California State University, Northridge Policy And
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
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