CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, NORTHRIDGE
POLICY AND PRACTICES REGARDING " PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENTS AT
FULL-SERVICE NONCOMMERCIAL RADIO STATIONS
IN CALIFORNIA
A thesis submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in
Mass Communication
by
George Murray Wanamaker
January, 1978 The Thesis of George Murray Wanamaker is approved:
Dr. (Date)
California State University, Northridge
../
ii To the Memory of
My Father
iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Acknowledgement.is expressed to Dr •. Donald Wood for his guidance and encouragement from the very beginning of this project. Appreciation is also expressed _to Dr. Tom
Reilly for his continued counseling and·support which was instrumental in helping me develop this study~
I would like to thank all of those who participated in the·~tudy and the staff mefubers at KCSN, particularly the students and volunteers who helped develop.the public service operation.
Finally, I would like to thank my wife, Tish Asmelash,
Without her encouragement, dedication and hard work this study would never have been completed.
iv TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
DEDICATION •• ~ ' ' e • q • ~ • ' • ~ ~ P • • • ~ ~ • q 4 ~ .. • ~ ~ • • • • • • • • • • • ~ iii ' 'ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ••. c 0 • ~ • ~ • ~ ' ~ • • • ~ ~ ~ 9 • ~ • ~ • • • • • • ~ • • • • iv ' .
lLIST OF TABLES •••.• • o 9 @ & s • • • ~- ~ ~ ~ 0 • ' • e • • ' • e • • • • 9 • • • ~ vii
~ABSTRACT •••• . . •• c • 0 0 ••• ~- • • Q • ...... ix :chapter
I. INTRODUCTION. ~eo~ • 9 • • 9 • t ~ • • • • •·• • • • 1
Background ••••...• ~ ~ • • 0 • • • • • • • • • 1
Purpose of the Study ••.•• . , . . . • •• 0 ••• 3
Approach to the Problems.~····· ...... 4
Limitations of the Study.,.~·· e 9 • e o • • • • 5
Significance of the Study •• ~ • • G G a • e e e • e 6
Definition of Terms •• ' 0 ~ • • • • • • c • • • • • • • • 7
Notes , .. , . It ~ .., ••••• . . ~ ...... 8
II· REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE ••. 9 • • • e c • • • • • • e • 9
Growth of Noncommercial Radio~······ . . . 9 Public Radio Organizations •••••.....••• 21
Broadcasting in the Public Interest:
Legal Requirements •• ...... ~ ...... 25
Public Service Announcements~·· . . . ~ . . "' . 37
Notes •.••••••. • • • • • ~ 0 • ~ , • • • • • • ~ • • • • • • • • 52
III• METHODOLOGY •.••. • • • • • • • ~ 9 o • P. • • • o o • • • e • • • • 57
Sampling Plan. 9 • • • • • o e ~ o • • • • • o e • • • 9 • • • • 57 / Selection of the Population ••. 57
v Chapter Page
Data Collection •.. ~ •• '· •• ~. ~ .• ~...... 61
Notes •..• Q;· •••••••• , •• ~···~············· 66
IV. RESULTS • ~- •••· •• o ~ ••• o ••• " ••• ~ .,·· •• I!J •••••••• 67
PSA Policy and Philosophy-.~ •• ~ •••••• 68
Selection Process ••.' ~ ••••• ~ • , : •• : • • • • 7 2
Scheduling Proces~.~:~ •• ~~ •••• ~ •• ~ •• 82 Recommendations from Previous:
Studie~, •• ; •.•. ;.~~ ••• ~.: •.•.••••• 90
Conteni An~lysis •• :~ •••••••• ~_ •• ·•• ;;. 94
NOtes •.. o: ... ••••• ·~. ~. ~ ••• ~ ••••·-.@ ••• ~·.. 101
V. SUMMARY r ··coNCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS108
conclusions~ " . a •••• •: 0 ~ ~ •• -~ t'! e ~ •• ~ •• ·• • 113
Reconunendations •• _•• -~. ~- •• ~ .-•••••••••• 116
-BIBLIOGRAPHY~ ••.•. -~ . ~ .•. : . •..••••. -•.• -.... , •••• ~ . • . • • 121
APPENDICES.~ 9 ~ ._ t ~ Cl 9 ~. q •• • ·• ~ •·· •• , •• ". o ••• · •• ·.- f1t ~ ••••••• ~ 126
APPENDIX A: California Full-Service: Public Radio Stations; •• .- ••.•.•..• 127
APPENDIX B: Letter to Public
Service Di.i:'ectorS . .... e • " ~~ C> ••••••• 129
APPENDIX C: Interview Schedule •••• -•• 1:31
APPENDIX D: Persons Interviewed .••.• 136
/
vi ·List of Tables i Table Page 1. Number of Noncommercial FM Radio Stations in the United States and California •••••••• 16
2. Ownership of Noncommercial Radio Stations in California: 1950-1976, ••.•••••••• , .• ~··· 17
3~ Station Staff Compared with Public Service
staff 'f ~ • 1i1 @ e .. • ~ t1 • •• c e • i? 9 e ~ o t;" ~ .• D e 9 It 9 • • tt •• e • • • 6 9
4. PSA Topics Ranked in Order of Preference ••• ~. 73
5. PSA Selection Criteria, •••••••••••••••••••••• 74
6. Preferences for Recorded PSAs ••••••••••••.••• 77
Types of Requests for PSA Time ••••••.•••••••• 80
8. Station Scheduling Policies •••• R~············ 83
9. Information Retrieval •.•••••.•••• ~··········· 88 Responses to Recommendations from Previous Studies Regarding PSA Practices ••••••••• , •• 91
Estimate of PSAs Aired Compared with Usage Coded from the Program Logs •••••••••••••••• 96
Estimate of PSA/SPA Ratio Compared with Usage Coded from the Program Logs •.••••.••• 98
!13. Estimate of National and Local PSA Usage Compared with Usage Coded from the Program Logs ••••••••.••••••.••••••.•••••••• 100
:14. Preferences for Advertising Council PSAs Compared with Usage Coded from the
Program Logs e • _"' (I c • o •• e o o .. .,.- Q o " • tit •••• • •. tt • o ,.,. • • 101.
;15. Public Service Directors' Preferences Compared with Length of Written PSAs Coded from the Program Logs ..•.••••• , ..•..• 102
16. Public Service Directors' Preferences Compared with Length of Recorded PSAs Coded from the Program Logs •.•• -'...... 104
vii Table Page
17. Stations' PSA Usage Broken Down by Days of the Week ...... o a ••• " •••••••• ... 105
'-
viii ABSTRACT
PO~ICY AND PRACTICES REGARDING
PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENTS AT
FULL-SERVICE NONCOMMERCIAL RADIO STATIONS
IN CALIFORNIA
by
George Murray Wanamaker
Master of Arts in Mass Communication
The purpose of this study was to examine policies,
!practices and performance of full-s~rvice, CPB-qtialified i :noncommercial educational radio stations in California ' i regarding their usage of public service announcements
•· (PSAs) . There were· two primary methods of data collection
'used in the study: personal in~erviews with public servicie i :directors at each of the fourteen full-service public radio 1 : stations in California and a content analysis of program ! :logsat twelve of those stations.
Among the findings of this research were:
1. None of the stations had a detailed station
policy regarding their usage of PSAs.
2. While their was a.lack of firm station
guideline, twelve of the fourteen public
service directors said that all or some
ix of the PSAs were scheduled in advance
rather than selected and aired at random.
3. Despite public radio's small share of the
total listening audience, ten of the
fourteen stations that were examined
aired more PSAs than SPAs (announcements
about station prograrnridng) •
4. None of the public service directors said
they regularly solicit PSAs to be aired
by their stations. 5. Written PSAs stand a better chance of being
aired than recorded spot~~
6. Thirty~s-econd written and recorded PSAs
were used most.
The study includes a history of the growth of public
:radio in the United States with an emphasis on its develop-
·ment in California. Recommendations were made to improve ' . [PSA usage by public radio broadcasters and to improve
:communication between public broadcasters and those seeking
;public service time. Suggestions for future research were
al~o made.
. ..
/
X Chapter One
INTRODUCTION
Background
Radio reaches Americans like no other medium. The
Radio Advertising Bureau estimates that the average . 1 ,American household has 5.1 radios. Recent figures ! I
indicate that radio reaches 95 percent of all U~S~ homes,
' . :Furthermore, radio is flexible, portable, and reaches into i . iother activities where television and the print media do I i 2 !not.
Radio stations vary in format and overall programming
:Philosophy, and, while audience size is one of the major \ :~ .differences between noncommercial and commercial radio (no inoncommercial radio station in a top market in the United
\States rates a share as high as 4.1 percent, ~ven at peak
1 times), all broadcasters are expected to provide programming 3 iin the public interest.
The airing of public service announcements (PSAs) has
' !been one of the ways broadcasters have met the Federal
:communications Commission's (FCC} requirement to program in
;the public interest. The FCC defines a PSA as:
A short announcement (usually not more than 60 seconds in length) for which no charge is made and which promotes programs, activities, or services of federal, state, or local governments (e.g., recruiting, sales of bonds, etc.) or the programs, activities, or services,· of nonprofit organizations (e.g., United Fund, Red Cross, blood
1 2
donations, etc.) and other announcements regarded as serving community interests, excluding time signals, routine weather announcements, and promotional announcements.4
The FCC oversees broadcasting in the United States and
licenses broadcasters for three-year periods. The
license application renewal .form for commercial' broadcast
. stations requires them, in part, to list how many PSAs they 5 ! intend to air during the next three years. . . As a result of this requirement, literally hundreds of
. thousands of requests to air public service announcements
· are received by broadcasters (both commercial and non
: commercial) annually.
Public service advertising includes those advertise-
ments from nonprofit agencies which are placed free of
charge in the various communication media. Between 1942
. and 1968 the advertising and communications industries
gave more than four billion dollars worth of service, time
·and facilities to public service advertising. 6 In 1976,
:approximately 600 million dollars worth of time and space
!was contributed to PSAs provided by the Advertising
:council, a nonprofit organization which conducts national
public service advertising campaigns. For the fiscal year
1975-76 the Advertising Council sponsored 27 major c,am- . 7 pa1gns •..
Public service advertising in the United States is
truly big busineSSi " ... a rapidly exp~nding field of -,_,~ .- 3
communications that is proving to be a successful means
of presenting a broad spectrum of issues to an audience 8 numbering in the millions."
Despite the amount of money that is spent on the
production and distribution of PSAs in the United States,
and the millions of dollars worth of time devoted to the
broadcast of PSAs, relatively little attention has been
given to who decides which PSAs are aired and what affects ·
their decisions. Furthermore~ the research that has been i conducted has focused entirely on the commercial broad-
caster.
Until recently noncommercial radio broadcasters were
not required to list the amount of programming they would
provide to meet community needs. However, in 1976, the
! FCC required noncommercial educational broadcasters to
ascertain and list each year the problems and needs in
the communities they serve along with proposed programming 9 to meet those needs9
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this work is to examine policies,
practices and the performance of full-service noncommercial
educational radio stations in California regarding their usage of PSAs.
The objective of this research is to provide st~dents
and professionals in the field of noncommercial radio and / 4
public service advertising:
1. A description of the ways PSAs are used by
full-service noncommercial radio
stations in. California;
2. An ascertainment of the selection and
scheduling procedures used by public
service directors.
Approach to the Problem The noncommercial radio stations in California that were examined in this study were selected based on their pervasiveness, financial status, hours of operation, and signal strength. As explained in chapter two, these are the same criteria used for Corporation for Public Broad- casting funding qualifications.
To accomplish the objectives of the study, the prin cipal methods of data collecti6n used included the following:
1. Using an interview schedule, personal
interviews were conducted with the
personnel in charge of scheduling and
selecting PSAs at fourteen of the 64
noncommercial radio stations in California
during June and July of 1977.
2~ A content analysis of program logs at the
stations examined was conducted which / 5
covered a composite week in 1976.
3. Observations of the station facilities
relative to the airing of PSAs were also made.
Limitations of the Study
This study has certain limitations which should be kept
in mind when reading the findings and conclusions. The
: following points should be recognized:
1. The study does not attempt t9 determine
time periods during the broadcast day in
which PSAs are aired nor the specific
catagories of announcement topics.
2. The stations examined serve California
and may not reflect the way noncommercial
radio stations in other states use PSAso
3. Noncommercial radio stations in
California that did not meet Corporation
for Public Broadcasting funding
qualifications were eliminated, therefore,
conclusions drawn from this study may not
necessarily be applied to all noncommercial
radio stations in the state~
4. One of the stations in the sample employed
the author, who was also one of the
respondents to the interview guide. However, / 6
every attempt was made to eliminate
bias in the collection and reporting
of the information presented in this
study.
t~ ·, ; .j : •• ' Significance of the Study
To this writer's knowledge, no studies have been con
ducted on the policies and practices affecting the use of
PSAs by noncommercial educational radio stations in the
; United States.
Since it is at the station .level that most decisions
affecting the use of PSAs are made, then an exploratory
study of PSA usage at noncommercial radio stations should
. begin at those stations.
Based upon this writer's experience as public service
director at KCSN, a noncommercial radio station in the
; San Fernando Valley, and upon conversations with other
• public service directors at noncommercial radio stations in
'the Los Angeles area, it has been observed that hundreds
;ofi PSAs are sent to noncommercial radio stations each year.
Although noncommercial radio stations reach significantly
smaller audiences than commercial radio stations, they
receive substantial amounts of PSAs; therefore there .is
need for an examination of the manner in which noncommercial
radio stations handle the influx of public service mate / 7
rials, especially in terms of their selectivity.
Through an examination of the practices they use in
selecting and scheduling PSAs, noncommercial radio stations
may be able to adopt a more efficient system of dealing
with these materials. Furthermore, the need for such
research extends beyond the radio stations. By
ascertaining the preferences of personn~l in charge of
' PSAs at a sample of noncommercial radio stations in
' California, the agencies and organizations requesting
public service time will have a better understanding of
the specific requirements of those broadcasters.
Definition of Terms Public radio will be used interchangeably with non
commercial educational radio.
The public service director is defined as the person
who is ultimately in charge of the selection and scheduling
of PSAs. At public radio stations this person may also be
called operations manager, program director, program
coordinator, publicity director, promotion director, or
some other title,_ depending on the . station's staff size
and organization.
..-
/ 8
Notes :'1 Robert Elson, and William Sheridan,"Plug Your Conciousness · into the Big Broadcast Bank i" Public Relations Journal, Vol. ; 27, No. 11~ 2 i sydney Head, Broadcasting in America: .. A Survey of i Television and Radio, 2nd ed. revised, (Boston: Houghton i Mifflin Company), 1972, P~ 500. i3Larry Josephson, "Some Possibilities for a National ; Awar.eness Week for Public Radio," a study funded by National Public Radio (Washington, D.C., October, 1977), p. 1. 4 Head, op. cit,, p. 391. 5 ! walter B. Emery, Broadcasting and Government, (Michigan I State University Press, 1971), p. 247. 6 "There's No Money in It--.,.But You Look So Good," Broad- casting, April 21, 1969, p. 67. 7 Advertising Council, 1976 Annual Report to the American i People, Washington, D.C., 1977, p. 2. :8Elson, and Sheridan, Ibid, p. 38 . .9 corporation for Public Broadcasting, An Ascertainment Handbook for Public Broadcasting Facilities, Office of Communication Research, 19761 p. 1.
/ 9
Chapter Two
REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
This chapter is a review of the literature. The
·review covers: (1) factors affecting the growth of non- commercial radio in the United States and some background
'on its development in California; (2) a discussion of
.public radio organizations;· (3) legal decisions that affect public service broadcasting on noncommercial
:educational stations; ·and (4) a discussion of public
'service advertising.
Growth of Noncommercial Radio
The noncommercial stations came first, Early broad-
:cast operations were usually experiments by technically 1 minded university departments~ However, the commercial
!status of the station was decided by the licensee. Prior to 1938 all stations had been licensed as commercial
'amplitude modulation (AM) stations; no special category of 2 ~noncommercial, or educational, licenses existed. !Early Educational Broadcasting: The Formative Era
Although KDKA, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which started broadcasting on November 2, 1920, is considered the first commercially licensed radio station, broadcasting began with a noncommercial station in California. KQW, San·Jose, first broadcast in 1909 and ran a regular schedule in 3 / 1912. Operated by Charles Herrold, an electrical engineer, 10
the station's early programming was educational. Herrold
broadcast on a daily basis, scheduled local news and public
affnirs programs. KQW produced the first scheduled . 4 broadcast in the United States and continued operation as 5 : a noncommercial station until the early 1930s.
By 1925 there were 171 noncommercial stations l - ; . operating of which 85 were owned by educational institu
tions.6 The early development of noncommercial radio in
California was influenced by universities and religious
organizations~
On May 4, 1922, the University of California at
Berkeley was licensed to operate KQI, a one kilowatt (KW)
station, but only did so for one evening. However, KQI
had the distinction of being the first radio station 7 licensed to a university in California.
Stanford University at Palo Alto, California, operated
KFGH, a one KW station, between November 1922 and December •
1925. The station broadcast various atheletic events as
well as a number of lectures by faculty members, but never 8 on a regular basis.
While university owned stations in California did not
stay on the air very long, stations owned by churches and
evangilistic organizations fared better.
The Glad Tidings Temple and Bible Institute of_San
Francisco was granted a license to operate KDZX, a 500-watt ~/ 11
station, in 1922. The station broadcast primarily relig~
ious programs and continued to operate using various call
letters until its· license was sold in July, 1930. 9-
Following the enactment of the Federal Radio Act of
1927, which created the Federal Radio Commission (FRC),
only a limited number of educational institutions could
·buy the equipment needed to meet the FRG's engineering . 10 requ1rements.
Consequently, between 1921 and 1936 a total of 202
'broadcast licenses were issued to educational institutions,
:but by January 1, 1937, only 38 licenses were actually held i by educational institutions and some of these were operating :. o:p. ·a .commerc1a ' . 1 b as1s. . 11
Of these 38 stations, only two noncommercial stations
were in operation in California; both being licensed in
1924. KFSG was licensed to the Echo Park Evangilistic
Association and KPPC was licensed to the Pasadena 12 'Presbyterian Church.
Meanwhile, the United States government considered a
number of recommendations to reserve channels. Frequencies
: forfeited by educational broadcasters were quickly filled
·by commercial interests since no standard (AM) channels had
been set aside for noncommercial broadcasting. One of the
major problems facing the government was to determine what / to do with the calls for noncommercial radio. 12
During the congressional debate per£aining to the
Communications Act of 1934 the FRC recommended to Con-
gress that channels not be reserved for educational use,
The Communications Act of 1934 left it to the newly creat-
ed Federal Communications Commission to make a judgment as 13 to the future of the-noncommercial broadcast service.
In January 1935; the Commission's report was iss'ued and
recommended that the commercial medium be left to provide
these services~ without requi~ing the setting aside of
time on the commercial stations for nonprofit radiot
In the years immediately following.the FCC decision
not to reserve channels a number of attempts were made at
reconciling the needs of education with those of
commercial broadcasters. The federal Radio Education
Committee (FREC) was established by the FCC in 1935 to
combine forces with educator.s·on the one hand and broad-
casters. on t h e ot•. h' er. 14 Supported by a grant from the
Payne Foundation, The National Committee on Education by
Radio (NCER) had been established in 1931 and was one of
the most active protagonists for reservation of channels.
Groups such as the FREC and the NCER failed to come up
·with satisfactory answers to the problems relating to
educational uses of commercially licensed channels. ·Mean-
while, frequency modulation (FM) broadcasting had been
developed by Edwin Armstrong in the early 1930's. 15 Through J..J
the continued pressures of the NCER and other forward
looking educatiors the FCC was urged to set aside a
portion of the broadcasting spectrum of the ·new FM system
. for the exclusive use of the educational broadcasters.
Reservation of Channels: The Evolving Era
On January 26, 1938, the FCC announced establishment
of a new class of stations termed noncommercial educational
broadcast stations. The new classification was for the
high-frequency broadcast stations licensed to· organ.ized
nonprofit educational agencies for ·th~ advancement of its
educational work and for the transmission of education and
entertainment programs to the general public. These
stations were to operate in the 41.:.:..42 megacycle band, in
the high-frequency spectrum. The high-frequency band is
the next available space in the-radio spectrum above the middle-frequency band which is used for AM broadcasting.
The Ftc· stipulated that these stations would be li-
censed only to those agencies which showed that the
station would be used for the advancement of the agency's
educational programs, No sponsored or commercial programs
.were to be transmitted, and no commercial announcements of
any character were to be made. These stations were
permitted to transmit the programs of other classes of
·broadcast stations only if all commercial announcements / 14
and commercial reference in the continuity were elimi
na-e- t d . 16
The rules the FCC established in 1938 regarding non-
commercial radio's operating procedures are, for the most
part, still in effect_todayQ However, it took two years
before the first station would be licensed under the new
reservation system in California and all'(lost ten years
before California noncommercial FM radio would begin to growQ
By 1940 there were 26 noncommercial AM and three FM
stations licensed under the recently enacted rules per
taining to noncommercial educational broadcasters.17 Li-
censed in 1940, KALW, San Francisco became the first non-
commercial educational FM station to operate west of the . . . . . 18 MlSSlSSlppl R1ver.
The reservation system remained in force when
commercial FM broadcasting was authorized in 1941, and in
1945 it was incorporated on an expanded basis when the FM
: band was relocated to its current position, 88 to 108
megacycles in the very high frequency spectrum. The first
20 channels of this band, 88.1 to 91.9 megacycles, were set
· aside for the use only of noncommercial educational broad- .·- . 19 -· cast1ng. ·
~ By June 30, 1947, there were eight noncommercial FM
/ stations on the air.-2b KUSC, licensed to the University 15 ,·-,
of Southern California in 1946, became the second non-
commercial educational FM station to operate in California--
the state then having only two educational stations (the
1947 Broadcasting Yearbook listed no noncommercial or
1 educational stations on the AM band in California) .21
In an effort to encourage m~>:re educators:_:.to ,get- on the
air, in September of 1948 the Fcc:: permitted the operation
of a station with a power of ten watts or lesse This was
to enable stations to operate with a·bare minimum of
equipment costing much less than what otherwise was needed
for initiating a regular station with a minimum power of 22 250 watts. ' I \ Educational FM: The Ascending Era
Together with the absence of other demands as to the
:minimum operating hours and antenna height, the ten-watt
ruling made a substantial difference in the number of
noncommercial educational FM stations on the air after
1948--particularly in California. By 1950 there were 73
noncommercial educational FM stations on the air; six of
t h ose operat1ng. 1n . Ca l'f1 orn1a. . 23
Table 1 compares the increase.in the number of
noncommercial stations·nationwide with the increase in the
number of stations in California since 1950.
/ 16
Table 1
Number of Noncommercial FM Radio Stations in the United States and California: 1950-1976a
Stations Stations in Year Nationwide California
1950 73 6 1960 175 15 1970 430 43 1976 804 64
I !~source~ Broadcasting Yearbooks, 1951, '1961, 1971: and 1977 i (Washington, D~C,, Broadcasting Publications).
The number of noncommercial FM radio stations in the ,,: ,United States has increased by more than 1100 percent since
)1950~ As of December 1976 there were 804 educational FM j !stations on the airf Approximately half-of those stations
'broadcast with a power of ten watts or less. Similarly,
;noncommercia~ FM stations in California increased by more ' !than' 1000 percent since 1950. Twenty-eight of the 64 non- ' :commercial radio stations in the state operate with a i :power of ten watts or less.
While the number of public radio stations has increased
;dramatically since 1948, the majority'are ten-watt stations
,which are usually operated by students and have a coverage
:area o f 1 ess than t wo m1'1 es. 24 ! Holt, in a study of public radio-in the United States,
concluded that noncommercial radio stations were lac~ing in
'organization, funding, definition of pyrpose and target 17
audience. The median budget of the stations sampled was
$35,000. However, the overwhelming majority were owned by
educational institutions that absorbed most or all of the
station overhead and operating expense. The majority of
:managers interviewed at stations with a power of more 25 :than ten watts ~~id they did not have adequat~ staff. Most stations relied on classical music, popular music,-
··public affairs, and 11 cultU:ral enrichmen~" programming for 26 jthe bulk of their program day. ' ;california Public Radio: Some Background
Throughout its history most California FM public
·radio stations, as in many other states, have been licensed ito educational institutions. Table 2 shows the trend in
;ownership of noncommercial radio stations in California
; since 195 Table 2 ·ownership. of Noncommercial Radio Stations in California: 1950-1976a · .>. CoJ;.leges · ahd School Private Foundations Year· ·universi-ties District· . and Churches 1950 2 3 1960 9 4 2 1970 29 10 4 1976 37 18 9 ;aSource: Broadcasting Yearbooks, 1951, 1961, 1971, and 1977 (Washington, D.c., BJ;"oadcasting Publications). The six noncommercial radio stations on the air in 1950 w.ere KPFA, Berkeley; KALlv, San Francisco; KCRW, Santa / 18 Monica; KUOP, Stockton; KLON, Long Beach; and KUSC, Los Angeles. Elementary and secondary school districts held the licenses to three of the six stations in operation in 1950. ,KPFA, Berkeley was the.only station not licensed to an educational institution. With the advent of stereo multi- plexing in 1956, .. KUOP, Stockton became the first West Coast FM station licensed to a university to broadcast in stereo.·: Institutions of higher education held the majority of noncommercial radio licenses a decade later--a trend that began in the late fifties and has continued to the present. Perhaps the major difference in the development of pub~ lie radio in California as opposed to the rest of the country has been the relatively recent increase in the number of ten-watt stations. There were two ten-watt stations on the air in 1960; though ten-watt stations corn~ prised approximately half of the national total at the ~ • 27 time. The increase in licenses held by colleges and univer- sities in California at the beginning of this decade was accompanied by a similar increase in the number of ten-watt stations on the air in the state. Ten-watt stations 'c.orn 28 'prised fift~e~ of the 38 stations ori the air ~n 1970. By the mid-1970's more than sixteen million people in California lived within the service ar~as of noncommercial ;'' '('. ,;.v 19 radio stations, and each station broadcast an average of isome 100 hours per week. Their missions vary from being ' . 'simply broadcast laboratories wherein students learn the art . 'of . radio broadcasting to providing direct instruction to !broadcasting alternative programming in a broad range of ipublic and cultural affairs. Their annual budgets ranged ~ I · · . 29 - 'from $3,000 to $300,000. Although they are supported by nonprofit organizations,, ·many stations depend on financial contributions from the icommunities they serve for allor part of their operating :budgets. Some stations, particularly those licensed to ' ;non-tax supported foundations, conducted extensive on-the- :air fund raising activities. These solicitations for funds sometimes interrupted their regularly scheduled program- ; . 30 ·mJ.ng. As of December 1976, 37, or 58 percent, of all active 'licenses in the state were held by colleges and universi- ;ties, ·Of the remaining stations; eighteen were licensed to school boards and school districts and nine to private found :ations and churches. Although KQED, San Francisco and KPFK, ;Los Angeles (the two most powerful stations in the state) ,broadcast with a power of 110 kilowatts, 28 of the 64 public r . . 31 ;radio stations in California are ten-watt operatJ.ons. Even though most of the noncommercial stations in California are licensed to educational institutions, 73 / 20 percent of the stations that responded to a survey of public radio stations in the state did no in-school pro- ' :gramming and 95 percent did not broadcast courses for credit. i ;Approximately .75 percent of those responding broadcast . 32 either no news or less than one half hour of news per day. , The Holt study found that "fractionation" (the top stations in a market drawing sizeable portions of FM listeners, while the other must fight for lower shares) was :particularly prevalent in Los Angeles and San Francisco. 'Those two metropolitan areas have the highest concentration iof public radio stations in the state. In Los Angeles; no i !station (commercial or noncommercial) could rate a share as· :high as nine percent of the market; in San Francisco none 'had a share as high as ten percent. This means that any :station outside of the leading few must be satisfied with !relatively small audiencesD 33 · Taking into consideration that noncommercial radio's !audience as a whole is very sma11, 34 public radio in ;California would have even fewer listeners in its two most i !densely populated areas; the areas with the highest con- !centration of public radio stations. While there has been a considerable increase in the .number of stations since 1948~ public radio is still an ; emerging medium. When public radio as a whole becomes more organized many of the problems it/now faces, such as 21 inadequate staff and funding, will be solved. Public •... radio's small audience share, particularly in the larger markets such as Los Angeles and San Francisco, can only :be increased by more careful attention to station purpose, programming philosophy, and who they intend to reach.· As far as programming philosophy is concerned, non- 1commercial educational radio in·recent years has moved away from strictly in-school programming. As.stations attempt to provide program service in other areas, careful atten- tion must also be given to which kinds of programs best serve the publi~ interesto Public Radio Organizations The face of public radio in the United States changed in the 1970's. The adoption of the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, which created the Corporation for Public Broad- casting (CPB), eventually lead to an interconnected national noncommercial radio network. The CPB is charged generally with the responsibility of assisting new stations in getting on the air, establishing one or more systems of interconnection, pro~ viding funds to support program production, making grants to stations to support local programming, and conductin~ . . . . t 35 .research an d t ra1n1ng prOJec s. National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR), the interconnected public / 22 radio network, was initiated in May, 1971. NPR is a producer as well as a distributor; it produces much of its own programs, particularly ir~ the area of public affairs programs. NPR makes some specific grants directly to the public radio stations; it receives funds from the CPB, then actually specifies them for individual station projects. In addition to providing programs via the on line interconnect:-: ' . ·36 ed system, NPR also provides a taped program serv1ce. The CPB has one central national radio organization {NPR) and a standard policy for determining parameters of ·service--qualification. Th~se criter~a irisure that the system is built upon the activities of the most effective stations. To be a CPB-qualified (full-service) noncommercial NPR member station the public radio broadcasters must be able to show that the station has at least five full-time profes- ·sional management-level employees, that the station broad~ cast at least eighteen hours per day 365 days per year with a minimum power of 3;000 watts, and that the station have an unduplicated nonfederal annual budget of $75,000. It is possible for a station to be CPB-qualified and still not belong to NPR. The Pacifica Foundation stations {KPE:A, KPFK, KPFT, WPFW and WBAI are the only prominent examples. 37 KPFA and KPFK are located in California). There are currently 207 stations ~ffiliated with NPR. 23 NPR affiliates in California account for twelve of the fourteen CPB-qualified. stations in the state; KPFA, Berkeley, and KPFK, Los Angeles, are the others. 38 'Association of California Public Radio Stations While representation of public radio stations con ·'cerning national issues is, for the most part, left to NPR, ·representation regarding state and local matters are pro ;vided by organizations within their respective localities~ On December 27, 1974, the Association of California Public Radio Stations (ACPRS) was formed. The original ,charter membership consisted of seven 5tations: KPBS, San Diego; KUSC, Los Angeles; KUOP, Stockton; KALW, San .Francisco; KLON, Long Beach; KPCS, Pasadena and KVCR, San ' 39 Bernardinoo The ACPRS was originally intended to provide represent- ation and other services for member stations and to work towards the establishment of increased education pro . gramming within the state of California. By July 10, 1975 1 another seven members were added and attended the first meeting. The seven additional members 'included: KPFK, Los Angeles; KQED, San Francisco; KBBF, Santa Rosa; KPFA, Berkeley; KCSM, San Mateo; KCRW, Santa Monica and KCSN, Northridge. Membership criteria is' defined as those stations that are capable of qualification . . . 40 f or CPB f und1ng. Prior to 1975 public radio in CaYifornia received 24 little direct support from state government. With the enactment of California Assembly Bill 525, the California Public Broadcasting Commission (CPBC) was created on ,September 30, 1975. An allocation of $183,000 was provided to establish the commission. The CPBC is the liason between .state government and the public broadcasters in Cal·ifornia. The CPBC funds projects that demonstrate.the potential for 'a statewide public broadcasting system. The ACPRS for all practical purposes is synonymous with the radio advisory committee of the CPBc. 41 Thus, the ACPRS operates as the representation organization for full-service public radio stations to state governmental agencies, as advisor to the CPBC relating to the development of public radio in California, and as the provider of programming to be distributed within the state. Because radio receives only seventeen percent of the CPBC funds available for projects (public television receives the remaining 83 percent), the pro- gramming activities of the ACPRS have been limited to date. The ACPRS currently produces Sacramento Update, a 60 minute program dealing mostly with the activities of California state government. Sacramento Update began ,in February 1977 with an annual budget of $80,000. It is currently fed on Friday evenings at nine from KPBS, San .. { Diego via the NPR Telco transmission l1ne to member 25 stations within California. Member stations that are not NPR affili~tes currently receive taped copies of the program upon reques. t • 42 ·, While the CPBC funds the programming activities of the ACPRS, the operation of the organization itself is funded by membership dues. NPR and the ACPRS are the two major public radio organizations that service noncommercial educational radio stations in California. In addition to their representation .functions, NPR and the ACPRS provide public affairs and ,cultural programs that assist member stations in meeting their obligations to program in the public interest •. Broadcasting in the Public Interest: Legal Requirements Many broadcasters today consider "the airing of PSAs as fulfilling part of their responsibility to program in the public interest. Many consider the airing of public service rnessages,as focusing attention on important public issues. 43 The public service concept as an integral part of broadcasting has evolved from the early days of radio. The Federal Radio Act of 1927 stated that: (1) The radio channelswere public property (2) Those who were given licenses to broadcast on those channels or frequencies would be regarded as "tenants" of that prOperty. / (3) The licensees would be expected to serve 26 ,. the public interest as part of the lease. However, the FRC attempted no precise definition of what the components of broadcasting in the public interest 44 were. From the beginning of government regulation of broad casting the FRC, followed by the Fcc, had looked with favor 45 upon the airing of educational and religious programs. As will be discussed below~ until r.ecently the FCC : did not formally acknowledge the fact that most non- commercial radio stations (as previously mentioned) do not broadcast a great deal of in~school programming. Therefore, while noncommercial broadcasters have been r,equired to adhere to rules requiring. stations to program in the public interest, convenience and necessity, most rules regarding such programming have exempted educational broadcasters. The following discussion traces the history of the ·major FCC decisions regarding programming in the public interest and how these decisions have related to public radio broadcasters and their change in programming philosophy. Early FCC Concerh with Program Standards Since its inception the FCC has held (and the courts have agreed) that licensees have positive responsibilities to provide a program service that serves the needs of the community. 27 In the late 1930's, the Commission gave serious con- sideration to the establishment of rules governing program 46 servlce. f or b roa d castlng . statlonsp . Twelve years after the adoption of the Communications Act of 1934, the Fcc .... -responding to complaints from the ;public and recommendations from studies it had authorized-- · adopted specific criteria for evaluation of program service. On March 7, 1946, the Commission published the "Public .Service Responsibility of Broadcast Licensees," popularly 'known as the "Blue Book." Essentially what the "Blue Book" ;said was that the licensee of a broadcast station has a 'primary responsibility for determining program service, but· that the Commission has a statutory duty of which it may not divert itself. One of the program service factors in determining whether a station had programed in the public interest was the carrying of programs dealing with important public issues. However, the "Blue Book" prescribed no particular percentage of time to be devoted to public issues . 47 :programmlng~ The Commission set up machinery to apply the criteria set forth in the "Blue Book," designing a new renewal ,application form. This new form elicited information ·regarding the number of spot announcements carried by.' the station as well as the division of time between commercial and noncommercial programs. This application form not only 28 required the licensee to report data reflecting past pro- gram performance but also to indicate what percentages of time for the various program classes were proposed for .. 48 future operat1on. However, the application form for noncommercial educational-radio stations did not require the amo':lnt of proposed programming to be aired. Only the amount arid : percentage of past program types aired were required to be 49 specified on the license renewal form. In essence, the : noncommercial educational broadcasters were required to meet the same programming standards as commercial broad- casters. But, in light of the nature of the service they ~provided, they were not required to prove so in the same ·manner as their commercial counterparts. ·Programming Regulation in the Fifties and Sixties In the years that followed the publication of the ''Blue Book" the FCC many times witheld action on renewal applications and placed stations on temporary licenses because they had devoted little or no time to educational ;an' d re 1"1g1ous . programs. 50 In the·ensuing years, during hearings involving license renewal, "there seemed to be some misunderstanding as to the nature and use of the 'statistical' data regarding programming and advertising required by FCC application forms~" 51 29 In an effort to more precisely define its rules and regulations, on August 3, 1960, the Conunission published the "Report and Statement of Policy Re: Commission en bane Progra:rnrriing Inquiry." As adopted, the new statement of program policies required all standard {or AM), FM~ or television broadcast· stations "to ascertairi the needed elemerits of the bro~dca~t matter to be provided by a particular licensee for the audi~nce he is obligated to serve." This was the first time ascertainm~nt was mentioned in an FCC publication; a word that would have added signifi6ance in ~ubsequent FCC rulings and actioris~ Part four of the FCC application form was·revised to require a statement :by the applicant, whether for new facilities, reriewal or modifications, as to: (1) the ~eas ures he has taken and the effort he has made to determine tastes, needs and desires of his coinrnunity of service area: and (2) the manner in which he proposed to meet those needs and desires. The Commission defined program types which usually are necess·ary to meet the public interest; needs and desires of the community in which the station is located. The program types defined included: (1) programs for children, {2) religious programs, (3) educational programs, (4) public affairs programs, (5) editorialization by 30 ,-.;' ~·.:: licensees, (6) political broadcasts, (7) agricultural programs, (8) news programs, (9) weather ahd market re- ports, (10) sports programs, (11) programs tor minority ...... 52 aud1ences, (12) enterta1nment programm1ng~ Most of these program types are what would normally / be broadcast by most noncommercial educational· stations~ And--though the Co:riunission stipulated that the ·riew policy applied to all AM, FM arid television stations-~practically speaking, it was not directing its proposed.rule changes specifically to noncommercial educational broadcasters, With the adoption of the 1960 policy statement carne the addition of a new complaints and complicarice division withing the FCC to enforce the new guidelines. But this enforcement division's resources have never been adequate to investigate the continually growing number of com-.· 53 plaints regarding broadcast stations·~ Consequently, most of the efforts to monitor broadcastperlormance have been devoted to commercial radio and television stations. Prograwming Decisions in the Seventies. While the amount of progra:rnriting in the public interest on noncommercial stations was not a major factor in the FCC decisions in the mid and late 1960's~ it would become an issue a few years latero Meanwhile the Commission amended regulations pertain- ing to educational stations in May of/1970; part of which 31 applied to programming. Section 73.503, paragraph {d) was added to read as follows: Each station shall furnish a nonprofit and noncommercial broadcast service. Noncommercial educational FM broadcast stations are subject to the provisions of section 73.289 to the extent . that they are applicable to the broadcast of programs produced by or at the expense of, or furnished by·· others; however, no announcements promoting the sale of ~ product or service shall be broadcast in connection with any program.54 Previously the rules (section 73.289 in particular} had prohibted commercial announcements in connection with 'programs obtained from or sponsored by profit making organizations. However, this new rule could be interpreted as pertaining to the content of PSAs aired by noncommercial educational broadcasters. As stated, the rule does not clearly differentiate between announcements made in connection with programs which were financially underwritten by profit making sources or all announcements aired by noncommercial FM stations. If the rule is strictly interpreted, the broadcast of a PSA which promoted a benefit sale put on by a nonprofit institution would be illegal. While the 1970 ruling might have created some problems of interpretation regarding announcements, one year later the Commission attempted to clarify its policies on ascertainment methodology. Prior to 1971, the methods of ... ·. ...- . " 32 :ascertainment were left largely to the licensee. On :February 18, 1971, the Commission acted in response to numerous requests that ascertainment procedures no longer :be permitted to evolve on an ad hoc basis and adopted a primer introducing a more specific methodology to . 55 :ascertainment pol1cy. The primer addressed itself primarily to part four of the FCC license renewal form. The primer stated in part: The applicant should provide a description .•• of the program or program series, ·and the community problem or problems which are to be treated by it. An appropriate way would be to list the broadcast matter and, after it, the particular problem or problems the broadcast ma·t·ter is designed to meet .... If announcements are proposed, they should be identified with the community problem or problems they are designed to meet. The FCC allows a certain degree of freedom in the type of material and amount of time stations are required to devote to public service activities: Slight differences in emphasis and allocation of time are not important in appraisal of the program proposals. The primary question ... is whether the applicants have planned and proposed a diversified, well-rounded service for the community. 56 Noncommercial broadcast applicants were excluded from the formal ascertainment requirements because "given the reservation of channels for specialized kinds of pro~· gramming, educational stations manifestly must be treated 57 differently than commercial stations." / 33 On September 11, 1973, the Commission released a "Further Notice of Inquiry and Further Notice Proposed Rulemaking." This docket was in response to petitions for : rulemaking filed by a number of 9itizens' groups ~ 4. ! requesting that the FCC extend formal ascertainment pro- icedures to noncommercial broadcast licensees. It was : argued that noncommercial stations were no longer \educational licensees offering in-school' instructional • programming, but that they had come to provide "public'' :programming to the community at large which often competes 58 ·w1"th the programm1ng. o f commerc1a. 1 1"1censees. The FCC deliberated this matter for more than two years and on March 11, 1976, adopted a report and order which requires that noncommercial educational and public broadcast applicatits ascertain the problems, needs and 1n. t erests o f t h e commun1t1es. . tney. serve ..59 · As adopted the "FCC report and Order on Ascertainment •) of Co~uunity Problems by Noncommercial Educational Broad- 'Cast Applicants, Permittees and Licensees" stated in part: "~ .• educational radio service is not nearly as developed as its television counterpart. It appears that CPB's extensive involvement in public television is not matched in the radio service, where more than half of all licensees do not possess the minimum qu_alifications for CPB assistance ... For these reasons, we adopt here an. ascertainment for radio which is less formal than that for educational television.60 · Educational television stations a~e required to use 34 ascertainment methodology that is similar to the ascertain- ment procedures required of commercial broadcasters in the 1971 primer. In deta'iling its asce-rtainment requirements for i public radio stations, the Commission stated that: We shall permit noncommercial educational radio applicants and 'existing licensees to ascertain by any reasonable methods ·designed to provide them with an understanding of the problems,- needs ~rid interests of their -~ervice area~~ This prociess is to be documented by a narrative statement regarding-the sources consulted, the survey methods followed and the prinicipal needs and interests discovered. Additionally, educational ·radio renewal applicants are to complete an _annual list of up to ten problems found in the corrimuni ty - during the preceding twelvemonths~ together with examples of programs broadcast to meet these pro blems o -For new applicant's, - including assignees, the list of programs would be prospective. The narrative statement arid the problems listed are to be maintained in the station's public file~ and submitted to the Commission with the pertinent license application. Noncommercial applicants shall be required to survey their respective communities within six months prior to the filin~ of those applications.6l - State radio networks were required to conduct a local ascertainment for each of their licen.sed stations having :the capability tO originate programming~ However, t.en.,..watt ; stations are exempt from any obligation to ascertain the · needs and interest of their service areas or the institu- 'tions to which they are licensed. The ruling was incorporated into section 1~527 qf the FCC rules and regulations. The first date on which any / noncommercial radio station had to include in their public 35 file an ascertainment narrative statement was April 1, 1977, .which was the date for submission of renewal applications ... by licensees whose terms expire August 1, 1977--the first . . 62 renewal group to actually file under the new procedures. Thus, the FCC, in its latest ruling regarding • ascertainment methodology, had not only required non- . commercial educational broadcasters to determine the needs of the communities they served, but, for the first time, had publicly recognized the ·fact that programming on non- commercial radio stations had changed considerably since channels had first been set aside for educational purposes ,. . in 1938. The Commission, in addition to pointing out the disparity in the amount of financial support and attention given to public radio as opposed to educational television stations by the CPB, has attempted to rectify part of the inequity by making the ascertainment procedures for public radio stations less stringent than the ascertainment pro cedures educational TV stations are expected to conduct. During the course of the ascertainment hearings pertaining to public broadcasters it had been argued by some noncommercial broadcasters that ten-watt stations result in an inefficient use of the broadcast spectruin.by blocking the possible implementation of higher power stations to serve larger portions of their communities. ~:.:.:? 36 In ruling that ten-watt stations are totally exempt from having to provide ascertainment information on license application forms, the FCC, at the same time, put off : a decision on revising its ruling regarding these facili- i ties. / No mention of PSAS is made in the FCC report and , order on ascertainment of community problems by non- · commercial broadcast :applicants~ , This deletion is made , even though the· Commission now recognizes the fact that :many noncommercial educational broadcasters no longer ! ;provide strictly in-school educational programming, but 'broadcast to the community at large, thereby competing with . commercial stations. This might lead· to closer scrutiny·· of 1noncommercial stations' programming performance at license :renewal time. However, if the FCC recognizes that the airing of PSAs by commercial broadcasters is a means of programming in the public interestf one could logically conclude that the -Commission would take a similar position on the broadcast .of such announcements by noncommercial educational stations .in the event a public broadcaster's license was ever .challenged on the grounds of insufficient programming in the public interest. 37 Public Service Announcements The following section includes: (1) a general ·discussion of l?SAs and the format of their presentation; (2) a'brief look at some of the controversy surrounding · access to radio and television stations by individuals and · , organizations seeking public service time; and (3) review of previous studies concerning PSA usage by commercial broadcasterso PSAs Besides commercials, most broadcasters air two types of brief announcements, public service announcements (PSAs) and station promotional announcements (SPAs). SPAs usually promote programs or other station activities~ PSAs are aired free of charge for nonprofit organiza tions and usually cost less to produce and distribute tha·n other forms of public service materials supplied to :"stations by nonprofit groups (for example, the three to five minute programs on the same topics covered in the announcement). Because PSAs occupy at the most 60~seconds, they stand a· much better chance of being used during prime listening hours than other types of public service m~te~ rials and their time variance enables stations to use them to fill in unscheduled broadcast time.· / 38 PSAs are produced in printed form and on tape and electric~! transcription {disk). They may be sent to stations in one or all of the above mentioned forms. The 'tapes and disks are suitable for immediate use by the . station and all PSAs, whether recorded or written, come in :various lengths, usually ranging from ten to 60-seconds. As a whole, PSAs cover a number of topics which, in .part, are determined by whether or not they are nationally 'or locally distributed. National public service campaigns ,may include PSAs from the Red Cross, Heart Association, 1 Cancer Society and National Forest Service. Local public service campaigns can include a community drive for highway • safety during holiday seasons, a local charity or nonprofit .community theatres. Although PSAs may cover a wide variety of topics, they ·usually are not directed to any particular audience. Hanneman, in a content study of anti-drug abuse PSAs on ·commercial television in the Hartford, Connecticut, metro politan area found that 87 percent of the drug abuse spots contained nonspecific information (that is, information of ·' little or no apparent instrumental utility) directed to 63 seemingly undefined, heterogeneous audiences. In a later study of public service advertising on commercial television in the same area, Hanneman found that 68 percent of the PSAs coded were directed to a general audience (no specific age 39 group or demographic characteristics), fifteen percent were directed to a youthful audience and seventeen perce~t were . desiyned to appeal to parents. 64 The brevity of PSAs necessitates their menfioning only one or two essential points. Therefore, their aim, most 'often, is to arouse the audience's curiosity or inform :them of a telephone number to call for additional infor- ; .mation! 'Public Service Time: Point-Counterpoint As mentioned earlier in this paper, many stations :broadcast PSAs as part of their obligation to serve the ·~ublic interest and commercial broadcasters are required to indicate how many they will air in the upcoming \ license renewal period. But the amount of PSAs stations air and the access to· :the stations by i~dividuals and organizations seeking public service time varies from community to community. This has been a point of considerable controversy in the .·recent past. A number of commercial broadcasters feel that it is a financial burden to air PSAs while those seeking free time believe th~t broadcasters do not do enough •. For example, Waller argues: Broadcasting itself is a public service. It is the purpose of all radio stations to build programs of service to the public, whether/for pure entertain ment, or for information,65 40 While Waller believes that most programming will be of valuebecause broadcasting itself is a public service, ' others feel that there should be definite amounts of time set aside for the airing of PSAs. During the past five years it has been suggested by citizens' groups and other · interested parties ·that Congress amend the Communications Act of 1934 and require that ten percent of radio and ;television advertising time be devoted to PSAso In 1972, Richard K~ Manoff, chairman of Richard K. Manoff Inc., a volunteer advertising agency working with the Planned Parenthood Federation, in a hearing before Congress regarding PSA time, said that even with Advertising Council backing, PSA spots are often turned down. We are the only country in the world whose people have given their air entirely away and then, when they want some of it back, have to solicit it as a philanthropy and suffer the indignities either of rejection or the pittance of beggary.66 On the other hand it has be·en charged that much of the PSA time is given to relatively few organizations. In June of 1976, the Public Media Center, a nonprofib·organizatibn~ devoted. to improving access to the media, filed a petition with the FCC asking for major reforms in the standards for broadcast performance regarding PSAs. The petition sought the establishment of the following rules; / 41 (1) No more than 20 percent of the PSAs aired by a broadcaster or network can come from any one organization (such as the Advertising Council)e (2) Broadcasters must air at least three PSAs (lasting at least 90-seconds total) 'i every two hours, including prime time on TV and drive time on radio. (3) Broadcasters cannot refuse PSAs simply because they are controversial. (4) At least 25 percent of all PSAs must be local in origin. Broadcasters must make their facilities, including technical assistance, available for the production of PSAsc67 The petition was still pending before the FCC as of September, 1977. The Public Media Center was joined in the ,petition by 65 other citizens' groups and several members 'of Congress. The position of some commercial broadcasters is that they should have discretion as to which spots are aired and that the airing of PSAs results in considerable loss of revenue: Calling public service time free time is a misnomer, It is not free to the client if he· pays for an agency or materials, and free could never be applied to the station which pays the salaries of the public service staff. The station seems to bear the public service burden from all angles. In a sense, the station loses money everytime a public service spot is on the air.68 But the fact remains that without financial backing most organizations will find it difficult, if not impossible to get their PSAs aired~ According to Hanneman: /' Nonprofit organizations lacking funds to provide 42 -:.;· public service advertising are left out in the cold, so to speak. If an organization doesn't provide PSAs to a broadcaster he simply won't get exposure.69 PSAs as Used by Commercial Broadcasters Since 1965 several formal studies have been written on !the subject of PSAs and the way broadcasters use them, All_ :of those studies have dealt with commercial broadcasters. Perhaps the most significant results of the previous [studies regarding PSA practices has been that every re- , :searcher has concluded that most, or all of the ·radio and television stations they examined did not have a well developed system of scheduling PSAs. In a study on procedures of scheduling PSAs on selected 'commercial television stations in the United States; Gales :wrote: There has been very little written in the area of public service, which could be the reason that every station sets up its public service department in a different way--not conforming to anY: norm.70 Gales found that 23 of 28 public service directors she isampled admitted that they had no organized system of 71 /scheduling PSAs. Woods, in a study of PSA usage by 28 commercial tele ivision stations in Illinois; concluded that stations had no r uniform procedure for selecting and scheduling PSAs • .-He went on to say that most stations were "pretty casual• in 72 their handling of such spots. / Breeze cites only one of- the nine Florida :r:-~9--~()- ______43 stations he sampled,: WGBS, Miami, as meeting all the FCC .public service program and ascertainment standards. Three stations, WGVL, Gainsviile; WLCO~AM, Eustis; and WSUZ, .Palatha; were cited by Breeze as examples where the pro- I gram log indicated a spot should.be read at a particular ·time and the announcer or board operator simply picked one at random from a spot book. Even at the most organized • station in Breeze'·s study, WGBS, recorded PSAs were given to production engineers who screened them primarily on the . . . 7l :basis of their production value. Baransy, in a study of utilization of military 'recruitirig ~SAs by broadcasters in Mi~sourl, qu6ted one of the respondents in his examination-of all the broadcasters :in the St. Louis metropolitan area as saying that public service material recorded by his station was all put on a tape and played indiscriminantly a~ broadcast time • 74 allowed. Similar practices were found at many of the other ·stations Breeze and Gales sampled. In responseto the ,questions, "is the client {PSA producer) ever assured of any set schedule or frequency of PSA usage?, 100 percent of 75 ·the public service directors Gales sampled answered ·~'no~ " Staff Considerat:ions Gales reported that the average staff devoted to public service activities consisted of two employees, and, /' 44 in many cases their time was not wholly devoted to public . 76 serv1ce. woods concluded that sending PSAs during summer months could affect their usage because many of the public , $ervi~e directors his team attempted to interview in late : August of 1964 were on vacation. As a result,. a few stations were just beginning to use the ·fest spots he ·had 77 sent to.them earlier that year as part of his study. The small size of the public service staff at the : radio and television· station studied might account for . the fact that most stations do riot produce the PSAs they air,. Gales found that 64 percent of the respondents said they did-not have adequate peisorinel and facilities to. be 78 "creative" with public service materials. Even where broadcasters give considerable time to PSAs, they are not really producing ·the service. The materials are produced by someone else, the broadcaster . -79 simply excercises veto power~ There were several trends mentioned in the literature 'on PSAs regarding commercial broadcasters' preferences for public service materials and their usage of PSAs. Among .; the trends in preferences were length, source of materials, and format of PSAs. / Length. The 30-second PSA tended to be the most used. Alshouse, in a study of middle management preferences for public service materials at Florida television stations, found that the 30-second spot was the "overwhelming". first .choice of the public service personnel who responded to a 1 qriestionnaire sent tci all of the televisiori stations in the state; 30-second ·spots were preferred twice as much as the 80 second choice, 60-second spots. Breeze reported similar findings, quoting orie respondent who said only 30-se·cond PSAs were used because there wasn't enotfgh time for · . 81 others. Howev.er~ 30-second. spots were not preferred by all broadcasters studied. Harmeman, · in the previously mentioned study of public service advertising on commercial television stations in Connecticut, fcn1nd that 42 percent bf the PSAs coded were 60-seconds in length, 35 percent., were 30-seconds and the rest were varj_ous lengths·~ Source. Breeze concluded that radio stations in larger markets leaned towards well produced materials such as those distributed by the Advertising Council and other . 1 .· . . 83 na t 1ona organ1zat1ons. Gales found that 89 percent of the station bersonnel she sampled had no preference for spots produced by private organizations or a professional public relati~ns firm. The eleven percent who did prefer professionally produced materials said they did because the agenciei were more frequently aware of professional a'udio an.d video 46 84 standards. Format. Hanneman found that while only six of the PSAs ·coded in the drug-abuse content study involved movie or 'television actors, those six PSAs were shown an average of :six times each which accounted for 44 percent of the total 85 :observations coded. This would indicate a strong pre- ference for the PSA formats utilizing testimonial endorse- ments by personalities at commercial television stations. Breeze found that many of the stations in his sample :expressed no preference for PSAs on tape or electrical ' ' transcr1p. t. 1on '(d.1s k) • 8 6 Amount of PSAs Received The number of PSAs received by commercial stations ivaried according to the size and characteristics of the 'market the stations \'lere located in. There was a definite !pattern in the number of requests received for public 87 •service time in different sized markets. Stations in the large cities of Los Angeles, Washington, ;D.C., San Francisco, and New York received an average of 50 . . to 75 requests for time per week. Stations in Oklahoma City ,and Atlanta averaged 20 to 30 requests per week. Savannah 88 and Tulsa received about ten requests per week. The respondents at the St. Louis radio and television stations said they received an average.of 40 to 50 requests for public service time each month. The lowest estimate of / 47 89 requests received during an average month was 8o. Number of PSAs Used The estimated average weekly usage of spots in the .sample of Florida radio stations was 180~ The lowest 'estimated weekly usage reported was 45 while the highest estimate was 500 PSAs aired per week. 90 In the study Woods conducted, seventeen of the 26 .television stations in Illinois ran the four test spots Woods included in the study a total of 261 times during a three week period. Although there was no indication of how many were run at each station, they were evenly distributed during the week. Each spot was used 3.8 times. The estimated average weekly usage of PSAs in the Illinois study was 150 spots per week. 91 The average estimated weekly usage of PSAs in the study of St. Louis metropolitan area broadcasters was 280. The lowest estimate } was 14 0 PSAs per week. The highest 92 estimated weekly usage was 420. Hanneman's team of observers coded 844 PSAs aired by nine television stations during a one week period. However, this accounted for only two percent of the total air time. Commercials accounted for 20 percent of the total air.time~ Thus, commercials out-numbered PSAs ten to one. The ratio between Advertising Council-originated or endorsed campaigns and non-Advertising Council campaigns wa.s 48 . 93 approximately one to 40. Woods found that 244 spot announcements were aired on a commercial television station in Illinois during a one day monitoring study. This total included commercials, :program promotions and PSAs. The total airing of PSAs was f 94 ;24 or ten percent of the tota1. Types of Spots Used and Effects In terms of PSA topic· themes, Hanneman found the categories accounting for the greatest proportion of PSA ;time were social problems (eighteen percent), medically ! 'oriented PSAs (fifteen percent), solicitations (thirteen 'percent), jobs and education (eleven percent) and parks :and forests (eleven percent); yet, overall, solicitation- ,type messages accounted for 25 percent of total PSA time : 95 :coded. Lynn, in a study of source, message, receiver effects ;of Advertising Council PSAs using 75 subjects in the Mt. i ;Vernon, Illinois area, found that older and less educated persons were more aware of the source of PSA messages. 'However, he found that younger persons, who were less :aware of the Advertising Council, retained the PSA . 96 .messages better than older persons. PSA Screening Organizations One of the functions of the Southern California/Broad- casters Associations (SCBA) is to scre~n producers and 49 sponsors of public service materials as to their nonprofit 'status. The organization then receives a SCBA file number :which indicates to the broadcnster that the organization's :material is indeed nonprofit~ Northern California !broadcasters do not have such a service available to themo 97 Recommendations from Previous Studies Three recommendations to improve PSA practices were cited by Breeze and Gales. Gales mentioned that KHJ~TV in Los Angeles and WKY-TV jin Oklahoma City informed PSA clients of the time their :spots were aired and recommended that other stations adopt ,such a policy~ Gales also recommended that stations prepare a booklet · :or fact sheet detailing station policy regarding PSAs and . 98 [cited one station that used such a booklet successfully. Breeze recommended that radio stations base their .selection of PSAs on ascertained community needs. Breeze .cited WGBS, Miami, as being the only station in his sample ;that did so. 99 50 Summary The PSA has been used by broadcasters as a means of providing a servi~e to their audiences in addition to the public affairs programming they already provide. In the recent past there has been considerable controversy conc~rning how many and what types of PSAs are used by broadcasters and the accessibility to the · stations by those seeking public service time. Petitions have been filed before the FCC seeking tighter government control of public service air time~ A disposition is still pending at this time. As a rule, organizations that request public service air time must provide the PSAs to the broadcaster or their messages will not be aired. The stations originate few of the PSAs they use. In the previous studies regarding PSA usage by broad casters, every researcher has concluded that all or most of the radio and TV stations they examined did not have a developed system of scheduling PSAs. The public service operations at the stations examined varied considerably. However, there seemed to be several trends in PSA usage. The 30-second PSA tended to be used more often, although one researcher found that GO-second PSAs were used most. PSAs that addressed them~e~ves to social •..... : 51 problems (e.g., health, education, employment) were used most. Several researchers found that stations in larger markets tended to receive and air more PSAs than stations in smaller markets. In both observer coded content analysis of PSA usage, commercials and SPAS out-numbered 'PSAs ten to one. The ratio of Advertising Council to non- Advertising Council sponsored PSAs was one to 40. Older persons were more aware of the source of Advertising Council PSAs while younger persons retained the content of PSA messages better. ' . / 52 Notes 1 Samuel C. o. Holt, (Dir.), "The Public Radio Study," a study funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the Ford Foundation (Cambridge Massachusetts: April, i969), p. 44. 2 sydney Head, Broadcasting in America: A Survey of Television and Radio, 2nd ed. revised, (Boston: Houghton Miffllin Company), 1972, p. 153. ?Ibid., p. 137. i4 . : Gordon Greb; "Golden Anniversary of Broadcasting," Broadca~ting Journal, Vol, III, Winter 1958-59, p. 481. , 5 "How Does Your State Stand," Education by Radio Bulletin, ; .·· Vol. 1, No. 3, February 26, 1931, p. 11. .'6 Robert E. Summers and Harrison B. Summers, Broadcasting and the Public, (Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth Publishing 'Co., Inc., 1966), p. 334. 7 . S. E. Frost Jr., Education's Own Stations, (Chicago: , University of Chicago Press, 1937}, p. 46. ·8 . • Ib~d., p. 415. 9 rbid,, p. 100~ ·lO Summers an d Summers, p. 335 ~ 11 navid Eshelman, "The Emergence of Educational FM Broad- . casting," NAEB Journal, Vol. 26, March-April 1976 1 p. 54. 12 Broadcasting Yearbook, 1937 (Washington, D.C. Broadcasting Publications, 1937), p. 468. 13 Eshelman, p. 55.• :14 , Holt, p. 45. 15 Head, p. 179. "16 . Eshelman, pp. 56-57; 17 . Summers and Summers, p. 335. 18 • Based on an Interview with Leon Del Grande, General Manager, KALW, San Francisco, June 16, 1977. 19 . Ho 1 t, p. 4 6 • 20 . Eshelman, p. 59. 21 Broadcasting Yearbook, 1947 (Washington, D.C., Broad casting Publications, 1947), p. 450. 22 Eshelman, p. 61. 53 )! 23Broadcasting Yearbook, 1951, (Washington, D.C., Broadcasting Publications,_l951), p. 368. 24 · Ho 1 t, p. 64 • 25 Ibid, pp. 55-57. 26 Ibid, p. 126. :27Broadcasting Yearbook 1961, Section D. ;28Broadcasting Yearbook 1971, Section D. 29 i call..fornia Legislature. Telecommunications in th~Public Interest: Report of the Joint Conmtittee on Telecommunica-:" __ tions, December, 1974, p. 33. •30 . : Ib1d, p. 34. 31 Broadcasting Yearbook 1977, Seqtion D, 32 i Robert Burningham, "The Programming of Educational (Noncommercial) Radio Stations in California,'' Master's Thesis, Brigham Young University, 1971, p. 96. 33 Holt, pp, 33.,...34. :34 Ibid ~ I p. 55 • :35 - : Donald N. Wood and Donald G. Wylie, Educational_ Telecommunications, (Belmont Calif.: Wadsworth Publishing Co .• , 1977), p. 68. 36 Ibid, p. 109. 37 - Ibid. '38wallace Smith, President, Association of California Public Radio Stations, Memorandum to Station Managers, August 1975. 39 : clyde Robinson, President, Association of California ' Public Radio Stations Memorandum to Station Managers, , January 21, 1975. 40 ! Association of California Radio Stations, unpublished memorandum, circa 1975. ' 41 Richa~d Lyness, President, Association of California ,- Public Radio Stations, Memoranda to Station Managers, : July 10, 1975. _ ;42Association of California Public Radio Stations. ~inutes of General Meeting. February 4, 1977. 43 · National Association of Broadcasters,"Public Servic~ Advertising'', Highlights, Vol. III, No.7, February-14, 1977' p. 4. 44ward Quaal and Leo A. Martin, Broadcc;r.st Management, (New York: Hastings House, Publishers, 1968), pp. 199~200. 54 . 45 ; Emery, Ps 324. 46 , Ibid., p. 318. 47 : Ibid., pp. 319-320. 48 i Ibid., p. 320. : 49Federal .Communications Commission, Application for Renewal of Noncommercial Educational TV, FM or. Standard.Broadcast Station License, December 1950, Section , IV. ! 50 . . I Every, p. · 324 •. l 51Federal Communications Commission, "Report and Statement of Policy Re: Commission en bane Programming Inquiry," Federal Register Vol. 25, No. 7291, August 3, 1960, p. 10. 52 b :d . q : I 1. ., p. -~ ! 53Emery, pp! 323~324. ; 54Fcc Rules and Regulations, Section 73.503, in Emery, Broadcasting and Government, p. 143. 55Federal Communication~ Commission, "Ascertainment of Community Problems by Noncommercial Educational Broadcast Applicants Permittees, and Licensees,". Federal Re~ister, Vol. 41., No. 59, p. 12424 • . 56Federal Communications Commission, Primer on Part I, Section IV~A and IV~B of Application forms concerning ascertainment of community problems and broadcast matter ·to deal with those problems, in Emery, Broadcasting and Government, pp. 536-:--537. :57 . : Federal Register, Vol. 41, No. 59, p. 12424. 58 i Ibid. 59 i corporation for Public Broadcasting, Ascertainment · Handbook, p. 1~ 60 . •· Federal RegJ.ster, Vol. 41, No. 59, p. 12428 • . i61 .. : Ib1d., p. 12430. 62 : Ibid. ;63 . . Gerhard J. Hanneman and William J. McEwen, "Televised Drug Abuse Appeals: A Content Analysis," Journalism Quarterly, Vol. 50, Summer 1973, p. 332. ' '64Gerhard J. Hanneman, William J. McEwen and Sharon A~ Coyne, "Public Service Advertising on Television," . Journal of Broadcasting, Vol. 17, No. 4, Fall 1973~ .65Judith· Waller, Radio the Fifth Estate, (Boston, Massachu . setts: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1946), p. 171. - / 55 66 "Manoff Advocates 'Time Bank' for Public Messages," Broadcasting, October, 30, 1972, p~ 17. 66Media Access Center, "Newsletter," mirneogr~phed bircular, San Francisco, September 1977. 68 sandra Gales, ":t>rocedures of Scheduling Public Service Advertising Announcements at Selected Television Stations," Master's Thesis, University of Oklahoma, Nor man, Oklahoma, 1967, p. 43. 69 : Hannernan et. al., Public Service Advertising on Tele- vision, p. 403~ 70Gales, p. 2. 71Ibid., p. 17. 72 John L. Woods·,·. nFactors Affecting the Use of Public Service Announcements by Illinois Commercial Television Station," Master's Thesis, University of ~llinois, 1965, p. 41. .73 Marshall Breeze, "Policy and Practices Regarding Public Service Announcements at Selected Commercial Radio Statiohs: A series of Case Studies" Master's Thesis, University of Florida, 1974·, pp·. 9l-94~-- 74Terry Baransy, "Uitlization of Public Service Time by Military Recruiting Agenci~~ in the Greater Saint Louis Area, Master's Thesis, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma, 1968, p~ 57; 75 Gales, p. 18. 76 Ibid~, p .• 15~ 77 Woods,- p; 14 • 78 . Gales, p. 16. :79 Breeze, .p~ 91 . 80Robert Alshouse, "An Analysis of the Policy and Practices of Commercial Television Stations in Florida Regarding Informational Public Service PrC>gram Materiai," Master's Thesis, University of Florida, 1975, p. 19. 81 Breeze, p. 83. 82 Hanneman, et. al., Public Service Adveiti~ing on Tele vision, p. 291. 83 Breeze,- p. 91 • 84 Gales, p. 19. 85 Hanneman and McEwen, Televised Drug Abuse Appeals: A Content Analysis, p. 332. 86 Breeze, p. 40. a7Gales, p. 16. a a Ibid. 89Baransy, p.· sa·. 90 Breeze,- pp. 54, 60. 91 Woods, pp. 32-32. . 92 Baransy,. p. ·sa • 93Hanneman et. al., Public Service Advertising on Tele vision, p~ 391. 94 Woods, p. 4--• 95 Hanneman et. al., Public Service Advertising-on Tele~ vision, p; 399. 96Jerry- R. Lynn', Perception of Public Service Advertising: Source, Message and Receiver Effects, Jburrialism Quarterly, Vol. 50, Summer 1973, pp 679. 97southern Californi~ Broadcasters Association~ "Public Service List of the Greater Los Angeles Area," mimeo g~aphed circular, June 1977, p. 1.· 9a Gales, pp. 27-29. .99 - Breeze, p. 39. 57 Chapter Three METHODOLOGY This chapter is a description of the methodology used iin this study. The chapter includes a description of: ;(1) the sampling plan used; (2) how the population was 'selected; ana (3) 'data collection instruments used and how :the data was collected. The objective of this study is to investigate the ways' ;broadcasters at full-service public radio stations use PSAs :along with an ascertainment of their selection policies. Sampling Plan ! \ For the purpose of this study the fourteen full- service public radio stations were not a sub-population of .the 64 noncommercial radio stations in California. The population surveyed comprised the fourteen members of the :Association of California Public Radio Stations (ACPRS) . :The ACPRS member stations are·synonymous with full-service or CPB-qualified public radio stations in the state. All of the stations in the population were examined. Selection of the Population The following is a discussion of California noncommer-· cial radio and the criteria used in the selection of the population examined in this study. / 58 California Noncommercial Radio Noncommercial radio stations in California fall into one of two basic groups~ The groups are generally characterized by operating power and station programming philosophy~ Those stations that operate with a power output'.of 3;ooo watts or less, especl.ally the ten-watt stations, are usually run by students or volunteers. ~hose with a power output of more than 3,000 watts usually have some professional staff direction and program in the public . 1 1nterest. As of December, 1976, there were 64 noncommercial radio stations in California. Almost half of them, 28, were ten-watt stations. There were 22 stations that operated with an ef£ective radiated power of 3 1 000 watts or less. The remaining fourteen stations qualified for CPB support 2 and operated with a power of 3,000 watts or more. Whether all noncommercial radio stations in California can justifiably be called "public" radio stations is not a foregone conclusion. A study commissioned by the Cali:f;ornia State Legislature on telecommunications in the public interest concluded that: .... it is fair to say that when we refer to 'public~ radio we are referring to those noncommercial stations deeply involved in programming for the · public at large. In California there are a dozen or so stations that can be described as 'public' radio stations. They should not be confused with the more than thirty noncommercial stations that 59 are largely low-powered campus oriented operations, or with those totally enmeshed in school prograrnrning.3 ,selection Criteria The criteria used in selecting the population examined were, for the most part, the same used by the CPB :for financial support and NPR for affiliation. The i. following selection criteria were used in this study: (1) Number of paid full-time staff. Gales reported that station staff size was a factor in the utilization of PSAs.4 (2) Consistency of operation. A consistent number of .hours and days of operation were necessary to conduct the content analysis of the program logs. (3) Power. Powerful stations have larger coverage areas and therefore reach more people. (4) Budget~ Stations with larger budgets will generally be better prepared to meet the first two criteria. (5) Diversity in the types of; a~ Lieensee b. Programming format c~ Market size the station is located in (6) ACPRS representatives meet on a regular basis, therefore, it will be possible to present recommendations from this project to them as a group. (7) The final criterion in the selection of a population was the assumption that if the majority of full-service public radio stations did not air PSAs, neither would the stations below the cut-off point for CPB qualification. / 60 Population Each of the fourteen ACPRS member stations have at least five full-time staff members, broadcast 365 days per ,year with a power of at least 3,000 watts and have unmatched non~federal annual budgets of at least $75,000. Of the fourteen stations, nine broadcast eighteen hours per day I :(_the minimum to qualify for CPB support) and the remaining i I :five broadcast 24· hours per day. (See Appendix A for !listing of station data). The ACPRS membership is representative of a diversity ;in the types of licensee, programming formats and market ,size in which they are located. Three of the stations {KCSM, San Mateo; KPCS, Pasadena; :and KVCR, San Bernardino) are licensed to community college idistricts. Two stations (KCSN, Northridge; and KPBS, San !oiego) are licensed to publicly owned state universities~ lTwo stations (KUOP, Stockton; and KUSC, Los Angeles) are ,licensed to privately owned universities. Three stations [(KALW, San Francisco; KCRW, Santa Monica; and KLON, Long 'Beach) are licensed to school districts. Four stations '(KBBF, Santa Rosa; KQED, San Francisco; KPFA, Berkeley; and :KPFK, Los Angeles) are licensed to privately owned found- , . 5 .at1ons p (See Appendix A). The stations' formats vary from primarily classical music (KUSC, KCSM, KUOP, KPBS, KVCR, and KQED) to 61 ! instructional and publ.ic affairs (KALW and KLON) • One ;station's format, KBBF, is bilingual, (English and Spanish) i )public affairs. The others (KPFK, KPFA, KCRW, KCSN, and ' ·: KPCS) broadcast programming that is largely public affairs, . ibut also includes different kinds of musical programs in i ' \varying amounts~ 6 (See Appendix A). The stations cover markets from San Diego in the southern portion of the state to Santa Rosa, which is ,north of San Francisco. Six stations are located.in the ! 1Los Angeles area and four in the San Francisco Bay Area~ i !While these ten stations are located in two of the top : ' :four radio markets in the United States, two medium markets· 1 (San Diego and Sacramento-Stockton) and two small markets 7 :csan Bernardino and Santa Rosa) are represented~ Data Collection Two instruments were used to collect data--personal interviews with the public service directors (the persons in charge of selecting and scheduling PSAs) and a content analysis of program logs. Both measurement instruments :were designed to obtain information necessary to describe ' 'station performance and public service directors' pre- ferences regarding PSAs. For the personal interviews an experience survey.' was 8 used. Selltiz best described the purpose of this method. 62 The experience survey is intended to gather and synthesize impressions based on experiences of persons who live and work near a problem under study. One is looking for provocative ideas and useful insights, not for the statistics of the profession. Thus the respondents must be chosen because of the likelihood that they will offer the contribution sought. Letters were sent to public service directors at all .. !ACPRS member stati,ons requesting time for. an in-person. .·;interview. The letters also included a tentative ,indication of the areas of questioning and requested that i ;. •program logs be available at the time of the interview :and the days of the composite week that were needed. (See i I ;Appendix B). The time and date of the visit to each ;station was confirmed by a follow-up telephone conversation. :Personal Interviews During the interviews with public service directors an interview schedule was used that included the following ;categories: (1) PSA policy and philosophy ·a. Station policy regarding PSAs. b~ Personnel dealing wit~ PSAs. c. Personnel priorities regarding PSAs. (2) The Selection process a. Number of PSAs received and aired. b. Factors affecting selection. (3) The scheduling process a. System of scheduling PSAs. b. Scheduling policy. c. Information retrieval system. (4) Recommendations from previous studies a. . Selection based on ascertainment of w 63 community needs. b. Reporting PSA usage to organizations requesting public service time. c. Distribution of literature detailing PSA policy to organizations ·requesting public service time. The questions used in the' study were based upon :questionnaires and interview schedules used in previous 'studies9 and the author•s experience as public service :director at KCSN. One of the questions concerned the estimated station audience size~ This question was eliminated from the findings of this study because most of the persons inter- ·viewed said they were unable to provide accurate figures ot estimates. See appendix C for interview schedule. ·Content A,nalysis The FCC requires licensed operators at broadcast ·stations to keep two types of records.--one covering the technical operation of transmitters, the other covering the content of programming. The program log is the station's official record of its programming performance each .broadcast day. The FCC requires that program logs be kept in an orderly manner and must be retained for a period of at least two years. All broadcasters are required to enter on the program,log the time a PSA has been broadcast, the duration of the announcement together with the name ofthe organization 64 10 on whose behalf it is made. The content analysis of program logs was based on a :composite week. Days of the ~V'eek were chosen employing a 'sampling procedure used by broadcast stations in presenta 'tions to .the FCC regarding programming. In soliciting program information for a representative week the Commission states that: At the end of each year, it (the station) will select at random a Monday in January or February, a Tuesday in March, a Wednesday in April, a Thursday in May or June, a Friday in July or August, a Saturday in September or October, and a Sunday in November or December ••• The particular days will be drawn so as to avoid holidays and other atypical occasions.ll The following days in 1976 were chosen randomly and comprised the composite week examined in this study: Monday--~-~------February 23 Tuesday------.,...---March 16 Wednesday------April 21 Thursday---.----.... -.-June 17 Friday------August 13 Saturday------October 9 Sunday"-.------.,..--Decernber 12 The information coded from the program logs included the following: (1) Fiequency of PSAs and station promotional announce ments (SPAs) aired. SPAs were coded because they represent the only other announcement type frequently aired on public radio staions. (2) The days PSAs and SPAs were.aired during the composite week. {3) Whether PSAs aired were written or recorded. 65 (4) Length of PSAs aired: a. Ten-second h. 20-second c~ 30..:...second d. 60-second e. Other--longer than 60-seconds. PSAs that were not recorded on the program logs in increments of ten were rounded off. (5) Whether PSAs were.nationally or locally distributed (within the community or communities served by the station or the state of California). (6) Whether PSAs were sponsored by the Advertising Council. Advertising Council PSAs were identified by a list of campaigns it sponsored in 1976. The list appeared in the Advertising Council 1976 Annual Report.12 ·Procedures The personal interviews and content analysis of program logs were conducted at each station examined :between June 9 and July 12, 1977. Each of the interviews· ;lasted approximately 30 minutes. (See Appendix D for data collection information). The interview schedule for KCSN was completed by the :author on June 8, 1977, which was one day prior to the first personal interview. The content analysis of the program logs at KCSN was conducted by one of the station's staff members not directly involved in the public service operation on June 8, 1977. This was one day prior to'the first content analysis of program logs at KUSC on June 9, 1977. Every attempt was made not to influenqe the / respondents' answers while clarifying questions asked. 66 ··, Notes 1 ' Telecornmunications and the Public Interest, p. 34. 2 Long Beach Unified School District, Education Department, : "Locations of Noncommercial Radio Stations in California (1976)," Unpublished map, December 1976. :3Telecomrnunications and the Public Interest, pp. 33~34. :4 , Gales~ p. 49-50~ ;5 . ; Broadcast1ng Yearbook, 1977, Section D. : 6 Ibid~ 7 · The Arbitron Company, "Arbitron Radio Market Area Guide: April 1977-January 1978," (New York, 1977), p. 4. 8 claire Selltiz et~al~, Research Methods in Social Relations (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston; 1959}, pp. 86-87. ;9Questions were derived in part from questionnaires and 1 interview schedules which appeared in the Woods, Gales, Breeze, and Alshouse studies reviewed in chapter two9 ;10Head,. Broadcasting in America, p. 388. . 11 'r Frank J. Ka h n, Documents o f Amer1can . Broad cast1ng . { New · York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1968), p. 204. 12 : The Advertising Council, 1976 Annual Report, p.- 2-13. 67 Chapter Four . RESULTS This chapter reports the information gathered in the ;study. 1 The organization of the information reported here :closely parallels the organization of the interview ,schedule and content analysis of the .program logs. The chapter includes a description of the public service direc-: tors' responses concerning; (1) PSA policy and philosophy; (2) PSA selection processes; (3} PSA scheduling processes; 'and (4) recommendations from previous studies concerning :PSA policy and practices. The final section of the 1Chapter reports information coded from the content analysis :of program logs. Personal interviews were conducted with the persons :in charge of public service materials at all fourteen of the ACPRS member stations. In some of the following tables the total number of responses does not total fourteen or 100 percent because 'the question was not applicable, e.g., questions related to use of recorded materials. A content analysis of program logs of a composite week in 1976 was conducted at twelve of the fourteen ~ stations. At two stations, KUOP and KLON, program logs were not available or PSAs were not logged in a manner that could be accurately coded. 68 PSA Policy and Philosophy All of the stations examined used some of the public service materials they receive. All of the public service directors said they broadcast PSAs as a service to their audiences. Some said they broadcast PSAs because it was a means of training announcers and one respondent said he ·used them because it was required by law. None of the respondents said they regularly solicit public service materials to be aired by their stations. In addition to broadcasting short announcements, eight of the respondents said that they broadcast public service materials within programs that consisted entirely of PSAs. All of these were community calendar or community bulletin board programs with two exceptions: KLON and KCSN broad- cast programs weekdays that are entirely devoted to job opportunities hosted by employees of the California State Employment Development Department. While nine of the public service directors said there was a formal station policy regarding the selection of .PSAs, only two stations (KBBF and KALW) had their policy in written form. However, in both cases the PSA policy ,, ·£.· was simply a general statement concerning operating pro- cedures and FCC rules pertaining to PSAs. interviewed outlined any broad philosophical implications as to why they air PSAs. Even at stations where consideratle staff time was .,.. · 69 ·devoted t6 the public service operation (see Table 3), the . respondents were unable to provide a detailed accounting as to the importance and relationship of PSAs to other types of public affairs programming. A'lthough a general PSA policy at most of the California publ.i,c radio stations examined was -not well defined, every •station had at least one staff member or volunteer to deal :with public service materials. Public Service Staff Table 3 compares th~ stations' paid staff size .with the public service staff size and total staff time per day devoted to th~ public service operation. Table 3 Station staff Compared with Public Service Staff Staff Time Paid Public Service Devoted to $tation Staff Staff PSAs:Each.Day KCSM 9 1 2 hours KALW 8 2 1 hour KBBF 12 1 4 hours KUOP 6 2 1 hour KPFA 20 1 4 hours KQED 8 2 2 hours KUSC 23 1 4 hours KPBS 20 1 20 minutes KCRW 6 2 2 hours KPCS 5 1 1 hour KPFK 27 1 3 hours KVCR 11 4 2 hours KCSN 6 11 2 hours KLON 9 2 2 hours The staff size varied from one pe~son, with occasional ·.~. ~ 70 'assistance from other station employees and volunteers, to 'as many as thirteen during the academic year. While the staff size varied quite a bit, the responsi- :bility for PSA practices and organizational methods were, l for the most part, left to orie person; KLON and KQED :were the only stations where the ultimate responsibility ,was shared by twopeople. Thesize of the station staff ihad little to do with the number of people who dealt with public service materials and how much time they devoted to handling these materials. Stations with the largest paid staffs had only one 'person dealing with PSAs while KCSN which had one more than the minimum full-time employees to qualify for CPB funding (five) had as many as eleven public service staff members. The amount of staff time devoted to PSAs also varied greatly,. from as little as 20 minutes per day to as many as four hours per day. During the academic year the public service staff at KCSN is comprised of·appr6ximately ten students and/or volunteers who perform screening and scheduling duties with assistance and supervision from the public service director. Each member of the staff is responsible for a specific duty each day and devotes approximately one hour per day to the public service operation. During summer months and other school vacation ,_.,cr-. 71 periods the staff is comprised of the public service :director and perhaps one or two volunteers. Despite the small public service staff at most stations, • nine of the respondents said they had the time or personnel i . to rewrite or if needed, improve the quality of the public · ser~ice materials they received~ The most cited reasori for rewriting materials was tohave them conform to ~tation policy. The public service directors that·use the :materials as sent to them said that they did not have the .staff nor the time to rewrite materials or that they did not have the time to train volunteers or students to do so. All of.the public service directors said they .received little or no training regarding the public service .operation at their station before assuming their responsi- bilities; most indicated that they learned the public service operation while working at it. At twelve stations the same ·person decided which spots were aired and when they were aired. During the 'academic year the selection and scheduling process at KCSN is, for the most part~shared by ten students or volunteers with staff supervision. At KLON the public service director decides which PSAs will be used and eight announc- ers or board operators determine when they will be aired. 72 Selection Pr·ocess Although the public service directors cited several criteria for selecting PSAs, their responses fell into two basic categories. All of the respondents said that any material received must contain the five W's of journalism (who, what, when, where and why) and that it must fit their stations' format before it would be considered for use. The following section discusses the respondents' answers to questions regarding selection·ciiteria. PSA Topics Preferred The public service directors were asked to rank in order of preference which PSA topics they believed were most important to their audiences. Table 4 shows the respondents' preferences for PSA topics. Health and education were the causes that the public service directors thought were most important to their audiences. PSAs related to health were the first choice of five respondents while education was the first choice of four public service directors and was ranked second by three, Though it was not ranked as first choice by any _of ·the public service directors, PSAs that related to cultural activities or events were mentioned by six respondents as being one of the major nonprofit cause:,s they_ promoted. ·:.--· 73 ·.Table 4 I PSA Topics Ranked In Order of Preference '·-·' Others (Housing, Cultural Employment, Health Edu·cation Activity Political, Related PSAs Related Related Addiction Station PSAs PSAs etc.) .. KCSM 2 1 KALW 3 1 2 KBBF 1 2 KUOP 1 2 3 KPFA 2 1 KQED 3 2 1 KUSC 2 3 KPBS 1 2 KCRW 1 2 3 KPCS 1 3 2 KPFK 1 2 KVCR 2 1 KCSN 1 2 3 KLON 2 1 Housing, employment, service organizations, alcohol and drug abuse programs were mentioned by many of the public service directors as PSA topics they believed their audiences were interested in. As in the Hanneman study of commercial television, the stations examined showed a strong preference for announce- ments that addressed themselves to social problems over other types of PSAs. 74 Selection Criteria Table 5 shows the public ~ervice directors' responses to questions rel~tive to general selection criteria. Table 5 PSA Selection Criteria I More Cau~e~ Likely to Airs PSAs Exclud=s Not Mes~age use Ad Foreign Reference Station Proinob~d Content c6uricil Language to Money · KCSM No Info. No No Yes No Pre- KALW Yes ference No No Yes KBBF Ye5 Info. Yes Yes Ye~ No Pre- KUOP No · fererice· No Yes No KPFA No Info~ No Yes No KQED Yes Info. No Yes Yes No Pre- KUSC Yes ference N.A. No Ye~ KPBS Yes Info~ No Yes No No· Pre- KCRW No ference No No No No Pre- KPCS No ference No Ye~ No . KPFK No Info . No Yes No No Pre- KVCR Ye~ ference No No No No Pre- KCSN Yes feremc·e Yes Yes Yes KLON Yes Info. Ye~ Yes Ye~ . ~: Cause~ not Promoted~ Six of the re~pondents ~aid that they could not think of any nonprofit cause or acti- . vity they would not promote. Announcements that promote political activities were cited by three ·of the eight, public service directors who said that there were cau5es they would not promote. Two of the respondents said they usually tried to stay away from announcements that 75 :were religious in nature while any subject that might :prove controversial was avoided by two. Only one of the public service directors (Laurel :oanforth of KALW) said she would not promote a cause that :was contrary to the belief of the station management-- ! J l jspecifically, any drug maintenance program~ The fact that half of the respondents said that there ' ;were nonprofit causes.they would not pro~ote indicates that while station policy is not well defined, many public iservice directors avoided controversial PSA topics. Promotiona·l vs. informational PSAs. Half of the 1respondents said they preferred materials that were strictly ·~ source of information. While none of those interviewed , J i 'sai,d they preferred promotional spots (those that make an appeal for money or services), half of the public service 'di,rectors said they had no preference for either informa itional or promotional PSAs. t Eleven of the respondents said that Advertising :council sponsored PSAs were not more likely to be used !than other nationally distributed materials~ However, 'three public service directors said Advertising Council ,sponsored PSAs would be more likely to be used because of .the high quality of the recorded materials. (See Table 13) • Foreign language PSAs. While ten of the fourteen public service directors said that their stations broadcast PSAs in languages other than English, in most cases these 76 announcements were not entered on the program logs. All 'of the ten stations broadcast PSAs in Spanish and KQED and KCSN broadcast spots in several other languages. KQED airs spots in German, Chinese, Hindi,·French, Korean, :Yiddish and Polish. KCSN broadcasts PSAs in German, Hindi,: Hungarian and Yiddish. The public service staff ·at KBBF translates all of the PSAs the station airs into Spanish as part of its :bilinual programming commitment. SCBA. Half of the Southern California public service ·directors said that the SCBA file number was one of the main criteria in the selection of locally distributed PSAs. 'F'o'r'mat. Seven of the respondents said that they would not use materials that made any reference to money in 1either written or recorded spots~ Five public service 'directors said that they would not use materials they :thought were well covered by other media although they did not say how they would determine the extent of usage by other media~ Another five of those interviewed said that the written materials must be ready to read before they would consider using them. Form. The form in which the written materials were received was a major guideline in the selection of PSAs at five stations. These public service directors mentioned such factors as double spacing, capitalization, phonetic 77 spelling of difficult-,.to-pronounce words, and a follow-up or referral telephone number as being major guidelines in their selection of written materials~ Recorded PSA'format. Table 6 shows the respondents' preferences.for recorded materials. Table 6 Preferences for Recorded'PSAs Technical Quality Requires Prefers Main Exact Testimonial Station Consideration Format Length Endorsement L ! KCSM No Reel No No KALW Yes Reel Yes No Preference KBBF Yes Reel No No KUOP Yes Reel No No KPFA No Reel No No KQED Yes No Pre- No No ference KUSC Not Not Not Not Applicable Applicable Applicable Applicable KPBS '- Yes Reel No No KCRW No Reel No Yes KPCS Yes Disk No Yes KPFK Not Not Not Not Applicable Applicable Applicable Applicable KVCR Yes Reel No No KCSN Yes Reel Yes Yes KLON Yes Reel No Yes Content and technical quality were the two most cited i :criteria in the selection of recorded public service- :materiais. Nine of the 'twelve respondents who said they used recorded materials said the technical quality of PSAs was the main determining factor in using them. Three said -,,-:,;_,.: 78 ! that if the content of the spot was worthwile they would consider using it if the quality of the spot was slightly ; below their technical standards, Eleven of the public service directors who said they used recorded materials preferred that they be submitted : on open reel tape because they could be more easily edited and reel-to-reel tape machines were readily available. One :of' the respondents said that materials submitted on disk iwere easier to use because record ~layers were more :accessible than tape machines. None of the public service 'directors said they preferred materials that were sent to :them on cassettes, most saying that either cassette playback machines were not readily available or that the :slow playback speed of cassettes (one and seven eights :inches per second) contributed to less than adequate sound ,quality. Ten of the respondents said that recorded materials .• did not have to be an exact length. The two who required ithat recorded spots be an exact length said they pre- ; . 'ferred 30 or GO-second spots because they fit into breaks 'between programs aired by NPR~ Eight public service directors said that it made'no 'difference if a spot utilized a well known personality in a testimonial endorsement while three said they did and one had no preference. 79 PSA length. The public service directors were asked to rank in order of preference which lenght of spots they used most. The 30-second written spot was the first 'choice,of. eleven respondentsv The 20-second written spot ! ' :was ranked second by eight public service directors, while j i ,the ten and GO-second written PSAs were ranked third and '- fourth respectively by seven respondents. (See Table 15). Only one public service director said that the GO-· :second written PSA was her first choice. Terry Hodel of KPFK, Los Angeles said she preferred GO-second written ~spots because she rewrites and condenses all of the 'public service materials she airs and finds that the longer . materials provide more information to work from. The 30-second recorded PSA was the first choice of ten respondents. The GO-second recorded PSA was the second choice of nine public service directors. However, two of those interviewed said the GO-second recorded PSA. was their first choice because breaks between NPR programs l 'were always exactly 60-seconds. No other length of recorded public service materials ranked significantly. :(See Table lG) • .:._.. -· 80 Requests for Alr Time Table 7 shows the respondents' preferences for types of requests for public servic-: time. Table 7 Types of_Requests for PSA Time Type C?f Source of Station. ·Reg:uest Reguest Addres~ee KCSM Written Non-professional Name KALW Written No preference Name KBBF No preference No preference Title .KUOP Written No preference Title In person No pre- KPFA reg:uest:s No 12reference ference I • ~ No pre_,. KQED Telephone No preference ference. In per :son .. KUSC reque~ts Profes:sional Title No pre- KPBS 'l'eleEhone No preference ference KCRW Written No preference Name In person KPCS reg:uests No preference Titie No pre- KPFK Written Non-Erofe:ssional ference In person KVCR reque:st:s · Profes:sion The public service directors were fairly evenly divided in their preference for the manner in which re- quests for public service time are received. Format of request." Written requests for time were pre ferred by five respondents who said they were less time consuming to process. Another four respondents said they ':"'"' 81 preferred inquires made by telephone followed by the written or recorded material because they could tell :organizations ex&ctly what they required before materials were sent~ Four of the respondents said they preferred requests for time that were made in person because they appreciated .the "personal touch" and were more likely to remember-to use mat_erials. One respondent had no preference for the manner in which requests for time were made. Source of request, Most of the public service !directors (eight) said it did not matter if requests for time were made by a professional public relations firm or .a non-professional representative from the organization benefiting from the announcement. Four of the respondents said they preferred requests from professionals because ·they knew what they were doing and the materials generally required little or no editing. Two respondents said they preferred requests that were ·made directly from a representative of the submitting :organization. One public service directot said that non~ professionals were in the most need of air time while the :other said that "most public relations firms were promoting something." Addressee~ The public service directors were also fairly evenly divided in their preferences on how requests 82 for time should be addressed to the station. Four of those :interviewed said they preferred that requests be addressed to the title, public service director, most saying that personnel changed frequently and materials would be used ,more quickly if they were addressed to a title. Five !respondents said the materials would be used faster if :they were addressed to them by name while the remaining !five said they had no preference for either name or title. The above indicates that organizations seeking PSA 'time from public radio stations should make an inquiry of the persons in charge of airing of PSAs to ascertain their [preferences regarding how requests should be made. Scheduling Process Table 8 shows the public service directors' responses to questions regarding PSA scheduling. While procedures ,for scheduling PSAs varied from station to station, the main differences involved whether or not the station's program logs indicated in advance (pre-logged) which :written and recorded spots were to be aired and when they would be aired. ,Program log Five of the public service directors said that PSAs were pre-logged at their stations. Four public service directors said they pre-logged written spots while recorded PSAs were transferred to carts (enclosed tape cartridges that automatically recue) and.then randomly scheduled by Table- 8 · ·- ~- Station Scheduling Policies ,_ ~:.. ! >, I - I Station Pre-determJ.ned I Pre-Logs Stop Date Multiple _::Number::·of: .. Time of Station PSAs* Lead Time Written Recorded PSAs Times Year KCSM R/W 2 Wks. 6 Mos. 6 Mos. Yes No Yes KALW R/W 2 Wks. 1 Wk. TFN** Yes Yes No KBBF R/W 2 Wks. 2 Wks. 2 Wks. Yes No No KUOP w 2 Wks. TFN TFN. Yes No Yes KPFA *** 1 Wk. 2 Mos. 6 Mos. Yes No No KQED N ·2 Wks. 2 Mos. 2 Mos. No No No KUSC w 2 Wks. . TFN N.A. Yes No No KPBS R ·. 2 Wks. 6 Wks. 6 Wks. Yes Yes No KCRW w 1 Wk. TFN 4 Mos.· Yes Yes No KPCS w 3 Wks. 1 Yr. 1 Yr. Yes No Yes KPFK *** 2 Days TFN N •. A •.. No' Yes Yes -KVCR R/W 2 Wks. ·2 Mos. 2 Mos. Yes No No KCSN R/W 2 Wks. 1 Mo. 2 Wks. Yes No Yes KLON N 2 Wks. TFN TFN.·· Yes No No * ' R/W x Both Recorded and Written; W x Written; N x No pre-l9gging; R ~ Recorded. ** TFN x Until further notice. *** The two Pacifica Foundation stations air written PSAs exclusively during regularly scheduled programs that consist entirely of public'service materials. '· 00 w .. , ..... '~ 84 -the announcers or board operators; Lindsey P~s~more, public se~~ice director at KPBS, said that written spots were re-written on six by eight inch index cards; put i~ a file box and then randomly i scheduled by announcers or board operators while recorded ' material~ ~ere pre~logged after being transferred to carts. The two Pacifica Foundation stations (KPFK and KPFA) air writteri PSAs exclusively during regularly scheduled programs that consist entirely of public service materials. Therefore, there was management level control over which PSAs were aired and when they were aired. At KUSC written PSAs are used exclusively and the time each announcement is to be read is indicated on the written copy of the spot. Judith Schonbach, public service director at KUSC said that the announcers and board opera.,.. tors always read the spots at the approximate time in- dicated on the PSAs. Only two stations (KQED and KLON) do not pre-log or pre-schedule PSAs in any manner. These were· the two stations where two people shared the ultimate responsi- bility for the public service operation~ Both respondents (Scottie Hastie of KQED and Henry Glen of KLON) said the public service staff decided which spots would run. In -, ·. fact, Hastie said the station manager at KQED (Jay Agustin) reviewed and signed every PSA before it· was cleared to air~- · 85 At both stations the board operators or announcers scheduled the PSAs at their di-scretion. Observed practices. At all but two of the stations :written materials were put into one or more three ring i binders (spot books) which were located near the main :broadcast console. At KPBS the written PSAs are placed .on index cards while the public service director at KALW, ·San Francisco attaches the written PSAs to the program log .. Recorded PSAs were transferred to carts at all of the stations that use them. All carts were kept near the main broadcast .console. Although PSA topics were not coded in the content analysis of the program logs, it was observed that if \ members of the public service staffs indicated in advance which spots were to be aired and when they were to be aired there was more control over the variety of PSA topics. In essence, the PSAs more closely reflected the stated pre~ ferences of the public service directors. Twelve of the fourteen public service directors said that all or some of the PSAs were scheduled in advance rather than sel~cted and aired at random. This is one of the most significant findings of the study. It is also .one of the main differences between the PSA practices of commercial broadcasters mentioned in chapter two and the public radio stations examined in this.- study. 86 :Scheduling Policy The public service directors were asked questions about specific policies regarding scheduling of PSAs and .how these policies affected the scheduling process~ j Lead time. The public service directors were asked how long in advance materials should be received before :they would lise them. Ten of the respondents said that the materials must be received at least two weeks before the 'desired air date. Two public service directors said that _they would air materials received one week prior to the desired air date while one required three weeks lead time~ .Because she rewrites and condenses all PSAs, Terry Hodel of KPFK said she could use materials received as little as two days prior to the desired air date. Station stop date. The public service directors were asked how long a PSA would be used if an organization requesting time did not -indicate a specific stop date. The answers ranged from as little as one week £or written materials to as much as one year for either written or recorded materials. Two of the respondents said ~hey had no time restrictions and would run undated materials .until they received new ones. The others' policies varied regarding how long they would retain undated PSAs. The amount of lead time a station requires was an important factor in PSA usage because all of the respondents .,,,...--- .... 87 mentioned that they often received materials too late to air them even though they were still current. Multiple PSAs. As long as spots were not received too often, twelve of the public service directors said :they would schedule more than one announcement from a :single campaign. The two respondents who said that they -would not use multiple announcements from an individual campaign said that it was not fair to other organizations who only submitted one spot. Five public service directors mentioned that most PSAs that did not have stop dates were :recorded and came from organizations that distributed PSAs nationwide. Several of the respondents said that more than one copy or version of the same PSA usually came from profes-· sional public relations firms. However, there was no connection between usage of multiple PSAs from a single campaign and the respondents' preferences for source of materials. Pre-arranged scheduling, Asked if they would agree .to run a spot a pre-determined number of times, eleven of the public service directors said no. The three who did work at stations operated by school districts indicated_they would run a spot a pre-arranged number of times if-· the PSA would benefit their school district. 88 Time of year. The time of year had little or no effect on nine of the fourteen public service operations. The lack of student or volunteer personnel during summer ;and other vacation periods adversely affected PSA usage \ at KCSN. Fewer locally distributed spots were received during summer months at KCSM and KPCS. KPFK and KPFA :limit their usage of public service materials twice each ' ,year (usually in the spring and fall) while conducting on-the-air fund r~ising activities. ;rnformation Retrieval ' Table 9 shows the public service directors' responses I : to questions regarding their information retrieval systems.· Table 9 Information Retrieval Type of Returned Voluntarily ·Retrieval Information Reports PSA Station System Request Form Usage KCSM File Yes Yes KALW None Yes No KBBF File Yes Yes KUOP None Yes No KPFA None No No KQED .None No No KUSC Note Book Yes No KPBS None Yes No KCRW None Yes No KPCS File Yes No KPFK File No No KVCR None Yes No KCSN Note Book Yes No KLON None Yes No / .. '· ... \: ';·'' 89 Type of retrieval system. Other than the program logs,· · eight of the public service directors had no means of · • knowing which organizations' spots were aired. An active and inactive file was cited as a retrieval system for PSA / 'usage by four of those interviewed while two respondents ;said they kept track of which organizations' spots were ·aired by recording the information in a notebook. Only one public service director, Judith Schonbach.of KUSC, kept a record of when each spot was aired. This information was kept in a note book. Return request forms. Eleven public service directors regularly returned postage paid return request forms to sponsor organizations reporting their stations' usage of materials. The three respondents who did not said they had neither the time nor the staff to fill out forms detailing information about their stations' usage of public service materials. Reporting system. While the overwhelming majority of .public 5ervice directors sampled said that other than return request forms, there was no system of reporting PSA usage to organizations that request time, two stations did have such a system. The public service staff atrKBBF and KCSM send out form letters each month to as many ·· organizations as possible indicating the approximate. number of times their spots were aired.; The public service 90 staff at KUSC, the only station with a system capable of i easily retrieving the approximate time a spot was aired, : will send out usage information on request. The fact that few of the public service directors · maintained an information retrieval system other than the : program logs indicates that little thought is given to ! communicating PSA usage to organizations that request time •• - Recommendations from Previous Studies The public service directors were asked if specific : recommendations from previous studies (reviewed in chapter ; two) regarding PSA policy would be feasible at their stations. Table 10 shows their responses to these questions. \ i Ascertainment The first question asked if a policy for the selection of PSAs based on the required ascertainment of community 1 !needs and problems would be feasible. ' Nine of those interviewed in the present study said j such a policy would b~ feasible,. However, four of the i :public service directors said such a policy could only be i ; implemented on a limited basis. While all the stations ihad recently conducted ascertainment surveys, only one (KALW) used the information as one of the guidelines in setting PSA policy. Three of those interviewed who said it would not be feasible to base PSA guidelines on ascertained community needs cited lack of staff as the main/reason. The fact ····----·-·--.-----··------~----·-·--- ··-···-·-· ·--· . ·-·------·-·--- I '/' . I Table 10 _.·,~ I ~. Responses to Recommendations from Previous Studies Regarding PSA Practices--~- Informing Organizations .. When their ·Report Distribute .Improve Station Ascertainment PSAs will air PSA Usage Policy Statement Operation. KCSM No No Yes No No KALW Yes* Yes No No Yes KBBF Yes Yes* Yes* Yes Yes KUOP No No No . No No KPFA No No No Yes No KQED No No No No Yes KUSC Yes No Yes Yes Yes KPBS Yes No No Yes No Yes \ KCRW No No No No KPCS Yes No No No No KPFK Yes No· No No No KVCR Yes No No Yes Yes KCSN Yes No Yes Yes Yes KLON Yes No No No No *Stations already have such a system. \.P 1-' ,~_...... 92 that incoming PSAs do not always reflect the ascertained • community needs was the reason two respondents said such a · policy would not be feasible. Infor~ing Organizations when PSAs would Air The second question asked if it would be feasible to 2 inform organizations when their spots would be aired. ·Twelve public service directors said that it would not be • feasible to inform organizations which requested to know · the time when their PSAs would be aired. All of those who said ~uch a procedure would not be feasible said that it :would be too time consuming and require additional staff. Esequial Velasquez, general manager and acting public service director at KBBF, Santa Rosa, said that the public service staff at his station mails form letters to organizations which informs them when their PSAs will be ~ aired. Report PSA usage The third question asked if it would be feasible to 3 · inform organizations when their spots were -aired •. !ri 'forming organizations when their PSAs were aired was not considered feasible by ten of the public service directors •interviewed, Again, they all said that such a procea:ure ·would be too time consuming and require additional staff. Only two stations (KBBF and KCSM) regularly informed organizations when their spots were ai"red. 93 The two public service directors who said that a voluntary reporting system would be feasible thought a form letter indicating approximate usage would work best. Distribution of Policy statements The fourth question asked if it would be feasible to distribute a brochure or fact-sheet detailing station 4 policy to organizations that requested time. Eight of those interviewed said that it would not be feasible to ·distribute a brochure or fact-sheet detailing their stations~ ; PSA policy to organizations that requested time. Lack of ' adequate staff and expense were the reasons cited by most, 'although several said it was the organizations' responsib~ : ility to find out what the station's PSA policy was~ , While most said that PSA policy could easily be given out . over the telephone, one public service director, Scottie ; Hastie of KQED, recorded his PSA policy and scheduled it :throughout the broadcast day. He then tells organization irepresentatives to listen to the policy statement when it :is aired rather than giving it to them over the telephone~ A form letter or brief style guide detailing station ,policy is being distributed to organizations by four ·public service directors. The remaining respondents said .they thought sending out a form letter detailing station policy would save time. / 94 Improve PSA Operations The final questi.on in this section ·was suggested by the chairman of the author's thesis committee. The question asked if PSAs could be used as a more integral program segment than they currently are. s~ven of the public service directors said they~did not believe that the PSAs could be used as a more integral program segment·. A community bulletin board program was either planned or mentioned as a way of incorporating public service materials into station programming by.four of those inter- viewed. The remaining three public service directors said they thought PSA programming could be improved but couid not say how. Content Analysis The following section reports data coded from .. the content analysis of th~ program logs and howthe infer- mation relates to questions from the interview schedule. At two stations (KLON and KUOP) program logs were not codedo At KLON the program logs for the days requested were not available. At KUOP PSAs were not identified in a manner that could be accurately coded. ·The results of the content analysis of program logs when compared with answers from the interviews gives an indication of the public service directors' knowledge of their operations and station performance. 95 It should be noted at this point that program logs •are subject to the omission of PSAs that have actually been aired·. Likewi:se, PSAs that have not been aired might be indicated ori the program log. j Therefore~ the actual number of PSAs aired may have 'been rrlore or less dependent on how accurately the program logs reflected PSA usage. It should also be noted that . 'practically all PSAs were logged between programs. The public ser~ice directors were asked to ~stimate how many public service materials they received and how many PSAs they aired each· week. Table 11 compares the estimates of the number of PSAs received and aired with the number indicated on the program logs for the composite week~ The estimated number of PSAs received each week ranged from as little as twelve to as many as 500. The estimates number of PSAs aired ranged from 30 per week to 500. As might be expected, the estimated amount of PSAs ::i:-eceived at st.atioris located in the large markets (San Francisco and tos Angeles) exceeded the estimates of PSAs received in the medium and smaller sized markets (San Diego, Stockton, San Bernardino and Santa Rosa). However, tnere was one significant exception. The p·ublic service director at KBBF, Santa Rosa~ a small market station, estimate.Q he received four time as many PSAs per we~k as the public 96 Table 11: Estimate of PSAs Aired Compared with Usage Coded from the Program Logs .. Estimate of Estimate of i PSAs Received PSAs Aired Number of PSAs Station Weekly Weekly Coded from Loss KCSM 50 500 312 KALW 200 30 88* KBBF 75 100 141* KUOP 12 250 --- KPFA 300 120 56 KQED 250 90 39 KUSC 175 140 88 KPBS 50 50 121* KCRW 500 200 24 KPCS 15 125 145* KPFK 40 500 314 KVCR 25 300 52 . /' KCSN 100 200 67 KLON 150 75 PSA total for composite week "" 1447. *Indicates station's pe~formance exceeded public service director's estimate of PSA usage. - service director at KPCS, Pasadena, a station located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The most PSAs aired were 314 while the least aired were 24 during the week sampled. While most stations aired individual PSAs more than once, only the total number of spots aired were coded. Those spots that were aired more than once were not identified. Eight of the respondents estimated they aired more PSAs weekly than w~re coded from the program logs. The estimated PSA usage of four respondents was less than the 97 :number coded from the program logs. The total number of PSAs coded from the twelve 'stations examined for the composite week was 1447. The lmean usage for the twelve stations examined was 126 for the :composite' week. This figure is.more than the mean weekly ~ . . 1 Usage of 93 PSAs coded in the Hanneman content study of 'nine Connecticut television stations mentioned in chapter j two. \ The public service directors were asked what ipercentage of spot announcements were devoted to PSAs !as opposed to station promotional announcements (SPAs}. Table 1'2 compares the estimated ratio of PSAs to :SPAs with the actual number of each coded from the program logs. The total·number of PSAs coded was 1447 while the total number of SPAs coded was 721. PSAs out- ·, numbered SPAs by two to one. The most SPAs aired were 129 while the least aired were five. Only three public service directors carne close (within ten percentage points) to estimating the actual :ratio of PSAs to SPAs aired by their stations. The ratio of PSAs to SPAs aired by public radio stations can be compared with the ratio of commercials and SPAs aired by commercial broadcasters. As mentioned in chapter two, commercials. and SPAs out-numbered PSAs by a ratio of ten to one in the Hanneman ano Woods studie!S; the 98 Table 12 Estimate of PSA/SPA Ratio Compared with Usage Coded from Program Logs i Estimated PSAs Coded SPAs Coded Ratio of Ratio of Station from Logs from Logs PSAs to SPAs PSAs to SPAs KCSM 312 129 71 29 80 20 KAUv 88 5 95 5 50 50 KBBF 141 13 92 8 70 30 KUOP 50 50 KPFA 56 26 68 32 80 20 KQED 39 118* 25 75 60 40 KUSC 88 60 59 41 70 30 KPBS 121 106 53 47 "20 80 KCRW 24 66* 27 73 60 40 KPCS 145 8 95 5 90 10 KPFK 314 41 88 12 90 10 KVCR 52 71* 42 58 60 40 KCSN 67 78* 46 54 40 60 ' KLON 25 75 \ SPA total for composite week ::.: 721. *Indicates stations that aired more SPAs than PSAs. ratio of PSAs to SPAs in the present study was two to one. The fact that only four of the twelve public radio stations aired more SPAs than PSAs is significant in light of public radio's small audience share. Even though :the effectiveness of airing SPAs at public radio stations has not been documented, it is surprising to find that so •many of the stations examined would air more announcements about activities other than their own programming. The public service directors were asked to estimate what percentage of PSAs aired were nationally or locally distributed (within the communities served by the stations 99 or the state of California). Table 13 compares the estimated ratio of nationally 'distributed to locally distributed PSAs with the number :coded from the program logs. The two Pacifica stations ; , CKPFA and KPFK) did not air nationally distributed spots. 'KPFA aired 56 locally distributed PSAs and KPFK aired 314. lather than KPFK, the most local spots aired were 178 while !the least used were 22~ The total national PSAs coded were· ! :371., The total locally distributed PSAs coded were 1076. ' ': Locall¥ distributed PSAs cub-numbered nationally distributed PSA.s by almost three to one. Nine of the twelve public service directors whose :estimates were compared with their stations' usage of I :na,tiona,l and local PSAs came within ten percentage points ' iof est~roating the total coded for the composite week. While the majority of the public service directors' !.estimates . concerning the number and ratio of SPAs to PSAs :were not consistent with the data coded from the program ;logs, six of the twelve respondents whose logs were \available came close to estimating the ratio of national :to local PSAs. The disparity in-their answers to these questions is perhaps a result of the lack of a well defined _station policy regarding PSAs. Table 14 compares the public service preferences' for Advertising Council PSAs with the number coded from the program logs. ,.. I Table 13 ...... }:. Estimate of National and Local PSA Usage Compared with Number Coded from the Program Logs National PSAs Local PSAs Estimated Coded from Coded from Ratioof PSAs: Ratio of PSAs; Station Prosram Lo.gs · . Prosram Log.s · · . Nati.on·al Lo:cal National Local KCSM 134 178 43 57 40 60 KALW 25 63 28 72 25 75 KBBF 52 89 . 37 . 63 . 40 60 _,...... "!-'-'·~ _. KUOP -:-.~.- 50 50 KPFA 0 56 0 100. 0 -100 KQED 5 34 13 87 5 95 .. KUSC 4 84 5 95 30 70 KPBS 20 101 17 83 10 90- KCRW 2 22 . 8 . 92 50 50 KPCS 76 69 54 48* 25 75 KPFK 0 314 0 100 5 95 KVCR 32 20 62 38* 60 40 KCSN . 21 46 31 ... 69 40 60 ,.KLON ...-.-~. ~~. ~----. ~--- 80 20 *Indicates.stations that aired more nationally distributed than locally distributed PSAs. The total of nationally distributed PSAs coded for the composite week ;:-; 371~. rhe total of locally distributed PSAs coded for the composite week x 1076~ l • 1-' 0 0 ·~· _,.. ... _ lOT i.· Table 14 Preferences for Advertising Council PSAs Compared with Usage Coded from the Program Logs More likley Ad Council National Percentage to use PSAs Coded PSAs Coded of National Station Ad Council: · from L:Ogsa from Log:s PSAs Total KCSM No 19 134 14% KALW No 7 25 28 KBBF Yes 4 52 8 KUOP No . KPFA No 0 .o 0 KQED No 0 0 0 KUSC No 0 0 0 KCRW No 0 0 0 KPCS No 10 76 13 KPFK No 0 0 0 KVCR No 6 32 19 KCSN Yes 4 21 19 KLON Yes asource: The Advertising Council, 1976 Annual Report to the American People, 1977, pp. 2-12. Total Advertising Council PSAs coded for composite week ""' 50. Only three of the fourteen public service directors :PsAs than other nationally distributed PSAs because of the i ,_ !consistent high quality of the recorded material. These ifindings were confirmed by the content analysis which showed ; !that Advertising Council PSAs (identified from a list of !1976 Advertising Council sponsored campaigns) accoun~ed for: 'only SO, or thirteen percent of the 371 nationally di~trib uted PSAs coded. All of the Advertising Council PSAs'coded ·.were recorded. Advertising Council PSAs accounted for t:~:r:~~ _I>~:r:C::_~!l:"t:. __ .LUL of the 1447 PSAs coded. A~ mentioned in chapter two, the ratio of Advertising Council PSAs to the total PSAs coded in the Hanneman study of comrne:rcial television stations was one to 40. The ratio of Advertising Council to the i total PSAs coded in the present study was one to 29. The public service directors were asked to rank in order .of preference which length of written PSAs they would tend to use most. Table 15 compares the public service directors' preferences for length of written PSAs with the usage coded .from the program logs. Table 15 Public Service Directors' Preferences:compared with Length of Written PSAs Coded from the Program Logs Length_Co~ed ~r~m PSA Length Preference* -· Program Logs 10-:-second 21 354** 20-second 30 127 30..;,second 49 330 60-second 22 187 Other 0 22 *Length of PSAs ranked first were given four.points, second given, three points-; third given· two points, a·nd fourth given orie point. . **KPFK aired 312 of the 354 ten-second PSAs coded. As mentioned in chapter two, most written. copy ·r.~ceived · by broadcasters is ten, 20, 30 or 60-seconds in lengtb' while the actual time it takes to read· it depends on the 103 announcer. Therefore, in most cases, the length of PSAs coded from the program logs is approximate. PSAs coded "other" were longE::r than· 60-seConds. The PSAs coded "other" ranged from 62 to ao..:..seconds iri length. j The spots were ranked: (1) 30-seconds; (2) 60-seconds: {3) 20-seconds; and (4) ten-seconds. The station5' usage of written PSAs was not consistent ! with the public service directors' preferenc~s for leng~h of written copy~- The spot usage was: (1) ten-seconds; (2) 20-seconds; (3) GO-seconds; and (4) 20-seconds .. However, KPFK aired 312 of the 354 written PSAs that were ten-seconds in length. Without this station the total number of teri-second spots would have been 40 arid the station usage as a whole would have been consistent with the public service directors' preferences. The total .usage of written PSAs for all stations coded during the composite week was 1020. As mentioned earlier in this chapter, twelve of the fourteen public service directors pre-schedul.e or pre-log written PSAs. Of the 1447 'PSAs coded from the program logs; written-materials accounted for 1020 or 70 percerit of~the total. Therefore, it would a~pear that w~itten PSAs stand a better chance of being selected and scheduled than recorded PSAs. It also appears that or-ganizations 104 requesting public service time should consider sending 30- second written PSAs to full-service public radio stations in Cdlifornia if time is a factor or they cannot afford to supply any other materials. i Table 16 compares the public service directors' pre- ferences for.recorded materials compared with usage from the program logs. Table 16 Public. Service Directors' Preferences Compared with Length of Recorded PSAs Coded from the Program Logs : ,'·-:.·,-, Length Coded from PSA Length Preference* Program Logs 10 Second 1 4 20.Second 5 9 30 Second 43 178 60 Second 37 126 Other o· 10 *The length of recorded PSAs ranked first through fourth were given the same numerical values as the written spots. PSAs coded "other" were longer than 60-seconds. Two ipublic service directors declined to rank recorded PSAs ! ; 'and five stations did not use recorded public service· materials. The stations' usage was consistent with their prefer- ences for length of recorded materials. The recorded.PSAs ;were ranked: (1) 30-seconds; (2) 60-seconds; (3) 20-seconds; and (4) ten-seconds. The total usage of recorded PSAs for 105 •;,··· all stations coded during the sample week was 327. Recorded PSAs accounted for less than one third of the total PSAs coded from the program logs. Written PSAs are more frequently scheduled. However, if organizations I must supply recorded materials to full .... service public radio stations in California they should consider sending 30-second recorded PSAs in the event that time or expense 1 is a factor. ! Table 17 shows the public radio stations' usage of PSAs broken down by days within the composite week. Table 17 Stations' PSA Usage Broken Down by Days of Week Station Mon. Tues. Wed. Thurs. Fri. Sat. Sun. KCSM 65 55 48 : 69 60 10 5 KALW 17 14 13 9 17 12 6 KBBF 33 21 35 17 11 9 15 KPFA 25 1 8 13 4 2 3 KQED 5 8 20 0 3 3 0 KUOP -- KUSC 16 11 15 14 11 10 11 KPBS 12 27 17 25 16 0 24 KCRW 1 6 ·o 2 3 9 3 KPCS 16 25 21 34 33 9 7 KPFK 48 44 46 46 38 46 46 KVCR 10 3 18 17 0 0 4 KCSN 14 20 11 7 5 4 6 KLON Total 262 235 252 253• 201 114 130 Weekday total =- 1203. Weekend total =- 247. / .... --- - -·------·------····---"'--·--····-- ·------'~------~------·~------106 Only one public radio station (KPFK) aired as many or more PSAs on weekends. Several stations did not air PSAs j-on certain days~ However, there was no apparent reason i for the omission of PSAs.on those days .. Friday was the only i weekday in which there was a significant difference in the ·' ,number of PSAs aired. The weekday total of PSAs aired was 1203.. The weekend total of PSAs aired was 244. The ;Hanneman 3tudy of commercial television stations {see ! chapter two) also found that ·the majority of PSAs were i iaired on weekdays. ! ' ' 107 Notes 1 Breeze, p. 98. 2 Gales, p. 27-29. 3 rb.id. 4 I . Breeze, p. 99. 108 ~~ l. Chapter Five SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS This chapter includes: (1) a summary of the findings and results of the study; (2} conclusions based on the findings; and (3} recommendations for broadcasters, organizations and individuals who request public service time, and future.studies. Summary The study examined the policies and practices of full~ service public radio stations in California regarding their usage of PSAs. The review of the literature showed that noncommercial radio dates back to the beginning of this century. Channels were reserved for noncommercial educational use in 1938, but only ~ince 1950 has there I ; been a considerable increase in the number of public radio I i stations. However, public radio is a diverse medium and :approximately half of the 804 stations in the country i. . ! 1 today are ten-watt stations that cover only a few miles. I ·r ' In California, as well as in the rest.of the United i States, CPB qualification has been the dividing line': so to speak, between "the men and the boys" in public radio~ The CPB-qualified public radio stations are the ones'¥ho ... :have put it all together in terms of adequate budget, :effective radiated power, consistency of operation, and ·personnel. 109 The most significant difference in the findings of this study of CPB...,qualified, full.-service California public radio stations and those mentioned in chapter two is that the majority of. public service directors interviewed in i the present study pre·-logged or pre.:.. scheduled PSAs. The 'majority of the commercial broadcasters in the previous studies did riot·~ s·tation Policy All o'f the California public radio stations that were examined broadcast PSAs in either written or recorded form, and many of the stations air programs that consist entirely of public ~ervice materials. Though many of the public service directors interviewed said there was a formal station policy regarding PSAs, only two stations had said they regularly solicit public service materials to be aired by their stations. Every station had at least one staff member who · devoted part of his or her day to the selection arid sched~ uling of PSAs~ All of the public service directors inter- viewed s~id that they received little or no training before assuming their duties. Though all of the public service directors performed other duties, many ~aid they had the time to rewrite the materials that are sent to them tq improve the clarity and quality of the PSAs. 110 With the exception of some of the public service directors who worked at stations owned by school districts~ and were influenced to a limited extent by the licensee-- most were free to broadcast any PSAs they believed would I benefit their stations' audiences. Selection Process Health, education, employment, and cultural events were among the topic~ most of the public service directors said were important to their stations' audiencesp More ' than half of the respondents said there were nonprofit ; causes they would not promote. None of the public service directors preferred spots that made an appeal for money, time or services. All of the public service directors said that the l ! content of the materials they received must conform to :their stations' format before the PSAs would be considered ' i for use~ Physical requirements for written copy, such i as size of paper., number of copies,· spacing, capitalization \ 'and phonetic spelling were major factors in the selection of written PSAs at many stations. The technical quality ,of recorded materials was the main determining factor in 'the selection of PSAs by nine of the twelve public service ·' !directors who use recorded spots. Open reel tape was .,I :the most desired format for recorded PSAs. There was no consistent preferenc-e for the manner in ------~- "------·- -~------__ ; which requests for priblic service time are m~d~. The majority of those interviewed ~aid that it did not matter it public service material~ were prepared by-professionals or non-professionals. If fact, some public service directors said that PSAs prepared·by rion..-professionals would be more likely·to be used because they came from organizations that were in the greatest need of time~· scheduling Proce~s The scheduling processes of the public ~er~ice opera- · tions at the majority of the stations that were examined _in thil!l ·study exceeded that of the commercial broadca~ters mentioned in chapter two. While their commercial counter- parts usually had an organized system of scheduling paid advertisments, the public radio stations had no such model. Twelve of the fourteen public radio stations did pre-log or pre-schedule their written and recorded PSAs;· on the other hand, the majority of the commercial broadcasters examined in previous studies did not. Although the PSA scheduling procedures at the stations examined in thi~ study as a whole was systematic, other than the program logs only one·public service director kept a record of which PSAs were aired and the approximate time they .were aired. While thirteen public service directors reported approximate PSA··usage to organizations if requested, only two did so _without being a~ked for the information. / 112 ·Content Analysis of Program Logs The twelve stations whose logs were coded aired 1447 :PSAs during the composite week in 1976. The majority of ·ithe pQblic service directors preferences and estimations regarding PSA practices and station performance were corroborated when compared with material coded in the content analysis of the program logs. ~lthough noncommercial .radio in the United States attracts a much smaller share of the total audience than commercial radio does, it was ,surprising to find that the public radio stations examined in this study air twice as many PSAs as SPAs. Commercials and SPAs out-numbered PSAs by a ratio of ten to one in the :two content studies mentioned earlier. The public radio-stations that were examined aired ;three times as many locally distributed as nationally I . !distributed PSAs. PSAs sponsored by the Advertising ! jcouncil accounted for only three percent of the PSAs coded. Written materials acco~nted for 70 percent of the PSAs coded. Most of the written and recorded PSAs used 'were 60,30,20, or ten,..seconds in length; PSAs most !frequently coded were 30-seconds in length~ Most of the 'PSAs were aired on weekdays, which was consistent with the performance of commercial broadcasters. 'Recommendations from Previous Studies / . Nine of the fourteen respondents sa1d it would be -.,--- .LL.l feasible to base PSA policy on ascertained community needs, although four said it could only be done on a limited basis. One station bases it~ policy on asdertained needs and the other four said such a procedure would not be .feasibte. Only one public service director voluntarily 'informs organizations·who request puplic service time when _their spots would be aired. Ten of the fourteen public service directors said it would be too time consuming to inform organizations who requested public service time when their PSAs were aired. While ten public service directors said it would be too expensive arid time consuming . { to distribute a brochure or fact...:;sheet detailing station policy regarding PSAs, four stations regularly distribute a form letter concerning PSA requirements. Conclusions The vagueness of the public service directors' answers as to-why they broadcast PSAs and the lack of a written policy at most stations indicates that there is ~ittle thought given to the total impact their public service operations have on their ~udiences or to the role the PSA plays in the stations' entire output of public affairs programming. For the most part, PSAs are use~ as a secondary means of fulfilling the public radio stat~ons' obligation to provide programming in the public interest~ 114 Most of the public service directors based their selection policies on personal preferences that were not dicta~ed by firm station guidelines. However, most of the public service directors select and air PSAs that are . i obtained from local organizations--the content of which usually deals with local issues~ The scheduling efficiency of PSAs that does exist at ·the public radio stations that were examined is due primarily to the capabilities of the public service directors-~ This assumption is corroborated by the fact that·most of the public service l!'lta~fs consisted of one person who received little or no training and had no model to base their systems on. Due to the fact that the quantity and quality of PSAs received varied from market to market and even.station to station, a noncommercial radio station's PSA ·operation canriot be judged·solely on the basis of the amount of announcements broadcast. Neither can it be evaluated totally on the merit of the organizational and scheduling processes. The reason a station airs PSAs, personnel devoted to the op~ration, and the quality of PSAs received ' are some of the variablel!'l that should be taken into account when evaluating a noncommercial radio station's public service operation. Of courl!'le there is no doubt that ~well balariced llS system of methodically scheduling PSAs and SPAs throughout the broadcast day is a viable means of providing infer- mation abo~t station programming and important issues relevant to the community. But if the quantity of PSAs i aired does not play an important role in the station's public affairs programming, a low output public service operation which carefully chooses the m~ssages it airs and the times they are aired and schedules a balanced mixture of PSAs and SPAs could be also considered as having an effective announcement operation. If a station airs PSAs only during specific times of the day and limits their content to particular types of f '> local origin (such as a community calendar of events), this could also be considered a viable means of dealing with public service materials provided the system is organized and does not deviate from the overall PSA policy. Even if a station broadcast none of the public service materials it receives, it could not justifiably be judged as negligent by the FCC or by any other entity if the non-PSA public affairs programming aired was of a quality and quantity that accurately reflected the needs and concerns of its audience. ..· It is difficult to evaluate the way noncommercial radio stations as a whole use public service materials. However, the overall performance of the PSA operation at public radio 116 stations will never fully live up to its intended purpose~-truly serving the public--if the organization of that service is not based on some sort of scientific methodology. The fact that there is precedent for the · use of 1 ascertained community needs in the selection and scheduling o.f PSAs indicates that such a procedure could be feasible at public radio stations if:.:...as suggested by four of the public !Service directors_interviewed.;:.-it is ~mplemented on a limited basis. Since all public broad casters with the exception of ten~watt noncommercial radio stations are required by law.to ascertain theneeds of their publics, the logical starting point f6r stations without firm PSA guidelines would be to program PSAs to. those ascertained needs as much as possible~ Recommendations· The following recommendations are ~!lade to improve the announcement operations at public radio' stations and to better communication between the persorinel·in charge of PSA practices and those seeking public service time. Broadcasters While the effectiveness of the announcement operations at public radio stations depends on a number of factors;· the study does suggest some consideration!> for improvement. Dependent upon their resources, public radio stations should develop an announcement operation that includes the / 117 ; following: ' 1._ PSA Policy a. This policy should be based to some degree on ascertained community needs •. b. Public radio broadcasters should determine the extent of their public service operations and define the role of the PSA in relation to their stations' total output of public affairs programming. c. Selection policy should indicate the message content desired. d. Stations should have their PSA polici~s in written form. While it is the organization,_ s responsibility to find out what the stations' PSA policies are, it is the stations' responsibility to have that information readily available if asked ·for. 2. Scheduling System a. Define the ratio of PSAs to SPAs aired. b. Define the ratio of nationally distributed to locally distributed PSAs aired. Local distribution should be defined by station personnel. c. PSAs should be logged in advance by qualified station personnel if possible. 3. Retrieval System a. If personnel and staff time devoted to the public service operation permits, stations should keep a record of which PSAs they use, b. The ·public service director or other ·· qualified personnel should periodically ' conduct a content analysis of the program logs to determine if the public service operation meets the goals set forth in the announcement policy. This 118 would also indicate if announcements have been logged properly. 4. Reporting System a. I£ possible, stations should voluntarily report PSA usage to the organizations who request public service time. b. If a public radio station responsibly handles , _ the public service materials they receive, this fact should be included as part of its public awareness activities. Furthermore, it should be mentioned on the air as a selling point during fundraising activities; but more importantly, it should be brought to the attention of organizations who might be able to provide institutional and corporate support. ! !organizations and Individuals who request PSA Time In order to improve communication between the :suppliers of public service information and the perso~s in ,charge of airing PSAs at public radio stations, represent :atives from organizations should know about the public radio stations from which they desire to receive public ; service air time. The study suggests that organization !representatives make inquiries of the public service. :directors that should include the following; 1. Content of PSAs a. What topics does the public service director believe are most important( b. Which types of PSAs are unacceptable? c. Are references to money acceptable{ 119 2~ Form a. Written 1. What are the specific physical requirements desired? 2. Should copy be ready to read? b. Recorded 1. Does the station air recorded materials? 2. Does the station air recorded PSAs that utilize testimonial endorsements by well known personalities? 3. Does the public service director prefer recorded materials on tape, disk or cassette? · 4, Should a script of the content be included? 5. Length·' .a. What is an acceptable length? b. Must the length of recorded materials be exact? 3. Distribution a~ Is there a . time of year ;· (such as fund raising periods or summer months) when PSAs are less likely to be used? b. Should materials be addressed to the public service director or some other person (never assume materials will be passed on to other station personnel)? c. How much lead time does the public service director require? : d. How many copies should be sent? 4. Information retrieval / a. Will usage information be supplied by 120 the station? b. If usage will be supplied, what format will the station use (return address form, other)? c. When the organization knows its messages have been aired it should thank the public service staff in writing. The organization should also thank the station,. s general manager in a separate letter • . Future Studies The following recommendations for future research are !made: l. It is recommended that further content studi.es be conducted to determine which types of PSAs are aired by noncommercial educational radio stationsft 2~ It is recommended that an examination of educational noncommercial radio stations that are not CPB..,.qualified be conducted to determine what kinds and how many PSAs these stations air. 3~ It is recommended that further research into .the effects PSAs have on the audiences they are intended to reach be conducted. 4. It is recommended that an exploratory study ., be conducted to determine how much money is spent on the production and distribution of / PSAs in the United S~ates. 121 BIBLIOGRAPHY 122 BIBLIOGRAPHY Books 'Emery, Walter B. Broadcastin0 and Government. Michigan :state University Press, 1971. :Frost ~r., S. E. Education's Own Stations. Chicago: :University of Chicago Press, 1937, iHead, 'Sydney, Broadcasting in ·America: A Survey of Tele vision and Radio. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1972. :Kahn, Frank J, Documents of American Broadcasting. New _York; Hastings House, 1968. ;ouaal, Ward, and Martin, Leo A~ Broadcast Management~ New :York: Hastings House, 1968. jselltiz, Claire; Cook, S, W.; Deutsch, M.; and Jahoda, M. :Research Methods in Social Relations. New York: Holt, :Rinehart and Winston, 1959. :summers, Robert E., and Summers, Harrison B. Broadcasting 1and the Public. Belmont Calif.: Wadsworth Publishing Co., ;19 66. :waller, Judith c., Radio the Fifth Estate. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1946 • .Wood, Donald N., and Wylie, Donald G. Educational Tele ;cornrnunications. Belmont Calif: Wadsworth Publishing Co., :1977. Periodicals 1Broadcasting Yearbooks, 1937, 1947, 1951, 1961, 1971, 1977. ,Washington, D~C., Broadcasting Publications. : I Elson, Robert, and Sheridan, William. "Plug Your :conciousness into the Big Broadcast Bank." Public Relations Journal, Vol. 27, No. 11. Eshelman, David. "The Emergence of Educational FM Broad casting," NAEB Journal, Vol. 26, March-April 1967. Greb, Gordon. "Golden Anniversaryof Broadcasting,"Broad - casting Journal, Vol. 3, Winter 1958-5,9. 123 Hanneman, Gerhard J., and McEwen, William J. "Televised Drug Abuse Appeals: A Content Analysis." Journalism Quarterly, Vol. 50, Summer 1973. I lHanneman, Gerhard J., McEwen, William J., and Coyne, Sharon, :A. "Public Service Advertising on Television," Journal of ·:Broadcasting, Vol. 17, No. 4. i "How qoes Your State St.and." Education by Radio Bulletin, Vol, 1, No. 3, February 26, 1931. iLynn,'Jerry-R. "Perception of Public Service Advertising: !Source, Message and R~ceiver Effects." Journalism Quarterly; :vol. 50, Summer 1973. \"Manoff Advocates 'Time' for Public Messages." Broadcasting, :october 30, 1972. !National Association of Broadcasters, "Public Service ;Advertising." Highlights, Vol. 3, No. 7, February 14, 1977. !"There's No Money in it--But You Look So Good." Broadcasting, jApril 21,. 1969. Government Documents. i !California Legislature~ Telecommunications in the Public !Interest: Report of the Joint Committee on Telecommunications.· :De<;::ember, 197 4. !Corporation for Public Broadcasting, An Ascertainment Hand :book for Public Broadcasting Facilities. Office of ·.communication Research, 1976. I :u. S. Federal Communications Commission, Appiication for 'Renewal of Noncommercial Educational TV, FM or Standard !Broadcast Station License, December 1950. i iu. s. Federal Communications Commission. "Ascertainment of !community Problems by Noncommercial Educational Broadcast ;Applicants,· Permittees and Licensees." Federal Register, Vol. 41, No. 59. iu. s. Federal Communications Commission. "Report and,State 'ment of Policy Re; Commission en bane Programming Inquiry." Federal Register, Vol~ 25, No. 7291. / 124 Unpublished Materials Reports and Circulars Adve::::tising Council. "1976 Annual Report to the American People," Washington, D.C~, 1977. The Arbitron Company_ "Arbitron Radio Market Area Guide: April 1977-January 1978." New York, 1977. , Holt, · Samuel C. 0. · (Dir. ) . "The Public Radio Study. " A ! study funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and :the Ford Foundation. Cambridge Massachusetts, 1969. Josephson, Larry~ "Some Possibilities for a National Aware ness Week for Public Radio." A study funded by National :Public Radio. Washington, D.C., October 1977. [Long Beach Unified School District, Education Department. i"Locations of Noncommercial Radio Stations in California ! (1976). '' Mimeographed Circular, December 1976 • . ! \Media Access Center. "Newsletter. " Mimeographed Circular, · 1 San Francisco, September 1977. Southern California Broadcasters Association, "Public Service List of the Greater Los Angeles Area, Mimeographed Circular, June 1977. I !Correspondence, Proceedings and Interviews i \Association of California Public Radio Stations. Minutes of )General Meeting. February. 4, 1977. 'Del Grande, Leon. General Manager KALW, San Francisco, :california. Interview, June 16, 1977. 'Lyness, Richard. President, Association of California :Public Radio· Stations. Memoranda to Station Managers: !July 10, 1975; October 6, 1975. ; Smith, Wallace, President, Association of California , ·Public Radio Stations. Memorandum to Station Managers·, August 1975. ·· Robinson, Clyde. President, Association of California Public Radio Stations. Memorandum to Station Managers, january 21, 1975. / 125 , Master' s Theses : Alshouse, Robert. "An Analysis of the Policy and Practices : of Commercial Television Stations in Florida Regarding Info"rmational Public Service Program Material." Master's :Thesis, University of Florida, 1975. Baransy, Terry. "Utilization of Public Service Time by Military Recruiting Agencies in the Greater Saint Louis Area." Master's Thesis, University of Oklahoma, 1968. :Breeze, Marshall. "Policy and Practices Regarding Public ·service Announcements at Selected Commercial Radio Stations: :A Series of Case Studies;" Master's Thesis, University of jFlorida, 1974. - [Burningham, Robert. "The Programming of Educational (Non -commercial) Radio Stations in California." Master's Thesis, Brigham Young University, 1971. _Gales, Sandra. "Procedures of Scheduling Public Service :Advertising Announcements at Selected Television Stations." jMaster's Thesis, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma, i 1967. - ' Woods, John L. "Factors Affecting the Use of Public Service :Announcements by Illinois Commercial Television Stations ... :Master's Thesis, University of Illinois, 1965. -i J--·· 126 APPENDICES APPENDIX A Califorriia Full-Service Public Radio Stations ... (~ Hours of Station Address Licensee · Operation Power. Format 1700 Hillsdale Blvd. San Mateo County KCSM San Mateo Community College 18 14 KW Classical District 2905 21st St .. San Francisc5-Unified KALW San Francisco School District 18 3.;3 KW-Instructional/ Public Affairs 4010 Finley St. Bilingual Broadca-sting Bilingual/ KBBF Santa Rosa Foundation Inc.· 18 420 w Public Affairs 3601 Pacific Ave. University of the KUOP Stockton Pacific 24 30 KW Classical 2 2 07-Sna-EtuckA\Te. KPFA Berkeley Pacifica Foundation 24 59 KW Public Affairs ...I 1011 Bryant St. KQED Fransisco KQED Inc. 18 ·110 KW Classical University Park Un1versity of KUSC Los Ang~les Southern California 18 29.5KW Classical ,-- Sa-11 Diego- State san DJ.ego State KPBS University, San Diego · University 18 2 KW Classical 2425 16th st.------Sanbi Monica- Unified KCRW Santa Monica School p-istrict 24 26 KW Public Affairs 1570 E. colorado-st.-.-.-~-Pasaaena-c:fty Junior KPCS Pasadena College District 18 3.8 KW Public Affairs 3729 Cahuenga Blvd. W. KPFK North Hollywood Pacifica Foundation 24 110 KW Public Affairs . 1015 Mt. Vernon Ave. San Bernardino . -· KVCR · ·· ... San Bernardino Community College 18 24.5KW Classical District f-1 1\J -....! ~ .. -·· .. Hi: ..;''· Hours·.of Station Address License·e Operation Power Format 18111 Nordhoff St. California State Northridge University, North- KCSN ridge 24 3 KW Public Affairs 1305 E. Paciiic~CoasE-~:L6ng Be-ach-urilfrea-. InsEr-U.Ctional/ KLON Hwy., Lon·g· Be·a·ch · · Schoo'! District· 18 1~.20KW 'Public Affairs \ ., ··/·-- ...... !'.) 00 129 APPENDIX B Letter to Public Service Director~ PUBLIC RADIO 88.5 FM ~CSN COMMUNITYSERVICENOW 18111 NORDHOFF STREET, NORTHRIDGE, CALIFORNIA 91330;• (213) 885-3089 • 885-3090 I am Public Service Director -at KCSN-FM in Northridge. I am also a graduate student who is interested in improving the quality and effectivenes~ of public broadcasting. A~ you know, large amounts of money, time and effort are spent each year on the preparation and.dissemination of public 5ervice announcements to broadcasters throughout the United States. Several studies have been conducted regarding the use of PSAs by commercial broadcaster·s 1 but to my knowledge no re~earch has been conducted to evaluate the use of PSAs by noncommercial broadcasters~ Through my experience as Public Service Director at KCSN, and conversations with public service directors at other noncommer cial radio stations, I've found that public radio stations receive just as many requests for public service time a5 their commercial counterparts~ However, we do not know if public radio ~tations provide an effective means of disseminating the vast amount of PSAs that are sent to them annually. Therefore, there·is need £or an examination of the public broadcaster's use of PSAs, especially in terms of their selectivity. As one of the fourteen CPB-qualified radio stations in California, I have chosen your· station to be part of my study. I would like to interview the i;mbli·c ~ervice director or whoever is in charge of PSAs at your station. The_time of the proposed interview will be specified on an enclosed form or by telephone inquiry. / n RPuplic Radio National Public Radio 'LJ' npr' 130 The interview will take no more than thirty minutes and the areas of questioning will include the following: 1. PSA policy 2. The process your station uses in selecting PSAs 3~ The scheduling process your station uses 4, Whether or not recommendations from previous studies might be applicable at your station. In addition,· a randomly selected sample of program logs will be needed to accurately determine the number and types of PSAs your station used during the past year. If possible, could the program logs for the following days in 1976 be available the day of the interview? Monday, ...... ~ •• ·••••• February 2 3 Tuesday~ @ ..... ~ ...... March 16 Wednesday ••••• ~·~··•••••••·April 21 Thursday •••• ~ ...... ~ ••• , • June 17 Friday ...... @ •••••••••••••• August 13 Saturday •.••••.••• ~~ ...... october 9 Sunday ...... , ...... • ••• December 12 Through this examination of your station's policy regarding PSAs a better understanding of the way these announcements are used at your facility should help not only your operation, but also organizations and agencies which request public service time. A brief summary of the significant findings of this study will be provided if you so desire. I look forward to visiting your station soon. Sincerely, George Wanamaker Public Service Director KCSN-FM L:Ll APPENDIX C INTERVIEW SCHEDULE Name Station Date ------~ Title------ A. PSA Pvlicy 1. What is the estimated size of your audience at any given time! Audience size Other ~------ 2. Does your.station broadcast ?SAst~ Briefly explain ------~ 3o Is there a formal station -policy regarding the selection of PSAS·t':- IT. so, what is it based on?______...... ;,;;.=_ 4. Do you regularly solicit PSAs to be aired by your station?______ 5· Is the responsibility for public service practice and organizational methods left to: a. One person b. A committee------~------c. Other______------~ . Briefly explain------ ~. Does your station broadcast public service materials in some other form? ______If so, what form?______ 7. What is the size of your paid station's staff?------8. How large is your public service staff?------9· Hovr much and what type of training does the staff receive?, b.a. TrainingType of training, time~------______ 10. Does your station have the staff to rewrite or be creative with public service materials?------/ Briefly explain·------~------132 A. PSA Policy (continued) 11. How many people decide which PSAs are aired?------12. How many people decide when PSAs are aired?------13. Approximately what percentage of the public service staff's time is devoted to PSA activities? ------~=------B. Selection Process 14. Approximately how many requests for public service time does your station receive each vreek?------15. What are the major guidelines for selecting PSAs'l a. Written ------ 1 • Recorded ------~------ 16. What PSA tppics do you believe are most important to your audience? 17i.Are there nonprofit causes or activities your station would not promote? ------If so, would you name some activities you have or wquld turn down? ------ 18. Do you broadcast PSAs in any other language besides English?------Please explain______ 19. Do you prefer informational as opposed to promotional PSAs (those that ask for something)? ------~------~------Briefly explain------ / 133 B. Selection Process (continued) 20. 'Hould you pre:fer a spot that utilized a well known personality in a testimonial endorsement rather than one that did not?------Please explain~------ 21. Are Advertising Council PSAs more likely to be used than other national s·pots?------I:f so, why? ______ 22. Which type o:f request :for public service time do you prefer? ae Written b. Request--~------made in person c. Telephone request -- Please explain------23. Do you prefer requests :from a private organization or a professional public relations company?------Please explain ------~------ 24. Do you pre:fer that requests :for public service time be addressed to a specific individual by name or to a title?------Please explain______ 25. 'Hhat length o:f spot do you use most? a. vTritten: :10 :20 :30_ :60 Other------b. Recorded: :30_ :60 Other------Please explain------ 26. vThich format o:f recorded PSAs do you pre:fer? a. '.·Tape: 1. Reel-to-reel 2. Cassette------~------b. Disk (electrical transcription) ------Please explain------134 B. Selection Process (continued) 27. Is the technical quality of recorded PSAs the main determining factor in using them?____ _I_f__ n_o~ 1 _w_h_y~_n_o_t_? ______28. Do you require that recorded PSAs be an exact length'l------If so, why?------C. Scheduling Process 29o On the average, what is the total number of spots aired each week'l 30. What is the procedure used in scheduling PSAs? a.. Written --~------~------ b. Recorded ------~------ 31 •. How long in advance must a spot be received before you will air it? 32. Are national spots run more than local spots?______ 33. Approximately how long would an undated PSA be run at your station? a. Written------b. Recorded------34. Would your station schedule more than one announcement from a single campaign? Please explain______35. Do you ever agree to run a spot a pre-arranged number of times?------Please explain ------~------36. Does the time of the year affect your station's usage of PSAs7 ----'""'"""-- Briefly explain ------~------37. What percentage of spots aired are devoted to the following types of announcements? a. PSAs ------b. SPAs------c. Other------/ \ . 135 c. Scheduling Process (continued) 38. Other than the program logs, is there a. means of knowing the following1 a. Which organizations' spots were aired1------b. When their spots were aired?------39· Do you regularly return forms which request information about your station's usage of PSA materials to the organizations that ask for public service time? If no, why not?______ 4o. Other than return request forms, is there a system of reporting your station:' s usage of PSA materials to the organizations that request _ time? Please explain------ D. Recommendations From Previous Studies 41. Would a policy of selecting PSAs based on ascertainment of community needs be feasible at your; station? Please explain------ 42. Would a system of informing organizations who request time when their spots will be aired be feasible at your station1------Please explain------43. Would a system of regularly reporting to organizations when their spots were aired be feasible at your station?------Please ~xplain______ 44. Would it be practical to distribute a concise brochuxe or fact sheet detailing station policy and practices regarding PSAs to organizations and agencies who request time? Please explain --~------ 45o Can PSAs be utilized and designed to be a more positive, integral program segment than they currently are?------Please explain ------~--~------ / 136 APPENDIX D PersoJ:is-Intervi~wed ~ ., .-Public Service Date Station Director Interviewed KCSM Frank Lam zone June 17, 1977 KALW Lauel Danforth June 16, 1977 KBBF Esequial Velasquel June 15, 1977 KUOP Sandra Henwood June 14, 1977 KPFA Kevin Vance June 17, 1977 KQED Scottie Hastie ·June 16, 1977 KUSC Judith Schonbach June 9, 1977 KPBS Lindsay Passmoore June 23, 1977 KCRW Lloyd Johnson June 13, 1977 ~~>KPCS Winifred Burke June 21, 1977 KPFK Terry Rodell June 10, 1977 KVCR Steve Ward July 12, 1977 KCSN George Wanamaker June 8, 1977 KLON Henry Glen June 9, 1977