RADIO AND TELEVISION 89 ulation has benefited more from the advances in radio broadcasting than people on the land. Radio receivers in the beginning were big and complicated and had Radio and antennas outside the house. They have become smaller and so simple and easy to use that they no longer are the center Television of activity in the living room but are all over the house on desks, bedside Layne Beaty tables, shelves in the kitchen, basement, workroom, barn, milkshed, pickup truck, automobile—sometimes in the tractor and shirt pockets. IF IT'S getting harder to tell the dif- The invention of the transistor, a tiny ference between a farm-dweller and substitute for tubes, enabled manufac- a town-dweller, two of the reasons are turers to reduce the size of receivers so radio and television. that some battery-operated sets now The role of the Department of Agri- fit snugly into pockets and handbags. culture in the development of agricul- Partly because television emerged tural communications through the almost fullblown in the first decade broadcast mediums since the mid- after the Second World War (while it igso's has been to encourage, cooper- took radio 25 years to condition the ate, and supply timely, useful informa- public thoroughly to receiving broad- tion to broadcasters. The cooperation casts), radio has yielded the family had much to do with the progress and gathering places to the television set soundness of our agriculture. and itself has become the more per- Much of the agricultural informa- sonal medium. tion broadcast on radio and television There were 4,142 radio broadcasting originates with the officials, scientists, stations in January 1959 in the United regulatory and service agencies, and States. Americans owned and used market reporting services of the De- more than 98 million receiving sets in partment. homes, 38 million in automobiles, and It reaches broadcasting stations, at 10 million in public places, such as their request, through the Associated restaurants, barbershops, and garages. Press and United Press International We should note here that the broad- and other private news agencies and casting industry in the United States by direct mail and wire. is commercially owned, except for sta- The majority of producers of farm tions owned and operated by educa- products now can receive up-to-the- tional institutions and a few State and minute news of what commodities are municipal governments for educational bringing on the market and what the and other purposes. weather may be expected to be in the Of the stations that went on the air next hour, the next day, the next week. in the first years after the First World War, some still stand out, as they have AGRICULTURAL LEADERS have been through the years, for their contribu- heard to say, "If we didn't have radio tions to agricultural advancement, now we'd just have to invent it." their devotion to the informational Radio has become a workhorse of needs of rural people, and their sup- agricultural communications. It is the port of improved agricultural practices, medium that brings news and informa- community development, and home- tion as soon as it is available on a day- making. in, day-out, work-a-day basis. Station WHA, operated by the Uni- Probably no single group in the pop- versity of Wisconsin, in Madison, and 90 YEARBOOK OF AGRICULTURE 1960 KDKA, Pittsburgh, were among the WHAS, Louisville; WHO, Des first stations to offer market and Moines ;WCCO, Minneapolis ; KVOO, weather reports on a regular basis. Tulsa; KMBC, Kansas City; WOAI, KDKA celebrated its 35th year of San Antonio; WNAX, Yankton, S. market news broadcasting in May Dak.; and WOC, Davenport, were 1956. WHA and the experimental sta- among the early birds. So were WBAP, tion that preceded it in Madison had Fort Worth; WSM, Nashville; WKY, done some market newscasting before Oklahoma City; WEAF (now WRCA) then. New York; WCAU, Philadelphia; Both stations have continued to serve WON, Chicago; WOW, Omaha; farmers with daily broadcasts designed WWL, New Orleans; KNBG, San especially for the farmers of their area Francisco; KFI, Los Angeles; KJR, and have given the Nation some out- Seattle; WTAM, Cleveland; and standing talent. Milton E. Bliss broad- others. cast over WHA a long time before he Now, in 1960, easily a thousand sta- became agricultural representative of tions have some regular farm programs. the National Broadcasting Company In 1958, 1,472 radio stations and 165 network and producer of the 31 -year- television stations were carrying mar- old National Farm and Home Hour. ket new^s information regularly, mostly Frank E. Mullen, once a writer for on a daily basis or oftener. farm magazines in Nebraska and Iowa, Some who listen to these broadcasts got the idea of a network farm program may not realize that the information w^hen he worked for KDKA and, after they receive w^as collected by Federal joining NBC, worked out arrange- or Federal-State Market News services. ments with the Department of Agri- Nearly always arc the radio market culture, which launched this daily news reports adapted to the specific program as a joint effort of the De- needs of the listeners. A city station partment and the network. KDKA may broadcast a report of local whole- included a farm program director on sale prices and prices received by ship- its regular staff until 1957, when its pers for nearby products. A station programs were revised. serving a producing area may report Of the many stations that have done on local prices, prices paid in city outstanding service to agriculture, I markets, and shipments currently mov- cite a few. ing from the area. WLS, Chicago, in the early 1920's These reports sometimes are written tuned itself in on the agriculture of its by a market news reporter or an em- section and broadcast throughout the ployee of an area office of the Agricul- day with the needs and likes of its rural tural Marketing Service. Usually the listeners in mind—programs of farm reports are written by employees of the news from the area and from Washing- station on the l^asis of items furnished ton, farm advice, foot-pattin' music, by the market wire service through markets, weather, sermons, interviews one of the news services. Some radio with farmers, interviews with visiting stations have lines into the market brides and bridegrooms (and regularly news offices for direct on-the-air re- they came, on their honeymoons in ports by market reporters of the De- Chicago, to visit Arthur C. Page and partment. his WLS Dinner Bell Hour every week- Weather information comes princi- day noon). pally from the United States Weather Cincinnati's WLW boomed out mar- Bureau, although some stations em- ket news and weather, farm advice, ploy their own meteorologists, who and results of experiments on its own supplement Weather Bureau data farm on a powerful signal heard over with their own analyses. Many sta- most of the continent in those early tions use private weather services. days of broadcasting. It still does. The United States Weather Bureau, RADIO AND TELEVISION 91 with its forecasting and reporting with the Department in 1928 inaugu- services, was a part of the Department rated the daily National Farm and of Agricuhure from 1891 until June Home Hour on the network, with 1940. It is now an agency of the regular originations in Chicago and Department of Commerce. Washington and live features from Farm broadcasters take a keen in- other places. The Hour later became terest in the weather reports. Partly a weekly program and since 1945 has because of their urging, the Weather been sponsored by a manufacturer of Bureau offered special agricultural farm equipment. The Department has weather forecasts, geared to seasonal cooperated with the American Broad- activity on farms, and inaugurated a casting Company since 1945 ^^ P^^" 30-day forecast. It also began studies senting a weekly network program, of longer-range trends. the American Farmer. It was not always thus. In the early For several years, the Columbia 1920's, when radio stations were less Broadcasting System radio network numerous, some landsmen learned to carried the Columbia Country Journal make their own predictions from more on a weekly basis. More recently, or less sketchy reports they picked up CBS has covered agricultural news on distant stations. along with general news. The Mutual I once got a letter from an old Broadcasting System radio network in- rancher in southern Texas telling of an augurated a daily lo-minute program experience in which he saved his herd of farm news. because over a Kansas City station he Meanwhile, more and more stations heard a mass of cold air was moving added specialists in farm broadcasting down from Canada. In his Model-T to their stafli's. and with the help of an ancient slab- Several of the farm broadcasters met sided steer, whose lofty horns he could in Columbus, Ohio, in 1943, and see at the front of the herd when formed a professional organization, lightning flashed, he maneuvered his which shortly became national in cattle to safety just in time. membership and took the name of National Association of Radio Farm ADVANCES in rural electrification and Directors. These men and women have increased programing of farmer-in- become widely known as "RFD's," terest material have put radio receivers thus capitalizing on the happy coin- in more than 98 percent of the Nation's cidence of initials that already were farm homes. One big reason for the identified with rural communication. rise in the amount of farm broadcast- When farm programs became popu- ing and the number of stations is the lar in television, the organization re- profit afí'orded by commercial broad- named itself National Association of casting. Television and Radio Farm Directors. Manufacturers and sellers of equip- The Department cooperates with ment and goods bought by farm and NATRFD and its members and all ranch people found that radio ofí'ered broadcasters of farm programs. Mem- an effective advertising channel. That bership in NATRFD in 1960 included made possible more broadcasting of more than 200 active and 160 associate all kinds than a tax-supported broad- members in the United States and casting system, without commercial Canada. participation could do. Requests from radio stations to the THE FARM BROADCASTER on both Department for material to use in radio and television has become a new, farm broadcasts led to the establish- refreshing character on the American ment of a radio service in the Office of scene—with some latter day counter- Information in 1926. The National parts abroad, especially since our tech- Broadcasting Company in cooperation nical assistance program began. 92 YEARBOOK OF AGRICULTURE 1960 Usually he is a young man, who LITTLE TELECASTING was done in the enjoys seeing and talking with people United States before the end of the and talking about them. He is known Second World War, but the following personally by many of his listeners. decade saw forests of TV antennas His services include more than regu- grow on rooftops as new stations went lar programs. He may give special on the air and cheaper receivers be- broadcasts from field events and spe- came available. In some American cial short courses on the air (on such cities the number of television receivers subjects as livestock feeding). He may exceeded the number of bathtubs. have organized tours of farmers to Television, already well advanced points of interest in North America technically, came to the broadcast- and overseas. He may sponsor agri- conscious public when restrictions on cultural field events, such as land judg- manufacture were relaxed after the ing contests, usually in cooperation war. At first programs were given only with the experiment stations or exten- a few hours a day. Before long, the sion services. broadcast day of most stations ex- Some stations offer scholarships in tended from early morning until mid- farm broadcasting to promising college night seven days a week. students. A dozen or more farm broad- By January of 1959, there were 564 casters at one time were winners of television stations on the air and 49 scholarships offered by Ed Mason, million receiving sets in 45 million John Merrifield, and their successors homes. Among farm homes, 73 per- at WLW, Cincinnati, and Chuck cent had television receivers. Worcester and his successors at WMT, Television made good use of weather Cedar Rapids. Other young broad- maps for explaining weather fore- casters got a start working with such casts—probably a reason for a new pioneers as Art Page at WLS, Chicago; public understanding of meteorological Herb Plambeck, WHO, Des Moines; terms and the eccentricities of weather. Emerson Markham, WGY, Schenec- Even to a greater degree than radio, tady; and Sam Schneider, KVOO, television stations employ meteorol- Tulsa. ogists for this service. Others often Several farm broadcasters were present weather information by farm launched by George C. Biggar when directors or other staff members. Like he held administrative posts at WLS the radio stations, all draw upon the and WLW. Later Mr. Biggar became services of the Weather Bureau for president and owner of WLBK, De data, although some supplement this Kalb, 111., and producer of his own with information from private forecast- farm programs. ing agencies and their own observations. Some farm broadcasters have moved Telecasting of farm programs on sta- on to other posts of honor. Phil Alampi, tions operated in conjunction with once a poultry farmer and farm broad- radio stations has been done mostly caster over WABC and WRCA, New by the radio farm director. York, became Secretary of Agriculture Television is universally popular, of New Jersey. Two high officials in but it seems to have a special appeal the National Grange once were presi- for persons on farms and in small dents (as was Mr. Alampi) of the communities. NATRFD. They are Roy Battles and Most stations provide news about C. W. (Jack) Jackson, who left WLW, livestock and produce markets and Cincinnati, and KCMO, Kansas City, varying amounts of other kinds of respectively, to serve the Grange in information for farmers. Washington. Jack Angelí was a news- Farm telecasters make extensive use caster for NBC before he became of the motion picture camera to bring director of radio and TV activities for outside scenes into the studio, although the American Farm Bureau Federation. studio presentations of interviews. RADIO AND TELEVISION 93 how-to-do-it demonstrations, and stud- sates for the difficulties. Some of the ies of livestock, poultry, and plants, most efl'ective farm programs originate have been popular. in studios, however; they present live The use of the video-tape process for animals, plants, and so on and such delayed telecast of programs has be- features as interviews with farmers and come popular since 1958. specialists who have something useful A growing number of stations have to say to farmers. been'equipped to originate programs in color—a promising development for RADIO AND TELEVISION are important agricultural programs because the aids of field workers of the Depart- natural color of pastures, fields, crops, ment of Agriculture. and animals adds a useful dimension Many stations, whether they employ in telecasting. full-time farm program directors or The Radio and Television Service not, make broadcasting facilities avail- participated in early color television able to extension workers and to field research with the National Broadcast- representatives of agencies like the ing Company. Forest Service, Farmers Home Admin- Most of the early "farm" television istration, Soil Conservation Service, programs dealt heavily with vegetable and Commodity StabiHzation Service, and flower gardening for the logical who are frequent guests on programs reason that most of the television re- and are consistent sources of informa- ceivers at the time were in urban tion of significance to farmers and homes. The earliest farm programs in other people. color followed that pattern. One gar- Federal, State, and county agricul- den program in Washington switched tural agents in 2,415 counties made to color in 1959, with enthusiastic 288,408 radio broadcasts in 1958. In approval by the sponsor, a commercial 1,441 counties they made 18,584 tele- nurseryman. Video-tape in color was casts. County home demonstration used by some stations in 1959. agents in 1,813 counties made 81,076 An example of the value to farmers radio broadcasts and in 917 counties of television: A hog raiser in Arkansas made 6,490 appearances on television. saw a picture of a hog sufí*ering from These agricultural workers believe vesicular exanthema, a serious disease the eiïectiveness of their efí'orts is ex- of swine. This picture had been sent tended to more people than is possible out as a part of the Department's tele- on a person-to-person basis. Some of vision package feature service for farm these agents broadcast "live" from telecasters. their offices over facilities placed there No case of vesicular exanthema was by the radio station. known to exist in Arkansas at that Every State agricultural service has time, but the farmer recognized on the its staff of information specialists, some TV screen some of the symptoms he of whom help extension specialists and had noticed earlier in his own herd. county agents manage their broad- He quickly called his veterinarian, who casts and often do radio or TV broad- confirmed the symptoms, treated the casting over a station operated by a hogs, and stopped what might have land-grant college. been a costly outbreak of the disease Another outstanding development in Arkansas. has been the rapid growth of educa- Many television programs showing tional television. The 44 educational "how-to-do-it" techniques are tele- TV stations on the air in i960 mostly cast, but the full potential has not been were on college and university cam- realized. Several telecasters originate puses. live programs or filmed programs on The first use of educational TV farms. Live pickups pose production facilities was to extend classroom in- problems, but authenticity compen- struction, but most stations began to 94 YEARBOOK OP AGRICULTURE 1960 offer evening programs for adults. RED Letter from the Radio and Tel- Directors of ETV stations have indi- evision Service, which alerts them to cated an interest in more service to agricultural news and events and the agriculture by broadcasting to rural services available to them. Many people or by broadcasting more in- women broadcasters receive the weekly formation useful to consumers. Be- 'Tood and Home Notes,"-issued by the cause ETV lacks the commercial ob- Press Service. Other Department pub- ligations of other stations and offers lications—new bulletins, pamphlets, longer features into which a subject and books—are sent them on request. can be probed to a greater depth, ETV Motion pictures are made by the may become an important factor in Department especially for television public understanding of agriculture. use. They are notable experiments in The use of broadcasting by agricul- low-cost filming. Most of the motion tural workers and by guest appearances pictures on file have been cleared for of farmers has done much to increase television use and are available. Cat- the public knowledge of farm life, pro- alogs of the films are issued by the duction of our food and fiber, market- Motion Picture Service. ing, and processing. Many stations make direct inquiry THE EFFECTIVENESS of radio broad- to the Department for information of casting by professional farm broad- specific nature. Practically all are casters and agricultural workers has served by the wire services, which been enhanced by the use of the mag- maintain representatives at the De- netic tape recorder. partment. Recordings of various kinds, espe- Regional, State, and national offi- cially the electrically transcribed disk, cials of the Department are interviewed or platter, have been in use by radio frequently in Washington and during stations almost since the beginning of their travels through the country. commercial broadcasting. Farm broad- The Department's Office of Informa- casters have utilized this facility for tion prepares a weekly package— delayed broadcasts when duty or con- "Agri-Tape"—of recorded features, venience required them or their broad- which are duplicated regionally and cast guests to be away from the studios redistributed by land-grant colleges at the time of broadcast. The thrill, or and farm organizations. About 350 disillusionment, at hearing one's own stations used the recordings in i960. voice for the first time as others hear Other radio services of the Depart- it is an experience never forgotten by ment reach other millions. thousands of broadcast guests. Three television feature packages are Because the early equipment for issued by the Radio and Television making transcriptions away from the Service in cooperation with various studio was not easily portable, record- agencies. They reach 10 million view- ings from farms and laboratories were ers each week. The services included not widely used until small, light still pictures with suggested scripts for recorders were developed about 1947. the convenience of TV performers. Every farm broadcaster now uses them One service is for farm programs, for bringing the voices and sounds that one for consumer information pro- otherwise arc not conveniently trans- grams, and one. Research Roundup, ported physically to the studios. Many for general news programs. More than county agents and other agricultural 200 stations used the services in 1960. workers who broadcast regularly use Most broadcasters receive Depart- portable recorders in their offices and ment news releases in the field of their on field trips. Many recorders are bat- special interest and daily summaries tery operated and can be used far from of all releases. electric lines. Farm broadcasters receive the weekly Short-wave radio as a means of two- THE ROLE OF A FREE PRESS 95 way communication on some large in any other country of the world. A farms and ranches adds to the efficiency listing of daily papers in 1958 showed of operations. Telephones in automo- a total of 1,969, whose aggregate cir- biles, used in many professions, serve culation was almost 57 million. In farm broadcasters as well as operators addition, almost 600 Sunday news- of large landholdings as a means of papers have a circulation of nearly 50 staying in touch with headquarters million. The United States, with 7 and with the outside world while mov- percent of the world's population, ing from place to place. An adaptation absorbs nearly 60 percent of the world of the walkie-talkie has been used to output of newsprint. We have a direct the activities of work crews. highly developed system of news When sight is added to this use of transmission, including two world sound, foremen and managers will be news agencies—the Associated Press able to direct the work of employees and United Press International. by means of the television screen, just Nearly 10 thousand weekly papers as closed-circuit television devices are with circulation totaling many mil- used to check on the numbers of box- lions also help to keep people informed. cars in freight yards, in banks to verify Hundreds of trade publications have signatures, in railway ticket offices to a special readership. More than 400 confirm space reservations, and in hos- publications devoted primarily to pitals to keep an eye on patients. It agriculture have a circulation of more takes no strenuous exercise of imagina- than 30 million. tion to predict the use of color televi- About 85 percent of our total adult sion in various types of inspection in population read one or more news- processing plants. Such activities were papers, and 65 percent read one or technically possible in i960, as was more magazines more or less regularly. two-way telephone vision. More than 80 percent of our rural farm families take a daily or weekly newspaper, and 70 percent receive at least one magazine. Farm people spend an average of 30 to 60 minutes daily in reading magazines and news- The Role of papers.

ALL THIS provides a favorable cli- a Free Press mate for the diffusion of useful and up-to-date information on develop- L E. Childers ments relating to agriculture. The press is an important channel for the diffusion of new ideas and the find- ings of agricultural research among MUCH of the credit for the transfor- farmers. mation of agriculture from a horse- Much of the agricultural research and hand-labor occupation into a in the United States is done by Federal dynamic mechanized aad scientific and State experiment stations. These business must go to the vigorous agencies take the position that re- support of our newspapers and maga- search is not completed until it has zines, including a strong and enter- been fully reported to the people who prising farm press. Recognition of the need it and can use it. right of the people to know, written The basis for this view is found in into our Constitution by the Founding the Organic Act of the Department of Fathers, has served agriculture well. Agriculture, which provided that one More newspapers and periodicals of its duties is 'Ho acquire and diffuse are published in the United States than among the people of the United