ) Panel-type quiz programs. (Programs like: What’s 2. ( ) Popular music programs. (Programs like: Hit Par My Line?, .The Name’s the Same, Masquerade ade, Bob Crosby, Jo Stafford, Perry Como, etc.) Party, etc.) i 3. ( ) Western music programs. (Programs like: Old l 19. ( ) ‘Informative’ programs, dramatic or demonstration. American Barn Dance, Midwestern Hayride, etc.) ] (Programs like: See It Now, You Are There, Zoo Parade, Margaret Masters Kitchen, etc.)
4. ( ) Comedy variety programs. (Programs like: Red Buttons, Comedy Hour, Jackie Gleason, etc.) 20. ( ) Discussions of public affairs. (Programs like: Amer ican Forum of the Air, Youth Wants to Know, M eet the Press, etc.) 5. ( ) Musical variety spectaculars. (Special one and one- half hour long shows featuring famous personalities, Betty Hutton, Ginger Rogers, etc.) 21. ( ) Talks by political candidates. (Actual talks by the candidates or one speaking for them.) 6. ( ) Variety shows without comedians, (Programs like: You Asked for It, Toast of the Town, Godfrey and Friends, Super Circus, etc.) 22. ( ) Religious programs, talks or dramas. (Programs like: Bishop Sheen, This is the Life, L.D.S. General Conference, etc.) 7. ( ) H'Vur-long ‘serious’ dramatic programs. (Programs like: Studio One, Kraft Theatre, Hallmark Hall of Fame, U. S. Steel Hour, etc.) 23. ( ) News programs. (Programs like: Walter Winchell, News Caravan, Today in Pictures, Movietone News, e tc .) 8. ( ) Love story dramatic programs. (Programs like: Loretta Young, Ford Theatre, Circle Theatre, etc.) 24. ( ) Hollywood movies. (Programs like: Cloverleaf Theatre, Electric Theatre, Sagebrush Playhouse, 9. ( ) ‘Home situation,’ light comedy dramatic program. Late Show, etc.) (Programs like: Ozzie and Harriet, Life with Father, Meet Mr. McNutley, etc.) 25. ( ) Baseball broadcasts. (Local and national games, Salt Lake Bees last summer, etc.) 10. ( ) 'More overdrawn’ comedy dramatic programs. (Pro grams like: Our Miss Brooks, My Little Margie, Topper, etc.) 26. ( ) Boxing broadcasts. Programs like: Blue Ribbon Bouts, Saturday Nite Fites, Boxing from Eastern 11. ( ) Detective story dramatic programs. (Programs like: Parkway, etc.) Mr. and Mrs. North, Mr. District Attorney, etc.) 27. ( ) Wrestling broadcasts. (Programs like: Wrestling 12. ( ) Mystery or ‘suspense’ dramatic programs. (Pro- ||I from Hollywood, etc.) grams like: I Led Three Lives, Danger, The Stranger, etc.) ] * 28. ( ) Broadcasts of football games. (Pro football, Game of the Week, NCAA football, etc.) 13. ( ) ‘Action’ dramatic programs. (Programs like: Su perman, Cisco Kid, Space Patrol, Hopalong Cas sidy, etc.) 29. ( ) Broadcasts of basketball games. (MIA All-Church Tourney, and college games, etc.)
14. ( ) Serial drama. (Programs like: Guiding Light, Love of Life, Hawkins Falls, etc.) 30. ( ) Sports News and Commentary. (Programs like: Sports Round About, Football with Curtice, etc.)
15. ( ) ‘Human Interest’ or ‘Give-away’ programs. (Pro grams like: This Is Your Life, Strike It Rich, Person ( ) DON’T HAVE SIX FAVORITE TYPES OF TELE to Person, Welcome Traveler, etc.) VISION PROGRAMS. 6 7 TYPES OF RADIO PROGRAMS
We’d also like to know something about the types of 16. ( ) Human interest or give-away programs. (Pro radio programs that you, personally, like best. Look over grams like: Queen for a Day, Linkletter’s House the list and check in the spaces at the left, your six Party, Strike It Rich, etc.) favorite types. Remember, just six—no more! 17. ( ) Comedy audience participation programs. (Pro grams like: People Are Funny, Truth or Con 1. ( ) ‘Serious’ or ‘semi-serious’ music. Programs like: sequences, etc.) Music You Want, Chicago Theatre of the Air, Tele phone Hour, etc. 18. ( ) Quiz programs - with participants from the audi 2. ( ) ‘Popular’ music. (Programs like: Friendly at the ence. (Programs like: Two for the Money, You Bet Hammond, Music in the Night, Top Fifteen, Bing Your Life, Break the Bank, etc.) Sings, etc.)
19. ( ) Telephone quiz programs. (Programs like: Movie 3. ( ) Disc jockeys. (People like: Rolfe Peterson, Hal Merry-Go-Round, Kontest of the Kilocyles, Stop Parks, Martin Block, Jack the Bachelor, etc.) the Music, etc.)
4. ( ) ‘Western’ music. Programs like: Saturday Night 20. ( ) Human interest talk programs. (Programs like: Country Style, Foy Willing, Dude Ranch Jamboree, Gordon Owen, Ted Malone, Housewives Protective etc.) League, People Will Talk, etc.)
5. ( ) Comedy variety programs. (Programs like: Bob 21. ( ) Farm programs. (Programs like: Farm Breakfast Hope, Jack Benny, Edgar Bergen-Charlie McCarthy Roundup, Farm Market Reports, This Business of Show, etc.) Farming, etc.)
6. ( ) Variety shows without comedians. (Programs like: 22. ( ) Homemaking programs. (Programs like: Margaret Don McNeal’s Breakfast Club, Arthur Godfrey Masters’ Kitchen, Betty Crocker, Mary Lee Tay Digest, Dave Garraway, etc.) lor, etc.)
7. ( ) ‘Serious’ dramatic programs. (Programs like: Lux 23. ( ) Discussions of public affairs. (Programs like: Meet Radio Theatre, Theatre Guild, Family Theatre, etc.) the Press, University of Chicago Roundtable, Youth Wants to Know, etc.)
8. ( ) ‘Love story’ dramatic programs. (Programs like: City Hospital, My True Story, Broadway Theatre.) 24. ( ) Informative programs. (Programs like: Invitation to Learning, Carnival of Books, etc.)
9. ( ) 'Home situation’ light comedy dramatic programs. (Programs like: Junior Miss, Ozzie and Harriet, 25. ( ) Religious programs. (Programs like: The Eternal etc.) Light, Catholic Hour, Old-Fashioned Revival Hour, L.D.S. General Conference, etc.)
10. ( ) ‘More overdrawn’ comedy dramatic programs. (Pro grams like: Meet Millie, My Little Margie, My 26. ( ) News and commentary programs. (Programs like: Friend Irma, Great Gildersleeve, etc.) CBS News of America, Frank Hemingway, Edward R. Murrow, etc.)
11. ( ) Detective story dramatic programs. (Programs like: Gangbusters, Mr. Keen, Big Story, etc.) 27. ( ) Professional football and baseball. (Programs like: World Series, Mutual’s Game of the Day, etc.)
12. ( ) Mystery or ‘suspense’ dramatic programs. (Pro 28. ( ) College sports. (Programs like: football and basket grams like: Suspense, The Shadow, The Falcon, ball, play-by-play sportscasts, etc.) etc.)
29. ( ) Broadcasts of fights. (Programs like: Gillette’s Fri 13. ( ) Western dramatic programs. (Programs like: Gun- day Night Bouts, etc.) Smoke, Lone Ranger, Six-Shooter, ytc.)
30. ( ) Sports news and commentary. (Programs like: Tom 14. ( ) Fantasy programs. (Programs like: Let’s Pretend, Harmon’s Sports Roundup, Sports News, Jimmy Big John and Sparky, etc.) Lawrence, etc.)
15. ( ) Serial dramatic programs. (Programs like: Hilltop ( ) DON’T HAVE SIX FAVORITE TYPES OF RADIO House, Second Mrs. Burton, Perry Mason, etc.) PROGRAMS. 8 9 LOCAL RADIO PROGRAMS LOCAL TELEVISION PROGRAMS Below is a listing of the radio programs that are planned Below is a listing of the television programs that are and prepared by the people working at the local stations planned and prepared by the people working at the Salt From this list would you check the three programs that you like best. Lake City stations. From this list would you check the three programs that you like best. 1. In the Locker Room - Dave Weiser 1. ( Football with Curtise 2. Hobbs at the Knobs 2. ( Cactus Jim 3. Jack the Bachelor 3. ( RFD No. 5 - Farm News 4. Dean Bennett’s Sportscast 4. ( Today in Pictures - Gordon Owen 5. Warm Up Time - Jimmy Lawrence 5. ( Hello with Barbara 6. Margaret Master’s Kitchen 6. ( Pioneer League Baseball 7. Song Shop 7 . ( Sports Round About - Hack Miller 8. Greater Utah Valley 8. ( Margaret Masters’ Kitchen 9. Cloverleaf Noon News 9. ( Today in the West 10. Springville Serenade - Byron Jensen 10. ( Aunt Lolly 11. The Late Rolfe Peterson 11. ( Paul Alexander - World Tonight 12. Datin’ with Dean - Bennett 12. ( The W eatherman - Bob Welti 13. Huck Snow Reports 13. ( Better Living Electrically 14. Hi Fi Program 14. ( How’s Your Health? 15. Alexander Schreiner Recital 15. ( Sunday Supper 16. This is the News? - Rolfe Peterson 16. ( Weather - Tom Bradshaw 17. KCSU Sportlite 17. ( Marketing Hints Uncle Roscoe’s Playtime Party 18. This Business of Farming 18. ( 19. ( Doin’ the Town - Dean & Dottie 19. Utah Service News Homemaker’s Scrapbook 20. Music Hall - Rex Campbell 20. ( 21. ( Our Children 21. Tom Wyman 22. ( Sports Final - Paul James 22. Disc-Kapades - J. Paul Smith 23. ( Princess Make Believe 23. Local News - Wayne Carle 24. ( TV Sewing Center - Josie Barnes 24. Breakfast in Bedlam - Hal Parks 25. ( Fun with Photographs - Bob Allen 25. Ten O’clock News - Joe Coffer 26. ( Weekend News Parade - Allen Moll 26. Platteram a 27. ( Bruce Vanderhoof Show 27. Movie Merry-Go-Round 28. Jon Duffy, KDYL Roadshow 28. ( University Thesaurus 29. Noon News - Rex Campbell 29. ( Play Hi-land 30. Cougar Review 30. ( Club Four - Josie Barnes 31. Grant Williams’ Housewives Protective League 31. ( John Salisbury - News 32. Music You Want 32. ( Phaff Party 33. Community Builders 34. Homemakers Scrapbook - Lynn Arnold 33. ( What’s Your Name? 35. Band Box ( ) DON’T HAVE THREE “BEST LIKED” LOCAL 36. Women in the News TELEVISION PROGRAMS 37. Intermountain News - Rulon Bradley 38. BYU Concert Hall 39. Utoco Local News 40. Sports News - Jimmy Lawrence 41. Breakfast News - Jo h n Barlow 42. Album of Music - A llen Jensen 43. Joe’s Platter Punchers 44. Frank W. Asper at th e Organ 45. Telefriend 46. Leonard Friendly at the Hammond Do you have a favorite TV program? ( )Yes ( ) No 47. So W ant Be Disc Jockey 48. University Musicale 49. Connoisseur’s Corner - Bill Hardiman If so, what program is it? 50. BYU Devotional Assembly 51. Money for Music 52. Farm Breakfast Roundup 53. Platter Party 54. Arthur D. Coleman 55. Trading Post 56. Homemaker’s Harmonies - Donna Gosar 57. Employment Program 58. Mel Wyman's Sportscasts 59. Provo City E lem entary Schools Do you have a favorite radio program ? ( ) Yes ( ) No 60. Dan Valentine Show 61. The People Speak If so, what program is it? ...... 62. People Will Talk 63. Studio Party 64. Bruce Vanderhoof Show ) DON’T HAVE THREE “BEST LIKED” LOCAL RADIO PROGRAMS. 10 11