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Xerox University Microfilms 300 North Zaob Road Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106 75-11,435

TAYLOR, Michael 13 , 1942- BEN DARROW AND THE OHIO SCHOOL OF THE AIR.

The Ohio State University, Ph.D., 1974 Education, curriculum development

, Xerox University Microfilms fAnn Arbor, Michigan 48106

© 1975

MICHAEL WILLIAM TAYLOR

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

THIS DISSERTATION HAS BEEN MICROFILMED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED. BEN DARROW AND

THE OHIO SCHOOL OF THE AIR

DISSERTATION

Presented in P a rtia l F u lfillm e n t of the Requirements fo r the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School o f The Ohio State U niversity

By

Michael W illiam Taylor, B.S. in B.A., M.A.

****

The Ohio State U niversity 1974

Approved by

Adviser [" College of Education ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The author wishes to acknowledge Professor I. Keith Tyler of the Ohio State University College of Education for his help in

preparing this dissertation.

Professor Tyler offered proper measures of guidance, en­ couragement, and, at times, prodding that the author needed to bring this paper to fruition. In addition, Dr. Tyler and his wife,

Margaret, were kind enough to provide their personal recollections o f Benjamin Harrison Darrow and the Ohio School o f the A ir.

Special thanks is also due Mr. Darrow's surviving family.

Personal interviews with Richard Darrow, Robert Darrow and Mrs.

Helen Thornhill, provided the author with a degree of perspective that was unobtainable any other way. Additionally, Mrs. Thornhill provided fam ily documents that proved to be o f great value in the study.

The author is also indebted to the Payne Fund of Cleveland.

The Fund made available numerous records and correspondence th a t were useful in documenting the early days of educational broadcasting.

Gratitude is also extended to Ms. Elizabeth A. Aino for her secretarial and editorial assistance in preparing this manuscript.

i TABLE OF CONTENTS

I . INTRODUCTION...... 1

Scope...... 12 Significance of the Study...... 13 Methodology...... 14 Footnotes for Chapter I ...... 23

I I . EARLY EXPERIMENTS IN EDUCATIONAL BROADCASTING...... 26

Footnotes for Chapter I I ...... 42

I I I . BEN DARROW's EARLY LIFE...... 44

Footnotes for Chapter I I I ...... 53

IV. THE ATTEMPT TO FOUND A NATIONAL SCHOOL OF THE AIR...... 55

Footnotes fo r Chapter IV ...... 75

V. THE EARLY OHIO SCHOOL OF THE AIR...... 79

Footnotes for Chapter V ...... I l l

VI. THE OHIO SCHOOL OF THE AIR DURING THE DEPRESSION...... 116

Footnotes for Chapter VI ...... 144

V II. THE END OF AN ERA...... 147

Footnotes for Chapter V II ...... 171

V III. ANALYSIS AND COMMENTARY...... 174

Footnotes for Chapter V III ...... 203

i i IX. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS...... 205

Major Findings...... 207 Conclusions...... 218 Impact of Rural Background ...... 218 Impact of Education and Early Employment ...... 220 Impact o f Drive and In itia tiv e ...... 223 Impact of Personal and Educational Philosophy... 225 Impact on Educational Radio ...... 227 Implications of Darrow's Project for Today ...... 229 Resistance to Innovation ...... 230 Financing of Educational Broadcasting ...... 231 Role of Educational Broadcasters as Critics 233 Questions for Further Study...... 234

BIBLIOGRAPHY...... 237

i i i CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

The early educational broadcasters must have been dreaming men, phantasts enthralled with an idea. No one before them had suggested tha t thousands could be educated simultaneously, but in the e a rly 1920's, radio promised to make th a t possible.

Who could invision French lessons being beamed across the ether to thousands? They could. Who but dreamers could imagine the governor of the state addressing a mass of children in distant class­ rooms? They believed it possible. Was it only a fool who could conceive of students singing to the accompaniment of a piano being played miles away? The early educational broadcasters did not think so. Like others before them who relished adventure, they cast their lot with a promise.

There was magic in the orange glow o f a De Forest vaccum tube and the sizzle of electrons, passing through a capacitor could excite more than the ether. Battery acid didn't smell that bad. If a person really loved radio and the prospects it engendered, electrical shocks were l i t t l e more than flir ta tio n s .

It was a daring proposal to assert that a jumble of wires would one day become an important tool fo r educating the masses.

There was no precedent. Except fo r the stereoscope and an occasional

1 2 instructional film , "King Textbook" ruled the schoolhouse.

Radio was new and the fledgling medium had its critics. There were those who dismissed i t as a fad, c e rta in ly u n fit fo r something so esoteric as education. Others were less skeptical, yet s till saw problems in utilizing radio as an instructional tool. Would pupils respond to the new medium once the novelty had word off? What about static and other interference that might disrupt the attention of school children? Wouldn't instruction by radio lim it the face-to- face contact of student and teacher? The critics had many such questions.1

No matter; the proponents of radio education were sold on the idea. Not long a fte r the f i r s t commercial broadcast in 1920, various individuals throughout the country began to experiment with instruc­ tion by radio. The early experimenters had problems.

Many o f the early educational broadcasts were operated w ith unpaid and untrained s ta ffs and a number o f the programs had to de­ pend upon the donated a ir time o f commercial broadcasters. The bulk o f programs were operated independently by various schools and colleges, and for the most part were sporadic, ill-funded, and sorely lacking in organization.2 It soon became clear that if educational broadcasting were to endure, a permanent, large-scale program had to be set in motion. The problem was, who was to act as the catalyst?

Someone once remarked that "precious institutions are bu ilt upon a single man's conviction that there is a job to be done." That was the kind of man educational broadcasting needed. He materialized 3

In the person o f Ben H. Darrow.

He got his start in radio at WLS in Chicago, where he had been in charge o f ch ild re n 's programming. A former country school teacher,

Darrow had been reared in the farm country of Central Ohio. He had been involved in youth work ever since leaving college and had been a county YMCA secretary before migrating to Chicago. In his college days at Ohio State University, he had sold advertising and life in­ surance. ^ The experience as a salesman would pay o f f fo r Darrow and in later years would profoundly affect his life-style.

When ideas struck Darrow, he pursued them w ith Kiplingesque zeal. Ideas were products to be sold, merchandise to be vended, and

Darrow hawked w ith the ardor o f a merchant. "He was a promoter,"^ some said, a description Darrow himself would not have denied. He

"sold" ideas. He dealt with "prospects." Life was a marathon sale.

It was Darrow's ab ility as a promoter-salesman that contrib­ uted in large part to the flourishing of what was to become one of the most successful early experiments in educational broadcasting. The

Ohio School o f the A ir, which from 1929 to 1937 was a leader in radio education, emerged largely from Darrow's drive, enthusiasm, and optimism.

He was a product o f the American mid-west. Country-raised,

Methodist, Republican; a m illion others could lay claim to the same background. Yet, there was*something distinctive about this man that set him apart from his fellows.

In the classical s p ir it o f Americanism, Darrow was upwardly 4 mobile, but a higher purpose always seemed to guide him. He was gen­ erous to a fa u lt, and during the Depression, came to be known as an easy mark to some of the unfortunates who roamed throughout the

Thirties. His generosity, however, indicated a larger penchant for sentiment and an emotional system that operated at the surface. Darrow was equally at home laughing at one of his own jokes, crying at a play, or walking alone in the woods. "Hooray fo r lif e " was the embodi­ ment of his philosophy. He was an eternal optimist.

He was imbued with the pioneering s p irit, and he recognized this aspect of his personality. "I have been something of a pioneer right along," he once remarked, "always preferring the uncertain with great possibilities to the rather tame certainty."*5 He had, in fact, been an inventor and for a while tried to market a device that turned from a kitchen table into a bathtub that could be used by farm fami­ lie s who had no p lu m b in g .^

I t was th is inventive, dynamic pioneer who in September of

1927 set out to found a National School of the Air. By this time,

Darrow had landed a job w ith the Payne Study and Experiment Fund o f

New York, an interested friend of educational innovation.

Darrow's job was to act as coordinator to make the National

School of the Air a reality. He sought out a variety of sources he hoped would bring the project to fruition. Broadcast outlets offered free air time but insisted that funding for the National School of the

A1r be assured from other sources. Numerous educators backed the idea; none were able to lend financial support. Later though, naturalist 5

and political figure Gifford Pinchot, offered to finance the project

on a temporary basis.

National broadcasting chains were intensely interested in the

proposal. They said, nevertheless, the educational profession as a whole had not evidenced enough interest in the plan for a radio school.

Darrow set out to prove th a t, indeed, the rank and f i l e educator was

deeply interested in the proposal.

After the Payne Fund provided money for a survey of teacher attitudes, a Preliminary Committee on Educational Broadcasting was organized. Chaired by Olive Jones, former president of the National

Education Association, the Committee consisted of forty educators from various parts of the United States.

The Committee mailed out surveys to determine nationwide in ­ terest in the National School of the Air plan. A cover letter went along with the questionnaire; its purpose to dispel widely held fears that education by radio might, among other things, degenerate into academic show business.

Three thousand questionnaires were sent to various teachers and education executives throughout the country. Although only a little more than 500 replies were received, nearly all of them enthusiastic­ a lly endorsed the proposal. I f any encouragement had been generated by the response, i t was encouragement th a t was to be short liv e d .

The preliminary Committee on Educational Broadcasting sent its ‘ report to the Executive Committee of the National Education Association early in 1928. The NEA passed a resolution favoring a "public school 6 of the air" and sent this resolution along with the Preliminary

Committee's report to the Department of Superintendence, forerunner o f the American Association o f School Adm inistrators. This organi­ zation rejected the NEA recommendation and advised i t f e lt the matter of radio education was one that ought to be studied further. Accord­ ing to Darrow, this meant the end for his long-hoped-for dream.®

Undaunted, he continued attempts to secure NEA support for radio education. In la te r years, Darrow would make a number o f e ffo rts to influence national radio education policy.

In spite of the ill-fated attempt to found a National School o f the A ir , there was s t i l l intense in te re s t in forming a permanent program o f educational broadcasts fo r schools. One o f the perons in ­ terested in such a plan was Dr. John L. Clifton, Ohio director of education.

C lifto n had been a member o f the Prelim inary Committee on

Educational Broadcasting. After the National School of the Air plan failed, Darrow convinced Clifton that a plan of radio education might succeed in Ohio. Soon Darrow had another job, this time as the nation's firs t state director of educational broadcasting.

The Payne Fund lent financial support for the Ohio plan, and

Darrow made arrangements fo r free a ir time from statio n VIAIU in

Columbus. Although the statio n la te r reneged on the o ffe r, the move proved to be a blessing, since the School later secured free air time from station WLW in Cincinnati.

The C incinnati s ta tio n , owned by the Crosley Company, was superpowered and could be heard in many part o f the United States. 7

For the infant Ohio School of the Air, this meant that at least in part it s operations would be national in scope.

Plans were made for the broadcasts to originate from the studios of WEAO operated by the Ohio State University. The Columbus station was linked by telephone line to WLW, which would broadcast the programs from it s giant tra n sm itte r. January 7, 1929, was scheduled for beginning the bold venture.0

On th a t day, lig h t snow had whitewashed the f la t streets of

Columbus as January buttoned up fo r the c o ld .10 Gallons o f oatmeal sloshed in the stomachs of bundled-up children—maternal response to the threat of an icy morning.

The tinsel was down; Christmas vacation was over. Across the city reluctant boys and girls marched into the Ohio winter as school b e lls rang in the cold.

Raditors hissed throughout the morning. Lunch time came and went midst the smell of peanut butter, apples, and the homebaked cookies that seem to linger for weeks after Christmas. In scores of classrooms, puddles of water collected under a pile of tiny galoshes that had been out playing in the snow.

The scene repeated its e lf throughout the state as the clock edged into the afternoon—1:15, 1:20, 1:25. On the Ohio State

University campus, excitement which had been building for weeks reached a crescendo in the studios of WEAO. By 1:30 the goal o f weeks of sweat-filled labor had been accomplished. The firs t broadcast of the Ohio School o f the A ir shot in to the afternoon sky. 8

Response to the broadcasts met with almost instant favor.

Various schools began purchasing radio receivers or making arrange­

ments for receiver loans. Before six months had passed, the Ohio

School of the Air was reaching a known audience of 100,000. Interest

reached a peak when the Ohio Legislature appropriated $40,000 to help

finance the school for a two year period.^

The School of the Air sought close cooperation with classroom

teachers and sent out lesson leaflets to help coordinate efforts. The

leaflets told teachers how to prepare students for broadcasts, how to

receive them, and how to determine th e ir effectiveness. Darrow, fo r

many years, adhered re lig io u s ly to th is three-step method o f educa­

tional broadcasting. To him, a successful classroom broadcast embodied

'*(1) preparation for the program, (2) purposeful listening to the

broadcast, and (3) a follow-up procedure."^

Darrow drew heavily on the donated time o f many persons to

secure talent for school broadcasts. The director of physical educa­

tion for the Dayton public schools served as teacher for story plays

and rhythmic programs. Other story tellers came from the Cincinnati

Public Library, and art instruction was provided by the director of the

Cleveland Musem of Art.

In addition to a roster of regularly scheduled programs, Darrow

began an innovative series of history-in-the-making broadcasts.

Through the e ffo rts o f the Ohio School o f the A ir, school children were able to listen to the inauguration of President Hoover as well as the

inauguration of an Ohio governor. The School also ran a series of 1 ? broadcasts originating from the floors of the Ohio House and Senate.

By 1930, the Ohio School o f the A ir was running f u ll swing.

As the listening audience increased, Darrow and his staff made plans

to increase the School's scope of operations. Early in 1931, the

School opened a temporary studio in the offices of the National

Education Association in Washington, D.C. Once a week, programs on

the national government originated from NEA headquarters. Part o f the

series included talks by senators, cabinet officials and once, even

a talk by the vice-president of the United States.

The school ran other features, including a series of firs t­

hand accounts by famous adventurers. Another popular series was a

"Living W riters" program fo r which noted fig u re s, such as Carl Sandburg,

gave lectures on literary subjects.

As the Ohio School of the Air increased its operational finesse,

it sought new ways to serve the listening public. During the 1930-31

school year, a new feature was added to the growing program schedule.

Once a month, the School conducted a radio forum fo r public school

teachers. At the direction of principals and superintendents, thou­

sands of teachers listened to the broadcasts in efforts to increase

th e ir professional competence. Teacher tra in in g in s titu te s often sent

in questions that were discussed during the series. A PTA forum was later added to the schedule.^

Early in 1931 the Ohio legislature's firs t appropriation for the School had come to an end. Darrow's experiment got a six-month reprieve when the legislative body authorized funds to cover operational 10 expenses fo r tha t period. But as the Depression began to make it s e lf fe lt around the country, it became obvious that future appropriations fo r the Ohio School o f the A ir would have to be reduced.

Up to this point, the Ohio legislature had been enthusiastic about the School's progress and in spite of pressures brought by the nation's economic collapse, the law-makers could not see their way clear to le t the experiment die. Although the School was the youngest of all departments within the state system, the legislature managed to squeeze out $25,000 to continue the school for another two years.

Other organizations came to the rescue. Various civic groups as well as educational institutions offered to help boost the opera­ tional budget from their own pockets. More assistance came from the

Crosley Company. In addition to offering free air time, the organiza­ tion began to increase services from its own dramatic and music staffs. According to Darrow, the collective help made it possible for the School to continue it s work w ith no measurable le t down of operations.15

As the T h irtie s wore on, the Ohio Department o f Education had become one of the nation's strongest and most active supporters of educational broadcasting. Its success and nationwide p u b lic ity made it the model which was emulated by other state departments of educa­ tion. For many years, the OSA was one of the chief influences in educa­ tional broadcasting throughout the country.

Almost singlehandedly, Darrow had wrenched a dream from the air and nurtured it toward a flourishing reality. In less than a 11

decade, in the middle of the nation's economic collapse, he had had a

profound impact on bringing radio to the classroom. But by early

1937, Darrow was experiencing a depression o f his own, and his days

at the Ohio School o f the A ir were numbered.

By no means making a prophetic statement, Darrow maintained

th a t the success o f educational broadcasting depended upon the adequacy

of funding. It was the lack of funding that eventually sounded the

death note for his own historic project, and pushed him from his hall­

mark of accomplishment.

Darrow learned th a t p o litic a l maneuvering can fa s t put an end

to many of the best conceived and best executed projects. His con­

fro n ta tio n w ith government money mongering came in the person o f Ohio

Governor Martin L. Davey. Almost from the time he took o ffic e , Davey

was a constant irrita n t of Darrow's.

By spring o f 1937, Darrow had a School o f the A ir but no money

to operate it. According to one account, Davey had influenced the Ohio

Legislature to cut off funds for Darrow's project. Whatever the case,

by the end o f June, Darrow was out o f a jo b , and he had le f t fo r

teaching duties in Texas.^ The Crosley Corporation continued the

broadcasts under the name o f Nation's School o f the A ir. Joseph Ries, who had assisted Darrow in running the Ohio School o f the A ir, became

the new manager.

With Darrow out o f the way, the Ohio School o f the A ir was

resurrected by the le g is la tu re a few months la te r. The School became the administrative responsibility of the Ohio State University and, 12 as it had earlier, maintained studios at the campus radio station.

The Nation's School of the Air, technically the heir to

Darrow's efforts, passed out of the picture in 1939.^ The resurrected version of the Ohio School of the Air continued into the 1960's.

SCOPE

The following dissertation is a biographical, historical, and descriptive study re la tin g the personality o f Benjamin Harrison Darrow to the ea rly successes o f the Ohio School o f the A ir fo r the period of

January, 1929 through June, 1937. Efforts have been exerted to place the School of the Air in perspective with other educational broadcast­ ing of the period.

The study provides historical insight into the signal role played by Darrow as a pioneer educational broadcaster and measures the importance of the man's drive, initiative, and personality in relation to the ea rly successes of the school. Beyond th is , the paper reveals elements that contributed to Darrow's unique life style.

The study investigates Darrow's influence upon the shaping of educational broadcasting policies and practice. In this respect, the formation o f fou r communications agencies is examined:

(a) National Advisory Council for Radio in Education

(b) National Committee on Education by Radio

(c) Federal Radio Education Committee

(d) Federal Communications Commission

t 13

The study is concerned with five major questions:

(1) What impact did Darrow's rura l background have upon the shaping of his philosophy?

(2) In what ways did Darrow's education and early employ­ ment a ffe c t the development o f his philosophy?

(3) What impact did Darrow's drive and in itia tive have upon his professional life ?

(4) How did Darrow's personal and educational philos­ ophy a ffe c t the development o f the Ohio School of the Air?

(5) What influences did Darrow have upon the develop­ ment of educational broadcasting policies?

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

Benjamin Darrow and the Ohio School o f the A ir were unique e n titie s .

Ben was a symbol o f American ambitiousness rooted in the rural ethic. His Ohio School of the Air became a product of his drive and initiative.

The study is significant because it explores the impact Darrow had upon the development of early educational broadcasting. For many years, the Ohio School o f the A ir was a v irtu a l showcase o f school broadcasting. In addition, Darrow's leadership in founding the School made him one of the most prominent national figures in the field.

Darrow's influence extended far beyond Ohio. In the early days of his radio career, he had attempted to establish a National School o f the A ir. Even a fte r the NSA plan fa ile d , Darrow remained a strong influence in the development of educational radio policy and practice. 14

The story o f Ben Darrow and the Ohio School o f the A ir 1s the

ta le of one dynamic American and a project in which he firm ly believed.

If there is such a thing as the father of school broadcasting, Ben H.

Darrow is certainly in the running for the title . He was a senti­ mental man who never recovered from his in itia l wonderment that sparks across the airwaves could be used for the betterment of man. By

"mysterious radio" he was the home, shop, and the school united in what he called a "bond o f mutually possessed inform ation." Darrow envisioned the reunion of families as they exchanged thoughts on the knowledge gained from radio. " I t rekindles in some degree the hearth- f ir e , " 1® he said. For a time the flames rose high.

METHODOLOGY

An historical study must begin with a recognition of lim ita­ tio n s imposed by h is to ric a l research methods. Herodotus o f T h u rii, regarded as the earliest of Western historians, perceived history as

"inquiries toward the end that the things done by men should not be forgotten with the passage of time and that the great and marvelous exploits...should not lose their radiance."19

Modern historians such as Jordan, however, recognize that even the definition of history is, in itse lf, a problem which chronically on plagues researchers. Barzun and Graff note four ways in which the term "h isto ry" may be used. History can mean simply "what happened" or it can refer to the substance of an event representative of what happened. 15

History can also be taken to mean something In between past events and the written reports of these events. In this regard, Barzun and Graff refer to the problem presented the researcher after he has collected his facts and approaches his major task, which is "the fashioning of written history."21 To make clear the distinction between actual events and written accounts of them requires rigorous methodology and stern d is c ip lin e . The approach to the problem is more correctly referred to as historiography though the distinction between historiography and history is not always clear because people have a tendency to closely associate actual events and their accounts.

This problem is compounded v/hen one considers a fou rth meaning of the word "history:" "the recollection of the past in the minds of a whole people."22 Popular lore and fo lk tales passed from one person to another might be quite inconsistent with the truth; for researchers th is continues to be a problem o f prime concern.23

Jordan notes other problems in defining history:

Textbooks are not always in agreement as to the nature o f th e ir contents. One may indicate, for example, that history is an in­ tellectual form in which a culture or civilization keeps the books of the past. Another may define history as an insight into the processes of human life . A third may say that history is the study of the changes in the behavior pattern of human beings.24

The problem o f d e fin itio n might be somewhat assuaged i f one examines h is to ry 's warp and woof. Von Humboldt w rite s:

The historian has all the strands of temporal activity and all the expressions of external ideas as his province. The whole of existence is, more or less directly, the object of his endeavors, and thus he must pursue all the manifestations of the mind. Specu­ lation, experience and fiction are, therefore, merely different manifestations of the mind, not distinct activities of it, opposed to and lim iting one another. 16

Thus two methods have to be followed simultaneously in the approach to historical truth; the firs t is the exact, impartial, critical investigation of events; the second is the connecting of the events explored and the intuitive understanding of them which could not be reached by the firs t means. To follow only the firs t path is to miss the essence of truth itself; to neglect th is path, however, overemphasizing the second one is to ris k f a l­ sification of truth in its details. 5

Von Humboldt observes tha t h isto ry is an a r t, no less than

literature and philosophy.25 Jusserand asserts that "Art is selec­ t io n , " ^ and notes tha t historians must choose among numerous facts and decide themselves what is relevant. From these collected facts, the historian draws generalizations. As Riasanovsky and Riznik observe,

"The act of generalization is the historian's own contribution to the raw data of facts and figures; it is the creative dimension of histori­ cal work.''28

According to Santayana, "H isto rica l investigation has fo r it s aim to fix the order and character of events throughout past time in all places."29 But, he adds, "The profit of studying history lies in something else than a dead knowledge o f what happens to have hap­ pened."30

Fischer sees four chief values which ju stify the study of history. History can help us to understand the context in which modern day problems e x is t, "not" as Fischer asserts, "by a presentist method of projecting our own ideas into the past but rather as a genuinely empirical discipline, which is conducted with as much objectivity and h is to r ic ity as is humanly possible.Thus, in order for us to com­ prehend the significance of recurrent problems, Fischer suggests it is necessary that we have a sense of how they developed over an extensive 17

period of time.

History is also a valuable tool for suggesting the course of

the future. Here, Fischer notes the growing trend in a number of dis­

ciplines towards forecasting. While the quasi-historical method is

often employed in forecasting, the end product tends to be a useful

device for determining prospects, directions and trends.

Fischer sees a third value in the study of history which "can

be useful in the refinement of theoretical knowledge of an 'if, then' Op sort.' What he means here is that history can show us options that

are open to us by underscoring man's collective failures and achieve­ ments. Citing in particular recurrent problems in the areas of social

equality, social stability and social freedom, Fischer sees this use

of history as one that ought to be employed more broadly.

Finally, Fischer says that "historical scholarship can usefully

serve to help us find out who we are."^ What he is referring to here

is that the study of history can be employed as a useful device in balancing man's achievements against his fa ilu re s . In a sense, th is effort can be seen as collective psychoanalysis for humanity.

Regardless of the reasons one has for studying history, the approach to historical research is the same for every individual. As

Johnson says, "The f i r s t task o f every h is to ria n , i f he would attempt original research, is to collect and collate his sources."34 After this, Jordan adds, the researcher "engages in analytical thought, de­ velops the art of textual criticism , learns the law of constructive reasoning and becomes proficient in the fine skills of written com- muni c a tio n ."35 18

C ollecting source m aterial is perhaps one o f the most time con­

suming steps in the approach to h is to ric a l research. Barzun and G raff

lis t several types of materials that may be used as sources of his­

torical truth:

RECORDS

(Intentional Transmitters of Facts)

W ritten

1. Chronicles, annals, biographies, geneologies 2. Memoirs, diaries 3. Certain kinds of inscriptions

Oral

4. Ballads, anecdotes, tales, sagas 5. Phonograph and tape recordings

Works o f A rt

6. Portraits, historical paintings, scenic sculpture, coins and medals 7. Certain kinds of films, kinescope, etc.

RELICS

(Unpremeditated Transmitters of Facts)

8. Human remains, le tte rs , lite ra tu re , public documents, business records, and certain kinds of inscriptions 9. Language, customs, and in s titu tio n s 10. Tools and other artifacts'’®

Barzun and G raff, warn, however, th a t "no piece of evidence can be used for historiography in the state in which it is f o u n d"37 . The researcher must determine firs t if the source is genuine and whether, indeed, it is trustworthy. Following this, how does the researcher know?

In lig h t o f the above, the researcher must determine the 19

authorship of a particular piece of historical evidence and the exact

nature of what the source its e lf states. Furthermore, the researcher

must develop a time and space relationship between a statement and its

author and make a comparison with other statements on the matter under

investigation. Finally, the credibility of an author must be deter­ mined. I f the author, fo r example, was known to be a habitual lia r ,

his writings would be immediately suspect.

The point o f a ll th is detective work is simple. Forged docu­ ments obviously have l i t t l e value, other than perhaps in o ffe rin g oblique interest as historical curiosities. Beyond this, though, once

it has been determined that a source is genuine, it is important to as­ certain as precisely as possible the exact nature of the message w ith in a document. This is necessary so tha t correct inferences can be made and false conclusions avoided.

Time-space relationships between documents and th e ir authors must be determined so that the accuracy of testimony can be weighed.

The closer the time-space relationship between an event and the re­ porter of the event, the more likely we are to exact the accurate account. Furthermore, eyewitnesses to events are perhaps more lik e ly to provide reasonably accurate accounts of events than are those who only report events.

Testimony of several witnesses is certainly more reliable than that offered by only one person. In this respect, the recollections of several persons help to provide clues to the character of individual personalities. This is an important point in historical research. 20

When an Individual's life and personality are known, it is easier to

determine the worth and veracity of historical documents he has

authored.38

Research fo r th is dissertatio n was approached in three major

directions. First, a biographical study of Darrow was undertaken to

determine what personal characteristics of the man led him to under­

take such a highly experimental, yet successful, project. Secondly,

investigation was focused on the actual development and operation of

the Ohio School of the Air under Darrow's tutelage. The final thrust

of research was to place the OSA into perspective with the overall

growth and impact of educational radio in other areas of the United

States. This aspect of the study included an investigation into the

overall history of educational broadcasting experiments prior to and

during the Darrow years at the Ohio School o f the A ir. This was done

in large part to assess the impact of Darrow's experiment on later

developments in the educational broadcasting fie ld .

Two major research techniques were employed in this paper:

(1) analysis of primary and secondary data relative to Darrow and the

Ohio School o f the A ir and (2 )oral h isto ry interviews w ith surviving

individuals who had important contact with Darrow. The oral history

interviews were tape recorded. Where personal interviews were not feasible, correspondence was initiated with individuals who had im­ portant contact w ith Darrow.

A major disappointment occurred early in the study in attempts to secure primary data relative to the paper. Some years ago, 21

surviving members of the family had donated a collection of Darrow's

personal papers to Ohio Wesleyan University. Unfortunately, these

records were inadvertently destroyed by a staff member ignorant of

th e ir h is to ric a l value. As the study progressed, however, other p r i­

mary data began to emerge. Of major interest was a collection of

Darrow1s personal papers maintained by his surviving daughter. Other

important material provided by the Payne Fund included a great deal of

original correspondence relating to the founding of the Ohio School of

the A ir.

Darrow's surviving personal papers included a number of o ri­

ginal manuscripts and copies of articles authored by him. Other

relevant data included a number of brief biographies of Darrow which

were apparently used as publicity material.

Darrow1s two books, Radio, The Assistant Teacher and Radio

Trail blazing, were also used as major reference sources, as were the

respective works o f two of Darrow's colleagues; Radio in Education by

Armstrong Perry and Development and Appraisal o f Classroom Instructio n

by Radio by Cline Koon. In addition to these and other sources of

primary data, a number of historical accounts, magazine articles, and

newspaper storie s were researched. Various o ffic ia l documents, of both

primary and secondary source value, were also employed in the study.

(See Bibliography for complete lis t of sources.)

Printed source data proved valuable in documenting the develop­ ment and growth o f the Ohio School o f the A ir and to a lim ite d degree were useful in helping to characterize the personality of Darrow. The 22

oral history interviews, however, proved to be far more useful in

bringing about a reasonable characterization of Darrow, the man.

As h is to ria n , Dr. Allan Nevins o f Columbia U niversity has ob­

served, oral history "... clothes the skelton. For the historian it

is pure gold."39 This proved to be the case in this study. Surviving family members and associates of Darrow were able to provide the author w ith a degree o f perspective unobtainable in any other way. Interviews helped to reveal a spice in Darrow*s personality that was only hinted a t in w ritte n sources. Correspondence w ith others who had important contact with Darrow provided rich anecdotes of Darrow's life .

The author feels that the wide variety of source material consulted makes the study a reasonably accurate account of the life of

Benjamin Harrison Darrow and his years at the Ohio School o f the A ir.

Nonetheless, no pretense is made that the paper could possibly re­ fle ct the sum total of the man and period under study. The accounts and interpretations of them, the author believes, follow presently accepted historical research methodology as outlined in the preceding.

As Barzun and Graff note, truth is not determined by possibility nor by plausibility, but by probability. The following, therefore, relates not what might have happened but what must have happened. FOOTNOTES FOR CHAPTER I

^Armstronq Perry, Radio in Education (New York: The Pavne Fund, 1929), pp. 13-16.

^Ben H. Darrow, Radio, The Assistant Teacher (Columbus, Ohio: R. 6. Adams and Co., 1932), pp. 17-23.

^"Biographical Sketch o f B. H. Darrow," from Benjamin Darrow's personal papers, maintained by his daughter, Mrs. Helen Thornhill, Lima, Ohio. (Typew ritten.)

^Margaret Tyler, private tape recorded interview held in her home, Columbus, Ohio, December 21, 1973.

^Personal le tte r from Mrs. Margaret D. Williams, September 11, 1973.

6C1 ine M. Koon, "Development and Appraisal o f Classroom Instruction by Radio" (Unpublished Ph.D. d is s e rta tio n , The Ohio State University, 1931), p. 609.

^Richard Darrow, private tape recorded interview held in his office, New York City, August 8, 1973. p Darrow, Radio, The Assistant Teacher, pp. 28-35.

^Ben H. Darrow, Radio T railbla zin g (Columbus, Ohio: College Book Co., 1940), pp. 11-T5T

S. Department o f A g ricu ltu re , Weather Bureau Records fo r January 7, 1929.

^Darrow, Radio, The Assistant Teacher, p. 40.

12Carroll Atkinson, Radio Programs Intended fo r Classroom Use (Boston: Meador Publishing Co., 1942), p. 113.

^Darrow, Radio, The Assistant Teacher, pp. 39-40.

23 24

14I b id ., pp. 44-45.

15I b id . , pp. 47-48.

^ C a rro ll Atkinson, Development o f Radio Education Policies in American Public School Systems (Edinboro, Pa.: Edinboro Educational Press, 1939), p. 24.

^A tkin s o n , Radio Programs Intended fo r Classroom Use, pp. 35-36.

^D arrow , Radio, The Assistant Teacher, p. 237.

^ a rc Bloch, The Historian's Craft, trans. by Peter Putnam (New York: Alfred A. Knoph, 1959), p. 6d, citing Herodotus.

20Phil ip D. Johnson, The Mature and Practice of State and Local H istory (Washington. D.C.: The American H isto rica l Association, 19581, p. V.

21 Jacques Barzun and Harry F. G ra ff, The Modern Researcher (New York: Harcourt, Brace and World, In c ., 1970), p. 49.

22Ibid., p. 51

23I b id . , pp. 48-52.

24Jordan, p. V.

2®Wilhelm Von Humboldt, "On the H isto ria n 's Task," in The Theory and Practice o f H isto ry, by Leopold von Ranke (New York: Bobbs- flerril, Co., inc., 1973), p. 7.

2^Jean Jules Jusserand, e t. a !., The Writing o f History (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1926),

28 Alexander V. Riasanovsky and Barnes R iznik, eds., Generalizations in Historical Writing (Philadelphia, Pa.: University o f Pennsylvania Press, 1963), p. 1l

2®Social Science Research Council, Theory and Practice in Historical Study (New York: Social Science Research Council, date of publication not indicated but text indicates it has been since 1942), c itin g "H is to ry ," by George Santayana. 25

30Ib id .

^David Hackett Fischer, Historian's Fallacies (New York: Harper and Row, 1970), p. 315.

32Ib id .

33Ib id .

3^Allen Johnson, The Historian and Historical Evidence (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1926), pp. 11-12.

38Jordan, p. 31.

3®Barzun and G ra ff, p. 146.

37Ib id ., p. 149.

38Ib id ., pp. 149-150.

^"The Uses of Oral History," Public Relations Journal, February, 1971, p. 27, citing Allan Nevins. CHAPTER I I

EARLY EXPERIMENTS IN EDUCATIONAL BROADCASTING

It 1s d ifficu lt to pinpoint the birth of educational radio,

even though institutions of learning were among those who firs t erected

broadcasting stations. Many early educational stations were begun as

expansions o f manual arts and s c ie n tific programs and, before the

advent of voice transmission, little serious thought was given to the

use of radio for direct instruction.

Once voice transmission became widespread, though, a number of

educators voiced enthusiasm over the potentials radio offered. The

period from 1920 to 1924 saw a number of institutions entering into

experimental ventures and the airwaves crackled with a variety of

fledgling educational broadcasts.^

Popular h is to ry cre d its P ittsburgh's KDKA w ith making the f i r s t

commercial broadcast with an account of the 1920 Harding-Cox elections.

Nonetheless, an argument s t i l l simmers between KDKA and two other

stations who were a ll issued licenses by the U. S. government in the autumn o f 1920.^ A ll three lay claim to being the f i r s t commercial

station on the air.

Six months before the KDKA broadcast, however, Grove C ity

College in Pennsylvania claimed to have carried out a program which was broadcast from the College to the New Castle, Pennsylvania Rotary

26 27

Club. A number of New Jersey schools also were reportedly using radio in their educational programs before the radio era was inaugurated in the fa ll of 1920.3

As early as 1921, a national program o f educational broadcast­ ing had been proposed to the Federal Government. Armstrong Perry, who was then serving as radio counsel to the Payne Fund, approached U. S.

Commissioner o f Education, J. J. T ig e rt with a proposal fo r national broadcasts. Tigert, himself, favored the idea but he noted there was * then strong opposition to Federal Government involvement in education.

He pointed out that the U. S. Bureau of Education did not operate in any locale without the approval of local and state authorities.

In the Biennial Survey of Education for 1920-22, Tigert noted the efforts that had been made in educational broadcasting in the short span of two years. By the end of the report period, 60 institutions of learning were broadcasting programs of music and education to an estimated potential of between three and four m illion listeners.

Excerpts from Tigert's report characterize his position toward broadcast instruction during the early days of educational radio:

Among the many possibilities opened to the world by the de­ velopment of radiophony, the educational opportunities which are offered to the public by means of the radio are most important and far-reaching. Mot only the possibility of receiving instruc­ tions from the finest teachers in the country, but the cultural opportunities made available by the perfection of radio, means much to thousands of people who have installed o u tfits ....

The Commissioner of-Education believes: That the public can be reached more quickly and directly by radio than in any other way.

Radio has the advantage o f intim ate contact between speaker and audience, and since the bureau's messages w ill be sent on a 28

regular schedule, they w ill have the continuity necessary for Informing the public on educational matters. Since public educa­ tion can not progress any faster than the state of public opinion about education, the commissioner believes that the in­ auguration o f the radio is an important step in advance.

Foreseeing millions of listeners, the bulk of them of college age, the National Radio Chamber of Commerce is developing a plan to establish radio-extension courses in American colleges and universities. In radio, education has found a new and powerful a lly . S ixty educational in s titu tio n s are broadcasting educa­ tional and musical programs, forty-seven of them being colleges and universities. The combined area nominally covered by these institutions has been estimated to be seven or eight times the total area of the United S t a t e s . 4

In the report, Tigert noted the educational potential that

existed in the numerous broadcasting stations owned and operated by

U. S. institutions of higher education:

Universities have recognized the great good to be gained by sending instruction over the ether waves, and are using the radio as a medium for extension courses. Operatic and symphony concerts, the day's news, market and weather reports, all the things which go to make life rich in experience can now be dis­ pensed through the air to all who w ill listen.

This is a big advantage to everyone, but i t is p a rtic u la rly valuable to those people who live in remote districts, in v il­ lages, and rural communities. The radio now brings into their homes the news and entertainment, instruction and culture, from which they have been cut off by distance.

In November, 1922, fifty-seven colleges and universities in the United States were reported as having telephone broad­ casting stations, amongst them the University of Colorado, University of Arizona, University of California, Tulane Univer­ sity, University of Missouri, Purdue University, University of Vermont, University of Texas, Cornell University, University o f South Dakota, Ohio State U n ive rsity, U niversity of Nebraska, University of Wisconsin, State University of Iowa, University of Cincinnati, West Virginia University, Iowa State College and the University of M l i n o i s . 5

Tufts College was among the firs t institution of higher learning to propose a widespread program of educational broadcasts. Reports of 29 the plan appearing in the June, 1922 issue of "Radio News" indicated the Tufts Wireless College was to be aimed at an audience of 35,000 people who lived in an area whose circumference stretched from Wisconsin to Northern Florida.

The proposed program o f th irte e n broadcasts was designed to be o f popular nature which would not be beyond the comprehension o f lis te n e rs as young as 15. The planned broadcasts, which were not to exceed a length of 30 minutes, covered a wide variety of topics such as architecture, drama and geography.6

From the plains of Kansas came the boast, "The only regular college course in the world which is given by radio—enroll in it."^

Kansas State Agricultural College, 500 watts and a 48-page radio college catalog comprised what was claimed to be "the firs t institute in the world to offer a regular course of systematic instruction by radio." It was 1924 and the firs t of many colleges of the air was launched with a collection of 40 course offerings.8

Educational broadcasting historian, Carroll Atkinson, holds that Nebraska Wesleyan University was actually the firs t institution of higher learning to offer broadcast instruction to the classroom.

Citing litigation over a licensing dispute between the University's station WCAJ and station WOW, Atkinson asserts that N!7U firs t attempted classroom instruction as early as 1921 over the University's experi- g mentally-licensed station 9YD.

Organized in te re st in radio in American in s titu tio n s of higher learning goes back farther than the NWU experiments. In 1906, the 30

Weld Phonepterograph Company of Harvard University was organized as a

result of growing interest in wireless experiments which were being

carried out by dormitory students as early as 1902. The organization,

which later came to be known as the Harvard Radio Club, organized

rules to be observed by student stations. Wireless messages were sent

by club members for the convenience of fellow Harvardites. It wasn't

long until interest created by the club spawned a credit course in wireless.10

During the years from 1920 to 1924, a number of public school

systems were also experimenting w ith radio in s tru c tio n . Consequently,

it is d ifficu lt if not impossible to ascertain which was firs t to make use of radio as an instructional tool. In a 1937 doctoral disserta­ tion, Cline Koon pointed out that,

Since programs o f a general educational nature were broad­ cast throughout this period, it would be very d ifficu lt to say w ith any degree o f c e rta in ty which school system in the United States was the firs t to use radio for classroom instruction.H

The following lis t from a Federal Writer's Project publication gives some idea o f the va rie ty o f programs at various levels th a t were initiated in the early days of broadcast instruction:

(a) Haaren High School, New York City, claims the honor of being the firs t public school to broadcast regularly scheduled instruction classes by radio. It started with the broadcast of accounting lessons in 1923 and gained such momentum by the f o l­ lowing year that its radio activities were made the subject of a 254-page report by the New York C ity Board of Education.

(b) Buffalo, New York, 1922: Vocational School pupils built a complete radio station which was utilized to broadcast programs by pupils from the city's schools.

(c) A tla n tic C ity, New Jersey, 1923: School news and musical programs were broadcast by municipal broadcasting sta­ tion located in a high school. 31

(d) Los Angeles, California, 1923: Mrs. Grace C. Stanley, Commissioner o f Elementary Schools, broadcast ta lks on h isto ry and geography o f tha t state. These ta lks were scheduled to start the school day and records indicated that they were re­ sponsible for a material reduction in the percentage of tardi­ ness in schools equipped fo r radio.

(e) Oakland, California, 1924: Or. Virgil E. Dickson started a series of lessons on physical tra in in g , penmanship, arithmetic, history, literature, English, geography, etc., con­ sisting of twenty minute lessons preceded by four minutes of music. F ifty -s ix lessons were presented in 1924-25 and the lessons were continued fo r several years.

( f ) Cook County, I llin o is , 1924: " L it t le Red School House" was started by Station WLS as a weekly program fo r schools o f the county. Talks were given on corn, dairying, birds, automo­ biles, achievements of boys and g irls, etc. Papers were pre­ pared and read by pupils and music was furnished by them. Parent- teacher groups equipped the schools with radio receivers.

(g) Kansas State Agricultural College, Station KSAC, October 5, 1925: "College of the Air" with courses in phycbo- logy, English, sociology, community organization, literature, economics, journalism, and vocational education was started. Lectures were supplemented by home study and examinations taken under supervision of county superintendents for credits amount­ ing to one year of college attendance.

(h) Cleveland, Ohio, 1925: First radio courses in music appreciation were organized by Miss A lice Keith o f the Cleveland Public Schools. Cleveland Symphony Orchestra played for upper grades and high school w ith other music provided fo r primary and intermediate grades. Miss Keith introduced the firs t radio music textbook written by herself for use in the course, and records showed a 100 per cent increase in attendance at child­ ren's concerts of the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra as a result.

(i) Atlanta, Georgia, 1926: A "Public School of the Air" was presented w ith 30-minute d a ily programs prepared by an executive committee consisting of the city superintendent, supervisors, principals, and teachers. Additional programs were presented in the evenings for parent-teacher associations and parents and children in the homes. Radio receivers were supplied by a local dealer.

(j) Arkansas, 1926: A. B. H ill, State Superintendent of Schools, u tiliz e d a commercial sta tio n to reach 112 Smith-Hughes centers in that state—more than he was able to v is it by auto­ mobile in three months. 32

(k) Upton, Massachusetts, 1927: Principal Stewart B. Atkinson, of the Upton High School, submitted a report indicat­ ing that 53 of the 253 Massachusetts high schools were equipped with radio receivers and that 29 of the sets had been made in the schools.

(1) Hartford, Connecticut, 1926: The Connecticut State Board o f Education in itia te d a music appreciation series w ith lessons broadcast by a commercial sta tio n . The lessons were received by groups of 600 to 800 pupils and it was estimated that the average audience numbered at least 25,000.12

In line with the Federal Writer's Project Report, Perry also

cre d its Haaren High School in New York C ity w ith being the f i r s t

public school to utilize radio as an instructional tool. In addition

to the accountancy lessons by radio th a t were begun there in 1923, the

New York C ity School System, by 1924, was carrying out other educa­ tional broadcasts through the cooperation of station WJZ which was owned by the Radio Corporation o f A m e r i c a . ^

Other writers also cite Haaren High School as the birthplace o f radio in s tru c tio n in American public s c h o o ls .^ An a rtic le in the

June, 1922 issue of "Radio News," however, indicates that radio instruc­ tion in public schools was begun as much as a year earlier in Chicago.

According to th is account, by the summer o f 1922, nine Chicago schools had been equipped with receivers and apparently were using them for instructional purposes. School officials in the city were enthusiastic about the new means o f in stru ctio n and some were making predictions that radio would revolutionize education. Said one o f f ic ia l,

The student of the future w ill adjust his headset and be ready for the morning wireless lesson in arithmetic, the cen­ tr a l w ireless sta tio n broadcasting the lessons. Teachers in the schoolrooms.. .instead of going to the blackboard w ill 33

adjust the wireless o u tfit, manipulate a few knobs and buttons and then for the lesson!15

Optimism about the potential of educational radio was charac­

teristic of the times, as one writer later recalled:

Before we were aware o f what was happening, we discovered that there had developed, under our very eyes, one of the most potent educational influences of modern times...

Thus we entered upon a new era in radio and in education, and we found teachers eager to discover ways of u tilizin g the radio as a means of realizing the educational objective of the school curriculums. However, in a virgin field, with a new instrument, they were without experience and had to proceed blindly to discover its place in the school program.16

It was clear that by the early 1920's radio had caused a wind

of enthusiasm to sweep through the ranks of educators. Articles appear­

ing in radio journals offered numerous predictions that radio would

vastly change the face o f the American nation. Especially in the

small towns o f the countryside, radio promised to spread c u ltu ra l re­

sources which had mostly been confined to the nation's larger cities.

Florence T. Harper, writing in the August, 1923 edition of

"Radio News," characterized the pace of life in small town America.

In the early 1920's numerous tiny villages dotted the countryside, set off from the mainline of the nation's railroads. Hugh locomotives could be heard rumbling through the night but they were usually bound

for a distant metropolis. Spur lines and small railroads served the

little communities.

The small towns had th e ir share o f businessmen and professionals but most of the citizenry made their living tillin g the soil. Contact with other parts of the country centered around the village post 34 office and the evening train which occasionally discharged a passenger.

Life went on much as it had for decades, the chief diversions being visiting or gossip about the neighbors.

Summertime permitted some variety. There were picnics, fishing, swimming, and camping and church socials were often major events. When winter came, activity was forced indoors and entertainment for the typical small town family was limited to reading or perhaps listening to the wind-up victrola.

The wireless changed all that. Radio waves criss-crossed the country, zipping over mountains, dropping down into valleys and racing across the plains. Taut antennas snagged the signals and fed them through lead-in wires to the detector, where they often went to an amplyfying c irc u it and then on into headphones or maybe a loudspeaker.

Regardless of the apparatus' sophistication, the sounds that crackled through at the end of the electronic line united the nation in a way it had never been united before.

Radio altered socialization patterns in ways not possible earlier. There were new topics to be discussed now, new ideas to com­ pare. Friends could argue the merits of their brand of receiving equipment or beam w ith pride over holding the town record fo r p u llin g in the most distant station. In some places, dances were even held with music provided by orchestras broadcasting from scores of miles away J 7

Out on the ranges o f Colorado, radio was reaching sod school houses as early as 1923. Radioizing of the country school meant a 35

great deal to people whose ruralization had virtually cut them off

from what some s till called the "outside world." "Great!" was the way

one old-timer rancher and schoolboard chief reacted to the radioiza-

tion of a school in his district. He recalled events this way:

The firs t day we opened school they had a big concert in the afternoon, the whole thing broadcast from the Denver stations. And every day since that they've been getting stuff from all over. Market reports, lectures on cattle diseases sent out from the State Agricultural School, talks by well-known men, and all that kind of thing. Just yesterday the kids came home with the news about the trouble in Turkey; got it over the wire from some statio n in Denver. Next thing th e y 'll be bringing in the President's messages.18

The wireless brought news, music and lectures to thousands who

had rarely had the chance to enjoy them before. A unity of culture

was beginning to permeate the hinterlands and there were those who saw

the phenomenon as a vehicle to increased understanding. Wireless ex­

perimenter Nikola Tesla went so fa r as to predict tha t radio would

serve as a tool fo r world peace. In an interview reported in "Radio

News," Tesla said,

We w ill never overcome international friction and wars by pacts and agreements, however solemn, nor w ill we by th is means abolish the barriers that separate the nations from one another and are an impediment to general progress. There is only one way of achieving this great end and that is by annihilating dis­ tance. The wireless art w ill accomplish this in every respect.^

Tesla's prediction never came about, but his optimism v/as

characteristic of the enthusiasm generated by the new medium. In

Teaching Through Radio, William Levenson pointed out that "From vari­ ous sources comments were heard o f a 'c u ltu ra l reawakening' and a o n 'spiritual rebirth' due to radio's influence." Willey and Young, w ritin g in Radio in Elementary Education, noted th a t perhaps i t was 36 the novelty of radio which caused educators to become overenthusias- tic about the new medium and many of the elements of the educational 21 revolution never m aterialized once the "newness" had worn o ff.

Enthused educators o f the period looked not to the future but to the present where the promise of radio lay before them. They were not alone. The early 1920's were marked by surging interest in radio, not only amongst educators, but the general public as well. The sale o f radio sets climbed. Growing from a scant 200,000 in 1922, set sales by 1924 had reached a m illio n and a h a lf . ^

Each new programming experiment became an h is to ric event.

Station WJZ in Newark, Mew Jersey, broadcast the firs t world series game in 1921. By the follow ing year, commercial announcements had crept into the programs of at least one station and the firs t radio broadcast by an American president was made the same year. In 1923, the opening session o f Congress was broadcast to the American public and national political conventions hit the airwaves in 1924.

Innovation was the order of the day. Stations tried all kinds of stunts and flirte d with the inane some broadcasters daring to go so far as to serve up to their listeners the sound of eggs frying on a hot summer sidewalk. Hotshot KDKA equipped a touring car with gadgetry and reporters and sent the jumble scurrying after news stories. The

Twenties roared with delight.

As the art of broadcasting developed so did laws affecting its operations; albeit a bit too slowly. A 1912 Congressional act required that every radio transmitter had to be licensed by the U. S. Government and the Secretary of Commerce was given jurisdiction over enforcement 37 o f broadcast law.

Disputes over various patent rights had impeded the early technical development of radio. By the time World War I broke out,

General Electric, then the nation's largest manufacturer of lamps, was unable to fu lfill an Army Signal Corps request to produce vacuum tubes. 24 The patent fo r the needed product was owned by another company.

I f the situ a tio n persisted, the strength o f the American war effort could be severely restricted. It became apparent that Federal control o f e le ctro n ic communications was needed. Naval ships had fo r a number of years used wireless for ship-to-ship and ship-to-shore communications. Thus, the "war to end all wars" acted as a catalyst to put radio regulation squarely in the hands of the U. S. Government.

During the war, the Navy took jurisdiction over broadcasting.

The war's end and a matured technology had cast the die for the non-military use of radio by the time the 1920's rolled around.

S t i l l , there were problems to be ironed out. Following what had be­ come a long standing federal tradition of laizzes faire towards busi­ ness, the government had stayed out o f the question o f who operated on what frequency and at what time. In the early days, the matters were le ft to the growing number of broadcasters to resolve for themselves.

I n it ia lly , there were few problems. Gentlemen's agreements among many stations resolved matters of scheduling and frequency and the system worked fo r awhile.

Between 1922 and 1925, four radio conferences were held to study the question of radio legislation. All of them concluded that 38

Congress would have to act to resolve the growing problems th a t had been spawned by the seemingly endless growth of broadcasting.

After the First World War, the Secretary of Commerce again assumed responsibility for the limited Federal control over broadcast­

ing. Former President Herbert Hoover held the secretary's post during many of the important early years of the growth of commercial radio.

When it became apparent Congress was unwilling to resolve broadcasting's growing pains, Hoover reacted with a fia t. His directive placed sta­ tions into three categories: (1) high powered stations on clear chan­ nels which served extensive areas, (2) less powerful, regional stations, spaced so as not to in te rfe re w ith one another, and (3) low powered stations which served a small listening audience.

Hoover's plan was sim ilar to the system under which U. S. broadcasting operates today but back in the 1920's Babbitry was afoot in the land. Businessmen objected to the Hoover plan and court deci­ sions affirmed that the Department of Commerce held no real authority in the matter of radio legislation. It was not until the radio act of

1927 th a t some order began to be made from the chaos.

Before the h is to ric le g is la tio n was passed, however, an ear- splitting potpourri of signals greeted the radio listener with a con­ fused mass of program material. One U. S. city had 25 stations, all of them broadcasting on the same frequency. The airwaves were an elec­ tronic jungle.

Some stations, owned by major U. S. corporations, solved the interference problems by increasing their broadcasting power to super 39 levels of 50,000 watts. Giant transmitters blasted through feeble rival signals, many o f them beamed by educators.

For some institutions of learning, the chaos had become too much. Forty-nine college and university stations went off the air in

1924.^6 As the operational finesse of broadcasters increased, another competitive element had raised its head—radio listeners were beginning to expect professionalism in broadcasts.

Some educators learned the hard way that U. S. audiences wanted a high degree of sophistication in program material. The age of broad­ casting had spawned a growing bevy of trade practices that had to be observed. Audiences had become fic k le and boring program m aterial could be quashed with the rapid flick of a dial. Some educators re­ sponded to the challenge; others didn't. As the firs t decade of the broadcast revolution wore on, many attempts at educational broadcasting fe ll by the competitive wayside.

There were a number of causes for the early failures. In his book, Teaching Through Radio, W illiam Levenson offered a few:

Sustained experimentation in school broadcasting was handi­ capped by various factors; the indifference or undue conserva­ tism of some administrators, the lack of satisfactory equipment, the pressure of time upon the broadcasting teachers, the absence of effective organization and experience as well as insufficient funds.27

Willey and Young voiced other reasons for the failures in this analysis:

Two principal reasons for the failure of many (educational) stations were the excessive operating expense and the poor quality of programs. Often sufficient funds were not alloted for proper maintenance of equipment or fo r the development o f programs and broadcasting techniques. Often, too, in itia l enthusiasm for 40

th is magic instrument o f education diminished. There was keen competition as well from commercial in te re sts fo r broadcasting channel s .28

In his doctoral d iss e rta tio n , Cline Koon, cite d lik e problems as reasons for the demise of some early educational broadcasting ex­ periments. Other writers have voiced similar analyses29 and a 1927 a rtic le in "Popular Radio" noted th a t by tha t year, in te re s t in educa­ tio n a l programs was waning fo r some p e o p le .

S till, some educational broadcasters managed to hold their heads above water. One program tha t had a high degree o f success boomed from the studios o f WLS in Chicago. WLS was owned by Sears and

Roebuck—World's Largest Store. In 1924 the company hired a former educator and youth worker to head the Boys and Girls Division of the

Sears Roebuck Agricultural Foundation. In the spring of 1924, the

Foundation began a series of children's broadcasts known as the "L ittle

Red Schoolhouse." The chief of the Boys and Girls Division was fea­ tured as program host. He later gave this account of the broadcasts:

...Separate periods were presented for the high schools, country schools and grade schools. The participation of several committees o f Chicago and Cook County educators was e n liste d . Noted men and women addressed the high school pu pils. Lessons in Art and Music Appreciation and Geography were offered the grade pupils in the city schools whom it was thouqht would not be interested in the programs planned fo r the country schools. Experience proved that the city schools were as fu lly apprecia­ tive of the country school broadcasts as the others. The latter were not only broadcast for country schools, but also by country schools. Teachers and pupils o f Cook County, under the leader­ ship o f the County Superintendent o f Schools and his seven Country Life Directors, broadcast every week.

Children Broadcast Successfully. They bu ilt each program around a chosen subject, such as the Dairy Cow, the Country Home, and other farm topics. They wove in dialog, dramalog, readings, 41

recitations and vocal and instrumental music—a ll by pupils and teachers. The casts of teachers and pupils were rehearsed in the studio and they continued their rehearsals at school with dummy microphones. The pupils, even some in the lowest grades, proved to be natural and effective broadcasters. These programs proved to be quite feasible, due no doubt to the splendid train­ ing passed from the radio studio to the teachers and by them to the pupils. Even to the present (1932) writing no one has again attempted so ambitious a set of school broadcasts by young children as this series in 1924-25, despite the fact that listen­ ing pupils prefer them.

A success. Some broadcasts were in the forenoon and others in the afternoon. The known audience had soon reached 27,000 school-room listeners and an apparently larger number of home listeners. But when the Director of the L ittle Red School house of the Air le ft WLS for another field, there was no member of the station staff willing or able to continue it without funds being made available. It had been carried forward by the author as a member o f the s ta ff and no funds had been asked or given. So, like Oakland, California, the effort was discontinued, having been rather a successful experiment so far as its central purpose was concerned but not having attracted any group of educators or laymen sufficiently interested to make it financially secure.3'

Though the " L it tle Red School house" lasted only a short time, i t served as a tra in in g ground fo r the program d ire cto r who, in la te r years, was to become one of the major influences in educational broad­ casting. His name was Benjamin Harrison Darrow. FOOTNOTES FOR CHAPTER I I

^Cline M. Koon, "Development and Appraisal of Classroom In stru ctio n by Radio" (Unpublished Ph.D. d isse rta tio n * The Ohio State U n ive rsity, 1931), pp. 27-28.

^C urtis M itc h e ll, Cavalcade o f Broadcasting (Chicago: F o lle tt Publishing Co., 1970), pp. 65-66.

^Armstrong Perry, Radio in Education (New York: The Payne Fund, 1929), pp. 38-40.

^J. J. Tigert, "Radio Education," Biennial Survey of Education, 1920-1922, Vol. f, "cited by" Cline M. Koon, pp. 29-30.

5Ib id . , p. 30.

^"Teaching by Radio," Radio News, June, 1922, p. 1094.

7"The College o f the A ir ," Radio News, November, 1924, pp. 677, 846.

8Ib id .

^C arroll Atkinson, Broadcasting to the Classroom by Colleges and Universities (Boston: Meador Publishing Co., 1942), pp. 15-19.

^R obert F. Gowen, "The F irs t College Radio Club," Radio News, September, 1923, pp. 224-45, 296.

^Koon, p. 32.

^ w illia m B. Levenson, Teaching Through Radio (Mew York: Farrar and Rinehart, Inc., 1945), pp. 30-32.

^ P e rry , p. 41.

^Levenson, p. 31; Roy D. W illey and Helen A Young, Radio in Elementary Education (Boston: D, C. Heath and Co., 1948), p. 384.

42 43

^Roscoe Smith, "Radio in Chicaqo Schools," Radio News, June, 1922, pp. 1071, 1126-27.

^Margaret Harrison, Radio in the Classroom, ed. by E. George Payne (New York: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1938), pp. XV-XVI.

^Florence T. Harper, "What Radio Can Do For The Country," Radio News, August, 1923, pp. 135, 176, 181-82.

l®Hal G. Borland, "Radioizing the Country School," Radio Nev/s, February, 1924, pp. 1071, 1132.

^9J. P. Glass, "Tremendous Possibilities of Radio," Radio News, February, 1924, "c itin g " Nikola Tesla, p. 944.

^Levenson, p. 33.

21W illey and Young, p. 382.

22M itc h e ll, p. 79.

23Ib id . , pp. 75-76.

24Ib id ., p. 50.

25ib id . , pp. 86, 104.

2^1b id . , pp. 94-95.

27l_evenson, P* 40.

23W illey and Young, p. 382.

29florman Woelfel and I. Keith T yle r, Radio and the School (Yonkers-on-Hudson, N. Y.: World Book Co., 1945), p. 4-6; and Koon, p. 56.

^Raymond F. Yates, "Broadcast L iste n e r," Popular Radio, July- August, 1927, p. 82.

31 Ben H. Darrow, Radio, The Assistant Teacher (Columbus, Ohio: R. G. Adams and Co., 1932), pp. 19-21. CHAPTER I I I

BEN HARROW'S EARLY LIFE

Ben Darrow was born July 13, 1889 on his parent's farm located

1n Goshen Township, about three miles north of Mechanicsburg in Central

Ohio's Champaign County. The farm house had been b u ilt by Darrow's grandfather from lumber he had cut from a homestead sawmill located on a creek below where the house now stands. The elder Darrow burned bricks for his home from clay found on the property.

According to fam ily legend, the f i r s t American Darrows were two brothers who came to the New World in the late Seventeenth Century.

The family name was rooted in the Scottish "Darroch," which was a ffi­ liated with one of the clans of Scotland's western isles. Ben's great­ grandfather, James, had reportedly settled on the Darrow homestead in

Ohio as early as 1811. The earliest recorded owner of the property was a former Revolutionary War soldier who later sold the property to a

James Galloway.

According to family sources, a reference to James Darrow appears in a history of Champaign County, Ohio, which was published in the 1870's. This account confirms James' entry in to Ohio around 1811 and suggests the earliest recorded member of Ben Darrow's lineage prob­ ably moved to the midwest from New England or perhaps New York.

44 45

Darrow's mother, Mattie, was a native of Mechanicsburg. Her

father had been a self-styled veterinarian who had been a corporal in

the K ilp a tric k Calvalry which accompanied General Sherman's C iv il War

march to the sea. Her maiden name was Baughman and she married Darrow's

father, William, when she was just 16 years of age.

William was the youngest of thirteen children. He was a

farmer and raised horses on his portion of the family homestead which

over the generations had been divided up among several Darrows. "W ill"

was musically inclined and for a time led a local orchestra which

played for the dancing and entertainment of countryfolk in Central Ohio.

Family sources indicate that Will Darrow might have attended

high scl.ool for a time though Mattie apparently never went farther than

the fourth grade. The couple were both active, hardworking farm

fo lk s .1

Will Darrow was apparently lord and master of his household.

Mattie's later recollections gave the impression she almost worshipped

her husband, and even though Mattie remarried a fte r W ill's death,

there are indications he always remained f i r s t and foremost in her

mind.2

The couple had three children, including a son who died in

infancy. In addition to Ben, the Darrows raised an older daughter,

Melva, v/ho in later years married a farmer.3

William and Mattie Darrow sent their young son, Ben, o ff to

country school for the firs t seven years of his education. Later he

transferred to the Centralized School of Mechanicsburg. 46

Employment in education came early to young Darrow. By the time he was ten he was earning five cents a day cleaning and building fires in the small schoolhouse he attended. The firs t ten dollars he saved reportedly went fo r a copy o f Webster's D ictionary.

There are other indications th a t Darrow developed an early in ­ terest and respect for education. When he was eleven, Ben and his classmates spent a half day in the woods with their teacher, apparently on a nature exploration. A neighboring fanner who learned of the out­ ing criticized the activity for not being educational. In later years,

Darrow recalled his disgust at the farmer and marked the day as a turn­ ing point in his life which awakened for him an interest in the larger world.^

Darrow was graduated from Mechanicsburg High School in 1907.

For three years he taught in country and centralized schools in

Champaign and Madison Counties, Ohio, then he was o ff to Ohio State

University as a student.5

Darrow attended Ohio State from 1910 to 1913. He was enrolled in the College of Arts, Philosophy and Science where he was apparently an average student. Darrow's o ffic ia l tra n s c rip t does show, however, some marked a b ility in English, though Physics was definitely not his b a iliw ick .

Darrow took a great deal of interest in extracurricular activi­ ties at OSU. He was a member of the Political Science Club, Literary

Society and the Cosmopolitan Club and also served on the cabinet of the campus YMCA.7 i t was in the YMCA he met fe llo w student John B ricker 47

o who was la te r to become governor and U. S. Senator o f Ohio.

Darrow was fiercely anti-fraternity while he was a student and i organized campus independents against the Greeks. "Independent" campus

political power was raised against the fraternity system under the

banner of the "Barbs," a shortened version of barbarians.

Darrow worked his way through college s e llin g insurance and

advertising. He was a good salesman. A silver plate that graced

Darrow's home for many years was a prize he had won for exceptional

sales efforts with the Midland Mutual Insurance Co.

Darrow roomed in fam ily homes while he was a student, once w ith

a dentist named Raymond M iller. Ben maintained close friendships with

his former landlords and visited with them regularly after leaving

c o lle g e .9

Financial pressures brought about by his father's death forced

Darrow to leave Ohio State in 1913. Shortly th e re a fte r, he married

Mary Frances Carter, a farm g ir l who lived only a mile from the Darrow

fam ily homestead. The couple had met while Darrow was working on a

neighborhood threshing teamJ0

The Darrow's firs t child, Richard, was born in 1915. In a ll,

five children were born to Ben and Frances; Betty in 1917, Robert in

1919 and Helen in 1922. A daughter, born between Robert and Helen, died in infancy.^

After leaving college, Darrow took a job as teacher and prin­ cipal of a school in Milford Center, Ohio. This lasted about a year, after which he le ft for Maryland State College where he served as 48

'IP YMCA secretary and extension worker from 1914 to 1916.

The years in Maryland were apparently successful ones for

Darrow. While at the college there, he conducted several country life

conferences for Maryland ministers. A later biographical sketch of

Darrow claims that national church leaders praised the conferences as the best ever held. The president of Maryland State also lauded the meeting, according to the citation.

From 1916 to 1917 Darrow was assistant secretary o f the

Commission on Church and Country L ife o f the Ohio and Federal Councils o f Churches. Apparently about th is period he also acted as post YMCA secretary at two m ilita ry camps near Washington.

Darrow spent a year in Cleveland as community work secretary of the YMCA.13 According to family sources, he was refused service in

World War I because of poor eyesight and the fa c t he was a fam ily man.14

By 1919 Darrow had migrated to Portage County, Ohio, where he served as county YMCA secretary from 1919 to 1924. During his Portage

County stint, Darrow served as lecturer at Farmer's Institutes, Granges and Farm Bureau conventions. At some point during this period he authored an article on "Fun and Frolic for Farm Folk," and also wrote a play entitled, "The Rejuvenation of R-Town."1®

A report Darrow filed for a ten week period in 1924 gives some in dicatio n o f the busy schedule he must have kept:

Portage County Y-.M.C.A. Ravenna, Ohio

Y Report for Last Half of January, February and March, 1924. 49

Helped plan and to carry out 14 Father and son Banquets and 2 Mother and Daughter Banquets.

Gave Talks at three Farmer's Institutes.

Furnished Movie proqram at 7 d iffe re n t points, including Orchestra and music for the occasions.

Gave Chapel Talks in 12 d iffe re n t schools, accompanied by the County Probate Judge. Talked to an average o f 1300 pupils.

Arranged for Deputation Team at one point.

Spent six half-day sessions in Probate Court where case involved boys of the county.

Attended county M inisterial Meetings.

Visited 9 schools, giving advice on plans for Father and Son Banquets, Hi Y Groups, gave Keep F it Lectures, and help on two Community Club events.

Attended one D is tric t Sunday School Convention, and spoke a t two sessions o f Sunday School (240 people). Gave ta lk on "Relation of Sunday School to Y.M.C.A." a t Sunday School Class Social Night.

Gave ta lk on "How to Train Our Boys and G irls " at Pomona Grange. (70 people)

Attended meeting o f County Secretarys at Canton one day. Attended two day session of State Meeting at Alliance.

Assisted one community in issuing Calendar, several groups on arrangements for Basketball, and served as one of the judges at 2 D istrict Musical and Oratorical Contests.

Issued 8 page Tour Souvenior Program, containing 89 en­ gravings and a complete account of the 1300 mile trip la s t f a l l , taken by 68 Portage County boys and men and 25 g ir ls and women.

Conducted "Know Kent Tour." 800 boys and g ir ls , teachers and parents participating. $33 profit to Y Treasury from lunch served at noon.

Assisted in 4 Parent-Teacher's meeting. 50

Assisted in canvass fo r funds.

B. H. Darrow16

Darrow implemented a number o f inventive projects while he

served in Portage County. He had to raise his own budget but s till he managed to develop a wide va rie ty o f recreational programs and educa­

tional tours. He fe lt young people didn't really have much of a chance

to "touch and feel American h is to ry ," he once had said. To combat that

problem, he at one time arranged for a group of children to work during the summer so they would have money for an historical tour in August.

The tour, of more than 75 youngsters, le ft from Ravenna, Ohio, then proceeded to P ittsburgh, and on to Gettysburg, Valley Forge and

Philadelphia. Washington, Baltimore and Ft. McHenry were also in­ cluded in the tour so the children could enjoy a swim in the ocean at

Atlantic City.

The group traveled about in old Reo flatbed trucks and slept in churches, schools and YMCA's. An old army kitchen and an old army chef were en liste d to provide meals fo r the tra ve lin g crew.1^

The years in Portage County were apparently pleasant ones for

Darrow. He le f t fo r Chicago in 1924 w ith these kind words fo r the community he le f t behind:

Allow me, as I trek for the bold, bad city of Chicago, to thank you fo r the thousands o f happy moments you have heaped upon me thru your cheerful cooperation in doing things. Your appreciation of the hard work which I shamelessly admit has been required on this job, has been perpetual tonic, a recharger for the batteries of enthusiasm. And you know Emerson, admit­ tedly a "wise old bird" said, "nothing great or good is accom­ plished without enthusiasm."18 51

Darrow's time in Chicago was spent with the Sears Roebuck Co.

He had been asked to join the Boys' and G irls' Division of the com­

pany's Agricultural Foundation and though the job lasted only about a

year, he "L ittle Red School house" broadcasts over WLS attracted an

audience of as many as 23,000 in Illin o is and surrounding states.^

Darrow's boss during the Chicago period was Samuel Guard, a

person Ben was to work for again in later years. Guard once called 20 Darrow "one o f the leading rura l sociologists o f America."

I t is known th a t by the time Darrow le f t Chicago he had become acquainted with at least one and possibly two major pioneers in educa­ tional broadcasting. One was Armstrong Perry with whom Darrow was to have much close contact in attempting to launch a National School of the A ir. According to a la te r biographical sketch, Perry and Darrow worked cooperatively in bringing about a youth program known as the

Radio Lone Scouts.

It is probable that while he was in Chicago, Darrow also came to know Judith Nailer. Ms. Waller, who was a radio pioneer in her own right, firs t engaged in radio education broadcasts in 1926 over Chicago sta tio n WMAQ. Her work was la te r expanded and by 1929 the WMAQ broad­ casts had been endorsed by the Chicago Public School s.21 In la te r years she served in the public service division of the National Broadcasting Company.^

While he was with WLS, Darrow invented and patented a device known as the TABL-TUB. The TABL-TUB, as the name im plied, was a kitchen table that turned into a bathing tub when the device was turned on its 52 side. Though TABL-TUB was patented in 12 countries, Darrow a ctu a lly lost money on his invention.23 After leaving WLS in 1925, Ben appar­ e n tly spent most o f his time farming the fam ily homestead. Family sources recall the period as a lean one for the Darrows.

To support his fa m ily, Darrow worked as a farm laborer, cuttin g corn. In efforts to improve the family coffers, he even bought fe lt rugs and tried to sell them door-to-door. Once in a while he sold a free-lance a rtic le to the "New York Times" or the "C hristian Science

Monitor." During this period he wrote a mystery story and invented a youth card game, but he could sell neither of them.

These three years in Woodstock must have been fru s tra tin g ones fo r Darrow. He'd thrown a ll his money behind a project which fa ile d .

Now he was broke. Nonetheless, his creative energies were s till push­ ing off in many different directions but with little channeling of his efforts.2^

It was obvious that this tireless, inventive mind could not long be content in the crop lands of Central Ohio. The years as a youth worker and radio broadcaster had le ft their mark. It was time fo r another tr y at the kind o f v/ork he loved most. In 1927, Benjamin

Harrison Darrow set out to found a National School of the Air. FOOTNOTES FOR CHAPTER I I I

^Richard Darrow, private interview held at headquarters H ill and Knowlton, Inc., Mew York City, N. Y., August 8, 1973.

^Mrs. Helen T h o rn h ill, private interview held in her home, Lima, Ohio, September 5, 1973.

^Richard Darrow, August 8, 1973.

^Benjamin Darrow, notes for use in radio script, "Radio Reaches the Classroom," personal papers maintained by his daughter, Mrs. Helen Thornhill, Lima, Ohio.

^Biographical sketches from Benjamin Darrow's personal papers, maintained by his daughter, Mrs. Helen T h o rn h ill, Lima, Ohio. (Type­ w ritte n .)

^ O ffic ia l Ohio State U niversity tra n s c rip t o f Benjamin Darrow.

^Biographical sketches from Benjamin Darrow's personal papers, maintained by his daughter, Mrs. Helen T h o rn h ill, Lima, Ohio. (Type­ w ritte n .)

^Letter from John W. Bricker, Columbus, Ohio, October 22, 1973.

^Richard Darrow, August 8, 1973.

^Robert Darrow, telephone interview from Youngstown to Zanesville, Ohio, March 23, 1973.

^R obert Darrow, personal interview at Darrow Employment Agency, Zanesville, Ohio, August 22, 1973.

^Richard Darrow, August 8, 1973.

♦ ^B iographical sketches from Benjamin Darrow's personal papers, maintained by his daughter Mrs. Helen T h o rn h ill, Lima, Ohio. (Type­ w ritte n .)

53 54

14 Richard Darrow, August 8, 1973.

^Biographical sketches from Benjamin Darrow's personal papers, maintained by his daughter, Mrs. Helen T h o rn h ill, Lima, Ohio. (Type­ w ritte n . )

^Benjamin Darrow, " 1Y' Report for Last Half of January, February and March, 1924," personal papers, maintained by his daughter, Mrs. Helen T h o rn h ill, Lima, Ohio. (Typew ritten.)

^Richard Darrow, August 8, 1973.

^®Newsclipping from Benjamin Darrow's personal papers, (while the name of the newspaper is not identified, it seems likely that it was published in Portage County, Ohio.)

^B iographical sketches from Benjamin Darrow's personal papers, maintained by his daughter, Mrs. Helen T h o rn h ill, Lima, Ohio. (Type­ w ritte n . )

^A d v e rtis in g brochure fo r TABL-TUB, from Benjamin Darrow's personal papers, maintained by his daughter, Mrs. Helen Thornhill, Lima, Ohio.

Ray D. W illey and Helen A. Young, Radio in Elementary Education (Boston: D. C. Heath & Co., 1948), p. 385.

22judith C. Waller, Radio in Fifth Estate (New York: Houghton M ifflin Co., 1946), Front flyleaf.

^B iographical sketches from Benjamin Darrow's personal papers, maintained by his daughter, Mrs. Helen T h o rn h ill, Lima, Ohio. (Type­ w ritte n . )

^Richard Darrow, August 8, 1973. CHAPTER IV

THE ATTEMPT TO FOUND A NATIONAL SCHOOL OF THE AIR

The Idea for a National School of the Air germinated in the

autumn o f 1927. By th is time Darrow and a few other private citize n s

had banded together to further the innovative idea. There are indi­

cations that Gifford Pinchot provided Darrow with a nominal amount

of seed money to help launch the p ro je ct.P in ch o t, a respected educator and forester, had been governor of Pennsylvania.

Judging from early correspondence, Darrow and Admiral W. G. H.

Bullard o f the Federal Radio Commission, were apparently prime movers of the National School of the Air task force. Bullard's name appears

in one of the earliest references to the group's efforts which was an appeal to the Commonwealth Fund of New York for funds to launch the experimental school.

In the appeal, Bullard outlined several steps to be taken be­ fore the National School of the Air could be launched:

(1) Complete a survey o f what the 3,000 County Superintendents of Schools and 6,000 School Principals desire in broad­ casts to schools.

*Darrow's account of Pinchot's early assistance claims the help came in October ,1928. The sequence of events surrounding this reference make it highly likely that the reference is simply a typo­ graphical error and that Pinchot's financial help actually came in October, 1927.

55 56

(2) Enlist the aid of a group of nationally known men and women to serve as Trustees of the School. They w ill choose a President and Business Manager. Should en­ dowment be necessary they w ill raise amount necessary. This can certainly be assured if organizing is pro­ perly done.

(3) Call together a Committee on Curriculum composed o f edu­ cators chosen by the President of the National Education Association. This Committee w ill s i f t a ll program sug­ gestions, decide on a schedule of broadcasting and co­ operate with the Director. This Committee w ill be re­ presentative in every respect and w ill need to meet several times.2

A proposed budget was also included in the appeal fo r funds:

(11 Completing Survey $1,000 (2) Expenses o f Com. on Curriculum 1,000 (3) Salary o f Bus. Mgr. 3 mo. 1,800 (4) Office, Travel, Telegrams, Stationary, etc. 1,200 $5,0(503

Bullard died sh o rtly a fte r the in it ia l appeal to the Common­ wealth Fund. Darrow quickly picked up the reins and on December 3, sent another letter pressing the Fund for a reply.* On the 12th,

Barbara S. Quin, Commonweath's assistant director, expressed interest in the proposal but wanted more clarification about the project. She urged Darrow to meet w ith Fund o ffic ia ls in New York.®

At th is p o in t, Darrow was s t i l l liv in g in Woodstock, Ohio and it is unclear to what extent other persons were involved in the

National School of the Air plan. In response to the Quin letter of the 12th, Darrow told the Commonwealth assistant director he was chair­ man of the National School of the Air group which included, Armstrong

Perry, Pinchot, and the Hon. John J. Lentz of Columbus, Ohio.

Darrow was obviously engaging in a b it of name dropping to impress the Commonwealth Fund with the National School of the A ir 57

proposal. In his le tte r to the Fund o f December 15, Darrow alluded to

several prominent persons as prospects for serving on the school's

Board of Trustees. Ironically, one name mentioned was that of Martin

L. Davey who was later to figure prominently in the death of the Ohio

School o f the A ir. In th is reference, Darrow claims Davey had given

him assurances o f his w illingness to serve on the Board.® But a

le tte r , apparently authored by Darrow on January 9, 1928, indicates

Davey never learned of Ben's involvement in the NSA project until

about three weeks after Darrow's December 15 le tte r to Ms. Quin.^

At about the time the in itia l appeal was made to the Common­

wealth Fund, Darrow was busy on other fro n ts . A le tte r o f December

15 from Darrow to Armstrong Perry indicates Ben had approached

o ffic ia ls of both the National Broadcasting Company and the Columbia

Chain to secure their cooperation in organizing the National School

of the Air. According to this correspondence, NBC expressed w illing­

ness to cooperate if evidence were given that a sizable number of

schools would equip themselves w ith radio receivers. Columbia decided

to hold off on a decision as they anticipated scheduling problems with

their affiliates.®

A promotional brochure, probably issued to CBS a ffilia te s, gives some indication of the scope of the NSA proposal in its early stages:

AN OPPORTUNITY

We are considering the launching o f the National School of the Air. We are prepared to make it the biggest feature of all 58

broadcasting i f each sta tio n o f our system w ill cooperate.

Radio fo r schools must come. Schools w ill equip to re­ ceive when such a program as the one we plan is announced and fostered in the many ways we contemplate.

It w ill reach the biggest audience in the world—their attention w ill not be divided. Such a plan as ours w ill avoid the comeptition prevalent with other programs. Ours w ill be THE ONE AUTHORIZED BROADCAST FOR THE SCHOOLS OF THE NATION.

Today, we can pre-empt the field if we take it quickly.

We can gain a prestige attainable in no other manner. The School audience is more than one-fourth the population. Many mothers w ill listen in. It w ill be the largest regular audience in the radio world. It w ill be the greatest development in education fo r decades—the most signal service—more provocative publicity than any other feature because it is for the children.

The program which follow s is , o f course, only a suggestive one and can be greatly improved. Details as to length of series, time, etc. are subject to mutual arrangement.

WHEN CAN WE BEGIN?

If you all vote favorably we w ill begin at once to complete the organization of the School of the Air. This can likely be accomplished in time to begin broadcasting February 1st or March 1st, 1928.

Ahead of us lies an opportunity to become an assistant to every one of America's 800,000 teachers, to give variety, the aid of an expert, new and otherwise unobtainable features, the inspiration and instruction of the great men and women of today to the men and women o f tomorrow.

The opportunity to lead, once gone, w ill not come again.

Only recognized leaders in each subject w ill be considered for the faculty of the School of the Air.

The music instruction w ill be by a nationally famous teacher of school music and he w ill be furnished with the best of illu s ­ tra tiv e accompaniment, vocal and instrum ental, and solo up to symphony. The course w ill include Fundamentals—history— Pilgrimages to other lands and end with a National Music Memory 59

Contest that w ill be the greatest ever attempted.

English and Dramatics w ill not only be taught, but illu s ­ trated with readings, dialogues, and plays, etc., by leading w rite rs and actors. The High School group w ill include the Shakespearian plays which a ll schools clamor for.

Geography and Travelogues w ill include ta lk s by such men as Stefanson, Burton Holmes, and Lindburgh.

Nature Studies w ill be given by leading Naturalists. Health Talks w ill be given by nationally known physicians and surgeons. Dr. Copeland and others.

The Holiday Talks w ill be given by such men as Cadman, Coolidge, Pinchot, Hoover, etc.

Mary Roberts Rhinehart, George Ade, Edmund Vance Cooke, Edgar Guest, Thomas A. Edison, Marconi, Michel son, M ille r, Byrd, Amundsen, Lorado T a ft, Borgiurn, Harrison Fisher, Charles Schwab, etc., etc. He w ill build up the very best program that school leaders, you and ourselves can evolve.

Lesson leaflets w ill be published carrying illustrative and collateral material and sent to each school asking for them by organizing

THE NATIONAL SCHOOL OF THE AIR

President Some great educator (Dr. W. 0. Thompson or Glen Frank)

Business Manager B. H. Darrow

Board of Trustees Mrs. Calvin Coolidge & others All loved National Characters

Faculty Best talent of entire nation and world

Program Committee Chosen by National Education Assoc, and U. S. Dept, of Education. This insures a program th a t is Pedagogic­ al ly right and that w ill be accepted by school men everywhere.

Instructors The best talent of the nation 60

Publicity Joy E. Morgan

SUGGESTED SCHEDULE FOR THAT NATIONAL SCHOOL OF THE AIR

Between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. Eastern Time

GRADE SCHOOLS - Monday, Wednesday and Friday

HALF HOUR PERIODS

Music Appreciation 32 English 8 Dramatics 8 Geography (Travel 8 Nature Studies 8 Health Talks 16 Holiday 8 Miscellaneous _8

Total 96 hours

HIGH SCHOOLS - Tuesday and Thursday

Music 16 (Instructor and musicians to illustrate) Dramati ca 8

Talks by Great Men & Women 15 minutes talk and 15 minutes interview

President of U. S. Vice President Speaker o f House Cabinet Chief Justice Governor o f State I. C. C. Diplomatic Service Senator Representative 13

Authors Inventors Explorers Painters 61

Sculpture Botany Chemistry Physics Business Men 27 g Total 160 periods

The proposal had merit, both networks agreed, but without their firm committment, Darrow was between a rock and a hard place.

NBC would go along w ith the program but only i f schools obtained re­ ceivers. At th is p o in t, according to Darrow, school o ffic ia ls were saying, "When a worthwhile regular broadcast is available in school time we w ill put in the necessary equipment."^® In a letter to Perry,

Darrow outlined the solution to the problem th is say:

That leaves our job, Armstrong, the persuading of each of them to act simultaneously, the one buying the horse while the other buys the buggy. Then the school children o f America w ill say, Thanks for the buggy-ride. . .^

Darrow might have had the buggy before the horse at this point.

In the le tte r of December 15th to Ms. Quin, Darrow mentions his and

Perry's mutual involvement in a survey of school officials. The tone of the letter to Perry, written on the same date, indicates neither man had seen each other for some time. Moreover, in the text of the le tte r to Perry, Darrow appears to be try in g to convince his frie n d of the need for the survey.^

Perry, by this time, had achieved national recognition and was a noted author of articles about radio. There is a suggestion here again th a t even though Darrow had known Perry, the December 15th le tte r to the Commonwealth Fund was perhaps an exercise in m ild 62 puffery and name dropping designed to get the NSA program moving.

In addition to his meetings with the networks, Darrow had also trie d to in te re s t the Ginn Publishing Co. in the proposed program of school broadcasts. Darrow had met w ith a Ginn o ffic ia l on November

28th but had not been able to convince the company to contribute services. He dashed off a strong promotional letter two days later in attempts to turn the publisher's decision around. The plan had been to secure some financial help from Ginn in return for goodwill th a t would be generated by the company's p a rtic ip a tio n in the program.

I t is unclear exactly what Darrow had in mind w ith the te x t­ book publisher. In the le tte r to Ginn, Darrow refers to the proposed program o f educational broadcasts as the " L it tle Red School House of

Ohio." In efforts to gain the publisher's support, Darrow pointed out that Columbus, Ohio, station HAIU had offered to absorb one-third the cost of the broadcasts. If one accepts the Ginn letter at face value, i t appears Darrow had intended th a t the Ginn/WAIU a llia n ce would serve as a pilot project to launch national broadcasts, but the conclusion is hard to support.^3

In the December 15 le tte r to Perry, Darrow notes he had also made contact with officials of Crosley-owned WLW in Cincinnati. The proposal made here was for a "Crosley School of the A ir." Again, in this proposal, Darrow had tried to convince station officials to parti­ cipate in a program o f school broadcasts on the basis o f goodwill tha t would be generated for the company.^ At this time, Crosley was one of the nation's major manufacturers of radio receiving equipment and stood 63 to benefit from participating in school broadcasts. Part of Darrow's effort to convince Crosley manifested its e lf this way:

WHY THE CROSLEY SCHOOL OF THE AIR WILL BE A PAYING INVESTMENT

1. It w ill reach the largest regular audience in the world. 32,000,000 children — 800,000 teachers — countless others.

2. Crosley, knowing the plans well in advance o f com­ petitors, can sweep the field, installing a much larger per cent of the total than his sets consti­ tute at present.

IMMEDIATE SALES

3. Children are the best advertisers in the world. TWO LEGGED CROSLEY ADS w ill go home to 20,000,000 radioless homes coaxing dad to buy a Crosley.

GOODWILL - TOMORROWS SALES

4. It w ill give Crosley a prestige not otherwise obtainable. There w ill be but one authorized teacher-promoted broadcast to schools. His ser­ vice to childhood w ill be such a distinct and vivid benefaction that it w ill create a more widespread Good-will than any other feature on the a ir .

5. The cost can be partially distributed to book- publishers, manufacturers o f phonoqraph records, etc. without blurring the brilliance of Crosley.

6. Once established , the Chains may s e ll the programs to their stations on a sustaining b a s is J 5

I t is obvious tha t by th is time, Darrow the salesman was at work. He had an idea, a "product," and in the autumn o f 1927 the merchandising e ffo rts had begun. What was probably happening was th a t

Darrow was tailoring the "product" according to the prospects he approached. If a network would buy, the product was a "National" 64

School of the Air. If Crosley would make the agreement, this name

could precede the title . If Ginn came across, "The L ittle Red School-

house o f Ohio" would emerge. Whatever the t i t l e , Salesman Darrow

intended to cover all bases. His plan was to sell the product.

By December 15, developments had taken a new tw is t. I t is clear

that by this time, Darrow had made contact with Armstrong Perry, a move

that was to redirect Ben's efforts. According to a le tte r, Perry had

been in touch with the Payne Study and Experiment Fund of New York.

They were interested in Darrow's plan.^

"Yes, V irg in ia , there is a Santa Claus," surely the thought

had crossed Ben's mind. A Christmas Eve le tte r from the Payne Fund contained an invitation to discuss Darrow's plan for educational

broadcasts. The fund offered to pay his travel expenses.^

Things moved quickly over the holiday season. A New Year's

Day le tte r from Payne included a check for $500.00 and indications

Darrow had the go-ahead to work w ith a committee o f educators headed by Olive M. Jones, former President of the National Education

Association. The expressed intent of the committee was to develop plans 18 for radio service to the nation's schools.

Help from the Payne Fund started the ball rolling. The organi­ zation had earlier expressed an interest in educational innovation by supporting studies in juvenile reading habits and the effects of motion pictures on childhood. The organization's interest in support­ ing the growth of educational broadcasting probably gained impetus from an earlier v is it Fund President H. M. Clymer had made with educational 65

broadcasters of the British Broadcasting C o m p a n y . ^

The in it ia l deal between Darrow and the Payne Fund worked th is

way. Darrow was to receive a salary o f $500.00 fo r the months o f

January and February 1928. His primary tasks were to coordinate

efforts of the educator's committee headed by Miss Jones and build a

brief of information which was to be submitted to the Commonwealth

Fund in hopes of securing from them the major portion of expenses to

launch the National School of the Air. Payne provided another $1,000

to pay for administrative expenses.2°

By the second week o f January, the Commonwealth Fund had ex­

pressed an interest in providing half the necessary $15,000 it was fe lt

was needed to carry the NSA project through the firs t six months of

operation. The final decision was to be made in the latter part of 91 the follow ing month.

Meantime, Olive Jones was busy lin in g up people to serve on

the educators committee, which was to conduct a survey of teacher

attitudes toward educational r a d i o . 22 Toward the end o f the month,

Darrow headed fo r Washington to secure support from o ffic ia ls in the 91 Senate and the Federal Radio Commission.

The movement to form a National School o f the A ir had by th is time become known as the Prelim inary Committee on Educational Broad­ casting. Olive Jones was the group's temporary chairman while Darrow was radio advisor and temporary secretary. The organization maintained offices in the same building as the Payne Fund in New York.

As it developed, one of the major objectives of the Preliminary

Committee was to urge the Executive Committee o f the National Education 66

Association to appoint a permanent committee on curriculum which would

provide guidance in selecting program m aterial fo r the National School

of the Air. The Preliminary Committee, early in its existence ,made

plans to make a formal presentation of the NSA proposal to an NEA

Executive session which was scheduled to meet in Boston, February 25th

through March 3, 1928. According to a February 1st le tter from Payne,

continued Fund help for the MSA project hinged on the Preliminary

Conrrittee securing NEA b a c k in g . 24

Results of a survey of teachers and education executives was

to serve as backbone o f the proposal sent to the NEA meeting. Three

thousand questionnaires were distributed.

Only about one-sixth of the questionnaires were returned, but of these, nearly all v/ere solidly in favor of launching a National

School of the Air. Responses also indicated a large percentage of schools were w illing to equip with radio receivers. Educators who re­ turned the questionnaire favored, in order of preference, broadcast of the following subjects:

(1) Music Appreciation (2) Geography and Travelogues (3) Literature and English (4) Health and Hygiene (5) H is to ry 2 5

Tabulations of the questionnaires were included in the body of the report prepared fo r submission to the NEA Executive Committee.

Mention was also made o f nodding support Darrow had received from broadcasters. On the strength o f th is , the Prelim inary Committee on

Educational Broadcasting made the following specific recommendations: 67

1. That the National Education Association endorse the preparing and broadcasting of educational programs fo r school use;

2. That the National Education Association appoint a permanent "committee on curriculum " empowered to pro­ vide a continuing schedule of broadcast material that shall be known as "The Curriculum of the Public School o f the A ir ."

3. That the National Education Association authorize this committee to collaborate with a committee of public spirited citizens in developing the Public School of the Air and that it requests the Payne Study and Experiment Fund's further cooperation to this end.26

The names of thirteen prominent citizens were included in the

report as endorsers of the plan for a radio school .^

Members o f the Executive Committee were unimpressed. When the

NEA February 25th meeting ro lle d around, Darrow and Miss Jones were

in Boston to lobby in behalf of national school broadcasts. A le tte r

from Darrow to Clymer indicates the pair had run into snags after

only two days o f meeting w ith the Executive Committee. According to

this account, things had moved smoothly un til one committee member

voiced need for delaying NEA action.

According to Darrow, this single action caused an air of

caution to sweep through the Committee. A fte r presenting th e ir case,

Darrow and Miss Jones had withdrawn from the meeting room so the

Executive body could vote its decision. One can imagine the sweat and

tension tha t must have passed between them as they awaited the

Committee's decision.

The reply came—bad news. The Committee moved to delay action on the proposal and present the matter before the NEA proper at a 68

national meeting scheduled for July in Minneapolis. The rationale

was that the plan for a radio school was of sufficient import that

the matter could not be decided by the committee.

Darrow and Miss Jones recognized that the NEA action meant at

least partial defeat, but in his February 27th letter to Clymer,

Darrow hinted that while the battle had been lost, the war was far from

over. Though he skipped d e ta ils , he to ld Clymer Miss Jones had a

definite plan in mind to m ollify the NEA move.^®

I t is known th a t the NEA Department o f Superintendence was also meeting in Boston at the same time as the Executive Committee.

Later correspondence indicates that after the abortive Executive Com­ m ittee meeting the Department o f Superintendence was approached with the plan for a radio school.

The Department passed a resolution counselling its new presi­ dent to form a Committee on Radio which would have the power to co­ operate with other forces interested in educational radio. Ultimately, though, the matter was referred to the Department's Lay Relations

Committee, headed by M. G. Clark, Superintendent of Sioux City, Iowa

Schools. The Committee never got around to dealing with the matter until October, 1928.^

Darrow's note of optimism in the February 27th letter to

Clymer is a probable reference to the seeming success Ben and Miss

Jones had achieved w ith the'Department o f Superintendence. Nonethe­ less, news of the Boston negotiations seemed to dishearten Clymer.

In a response to Darrow's letter the following day, Clymer told Ben 69

he f e lt the Commonwealth Fund ought to be n o tifie d o f the NEA's fa ilu re

to appoint a committee on curriculum. Though the tone of Clymer's

letter was positive, it was obvious he wanted to be prepared for the worst i f the NEA move could not be turned around.3®

Darrow got o ff a reply to Clymer the follow ing day. In the le tte r, Ben relayed optimism he had received in a note from Miss Jones which said, "A p a rtia l and very hopeful success is ours, but the next step to make i t complete must be taken at once." Darrow underscored

Miss Jones' uplifted spirits by telling Clymer, "In view of the above facts, if any word is sent to the Commonwealth folks, it should be that we expect a complete victory before the week is over."31

Correspondence doesn't indicate what kind o f backroom p o litic - ing was going on in Boston nor whether the Darrow/Jones optimism was ever communicated to the Commonwealth Fund. By the follow ing day,

March 1st, th is terse telegram message from Payne reached Darrow and

Miss Jones: "QUIN ADVISES ME GRANT REFUSED..."32

Money from Commonwealth was now out o f the pictu re . On the seventh o f March, Darrow received a le tte r from Clymer which less hearty souls might have interpreted as a coup de grace. The correspon­ dence contained a check fo r $45.00 as fin a l payment fo r Darrow's services. Tone of Clymer's le tte r suggested that while Darrow had made a sporting good try, the Payne Fund, according to its original position in the NSA matter, was not going to come across with any major funds of its own. Clymer signed off saying, "Keep me in touch, won't you, with your progress?" 70

Clymer d id n 't have to w ait long. Two days la te r he received

th is telegram from Darrow. "PINCHOT SINGLES, DARROW SAFE ON THIRD,

BOUND FOR WOODSTOCK, JOYFULLY."3^ The baseball cryptography meant

Gifford Pinchot's single was a repeat offer to help Darrow financially.

As later correspondence confirmed, Darrow safe on third meant he in­

tended to keep the battle for a National School of the Air moving.

Clymer played along w ith the word game and telegraphed back, " . . .

SIGNAL WHEN YOU BAT AGAIN."35 Darrow did.

A March 10th le tte r from Woodstock indicated Ben's plan of attack would be to meet w ith various in flu e n tia ls in attempts to garner more support for the National School of the A ir.3® It is un­ clear exactly what Darrow was up to. Some correspondence indicated he was meeting w ith o ffic ia ls o f the Roosevelt Memorial Association ostensibly to get financial backing. Other letters between Darrow and

Clymer indicate Ben was ta lkin g w ith NEA leaders in attempts to get support for the upcoming NEA meeting in Minneapolis. Even as late as the end of July, Clymer himself was not certain of the exact nature of

Darrow's efforts and sent Ben a letter asking for clarification.

A copy of Darrow's reply has not been found. Clymer's query, however, o ffe rs some in sig h t in to what occupied Darrow's time between the ill- fa te d Boston meeting and mid-summer o f 1928.

Clymer's understanding of Darrow's movements was that the

Roosevelt Memorial Association (RMA) was occupying the bulk o f Darrow's efforts after the Boston meeting. According to this account, negotia­ tions with RMA f e ll through, a fte r which Darrow approached the National 71

Broadcasting Company for support. It is unclear exactly what Darrow proposed to NBC. In the midst o f a ll th is , Darrow was also meeting with NEA officia ls, in apparent hopes of securing their backing at the 37 Minneapolis meeting.

Correspondence indicates that a fte r the Boston meeting Darrow spent a brief time with his family and then was o ff on a lobbying effort in various parts of the country. By early June, after ten weeks on the road, he was back with his family in Woodstock after what he said had been "the longest separation of my wife and I during the last

20 years."38

There are indications that while Darrow was out scouring the countryside, Miss Jones was making lobbying efforts of her own. Mean­ tim e, Darrow, who was te ch n ica lly unemployed, had been offered a job with the Boy Scouts, but stalled from accepting it until learning of the outsome of the NEA meeting.3^

I t was obvious th a t by the summer o f 1928, the Darrow fam ily finances were strained. Perhaps fo r th is reason, Darrow did not attend the Minneapolis meeting of the NEA.

Olive Jones did go to Minneapolis but was unsuccessful in garnering support for the National School of the Air. In a brief ex­ change with a Payne Fund o fficia l following the meeting, Miss Jones indicated NEA officials were not interested in the plan even though, as it turned out, the question'of radio education had been referred to the

Department o f Superintendence Lay Relations Committee. When asked her account of what happened at the Minneapolis meeting, Miss Jones' terse reply was, "Nothing happened—lite ra lly nothing..."^

There were indications that lack of an aggressive, formal pro­ posal was the reason for NEA stalling at the Minneapolis meeting. In a September 24th le tte r to NEA President Uel Lamkin from Chairman

Clark o f the Lay Relations Committee, Clark said:

No definite written request has ever been sent to me from anyone representing th is m atter. Miss Jones said something in a three minute run through one of the hotel halls in Minneapolis, but nothing has come to me that I can put into my file s for con­ sideration. 41

It seems hard to believe that after all the arm twisting of the months past, administrative detail had been the cause of further delaying action by the NEA. It is not known who, if anyone, had re­ sponsibility for making an officia l presentation at the Minneapolis meeting. It seems likely, though, that Darrow's inability to attend the conference might have been part of the reason the matter was not presented more aggressively.

Regardless of the cause, results of the Minneapolis meeting looked like another setback. Even so, in an August 1st letter to

Darrow, Payne Fund President Clymer proposed yet another committee whose purpose i t would be to maintain in te re s t in plans fo r a National

School o f the A i r . ^

A le tte r from Darrow the following day probably crossed Clymer's in the mail. The le tte r indicated Darrow was down in the dumps over results of the Minneapolis meeting. It was obvious by this time that

Darrow was experiencing severe financial d ifficu lty. Ben told Clymer he was running into problems with the "...B ill family—L ittle B ill, 73

Big B ill and Urgent Bin." He had had to borrow money to keep going

and it was clear that his thoughts now turned to seeking a job with a

regular salary.43

Clymer's August 1st letter must have had a catalytic effect on

the r e lilie n t Darrow. In his reply Darrow had a name ready fo r Clymer's

proposed committee—the National Committee fo r the Study o f Educational

Radio. He even had a plan ready on how the task might be approached.

But the real news of Darrow's letter contined a half-hearted mention

he was thinking of starting an Ohio School of the Air. He could not

have realized then that five months to the day from his letter to

Clymer, the Ohio School of the Air would have logged its firs t broad­

c a st.44

By the end o f August, 1928, the Ohio School o f the A ir was

little more than a dream. During the month, Darrow had written letters

to several educators he hoped would keep pushing fo r a program o f

national school broadcasts. It was clear, nevertheless, that as the

summer wore on the idea of getting a paying job was s till foremost in

Darrow's mind.

Darrow trie d several YMCA's, hoping they would be interested

in his record with that organization. He s till had hopes for a job in

scouting, but was keeping his options open. One place he applied was

the National School of Visual Education, which called its e lf "The film way to b e tte r pay."4^ By the end o f September, he s t i l l had not found employment.

In the ea rly autumn, new plans were brewing. In an October 2nd 74

le tte r to Clymer, Darrow indicated he had met w ith Ohio Education

Director J. L. Clifton and presented a plan for an Ohio School of the

Air. The proposal called for broadcasts to originate from Columbus sta tio n WAIU, w ith whom Darrow had been in contact.^® Salesman

Darrow was s t i l l hard at work. This time the cash re g is te r would rin g .

By October 10th the stage was set and a joyful Darrow was once again employed. Darrow broke word o f his success in a le tte r to

Clymer in which he informed his friend he had been placed on the pay­ r o ll o f the Ohio Department o f Education, as i t turned out, as the nation's firs t state director of educational broadcasting.

The months of travel, hard work and despair might have dis­ couraged some men from trying yet another experimental venture. With the fa ilu re o f the TABL-TUB and the National School o f the A ir, Darrow had already experienced two major failures. But despair was the last thing from his mind. On the eve of his firs t day on the new job, 47 Darrow wrote his friend Clymer, "Aw jes can't wait to get started." FOOTNOTES FOR CHAPTER IV

^Ben H. Darrow, Radio, The Assistant Teacher (Columbus, Ohio: R. G. Adams and Co., 1932), p. 29.

^Letter from W. H. G. Bullard to Barry Smith, November 18, 1927, Payne Fund F ile s.

3Ib id .

^Le tte r from B. H. Darrow to Barry Smith, December 3, 1927, Payne Fund F ile s.

^Letter from Barbara S. Quin to B. H. Darrow, December 12, 1927, Payne Fund F ile s.

^Letter from B. H. Darrow to Barbara S. Quin, December 15, 1927, Payne Fund F ile s.

7Letter apparently authored by B. H. Darrow to Martin L. Davey, January 9, 1928, Payne Fund F ile s.

®Letter from B. H. Darrow to Armstrong Perry, December 15, 1927, Payne Fund F ile s.

®"An Opportunity," promotional brochure apparently used by CBS to promote a National School o f the A ir, Payne Fund F ile s.

l°Letter from 3. H. Darrow to Armstrong Perry, December 15, 1927, Payne Fund F ile s.

11 Ib id .

12Ib id .

^ L e tte r from Mr. Swartz, Ginn Co., apparently authored by Darrow, November 30, 1927, Payne Fund F ile s.

75 76

^Letter from B. H. Darrow to Armstrong Perry, December 15, 1927, Payne Fund F ile s.

15"Why the Crosley School of the Air Will Be a Paying Invest­ ment," promotional leaflet apparently authored by B. H. Darrow, Payne Fund Files. (Typewritten.)

^Le tter from Armstrong Perry to B. H. Darrow, December 22, 1927, Payne Fund F ile s.

17L e tte r from H. M. Clymer to B. H. Darrow, December 24, 1927, Payne Fund F ile s.

18L e tte r from H. M. Clymer to B. H. Darrow, January 1, 1928, Payne Fund F ile s.

19Letter from H. M. Clymer to B. H. Darrow, December 24, 1927, Payne Fund F ile s.

28"Memorandum-Discussion between H. M. C. and Mr. Darrow on de­ ta ils of agreement--January 1 to February 29, 1928," Payne Fund Files.

21 Letter from B. H. Darrow to Gifford Pinchot, January 9, 1928, Payne Fund F ile s.

22L e tte r from Olive M. Jones to D. R. Coombs, January 10, 1928, Payne Fund F ile s.

28Telegram from B. H. Darrow to H. M. Clymer, January 23, 1928, Payne Fund F ile s.

24L e tte r from H. M. Clymer to B. H. Darrow, February 1, 1928, Payne Fund F ile s.

25Cline M. Koon, "Development and Appraisal o f Classroom Instruction by Radio" (Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, The Ohio State University, 1931), p. 517.

26Ib id ., p. 523.

27Ib id ., p. 522.

28tetter from B. H. Darrow to H. M. Clymer, February 27, 1928, Payne Fund F ile s. 77

^Darrow, Radio, The Assistant Teacher, pp. 34-35.

^ L e tte r from H. M. Clymer to B. H. Darrow, February 28, 1928, Payne Fund F ile s.

31 Letter from B. H. Darrow to H. M. Clymer, February 29, 1928, Payne Fund F ile s.

^Telegram from E. P. Crandall to B. H. Darrow, March 1, 1928, Payne Fund F ile s.

^ L e tte r from H. M. Clymer to B. H. Darrow, March 7, 1928, Payne Fund F ile s.

^T e le g ra m from B. H. Darrow to H. M. Clymer, March 9, 1928, Payne Fund F ile s.

^Telegram from H. M. Clymer to B. H. Darrow, March 9, 1928, Payne Fund F ile s.

^Letter from B. H. Darrow, apparently to Payne Fund, March 10, 1928, Payne Fund F ile s.

^ L e tte r from H. M. Clymer to B. H. Darrow, July 31, 1928, Payne Fund F ile s.

^Letter from B. H. Darrow, apparently to Payne Fund, June 7, 1928, Payne Fund F iles.

^ L e tte r from B. H. Darrow to E. P. Crandall, July 2, 1928, Payne Fund F ile s.

^Letter from E. P. Crandall to B. H. Darrow, July 18, 1928, Payne Fund F ile s.

41Letter from M. G. Clark to Dr. Uel W. L. Lamkin, September 24, 1928, Payne Fund F ile s.

^2L e tte r from H. M. Clymer to B. H. Darrow, August 1, 1928, Payne Fund F ile s.

^ L e tte r from B. H. Darrow to H. M. Clymer, August 2, 1928, Payne Fund F ile s. 78

^ L e tte r from B. H. Darrow to H. M. Clymer, August 7, 1928, Payne Fund F ile s.

^Letter from Ralph E. Stolz to H. M. Clymer, August 30, 1928, Payne Fund F ile s.

^ L e tte r from B. H. Darrow to H. M. Clymer, October 2, 1928, Payne Fund F ile s.

47Letter from B. H. Darrow to H. M. Clymer, October 10, 1928, Payne Fund F iles. CHAPTER V

THE EARLY OHIO SCHOOL OF THE AIR

Darrow's success w ith C lifto n was a p a rtia l boost fo reduca­ tional broadcasting, but the question of a national plan for a radio school remained unresolved. The NEA Lay Relations Committee was scheduled to meet in Cleveland on October 27, 1928, to deal w ith the pressing matter. Ben remained actively concerned with the project though it was clear by early October that the Ohio School of the Air was consuming the bulk of his time.1

From the beginning, the Payne Fund became an active supporter of Darrow's plan for Ohio school broadcasts. In an October 11 letter from Clymer, Ben received written word of the Fund's willingness to pick up the tab for Darrow's monthly salary of $400. The state's part o f the bargain was to provide Darrow w ith o ffic e space and take responsibility for:

1. Determining the course of study. 2. Gaining it s acceptance by Ohio schools. 3. Enlisting the talent for planning and presenting the broadcasts.. .2

Payne was w illing to back the project until May 15, 1929. In addition to this, the Fund expressed willingness to pay Darrow's ex­ penses to the Cleveland meeting o f the Lay Relations Committee.-*

79 80

With the Cleveland meeting two weeks o ff, Darrow's early days on his new job took on a two-fold dimension. On the one hand, he had to plot his course of action for getting the OSA off the ground. At the same tim e, a spark o f hope remained tha t a program o f national broadcasts might somehow be resurrected from the morass of the past months' disappointment. Ben plunged into both tasks headlong.

Early conflicts were presented. Original aims called for

Columbus station WAIU to broadcast lessons of the Ohio School of the

A ir. Though plans weren't d e fin ite , i t appeared a time/frequency con­ flic t might arise between WAIU and Ohio State University station WEAO which had rights to broadcast time considered most appropriate for OSA lessons. In the early weeks of negotiations with the two stations, thought was given to having broadcasts originate from WEAO, even though WAIU had almost twice the range of the University station.4

There are indications WAIU solved the problem by obtaining a frequency change authorization from the Federal Radio Commission which would elim inate the apparent shared time agreement w ith WEAO.5 By late October, plans were being made to u tilize WAIU though no written agreement had been made between the statio n and the Ohio Department of

Education. Darrow was a b it uneasy about the lack o f a formal contract and had been investigating possibilities of originating broadcasts out of WEAO and carrying them over telephone cable for broadcast by either a Cleveland or Cincinnati station.

As the technical d e ta ils were being worked out, Ben kept him­ s e lf busier yet arranging fo r persons to appear on the planned program 81

of broadcasts.6

Though plans seemed to be going ahead well fo r the Ohio School

of the A ir, Darrow was to receive yet another personal setback. The months o f hard work in try in g to establish a national program o f

school broadcasts obliged Darrow to attend the Cleveland meeting of the

NEA Lay Relations Committee for yet another try at convincing educators of the need for educational radio. At the meeting, Darrow presented a number of suggestions he hoped would move the educational body o ff dead center. He was unsuccessful.

On October 29, M. B. Clark of the Lay Relations Committee broke the bad news in a le tte r to Darrow:

We spent quite a bit of time in going over the matter and the problems seemed to us at the present time to be so great th a t the committee agreed upon the follow ing statement:

"We find that the problem of educational radio broadcast­ ing is too indefinite and involves too many unknown factors at the present time to admit of present acceptance. The committee, therefore, recommends that the whole matter of radio broadcast­ ing be reserved for further investigation and study."7

To top o ff Darrow's disappointment, a new problem entered the picture—WAIU effectively backed out of the original offer that had been made the Ohio radio school. There are indications WAIU had applied to the Federal Radio Commission fo r permission to operate dur­ ing evening hours. The plan had been to increase station transmitting power tenfold if the proposal cleared the FRC. This would have given the Ohio School o f the A ir the range i t needed to cover the state.

When the FRC balked at the WAIU proposal, station officia ls said the

Q tra n sm itte r v/ould remain on low power. 82

Disappointment piled on disappointment. With the WAIU back­

o ff, Darrow was near yet far from his goal for a radio school. Another

problem had been heaped upon Darrow's back. It would be solved in

Cincinnati.

Success! WAIU was a small bargain compared to the deal Darrow made with the Crosley Corporation. In a November 8 letter to the

Payne Fund, Ben relayed the surprise news that Crosley was w illing to broadcast OSA lessons over the company's new half-m illion watt station,

WLW. The news couldn't have been better. According to Darrow's le tte r, WLW was the most powerful station in the whole United States and e ffe c tiv e ly reached eight to ten states during daytime broadcasts.

This meant th a t what had begun as an idea to serve one state was g like ly to have impact on almost one-fourth the entire country.

Plans were developed to originate broadcasts from the studios of Ohio State's WEAO. Programs were then to be sent over telephone cable to the Crosley statio n in C incinnati. By mid-November, there were hopes Bell Telephone would donate lin e s e rv ic e .^

Earlier in the month, a letter under Director Clifton's signa­ ture had gone to educators in hopes o f drumming up support fo r the upcoming broadcasts. With it went a questionnaire asking teachers to indicate th e ir program preferences and problems they anticipated w ith the program.^

With the major problems out o f the way, thoughts now turned to arranging programming for the bold experiment. There are indications

Darrow wanted to s ta rt the show o ff dram atically, and he had w ritten 83

P ilot Electric Manufacturing Company in hopes of securing their flying laboratory which contained a short-wave transmitter capable of recep­ tion from the ground. In keeping with the carnivalesque temper of the tim e, Darrow had wanted aviation hero Charles Lindberg to make the firs t OSA broadcast from a plane flying in the a ir.*2 The stunt never materialized for the firs t broadcast.

By early December, Darrow had received indications that per­ haps 1,000 schools would be lis te n in g to the Ohio School o f the A ir's firs t broadcast. According to Darrow, this represented 6,000 class­ rooms and meant that 200,000 anxious boys and girls might be listening when the firs t broadcast went on the air January 7.

As the year drew to a close, much o f Darrow's time was consumed in tying up loose ends before the baptismal broadcast. Getting funds fo r the telephone connection between Columbus and Cincinnati was one o f the major concerns a fte r Bell Telephone relayed word i t would be unable to provide free service. Darrow approached the "Columbus

Dispatch" for the fu ll amount but was unsuccessful.^ Payne Fund founder, Mrs. C. C. Bolton offered to pay costs on an emergency basisJ5

Darrow had other ideas and wound up raisin g the necessary $2,000 piecemeal

While Darrow was making preparations fo r the Ohio School o f the

A ir, the National Broadcasting Company launched a program known as the

NBC "Music Appreciation Hour." Headed by Dr. Walter Damrosch, the series became one of the most widely respected educational programs in the history of school broadcasting and had the distinction of being the 84

firs t educational series to be broadcast nationally. During its 14

year history, the Damrosch series reached a peak audience of 7,000,000

school children spread among some 70,000 schools.1^

Looking back on the year 1928, Darrow must have seen i t as an

Important 12 months for educational broadcasting. It had been a period

th a t had hung between hope and despair. But a t year's end, hope won

out, and a t least two major school radio programs were on the move.

With the success o f Damrosch and the Ohio School o f the A ir on the

verge of success, it was clear educational broadcasting was beginning

to move from a stage of parochial experimentation to a level of

sophistication that would have immense impact upon the nation. The

new year welcomed a new era for educational radio.

The holiday season had scarcely passed. The new year fo r

Darrow meant a jumble of activity before launching the OSA broadcasts

on January 7, 1929. In the days before the broadcast, Darrow was busy

lining up talent and attending to necessary administrative details.

Finally, the day arrived.

At h a lf past noon, tests o f the telephone c ir c u it between V/EA0

and WLW began. For 60 minutes, telegraph messages on a second c ir c u it

flashed between Columbus and Cincinnati. For an occasion as important

as this one, nothing could be le ft to chance. The wires buzzed with

a c tiv ity .

At 1:30, WLW's half-m illion watts sliced through the wintry

afternoon. An organist took the director's cue and struck the firs t note o f the song. I t was "America the B e a u tifu l." 85

"Oh, beautiful for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain."

The song had been sung in classrooms a m illion times before. "For purple mountain majesties, above the fruited plain." Thousands of tiny voices, some o f them o ff-ke y, reached fo r the high note o f the song.

In classroom after classroom, the scene was the same. The Mid-west had become a giant chorus.

As the song ended, thousands o f fe e t shuffled behind student desks which bore the scars of use—ink blots, carved in itia ls, pencil- art of all description. Darrow1s voice burst through the loudspeakers to introduce Dr. John L. Clifton, Ohio's education director, who had been behind Darrow's project from the start J®

Clifton, in turn, introduced Randall J. Condon, Cincinnati

Superintendent of Schools. Condon outlined the potentials offered by the Ohio School o f the A ir and pointed out tha t now great minds o f the period could reach students in the classroom. . Perhaps to set some worrying teachers' minds at ease, Condon insisted that OSA instruction was intended to be supplemental to classroom teaching.^

Problems which had hounded Darrow throughout the previous year, persisted right to the moment of the firs t broadcast. Half the cast line d up fo r the program were sick w ith the flu.^® Education e d ito r

Harrison Sayre managed to escape the illness and was the firs t guest to be introduced on the show. Sayre's firs t talk on "This Shrinking

World" was one of the series he was to give regularly on current events.

Response to the in itia l broadcast began to pour in. By letter, phone and telegraph, the messages came. The Ohio School o f the A ir had 86

made an impression on e d u c a t o r s . 21 According to Darrow, as many as

50,000 students and teachers had listened to the firs t broadcast.

Before the firs t broadcast, a survey had been conducted to determine teacher preference for programs. Results showed teachers favored music appreciation firs t, followed by geography and travel.

Literature ranked third in the survey while history and health lessons pp came in fourth and fifth respectively. In partial response to teacher preferences, the firs t schedule of hour-long daily broadcasts developed:

Monday 1:30 - 1:33 "America, the Beautiful," played by the organ, (pupils singing in their classrooms). 1:33 - 1:45 Health; Story Plays and Rhythmics. 1:45 - 2:00 Current Events by Harrison Sayre, Editor of Current Events and other school pub!ications. 2:00 - 2:03 Three minutes of music. 2:03 - 2:30 History Dramalog (Largely of Colonial Period). (A few bars of "America, the Beauti­ ful" as signature). Tuesday 1:30 - 1:33 "America, the Beautiful." 1:33 - 1:50 Series of talks on Chemistry. Questions and Answers Periods. Series of five lessons on Aeronautics. 1:50 - 1:53 Music. 1:53 - 2:10 Series of Art Appreciation by Dr. Henry Turner Bailey, of Cleveland A rt Museum, and others. 2:10 - 2:13 Music. 2:13 - 2:30 C iv il Government by those Who Govern. "America, the Beautiful," as signature. Wednesday 1:30 - 1:33 "America, the Beautiful." 1:33 - 1:48 Stories for firs t, second, and third grades by Bessie Gabbard. 1:48 - 1:51 Music. 1:51 - 2:10 Stories for fourth, fifth , and sixth grades by Julia Carter. 2:10 - 2:30 Stories for seventh and eighth grades by Gertrude Avey. 87

Thursday 1:30 - 1:33 "America, the Beautiful." 1:33 - 2:00 Drama by the Stuart-Vlalker Theatres and the Schuster-Martin School of Drama. 2:00 - 2:03 Organ Music. 2:03 - 2:30 Geography by Dr. W. R. McConnell of Miami University and others. "America, the Beautiful" as signa­ tu re . 23

To avoid conflict with the NBC Damrosch music concerts, no broadcasts were scheduled fo r Fridays.

The series on health was geared largely toward teaching pupils things they could do personally to assure their own continued good health. Personalities speaking as health professionals gave advice from personal experience, an attractive departure from dry textbook learning.

Harrison M. Sayre, who edited "Current Events" and other school publications, was featured speaker for the current events portion of the program. History was presented in dramalog fashion by casts of

Ohio State U niversity students.

In the e a rly days of the school, a program o f chemistry le c­ tures was offered, but the series failed to attract a large number of schools. Darrow la te r speculated that the m aterial covered in ta lks may have been too sophisticated for high school students.

The director of the Cleveland Art Museum provided art instruc­ tion with the assistance of the art director of the Ohio Federation of

Women's Clubs. Beforehand, listening schools acquired prints of art works to be discussed. Students were then able to view the print as it 88 was being discussed over the a ir. The Women's Clubs federation helped promote this series in schools as well as among its own members.

A unique early program was called "C iv il Government by Those

Who Govern." During th is segment, various government o ffic ia ls ex­ plained their duties to children in the classroom. Speakers included the Ohio governor, attorney general, and the chief justice of the state supreme court. Students were also treated to live broadcasts of the Ohio House and Senate. Later, features included live broad­ casts of the inauguration of Ohio Governor Myers Y. Cooper as well as the inauguration o f U. S. President Herbert Hoover.

Other early programs included a five-segment series on avia­ tion. Air travel by this time had captured the imagination of most

Americans and was of particular interest to children. Host for the series was M errill Hamburg who was airplane editor of "American Boy" magazine. In large part, the program was a subtle tool for selling good study habits. The thrust of M errill's talks advised would-be aviators o f the need fo r thorough knowledge o f the fie ld which could only be gained by acquiring good study habits.

Storytelling became another popular feature and tales for younger children were presented once a week on subjects of interests to students in early grades—pets, flowers, playthings. Stories for older students became progressively more sophisticated, and third, fourth, and fifth graders were exposed to the likes of Kipling and

Hans Christian Anderson. Stories for seventh and eighth graders fea­ tured characters such as Hiawatha, King Arthur, and Don Quixote. 89

Poetry was another topic covered during many of the early broadcasts, and poets such as Edmund Vance Cooke and Edwin Markham were often invited to give readings of their poems over the air.

Shakespearean plays, especially popular among high school students, were presented by two Cincinnati th e a trica l troupes.

Geography was presented as travelogs, and numerous famous world travelers gave accounts of their trips. One unusual broadcast featured child film star Jackie Coogan, who reported to his radio

"playmates" on trips he had made abroad.24

During the crowded period before the Ohio School of the Air's f i r s t broadcast, Darrow in one s ittin g had whipped together a radio guide book for teachers. The "Guide-book to the Radio Journeys of the

School of the Air" was a necessity for many teachers, who had little concept of how radio education ought to be handled.

The guidebook outlined content o f various programs and offered general suggestions to teachers and principals on how to arrange for the broadcasts.

Almost from the time he started the OSA venture, Darrow had been constantly on the go. By the end o f January, 1929, the constant s tra in of a c tiv ity was beginning to show. Seventeen hours o f work a day had dropped his weight nearly 15 p o u n d s25 . By the end o f the month, Darrow was suffering from a fever, but he continued his rigor­ ous schedule.27

Darrow's hard work had paid off. Every day, the mail brought more and more le tte rs commending the school fo r it s e ffo rts , and in a 90 number o f homes, the Ohio School o f the A ir had become a d a ily routine for parents. Throughout the middle United States, the listenership was increasing. On one Montana ranch, the popular series was announced by the fa m ily's Chinese cook who heralded the program's coming w ith a clanging bell and the cry, "Schoolee of a ir, schoolee of air."^®

The Crosley Company as "silent partner" was obviously happy with the broadcasts. In an A pril, 1929 issue of the company's house organ, editor Natalie Giddings reported that educators in 19 states and Canada had begun to make intensive studies of the Ohio radio school in hopes of implementing radio education in their schools. For Crosley this meant potential receiver sales. The point was underscored in Gidding's a rtic le :

Of most vital importance both to the classroom instructor and to the radio dealer is the acknowledgement by a ll student supervisors tha t every classroom must be equipped w ith it s own radio set to derive from radio education its greatest benefits.29

The stress on each classroom having its own independent receiver de­ rived, in part, from Darrow's insistence that classroom listening was superior to auditorium listening. He fe lt classroom listening improved acoustics and helped eliminate discipline problems among students.^

In addition to the Crosley Company, Ohio Education Director J. L.

Clifton was another who was pleased with the school's success. Writing in the May, 1929 issue of "Ohio Schools," Clifton acted as cheerleader for radio education and promised that forthcoming OSA broadcasts would top previous impressive efforts. Clifton saw "timeliness" as radio's greatest asset and was so sold on the concept that he suggested that on some occasions broadcast news events ought to take precedence over 91

other planned classroom activity.3^ Few alone could doubt it now;

radio education was a part of history, and the Ohio School of the Air

was helping to pave the tra il.

The School o f the A ir's success was amazing in th a t fo r the

firs t few month's of its existence, it was operated almost entirely

without funds. Harrow's experience as mendicant and salesman had paid

o ff, and in the early days of the school, donated time, money, and

equipment were the only things that kept the school alive.

By April, 1929, the School emerged from the financial wilder­

ness. Ohio le g is la to rs , perhaps influenced by constituents who

applauded the OSA, appropriated $40,000 to finance the school for a

two-year period. The appropriation was made retroactive to January 1,

1929. This meant tha t the whole amount could be spent over 20 months

instead of 24.3^ Over the two-year period of the firs t appropriation,

Darrow budgeted the funds in th is manner: 25 per cent fo r telephone

connection with WLW, 25 per cent for printing and postage, 50 per cent

for travel, salaries, broadcaster's fees and other miscellaneous expen­

ditures.33 The "surface" budget was really distorted when the cash value of donated air time, services, etc., was considered. According

to one estimate, the state of Ohio was actually receiving educational

broadcasting services to the tune of $85,000 a year. The legislature's appropriation was less than a fourth that amount.3^

As another of the unseen partners in the OSA's success, the

Payne Fund was interested in measuring the effectiveness of the experi­ mental broadcasts. Early in the School's history, Or. W. W. Charters 92 of Ohio State University was named as a Fund associate with expressed responsibility for researching impact of broadcasts.35

In itia lly , Darrow didn't take too kindly to the appointment,

At an early meeting with Charters, Ben expressed concern that the re­ searcher's poking around might handicap his efforts in "keeping the patient alive." Charters reassured him, however, that Darrow's part in the research meant nothing more than keeping a daily log of problems and activities that were ultimately to culminate in a formal report.35

As an on-the-go pragmatist, there is little doubt that Darrow was much inclined toward empirical research and the time-consuming detail work it required. Though he obviously saw the need for the

OSA's effectiveness to be measured, he seemed to have l i t t l e patience with anything but practical research. In the early days of the school, this pragmatic attitude seemed to guide his research views. As Darrow once remarked, "Why worry about the varnor calliper to measure in millemeters so long as a yard stick is sufficient to show us how to

Improve the lesson?"3?

Aside from the need to provide data to Charters, Darrow needed information on how the broadcasts were being received. Clearly, this was top priority data to E&rrow so he could use the information to improve the q u a lity o f programming.

The approach Darrow used was u n s c ie n tific by today's standards.

Classroom teachers were regarded as the ones most lik e ly to provide data to measure the effectiveness of radio lessons. Beginning with the

1929-30 school year, the School s o lic ite d comments from teachers who 93 reported in their own words on the following points and questions:

1. Characterize the general effectiveness of the lesson in terms of interest and attention of the children.

2. How satisfactory was the voice and personality of the radio teacher? How might i t be improved?

3. How satisfactory was the lesson material for your children? How might i t be improved?

4. How satisfactory was the method of presenting the lessons? How might i t be improved?

5. How satisfactory was the advanced lesson material published fo r th is lesson in the Ohio School o f the A ir Courier? (The OSA house organ) How might i t be Improved?

6. What other suggestions can you offer for improving the next lesson?

7. What improvements have you noted in th is lesson over preceding lessons?38

Not much in the way of survey research was accomplished during the School's firs t six months. Written testimonials seemed to act as primary success indicators during the OSA's early days. A later survey of the school's activities, however, indicates that at the end of the

1928-29 school year, the OSA had made some attempts to quantify data.

At the end of the firs t period of broadcasting, this information was re fle cte d in the School's annual report:

(a) Listening schools in twenty-nine different states, as well as Canada.

(b) Nearly 50,000 pupils listening in Ohio.

(c) They listened an average of 1 hour and 14 minutes a week per pupil.

(d) Nearly half of the listening schools planned to have additional equipment for the school year of 1929-30. 94

(e) Most of the teachers using the broadcasts had their classes prepare for the radio lessons and review them after their preparation.39

One reason Darrow may have shied away from more formal research was that he simply didn’t have the time. In the rush to keep the

School of the A ir a liv e , Ben ra re ly worked less than a twelve-hour day.

Oftentimes, he could be found working past midnight on letters he'd been unable to attend to during the day.

A typical day for the man started at 8 a.m. He began by read­ ing the morning's mail. Replies to the correspondence were often needed, though welcome fan le tte rs almost always arrived w ith the crush of letters. At 8:15, Ben was busy dictating replies; to govern­ ment o fficia ls, to classroom teachers, to the warp and woof of Middle

America who had become his lis te n in g public.

In the middle of it all, the telephone would ring, visitors would drop in , as a cacophony o f confusion rose w ith the morning sun.

From ten until noon, Ben might be busy with appointments. The office staff often had to finish the morning mail.

Lunch was often spent at speaking engagements. One can only speculate on the number of times Darrow must have endured chicken-a-la- king and fawning Rotarians. A chance to speak was a chance to sell the school and indigestion was the price one risked for the opportunity.

One-thirty in the afternoon had become the day's magic moment.

Each day's broadcast began with a humming organ, "...from sea to shining sea." The last word of the song was the announcer's cue to introduce Uncle Ben the Radio Schoolmaster. "Good afternoon boys and 95

girls of the School of the A ir," he'd intone. A voice, a smile, and a

real love of children passed between him and the carbon microphone.

The programming varied from day-to-day according to the pre­

determined schedule. Before each broadcast, Ben was on hand to meet

the talent, put them at ease and brief them on details of the program.

Darrow served as program moderator and on occasion f ille d in fo r

talent who for one reason or another failed to show up on schedule.

By three-thirty in the afternoon, Ben was back in his office.

Usually, by this time, he had to attend to important matters that came

up while he was away at the studio. Then there was the routine busi­

ness of administration--bills to be paid, letters to be signed, phone

c a lls to be returned. Announced and unannounced v is ito rs often dropped

by at various times, perhaps delaying the minutiae of detail it took to

run the organization.

The buzz of activity for most of the office staff began to level

with the waning of the afternoon. By six o'clock the working day

officially closed. Darrow rarely kept "official" hours. After a quick

b ite to eat he was often o ff to another meeting which lasted perhaps

as la te as 9 p.m.

Darrow knew the Columbus ra ilro a d sta tio n in tim a te ly. Numerous

speaking engagements and routine business trips often required his

absence from the state's capitol. More often than not, he was train-

bound for Cincinnati and the Crosley station. As the ten o'clock train

pulled from the station, he could breathe a sigh of exhaustion. Toward m id-night a dozing Darrow rocked in his seat as the locomotive rumbled 96

southward past the sleeping schools and children who were the patrons

o f the Ohio School o f the A ir.^ °

Almost from its beginning, Darrow's Ohio School of the A ir had

virtua lly become the nation's showcase for educational broadcasting.

By the spring of 1929, radio's possibilities in education had become

crystal!zed in the minds of an increasing number of educators. The

School of the Air's success and the nationwide publicity it received

helped that crystalization along.

Even as the OSA was getting o ff the ground, there are indica­

tions that the national networks were fomenting plans for their own

radio schools. The idea of truly national educational broadcasts was

an a ttra c tiv e one and s t i l l remained prominent in the minds o f many

educators. S till, there were fears the teaching profession would lose

control o f program content i f educators were excluded from providing

curricular input. Beyond this, there was growing concern among a

number o f schoolmen tha t the commercial nature o f CBS and NBC might

make network controlled radio schools susceptible to the broadcast

o f propaganda in the guise o f "education." Letters between Clymer and

Darrow throughout the firs t half of 1929 reflected fears of a network

takeover of educational broadcasting.

Clymer was keeping a liv e the idea o f forming a committee of

prominent educators to advise on curricular matters if a National School

o f the A ir did develop. As Darrow acknowledged in a February 1929

le tte r to Clymer, a race was clearly on between the networks to see who would broadcast national educational programs. 97

In a move to keep educators in control of curricular content,

Darrow arranged for a rump session of national educational leaders to

meet at an NEA Department of Superintendence meeting which was scheduled

for late February in Cleveland. The hope was that out of the session

there would develop a "Committee on Organization o f the National School

of the Air."

Invitations to the rump meeting went out under Director

Clifton's signature. Excerpts from his letter, characterized the con­

cern o f the Payne Fund/Ohio School o f the A ir cadre:

...we trust there may grow out of the meeting some definite plans for directing the development of educational broadcasting. Unfortunately, the only national promoters of the idea who have money to finance it, have been primarily commercial, although I w ill not say they lack idealism. But let us firs t consider if there is a better way.

If we are to keep educational broadcasting free from all propaganda— re lig io u s , so cia l, commercial, and p o litic a l—i t is high time we merit the right to direct it be actively taking part in the promotion of educational broadcasting.42

Results of the Cleveland meeting were favorable. A resolution

emerged from the conference commending the e ffo rts o f the Ohio School of the Air. The resolution also called for the NEA Lay Relations

Committee to push fo r appointment of a Committee on R a d i o . ^

Not long after the Cleveland meeting, Darrow secured from Dr.

E. E. Lewis, support fo r the Committee on Radio plan. Lewis, who was on the Education faculty at Ohio State University, was a member of the

Executive Committee o f the Department o f Superintendence. He assured

Darrow "p o s itiv e ly " he could arrange fo r th is body to appoint the

Committee on R a d io .44 98

The Executive Committee conference was scheduled fo r ea rly May

In Atlantic City. In the interim between early March and the meeting,

Darrow and Clymer exchanged a number o f le tte rs which indicated tha t a

Payne/OSA a llia n ce meant to keep a foothold on any program o f national

educational broadcasts that might develop. Toward the end of March,

Armstrong Perry was added to the Payne staff to cooperate with the

various groups which had indicated an in te re s t in a program o f national

school broadcasts.Other members of the Payne/OSA a llia n ce included

Dr. W. W. Charters, Cincinnati School Superintendent Condon and Ohio

Educational Director Clifton.

Correspondence between Clymer and Darrow indicates th a t Perry

was also to have responsibility for raising money for the Clymer/Darrow

version of a National School of the Air. By mid-April, Clymer had

directed Darrow to prepare a budget fo r th e ir proposed program,48

ostensibly for presentation at the Atlantic City meeting.

Much o f the group's hope was poised on the outcome o f the

Department of Superintendence meeting. It is known that Darrow stayed

in Atlantic City during the period of the conference but it is unclear

to what extent he was able to influence the Executive Committee.

Darrow may have even been blocked from making a presentation before the

body by the Committee's secretary who feared Darrow "might hog the

limelight.Whatever the case, by the middle of the month, neither

Darrow nor Clymer had received word o f any decisions made by the

Executive Committee.48

It was later learned that the Department of Superintendence 99

Executive Committee had passed the follow ing resolution:

Whereas, the Executive Committee o f the Department of Superintendence of the National Education Association has been urged to sponsor a movement for education by radio; and

Whereas, th is Committee is convinced tha t there are great possibilities in aiding the work of such public and private schools as care to utilize properly directed educational pro­ gress; and

Whereas, the Committee believes th a t th is is a matter o f great public concern,

Therefore, be it resolved that the Government of the United States be requested to study the situation, and that this com­ mittee does hereby urge the Secretary of the Interior to take the in itiative in calling a small preliminary conference consisting of such o fficia ls of the United States Government as might be immediately concerned, the representatives of organizations re­ presenting public and private education of various grades, and those concerned with national chains of broadcasters.49

Though the Payne/OSA a llia n ce had good in te n tio n s, i t apparently lacked the strength for synergizing a program of national school broad­ casts. Darrow's efforts over a two-year period indicated that the teaching profession per se was either unwilling or unable to act as catalyst. With the networks threatening to act on their own, the

Department of Superintendence fe lt that someone with influence was needed to bring the competing interests together. That someone was Ray

Lyman Wilbur, U. S. Secretary of the Department of Interior.

Not long after the Atlantic City meeting, Wilbur called to­ gether a meeting of prominent officials in broadcasting, education, and government in hopes o f s e ttlin g the confusion th a t had grown up around educational broadcasting throughout the nation. Wilbur's act was in large part brought about ty the chaotic state radio its e lf had reached in less than a decade. In a period of nine years, the medium 100

had grov/n from an Interesting neighborhood curiosity to a highly profit

able business enterprise. When the money cry went up, commercial

stations throughout the country fought like animals for lucrative time

slots and frequency allocations. In the process, educational stations

left the air.

Wilbur's meeting was called in hopes of ending the chaos and

on May 24, 1929, he and fourteen others met in Washington w ith the

intent of providing educational broadcasting with a sense of national

purpose.

"We now face the question of what we shall do with radio in

connection with public education,"^ Wilbur said as he opened the meet­

ing. The Secretary's remarks were perhaps a b it tardy to some. To

Darrow, they were little more than an echo of things he had been saying

fo r months.

Darrow never got a chance to voice his sentiments; he hadn't

even been in v ite d to the Washington meeting. Ben f i r s t learned o f the

conference from a radio newsman in Dayton and was "surprised and

angered"51 that he hadn't even been notified of the meeting much less

invited to attend. The Payne Fund was le ft off the invitation lis t

as well, although Director Clifton had received a telegram asking him

to come to the Washington meeting.

Clifton boycotted the meeting. According to correspondence

between Darrow and Clymer, the D irector resented the short notice he

had received and fe lt his going to the meeting would result in the OSA giving up much without getting anything in return. Darrow was at odds 101 with Clifton's position and fe lt that the Ohio School of the Air ought to render "the maximum possible e ffo rt"^ to the Washington group and avoid a rivalry clash.

Both Darrow's and C lifton's pride had obviously been wounded by the real or imagined snub they had received from the Washington group. It seems doubtful that there had been any real intent to

Ignore them. Clifton rather than Darrow had probably been invited since Clifton was titu la r head of the Ohio School of the Air.

Clifton's absence at the meeting was clearly fe lt by at least one person who attended. According to a la te r tra n s c rip t o f the meet­ ing, U. S. Education Commissioner W illiam J. Cooper had hoped C lifto n would be there to represent the Ohio experience.^

The Payne Fund's reaction to the Washington snub was " . . . n o t . . . to show the s lig h te s t pique a t being ignored."5^ Moreover, Clymer told Darrow that as far as the Fund was concerned, it was the hard work of the Payne/OSA alliance that had, in fact, brought about the con­ ference.

Clymer was obviously distraught by C lifto n 's decision not to attend the Washington meeting. Letters between Darrow and Clymer indicated that they both hoped Clifton would change his mind about cooperating with Wilbur's group so that Ohio would not lose the foot­ hold it had gained in national educational broadcasting.

Clymer's and Darrow's decision to bury their pride was a wise one, given the precarious situation of educational broadcasting at th a t point. There was much to be learned from the Ohio experience and 102 little to be gained from letting hurt pride get in the way of progress.

Clymer recognized th a t others could p r o fit from the Ohio experience and he commissioned Perry to w rite a report o f the Ohio

School of the Air which was ultimately to be submitted to President

Herbert Hoover. According to Clymer, purpose o f the report was to

"have a document which may serve to help any other states or educators who wish to engage in school broadcasting."55 After the rough draft was completed, Clymer sent a copy o f the manuscript to Darrow and

Clifton with this warning:

In view of what has been told you about our purpose of placing this report in the hands of the President, more than ever it must be free of any evidence of being an attempt to justify any one of us or all of us put together. It must be a straightforward statement of proveable fa c t...56

Clymer asked Darrow and C lifto n to e d it the copy fo r errors o f fa c t th a t might have escaped Perry. Clymer indicated he would ask

Cincinnati School Superintendent Condon and Dr. W. W. Charters to approve the manuscript as w e ll.

As Perry's document was being prepared, i t became more e v i­ dent than ever that the Columbia Broadcasting System was preparing to launch its own series of national school broadcasts. The CBS series which became known as the American School o f the A ir, was be­ gun in the autumn of 1929. The series was inaugurated under the aegis of an advisory faculty of prominent educators. Dr. William C. Bagley of Columbia University Teachers' College was named dean of the CBS 57 radio school. In many respects, the Columbia series aped programming o f the Ohio School o f the A ir. 103

There are indications that in the early planning stages, CBS

had hoped to secure cooperation from the Payne/OSA alliance. A June

8 le tte r from Clymer to Darrow noted th a t Sam Pickard o f CBS had

In vite d Clymer and Perry to meet w ith him "to ta lk business."58

Clymer was unable to make the meeting on the date suggested by Pickard.

Later correspondence indicates that the meeting probably never material­

ized.

Before the CBS series was launched, Darrow and Clymer were

skeptical that either CBS or NBC would be able to begin national school

broadcasts in much less time than a year. Spurred perhaps by what

seemed like impending competition with the networks, Darrow started

to expand his base of operations. In the early part of summer, 1929,

he began attempts to get school officials in states surrounding Ohio

to utilize his School of the Air as part of their curricula.59

By mid-June, Clifton had buried his pride and was ready to

accept appointment on a fa c t-fin d in g commission which had been

named by U. S. In te rio r Secretary W ilbur. Purpose o f the body was

to survey the state of the art of educational broadcasting throughout

the United States. The Payne/OSA a llia n ce succeeded in getting two

of its top people appointed as chairman of half of the four committees which comprised the fact-finding body. Clifton was named as head of

the ways and means committee while W. VI. Charters, Payne researcher,

led the research group.60 The Commission had been instructed to file

its report with Wilbur no later than January 1, 1930.

Darrow spent much o f the summer o f 1929 readying the Ohio

School of the Air for resumption of broadcasts in the fa ll. By the 104

time programming began again, Darrow had picked up three new s ta ff

members. Cline M. Koon, who had been studying fo r his doctorate at

Ohio State University, was added to the staff as assistant director.

Much of Koon's doctoral dissertation had centered on a study of the

effectiveness o f the early broadcasts o f the Ohio School o f the A ir.

Other new s ta ff members included Gwendolyn Jenkins who had

been coaching the previous school year's history dramalogs. She was

named dramatic coach, while Ruth Carter was added to the sta ff as

Darrow's secretary.6^

Darrow started off the new school year flushed with success.

Only half kiddingly he now called his venture, "The Central States

School o f the A ir ." In the September, 1929 issue of "Ohio Schools,"

Darrow reported th a t education o ffic ia ls in Indiana and Kentucky were

preparing to utilize the OSA broadcasts.^ Later correspondence,

however, indicates that cooperation from Indiana that year never

materialized.63

Though Darrow's project was expanding and both networks by

autumn were involved in school broadcasting, Ben realized that radio

education s t i l l needed much more development. In the September, 1929

issue of "Radio Broadcast" Darrow called the radio industry's atten­

tion to the fact that at that point perhaps less than one per cent of

the nation's schools were then equipped with radio.6^

The situation was different in Ohio. By the beginning of the

1929-30 school year, Darrow noted th a t perhaps 20 per cent o f the states 9,000 schools were equipped for radio reception. Most of Ohio's 105 larger cities had made plans for equipping classrooms with radio and even in smaller comnunities, modest receiver purchases had begun.65

The growing number of school districts using the OSA broad­ casts called for some standardization of reception and use of the program m aterial. In p a rtia l response, the School o f the A ir in

September, 1929 began issuing a monthly program guide known as "The

Ohio School of the Air Courier." The "Courier" was basically a teacher's manual designed to preview special program features and in ­ form teachers how to prepare for the broadcasts. The house organ was sent to all teachers who used the OSA lessons in their classrooms.

Cline Koon was the firs t editor.

Aside from the staff additions and the institution of the

"C ourier," several other changes were made in the School w ith the beginning of the 1929 fa ll term. Instead of deferring to the Damrosch concerts on Fridays, the Ohio School of the Air began broadcasting its own music appreciation series known as the " L it t le Red School house

Course in Music." In response to listeners in the Central time zone, the broadcasts began at 2 p.m. instead of 1:30. Other new program features were in s titu te d and the f a ll program schedule looked lik e th is :

Monday 2:00 - 2:20 Current Events by Harrison M. Sayre. 2:20 - 2:40 Out to Old Aunt Mary's--Nature—by Harry E. Eswine. 2:40 - 3:00 Story Plays and Rhythmics by Alma Ruhmschussel.

Tuesday 2:00 - 2:20 Chemistry and French alternating. 2:20 - 2:40 H istory Dramalogs by the School of the Air Players. 106

2:40 - 3:00 The Constitution of the United States by John W. Bricker, or Citizenship by John W. Pontius.

Wednesday 2:00 - 2:40 Literature by Living Writers—Douglas Mai loch, B. Y. W illiam s, Angela Morgan, and others. 2:40 - 3:00 Health—by Anna Drake.

Thursday 2:00 - 2:20 Stories for primary grades—by Bessie Gabbard. 2:20 - 2:40 Geography of our own Country—by Dr. W. R. McConnell. 2:40 - 3:00 Geography of Foreign Lands—by W. R. McConnel1.

Friday 2:00 - 2:30 L it t le Red Schoolhouse Course in Music by Donsella Cross Boyle. 2:30 - 3:00 Drama—by the Stuart-Walker Players. b

Except fo r the addition o f a special program now and then, the schedule remained v ir tu a lly unchanged u n til February, 1930. From that point until the end of the school year, the following schedule remained in e ffe c t:

Monday 2:00 - 2:20 Current Events by Harrison M. Sayre. 2:20 - 2:40 Out to Old Aunt Mary's—Nature—by Harry E. Eswine. 2:40 - 3:00 Story Plays and Rhythmics by Alma Ruhmschussel.

Tuesday 2:00 - 2:20 French and Chemistry a lte rn a tin g . 2:20 - 2:40 The Mound Builders by Dr. Menry C. Shetrone. 2:40 - 3:00 The Every Pupil Test by members o f the State Department o f Education or Citizenship by John !i. Pontius.

Wednesday 2:00 - 2:40 Literature by Living Writers alter­ nating w ith H istory Dramalogs. 2:40 - 3;00 Health—by Anna M. Drake, alternating with Physics by Dr. D. A. Wells.

Thursday 2:00 - 2:20 Stories for primary grades—by Bessie Gabbard. 107

2:20 - 2:40 Geography of Our Country by Dr. W. R. McConnell. 2:40 - 3:00 Geography of Foreign Lands by Dr. W. R. McConnell.

Friday 2:00 - 2:30 Art Appreciation by William H. Vogel. 2:30 - 3:00 Drama by Schuster-Martin Players.”

New courses added to the schedule included a series on nature study known as "Out to Old Aunt Marys." Professor Harry E. Eswine o f the Ohio State U niversity Extension Department was host fo r th is program segment. Various OSU chemistry professors p a rticip ated in a new chemistry series, and OSU Professor Edwin H. Price led the se­ quence on French. The physics series was hosted by Dr. D. A. Wells of the University of Cincinnati and Anna Drake of the Cincinnati Depart­ ment of Health led the segment on health.

Other new courses included the music sequence which had re­ placed the Damrosch concerts on Fridays. This series was headed by

Donzella Cross Boyle. John Pontius, Darrow's old.college friend,

John Bricker, and others participated in the citizenship series. A series on the Indian mound builders was narrated by Dr. Henry C.

Shetrone of the Ohio State Museum. The Every Pupil Test series was hosted by Dr. E. R. Wood and other members o f the Ohio Department o f

Education.68

At about the same time Darrow was preparing to launch the

1929-30 broadcasting season, he received word th a t his frie n d Clymer had been stricken with a severe case of nervous exhaustion. Clymer's

Illness kept him away from his desk for more than a year and in the interim, Darrow kept contact with the Payne Fund through Ella Phillips

Crandall.69 108

During the latter part of November, 1929, Director Clifton called a significant conference to discuss the work of the Ohio School of the Air. In a later manuscript Darrow hailed the meeting as "the firs t of its kind in educational history."70 The meeting was held at the Ohio House of Representatives in Columbus.

During the meeting, Darrow related his ea rly struggles to found a national system o f school broadcasting and sketched fo r those present, a brief history of the Ohio School of the Air.

More than forty educators from throughout Ohio attended the meeting which ran from November 22-23. The firs t day of the conference consisted largely of speeches and discussion. The morning session on

November 23rd was devoted to reports of committees which had been appointed the previous day--(a) Committee on the Present Uses and

Effectiveness of the (OSA) Broadcasts, (b) Committee on D ifficulties

Encountered in Using the Radio (OSA) Lessons, and (c) Committee on

Future Plans and P o lic ie s .7^

A later account of the conference indicated that the committees had not been given sufficient time to study their assigned problems in detail. Nonetheless, the committees filed the following reports which, in essence, reflected the temper of the two-day conference:

(a) REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE PRESENT USES AND EFFECTIVENESS OF THE BROADCASTS:

The Committee was asked (1) to compile the uses being made of the broadcasts at the present time, and (2) to determine as accurately as possible, the effective­ ness of the broadcasts. The committee can, in the firs t place, do nothing more than suggest the subject­ ive view that the radio has a place in the education program o f Ohio. In the second place, i t wishes to 109

urge that the Director of Ratio Education send a questionnaire to the schools of the state to gather data on both o f the questions above.

The committee was further asked to suggest possible additional uses. I t feels tha t th is can be done satisfactorily only in terms of an unambiguous state­ ment o f the purpose o f the Ohio School o f the A ir.

The committee wishes, therefore, to ask the Director o f Radio Education to formulate th is purpose (or pur­ poses). It further suggests that this purpose be stated on the questionnaire and that the schools then be asked to suggest possible additional uses.72

(b) REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON DIFFICULTIES ENCOUNTERED H T U S IN g THOADTO' IESSTOIS1------

(This report which was read by Dr. Edgar Dale o f Ohio State University recommended that a research study be launched which accomplished the following tasks:)

1. Analyze the questionnaire blanks that were handed 1n and note d ifficu ltie s, solutions proposed, and solutions desired. (The questionnaire blanks had earlier been distributed to conference participants.)

2. Add to this lis t all difficulties and solutions which are found in the stenographic report of the meeting.

3. Compile a complete l i s t o f d iff ic u lt ie s , solutions proposed, and problems fo r which the teachers wish the State Department to be responsible fo r answers.

4. Put this into the form of a questionnaire and send it to interested principals and teachers. Have them check mark after every d ifficu lty they have noted, put a check mark after the solution if it is believed to be one or add a different solution if they have one. The problems of which they wish an answer are also to be checked and any new problems added.

5. Make a final report of all difficulties and solu­ tion s proposed and problems fo r which an answer is desired from the State Department.73 no

(c) REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON FUTURE PLANS AND POLICIES;

1. In order to make room for new subjects such as art appreciation and ninth grade general science and possibly vocational education, a survey be made of the subjects being broadcast now, in order to determine whether sub­ stitutions should be made for subjects now being broad­ cast, or that the subjects be presented twice a month instead of every week.

2. Audition tests should be given all who broadcast, and only those with good radio voices be permitted to broadcast.

3. Since the National Education Association is scheduled to meet in Columbus next summer, we suggest th a t a national educational radio conference meet at the same time.

4. We fu rth e r suggest th a t a permanent organization be formed to carry on fu rth e r work along the line s of what has been done here in this conference, and thereby strengthen the relations between the broadcasters and the receivers to the end th a t the Ohio School o f the A ir may increase its usefulness to the schools of the s ta te .74

In a later recollection of the Ohio School of the Air

Conference, Cline Koon noted that the meeting had closed on a note of optimism for the future of Darrow's project.For Ben, the temper of the conference had been a fittin g tribute to the hard work and dedication he had shown the radio school over the previous eleven months.

But Darrow never seemed content with the laurels of the past.

His boundless energy drove him to s till more accomplishment. As

Christmas approached, Ben informed Miss Crandall that he and his assistant, Koon, were writing a book on educational broadcasting.^ FOOTNOTES FOR CHAPTER V

^Letter from B. H. Darrow to O live Jones, October 11, 1928, Payne Fund F ile s.

^Letter from H. M. Clymer to B. H. Darrow, October 11, 1928, Payne Fund F ile s.

3Ib id .

^Le tter from B. H. Darrow to H. M. Clymer, October 15, 1928, Payne Fund F ile s.

^Letter from B. H. Darrow to H. M. Clymer, October 22, 1928, Payne Fund F iles.

^Le tter from B. H. Darrow to H. M. Clymer, October 25, 1928, Payne Fund F ile s.

\ e t t e r from M. G. Clark to B. H. Darrow, October 29, 1928, Payne Fund F ile s.

8Ben H. Darrow, Radio T ra il blazing (Columbus, Ohio: College Book Co., 1940), p. 13.

\ e t t e r from B. H. Darrow to Mrs. C. C. Bolton, November 9, 1928, Payne Fund F ile s.

^ L e tte r from B. H. Darrow to Miss E. P. Crandall, November 14, 1928, Payne Fund F ile s.

^Form letter from J. L. Clifton, November 7, 1928, Payne Fund F ile s.

^ L e tte r from Zeh Bouck to B. H. Darrow, November 21 , 1928, Payne Fund F ile s.

I l l 112

^Form le tte r from B. H. Darrow, December 8, 1928, Payne Fund F ile s.

^ L e tte r from B. H. Darrow to A. C. Johnson, December 20, 1928, Payne Fund F ile s.

telegram from Mrs. C. C. Bolton to B. H. Darrow, December 15, 1928, Payne Fund F ile s.

^Darrow, Radio T ra ilb la z in g , p. 14.

l^Roy D. W illey and Helen A. Young, Radio in Elementary Education (Boston: D. C. Heath and Co., 1948), pp. 166-167.

« l^Darrow, Radio T ra ilb la z in g , pp. 19-20.

^News Release, WLW, January 7, 1929, Payne Fund F ile s.

^ L e tte r from B. H. Darrow apparently to H. M. Clymer, January 9, 1929, Payne Fund F ile s.

21 Ib id .

22Cline M. Koon, "Development and Appraisal o f Classroom In stru ctio n by Radio" (Unpublished Ph.D. d is s e rta tio n , The Ohio State University, 1931), p. 613.

23 Darrow, Radio T ra ilb la z in g , pp. 16-17.

24Ib id ., pp. 20-28.

25Ben H. Darrow, "Guidebook to the Radio Journeys o f the School o f the A ir ," December 1, 1928, Payne Fund F ile s. (Typed Manuscript.)

26L e tte r apparently from H. M. Clymer to B. H. Darrow, January 29, 1929, Payne Fund F ile s.

^ L e tte r from B. H. .Darrow to Miss E. P. Crandall, January 30, 1929, Payne Fund F ile s .

28"Fan Letters A rrive D ally to Command and C ritic iz e WEAD's School of the A ir," The Ohio State Lantern, May 3, 1929. 113

2^"0hio Senate Broadcasts Over WLW," The Crosley Broadcaster, Vol. V II, No. 7, A p ril 1, 1929, p. 1.

38Darrow, "Guidebook to the Radio Journeys o f the School of the Air," p. 2.

31J. L. C lifto n , "P o s s ib ilitie s of the School o f the A ir ," Ohio Schools, May, 1929, pp. 185, 188.

^Koon, p. 619.

33B. H. Darrow, "History of the Ohio School of the A ir," from Darrow's personal papers, p. 12. (Typed Manuscript.)

3^"The Ohio School o f the A ir," from Darrow's personal papers. (Typed Manuscript.)

35Letter from H. M. Clymer to B. H. Darrow, January 30, 1929.

^ L e t t e r from W. W. Charters to H. M. Clymer, February 5, 1929.

3^Koon, p. 527.

38Ib id .

39-A Survey o f the Ohio School of the A ir ," prepared fo r National Committee on Education by Radio, pp. 3-4. (Typed Report.)

^Koon, pp. 657-660.

41L e tte r from B. H. Darrow to H. M. Clymer, February 13, 1929, Payne Fund F ile s.

^Form le tte r from J. L. C lifto n , February 15, 1929, Payne Fund F ile s.

43L e tte r from B. H. Darrow to H. M. Clymer, Undated, Payne Fund Files, (reply indicates letter was written the latter part of February, 1929.)

^ L e tte r from B. H. Darrow to H. M. Clymer, March 2, 1929, Payne Fund F iles 114

45 ^Telegram from H. M. Clymer to B. H. Darrow, March 25, 1929, Payne Fund F ile s.

^ L e tte r from H. M. Clymer to B. H. Darrow, A p ril 18, 1929, Payne Fund F ile s.

^ L e tte r from B. H. Darrow to H. M. Clymer, May 23, 1929, Payne Fund F ile s.

^ L e tte r from H. M. Clymer to B. H. Darrow, May 15, 1929, Payne Fund F ile s.

^Armstrong Perry, Radio in Education ( New York: The Payne Fund, 1929), pp. 7-8.

®®Frank Ernest H ill, Tune in for Education (New York: National Committee on Education by Radio, 1942), p. 3.

^ L e tte r from B. H. Darrow to H. M. Clymer, May 29, 1929, Payne Fund F ile s.

53perry, p. 58.

^ L e tte r from H. M. Clymer to B. H. Darrow, May 31, 1929, Payne Fund F ile s.

55Ib id .

56 Ibid.

^ C a r r o l l Atkinson, Development o f Radio Education P olicies in American Public School Systems (Edinboro, Pa.: Edinboro Educational Press, 1939), pp. 20-22.

^ L e tte r from H. M. Clymer to B. H. Darrow, June 8, 1929, Payne Fund F ile s.

^ L e tte r from B. H. Darrow to H. M. Clymer, June 8, 1929.

®°Perry, pp. 8-9.

61Darrow, Radio T ra ilb la z in g , pp. 34-35. 115

^Ben H. Darrow, "Ohio School of the Air Grows," Ohio Schools, September, 1929, p. 281.

^ L e tte r from B. H. Darrow to H. M. Clymer, September 12, 1929, Payne Fund F ile s.

®4Ben H. Darrow, "The L it t le Red School house Comes to Market," Radio Broadcast, September, 1929, pp. 263-265, 292.

65lb id .

®®Darrow, "H istory o f the Ohio School o f the A ir ," pp. 13-14.

67Ib id ., p. 14.

®®Koon, p. 621.

^Letter from E. P. Crandall to B. H. Darrow, September 29, 1929, Payne Fund F ile s.

^Darrow, "History of the Ohio School of the A ir," p. 15.

Koon, pp. 622-626.

72"Report o f the Ohio School o f the A ir Conference," from Darrow's personal papers, p. 46. (Typed Report.)

73Ib ld ., p. 48.

74Ib id ., pp. 51-52.

75Koon, pp. 625-626.

7^Letter from B. H. Darrow to E. P. Crandall, December 18, 1929. CHAPTER VI

THE OHIO SCHOOL OF THE AIR

DURING THE DEPRESSION

By ea rly 1930, the Depression had begun to permeate the United

States bringing with it mass poverty, confusion and despair. Darrow's two-year grant from the state legislature had many months to run its course and there is little indication that the nation's economic collapse had much immediate e ffe c t upon the Ohio School o f the A ir.

At the start of the year, Ben seemed free of monetary concern and his mind focused on other important matters.

The fin a l report o f Secretary W ilbur's Federal Radio

Commission on Educational Broadcasting was due any day. Early in the year, Ben expressed feelings the Commission seemed to be getting nowhere,^ his concern no doubt motivated by divisio n s which had de­ veloped within the fact finding body. The split had manifested it ­ self at a general committee meeting which had been held December 30 of the previous year.

At the conference, Armstrong Perry railed against the education profession's inability to deal with the pressing matter of developing a national plan for educational radio. Said Perry,

...the educators of the country must either arrive at a consensus of opinion, formulate a plan of action and secure

116 117

the assistance o f the Federal Government, or see the broad­ casting fa cilitie s of the country come so firm ly under the control o f commercial groups th a t education by radio would be directed by business men instead of professional educa­ to rs . 2

Representatives of the networks were at odds with Perry's position. According to one account of the meeting, CBS and NBC were actually eager to secure a stronger foothold for education in the na tion 's system o f broadcasting.

W ithin a few weeks, differences w ith in W ilbur's committee had somewhat healed. On February 15, the group filed its final report which embodied the following conclusions:

That there was a widespread interest in educational broadcasting.

That much educational material was being broadcast, and that there were eight state departments of education and many local school systems engaged in radio a c tiv itie s .

That, nevertheless, the present activity was in a con­ fused state, both as to school and adult broadcasts, and would require much study, planning, and experimentation before it could be put upon a sound basis.

That there was a lack of cooperation between educators and broadcasters, both of whom had valuable contributions to make.

That specific research problems could already be identi­ fie d .

That there should be established in the Office of Education a section devoted to education by radio, which should keep records, issue bulletins, give advice to educators and render other services lik e ly to promote more and better educational broadcasting.

That this section should be supported by the federal government. 118

That 1t should have an advisory committee representing educational institutions, the radio industry, and the general public.

That funds should be sought, possibly $200,000, to be used over a period o f perhaps three years to develop broad­ casts in school subjects. The results of this experiment should then be checked.

That the Secretary of the Interior should "bring to the attention of the Federal Radio Commission the importance of the educational interests in broadcasting," and that he should urge the President of the United States to consider the desirability "of having in this Commission spokesmen for programs which w ill tend to improve the well-being o f the American people."3

The comnittee's report le ft unresolved the clash that had developed between certain educators and the representative of the networks. The networks seemingly fe lt that radio practice by 1930 provided enough safeguards for education. Concerned educators, on the other had, fe lt not enough safeguards existed.

Not a ll educators agreed w ith the la tte r position and were s a tis fie d w ith the fin a l report o f W ilbur's commission. This group fe lt that if a nucleus of educational leaders could be formed, the group could work effectively with broadcasters in securing the broadcasting needs of education.

A move to form such a group had been taken in November o f the previous year and emerged in 1930 as the National Advisory Council fo r Radio 1n Education. NACRE, as i t came to be known, began active functions on July 1, 1930. Composed o f 40 members, the group was headed by Levering Tyson. Funding fo r the Committee was provided by

Rockefeller and Carnegie agencies.4 119

S hortly before W ilbur's committee file d it s re p o rt, Darrow was stricken ill and was off from work for about a week. An ailm entary ailm ent which had plagued Ben much of his adult l i f e had caused his absence from work. C lifto n and Darrow's w ife had to coax Darrow to re st fo r awhile at the homestead in Woodstock where the Darrow fam ily s t i l l live d . Convinced th a t his "department o f the interior" had settled down for a spell, Ben was back on the job by mid-February at the same fa st pace. " I thin k I am somewhat lik e a Missouri mule," he had said jokingly, "I thrive better on work."^

Toward the end of A p ril, disagreement between Darrow and Dr.

W. W. Charters had begun to surface. As a Payne Fund associate,

Charters had been commissioned to make a thoroughgoing study of the

Ohio School o f the A ir. Though re la tio n s between the two men were cordial, misunderstandings had developed over the way research was to be conducted.

In an April 23 letter to Ella Phillips Crandall, Darrow appealed to the Payne Fund to convince Charters of the need for a practical research philosophy which would help the School of the Air

Improve the q u a lity of its programming.® In a le tte r the follow ing day, Ben further clarified his position:

We have the highest respect, as you already know, for Dr. Charters in the field of research, but as the education of a three year old is somewhat different from the education of a college student, we feel that we are also in a position to know at which stage radio has arrived and direct our efforts accordingly. When there is such a magnificent oppor­ tunity to improve the broadcasts and we know that it is there, awaiting only a more adequate study and effort on our part, we feel that e ffo rt bent toward th is improvement is the fin e s t kind of research.' 120

Ben had misunderstood Charter's intentions. In response to

Darrow's letter of the 24th, Miss Crandall apparently hoped to set

Ben's mind at ease and she reprinted portions of a letter she had received from Charters the previous month.

What is needed in the school field in which you are most interested is a modest program carried on continuously In connection with radio stations which are actually putting on programs from day to day. The objects of such a c tiv itie s should be to work very closely with these organizations and patiently seek to improve the quality of the instruction given. The a ttitu d e o f patience in solving day by day bread and b u tte r problems is to be emphasized. Staging occasional 'research stunts' w ill be o f l i t t l e use, because improvement In any art comes by careful attention to details after the objectives have been set up.

I am, therefore, proposing that in Ohio State University a research project be established for a minimum of five years with the possibility of its being continued for a longer period when the results secured through the five year project have been evaluated, and the fa cilitie s at Ohio State U niversity fo r having the program continued have been can­ vassed.

I think the Ohio State University has the.location of such a study, because o f the fa c t we have here in Columbus the most active school o f the a ir in the United States and the one with the longest history. We have in addition a University broadcasting station which is ready to work with the very closest cooperation of the Ohio School of the Air and w ith our own Bureau of Educational Research.

My idea would be to provide a research agency th a t would use these two stations as a laboratory for the purpose of studying the programs and th e ir reception day by day w ith a view to making the best programs possible both from the broad­ casting point of view and from the point of view of the use that is made of the materials by teachers in the classrooms of Ohio and the surrounding geographical area. An integral part of such a project would be frequent and continuous pub­ lications of all techniques which have been tried out and found to be useful. These could be released for national distribution. I am inclined to think that through such an agency the Payne Fund would be able to render and maintain a permanent position in the fie ld o f radio education.® 121

M1ss Crandall's le tte r seemed to placate Darrow, and in his reply he indicated Charter's research program would satisfy the needs of the Ohio School of the Air. Ben insisted his relationship with

Charters had always been "quite pleasant"^ but it is known that under the surface, Darrow probably harbored resentment toward

Charters.^® Any differences that did exist between the two men was probably nothing more than a clash of two competing personalities— the practical man vs. the empirical researcher.

Darrow's practical approach had led to development of a daily report blank upon which the School relied for surveys of its audience. Use of the form was begun in the autumn o f 1929. The report blank looked like this:

STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

Ohio School o f the A ir Report Form

Radio Speaker ______pate ____ Subject of Broadcast ______Teacher Reporting ______School______School Address ______How many 1st grade pupils listened ; 2nd ; 3rd ; 4th ; 5th ; 6th ; 7th ; 8th ; 9th ; 10th ; 11th ; 12th

Please check a ll the statements which express your comments on the radio program. Use a separate sheet for each program, and return this sheet to the Ohio School of the Air, State Department of Education, Columbus, Ohio.

How many additional report forms would you lik e us to send you?

1. Preparation for the program 9. The voice of the radio was mady by. speaker was ....class discussion . . . .c le a r ----- pleasing...... outside reading natural. . . .monotonous.... assignments disagreeable 122

....reading material in 10. The radio speaker had textbook ....good enunciation.... 2. The radio reception during fa u lty enunc.. . .good pro­ the talk was nunciation. .. .faulty prone. ....good....fa ir....weak 11. The pupils interest in the ....noisy....some fading ta lk was 3. We listened to the radio ....great....fair....not ta lk in great very little ___ ....own classroom.. . .another indifferent classroom some other room 12. During the radio lesson the ....auditorium pupils 4. The subject matter presented ....to o k notes.. . .used books was ....answered radio teacher's ....suited to the age of the questions....followed radio pupils....too difficu lt.... directions too simple fitted into 13. The pupils were restless the curriculum....well or­ toward the end of the ganized. . . .poorly organized ta lk....a t the beginning of 5. The subject matter presented the ta lk... .throughout the had ta lk....at no time ....c o rre c t emphasis on 14. As a result of the broadcast d e ta il. . . .too much emphasis pupils ....no t enough.. . .too much ....asked questions.. ..asked repetition of material.... for material to read.... not enough the proper brought something to class amount.. . .easily recognized . . . . f o l1 owed out some idea objectives suggested 6. The radio speaker talked 15. The radio program was ....too fast....fairly followed by rapidly....neither too fast ....class discussion oral nor too slow too slowly tests....written tests...... rather slowly re p o rts .. . .w ritin g composi­ 7. The vocabulary of the speaker tions a group project was 16. The to ta l e ffe c t o f the ....s u ita b le ....to o many hard radio lesson w ords....a few hard words . .excellent ....too simple . . f a ir 8. The speaker seemed to be . .poor ....reading his talk...... inspirational using notes....talking . .informational fre e ly without any notes

IMPORTANT. Please use back o f th is sheet fo r fu rth e r comments "and suggestions.^

The daily report blanks were sent to all teachers who

listened to the broadcast. While hundreds of reports were received, 123

Darrow relied heavily upon a cadre of listening schools that sent the reports in regularly. Sporadic reports were regarded as supple­ mental data.

In addition to quantifying data from the daily report blanks, the Ohio School o f the A ir s ta ff v is ite d various schools and observed their classroom listening. Conferences with teachers and school superintendents provided other input as did letters from home lis ­ teners. While the procedures employed were unscientific, they did give Darrow the kind o f inform ation he needed to respond quickly to the needs of his audience.

During the summer o f 1930, the data Darrow had collected over the past school year were used as the basis fo r forming th is schedule for the 1930-31 broadcast year.

Monday 2:00 - 2:30 Literature by Living Writers. 2:30 - 3:00 Our Government by various State O fficials.

Tuesday 2:00 - 2:20 Current Events by Harrison M. Sayre. 2:20 - 2:40 Citizenship by John W. Pontius. 2:40 - 3:00 Nature Study by Harry E. Eswine.

VIednesday 2:00 - 2:20 Botany and Physics alternating. 2:20 - 2:40 History Dramalog by the Crosley Players. 2:40 - 3:00 Art Appreciation by William H. Vogel.

Thursday 2:00 - 2:20 Geography of Our Country by Dr. W. R. McConnell. 2:20 - 2:40 Geography of Foreign Lands by * Dr. W. R. McConnell 2:40 - 3:00 Stories fo r Primary Grades by Bessie Gabbard. 124

Friday 2:00 - 2:20 General Science by Hanor A. Webb. 2:20 - 2:40 Health by Anna M. Drake. 2:40 - 3:00 Story Plays and Rhythmics by Alma Ruhmschussel.'2

The preceding schedule remained in e ffe c t u n til February 9,

1931 when the citize n sh ip series was replaced by a Guidance course conducted by Dr. Carl Washburn. A month later, the "Literature" series and the "Our Government" series were cut from a h a lf hour to twenty minutes each to make way fo r a new program segment called

"Modern Adventure." This series was begun with a $2,500 grant from the Payne Fund and featured ta lk s by famous adventurers such as

Darrow's old friend, Gifford Pinchot, David Ingalls and others.^

Though Darrow o ffic ia lly repudiated the use of educational broadcasts to achieve political ends, he at least once went against the grain of his own thinking early in the 1930-31 school year. In a September 19 le tte r to his frie n d , Armstrong Perry, Darrow related:

Confidentially, I broadcast two hours of the Republican Convention. Had to turn Heaven and Earth to get Crosleys to take it but they finally did so w illingly and everything worked out splendidly. Was in readiness to broadcast the Democratic State Convention in case they asked for it. They did not, so it is not my fault that I carried one and not the other. It strengthened our hold on the administration very d e fin ite ly but o f course would be a drawback should the other administration win o u t.14

Darrow had backed incumbent Myers Y. Cooper against the

Democratic opponent, George White. In the face of pressures brought on by the Depression and the mood fo r p o litic a l change, White won the election by almost a m illion votes. 125

If Darrow had feared political retributions, there are no

Indications they were forthcoming from White. Ohio had been hard- h it by the nation's economic collapse and during the early years of the Depression a mood of bi-partisan cooperation characterized state government o p e ra tio n s .^

Education had been severely stricken by the Depression and was 1n a period of actual crisis. Historically, the state school system had been supported by property tax levies, but during 1931 much Ohio real estate had been revalued downward. In some cases declines o f 10 to 20 percent had been noted and as a consequence the tax base shrunk.

Tax delinquency during the period was common and the bonded

Indebtedness of schools had risen to above the $238 m illion mark.

Voters in many districts turned down appropriations levies for any more than was necessary to run the schoolsJ® Fortunately for

Darrow and the Ohio School o f the A ir, th e ir o rig in a l appropriation did not run out until early 1931.

S till comparatively well fixed financially, the School con­ tinued to spread its services throughout the nation. By the beginning of the 1930-31 school year the OSA was reaching nearly a half m illion pupils. By this time, several southern and mid-western stations were rebroadcasting the programs. In addition to transmitting the program series over WLW, Crosley had also begun sending the signals over W8XAL, the company's short-wave sta tio n . P a rticip a tin g stations

Intercepted the short-wave signals then rechanneled them over trans­ m itte rs tuned to the commercial band.^ 126

The School o f the A ir was making progress in Ohio but un­ resolved problems s t i l l remained on the national scene. Though the launching of NACRE in July had been a positive step toward develop­ ing national radio education policies, many schoolmen were s till unsatisfied with the state of affairs. This group fe lt that educators must adopt a more aggressive posture if educational broad­ casting were to have any long lasting impact upon the nation.

U. S. Education Commissioner Cooper agreed w ith th is view­ point and intended to make it manifest. He called a meeting for

October 13, 1930 in Chicago. Representatives of various educational stations and the networks were invited to attend. Agents of state departments of education and sundry national education organizations including NACRE were also sent invitations. Cooper's opening remarks set the tone fo r the parley:

There is fea r th a t before education knows what i t wants to do, commercial stations w ill have p ra c tic a lly monopolized the channels open for broadcasting, and that expressed fear is one reason I thought it well that we should come together.18

Those attending the conference were m ilitant. In a series of resolutions, the group adopted the following positions:

1. The appointment o f a committee to represent "The Association of College and University Broadcasting Stations, the Land-Grant College Association, the National University Extension Association, the National' Association of State University Presidents, the National Education Association, the National Catholic Educational Association, the Jesuit Educational Association, the National Advisory Council on Radio in Education, the Payne Fund, and other s im ila r groups." Commissioner Cooper was to appoint th is Committee. 127

2. The protecting and promoting of broadcasting origin­ ating in educational institutions.

3. The promotion of broadcasting by educational in sti­ tu tio n s.

4. Legislation by Congress "which w ill permanently and exclusively assign to educational institutions and government educational agencies a minimum o f fifte e n (15) percent of all radio broadcasting channels which are or may become available to the United States."

5. The calling of "an organization meeting of this com­ mittee at the earliest possible moment."'9

Cooper responded to the resolutions by appointing the com­ mittee which had been requested. The nine members included Clifton and representatives of major national educational organizations.

The group met on December 30, 1930 and adopted the name o f the

National Committee on Education by Radio.

At its firs t meeting, the NCER discussed ways of dealing with the decision which had been made at the Chicago conference.

Contingent upon obtaining funds, the group set these as the goals of the Committee:

a. Publish a bulletin to familiarize educators and others w ith the works o f the NCER.

b. Provide information on radio activities.

c. Establish a Washington service bureau to advise and help protect educational stations.

d. Develop research projects to provide knowledge which would improve educational radio.

e. Inform and stimulate member organizations to work more effectively in radio.

f. Inform the general public about matters affecting radio through press releases, bulletins, etc. 128

g. Safeguard the interests of international educational broadcasting.

The Committee approached the Payne Fund fo r funds to operate over a five year period. Before its second meeting on February 28,

1931, the necessary monies had been obtained and the f i r s t issue o f the NCER bulletin had been published. The publication was given the name, "Education by Radio." By the early part of 1931, the group had also acquired a secretary, Tracy F. Tyler, former teacher and school superintendent.2® NCER was widely acclaimed by educators and operated successfully for eleven years. The organization was dis­ solved in December, 1941, after meeting the goals it had set for it s e lf .

As 1930 drew to a close, once again the year had ended on a note of progress. Two national groups were now operating in the interests of radio education. In addition, during the year, Ohio

State University had begun an Institute for Education by Radio, which published a yearbook o f proceedings o f its annual conference.

The Institute was a cooperative venture that in later years was hailed as "the only comprehensive, all inclusive conference in America of individuals concerned with the production of educational and public- service broadcasts."22

Through i t a l l , Darrow's School o f the A ir continued to prosper. As Christmas approached, he could look back with pride on the historic progress educational broadcasting had made in the short period o f two years. The energetic Darrow had played an important role in the making of that history, but as 1930 ebbed, physical 129

problems had again begun to take their to ll. Darrow's old ailment was acting up again. Toward the end of the year he had taken a physical exam during which X-rays showed his "ascending colon to be larger than (his) stomach and the descending at some points as small as a p e n c il.” 23 Darrow continued a t his usual pace.

Early in 1931, the Ohio School o f the A ir began o rig in a tin g some broadcasts from Washington, D. C. using studios in the National

Education Association building. "Literature by Living Writers" was one of the series broadcast from the nation's capitol. Another popular series o rig in a tin g from Washington was "Our Government." This was Darrow's concept of radio at its best. During the series, featured speakers included the Vice-President of the United States, cabinet o fficia ls and representatives of the House and Senate.

During this period, the School of the Air also began a highly successful "Teacher's Radio Forum" which was broadcast once a month from 3:30 to 4:15 p.m. According to Darrow, thousands of teachers listened to the broadcasts, as did students in teacher training

Institutions. Part of the program featured discussion of questions mailed in by listeners.

Another novel series was a parent-teacher forum which was organized in cooperation with the PTA. This program was aired once a month during early evening hours. Other night broadcasts included a radio night school for adults. This series featured "Civil

Government by those Who Govern" and an "Understanding our Courts" segment which was hosted by the Chief Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court. 130

Darrow's two-year legislative appropriation came to an end

on January 1, 1931. By this time the effects of the Depression had

become severe and were clearly being fe lt in the state legislature.

The State budget had been originally set at $85 m illio n but was soon

slashed to $58 m illio n . Education was severely h it by the budget cutting and a number of well entrenched programs were abolished.

The Ohio School o f the A ir was the youngest o f a ll departments in the state educational system. Clearly, if seniority were to be used as a c rite rio n fo r su rviva l, the OSA was on shakey ground.

Fortunately, the legislature passed a six-month preliminary budget and the School o f the A ir received in excess of $13,000 to carry it through to July I.24 The OSA was later appropriated

$11,000 more by the legislature but the money could not be spent until

1932. Getting the money had been a struggle. The budget request endured fourteen House and Senate finance committees and a waiting period before final approval by the governor.

Clifton credited the School's listeners for getting the budget passed. According to one account, teachers and listeners at home had responded by the thousands demanding the OSA's continuance.

Legislators' wives were also in the School's cheering section and apparently pleaded with their husbands to keep the School of the Air above ground. Parent-Teacher groups and other organizations also supported Darrow's efforts and the combined effort of all parties helped the school to survive.^

The big problem fo r Darrow was th a t he had no money to operate the school from July 1 to December 31, 1931. The preliminary six- 131

month appropriation had already been spent. Ben got $1,000 of the

1932 state funds transferred back to the 1931 account. The Payne

Fund, which h is to ric a lly had helped Darrow in times of fin a n cia l

c r is is , contributed $2,000 through the National Committe on Education

by Radio.

Scrounging funds had become almost a pastime throughout

Darrow's working career and he put the experience to good use. Funds from just a few dollars to as high as $800 came from a variety of

sources. Schools which had learned of the OSA's financial plight contributed largely in sums of $15.00. Sixty dollars was contri­

buted by the Columbus Federation o f Women's Clubs and the Ohio

Congress of Parents and Teachers volunteered $50.00.

The financial crunch forced a thorough retrenchment at the

Ohio School of the Air. The "Courier," which had previously been circulated without cost was put on a self-sufficient basis through sales to teachers and other users. Telephone lines from WEA0 to WLW were dispensed w ith and most programming was originated from the

Crosley studios in Cincinnati. This saved $83 an hour in line charges from A.T. & T.

Later experiments by Crosley revealed WLW could satisfactorily receive and rebroadcast signals from WEA0 in Columbus and during this period some programs were again originated from The Ohio State

University. Nonetheless, the necessity for travel between Columbus and Cincinnati increased; but through an individual contribution, most of the travel costs were absorbed. 132

Crosley, through donation of a ir time, had become one of

Darrow's most prominent benefactors. During the financial crisis, the company increased its free services. Two Crosley staffers took on complete re s p o n s ib ility fo r one program feature and the company's drama department provided theatrical assistance. More help came from various Ohio universities. Other organizations also lent a helping hand during the emergency.

During the spring o f 1931, Roy Reichelderfer was named to succeed Cline Koon who had le f t the Ohio School o f the A ir to become

Senior Radio Specialist with the Federal Office of Education. No funds for an assistant director's salary had been included in the legislative appropriation and money to pay Reichelderfer during his firs t days on the job had to be acquired from a variety of sources.

In addition to th is , Darrow lo s t one secretary due to budgetary considerations and one woman was le ft to handle a. voluminous amount of clerical work.26

Regardless of the financial problems, the School of the Air s t i l l managed to include new programs fo r the 1931-32 broadcasts.

This was the broadcast schedule for autumn:

Monday 2:00 - 2:20 Current Events 2:20 - 2:40 C iv il Government by Those Who Govern 2:40 - 3:00 Nature Study

Tuesday 2:00 - 2:30 Literature and English 2:30 - 3:00 L ittle Journeys 133

Wednesday 2:00 - 2:20 Physics 2:20 - 2:40 History Dramalogs 2:40 - 3:00 Art Appreciation

Thursday 2:00 - 2:40 Geography 2:40 - 3:00 Stories for Primary Grades

Friday 2:00 - 2:20 Mound Builders 2:20 - 2:40 Health 2:40 - 3:00 Open (for announced features)*'

New features included "L ittle Journeys" and "When They Were

Young." The former was a geography program which was often hosted by prominent citizens in states that were "visited" by radio. "When

They Were Young" was a series of stories for the primary grades about the early lives of famous Americans. Special features, as before, were broadcast from time to time. During the school year, the popular parent/teacher meetings by radio were continued.

A "Learn to Sing" series was added to the program schedule in the winter. The segment was designed for children in the lower grades 28 and was led by a staff of Crosley musicians.

Darrow observed that, during the period, a number of new schools had joined the Ohio School of the Air audience in spite of pressures brought on by the Depression. Some schools, however, dropped away.

Audience losses were attributable to a number of things. In some cases, school-owned receivers were stolen and institutions were unable to replace equipment. Other schools had borrowed receivers

1n hopes of later purchasing them. Hopes often turned to disappoint­ ment, however, and when the sets had to be returned, these schools were prevented from receiving the broadcasts. 134

Oftentimes when receivers broke down, funds were unavailable to repair them. In poorer schools, when power batteries were drained, the institutions had no funds to replace them.29

The listening schools were not the only ones with financial problems; the School of the Air had them too. In spite of depriva­ tions, though, the OSA began 1932 on an optimistic note. This para­ graph greeted readers of the New Year's edition of the "Courier:"

We enter the New Year w ith confidence. Though the Ohio School of the A ir is s t i l l suffering from the depression along with quite a goodly share of our population, yet we believe tha t we have a ctu a lly rounded the corner, have solved the most serious problems and have found that we can look forward to better educational broadcasts.30

The School's optimism wasn't reflected in actions of the Ohio legislature. When the body met in 1932, funds for the project were again cut below what Darrow la te r called a "sensible operating basis."31 Although the legislature had reinstated the assistant d ire c to r's p o sitio n , the monies provided the OSA were to Ben,

" l i t t l e more than a pump p r i m e r . " 3 3

To be sure, in early 1932 the financial pressure was s till on Darrow. Keeping the Ohio School o f the A ir a liv e was a d a ily struggle; nonetheless, Ben kept a bright outlook. In later years, he recalled 1932 as the beginning of a period of growth for educa­ tional radio. He noted these highlights:

1. Recognition came from established educational leaders.

2. A marked growth took place in the amount of broad­ casting done by city-school systems. 135

3. Radio in s titu te s , conferences and courses in educa­ tion by radio in colleges steadily increased the number of trained teachers at the microphone and trained users of radio in the classroom.

4. The most noted schools o f the a ir were continued and improved...33

By 1932, indeed, radio education had achieved wide recogni­ tion amongst prominent educators. The annual radio institute dating back to 1930 continued to be popular and the formation of NACRE and

NCER also underscored the important position which radio held in the minds o f educational leaders. In 1932, Darrow noted, the National

Council o f Teachers of English had begun it s own Radio Committee which provided members with information about radio. The organiza­ tion was also active in cooperating with national networks in organizing various programs.

According to one observer, s ix c ity school systems by 1932 had already attempted broadcasting to the classroom. The series begun in Cleveland in 1925 over WTAM continues to the present day over station WBOE. In 1932, Rochester, New York and Indianapolis school districts were involved in school broadcasting. A number of other cities followed suit throughout the 1930's.^

Though Darrow saw 1932 as a year th a t began an era o f pro­ gress for educational broadcasting, the year also marked a step forward for Ben personally. In May of that year, his firs t book,

Radio, The Assistant Teacher, was published.

Ben had trie d to get the Payne Fund to publish the book as the organization had done for Armstrong Perry in his signal work, 136

Radio in Education. The Fund turned down Darrow's proposal partially

on grounds his book covered material similar to Perry's.^®

In the f i r s t chapter o f his book, Darrow acknowledged th a t

he borrowed from Perry a great deal of the historical material in

the book's f i r s t chapter, "The O rigin and Growth o f Educational

Broadcasting." Other major assistance had come from Darrow's former

assistant, Cline Koon. Koon's contribution came largely in chapters

dealing with the purposes and effectiveness of educational broad­

casts. Part of Koon's duties at the OSA had been to measure the

Impact of broadcasts as reflected in the daily report blanks. He

had also dealt with this in his doctoral dissertation, which was approved in 1931.

As 1t turned out, Darrow's book was different from Perry's

in many respects. Perry's work had been assembled rather h a s tily in the uncertain days surrounding the Washington conference called by

Secretary Wilbur in 1929. Perry's treatment had been largely historical while Darrow's book dealt with the practice of day-to-day operation of the Ohio School of the Air.

Radio, The Assistant Teacher was in many respects a "how to" book. Clearly, Darrow's intent in writing it had been to stimulate the art of educational broadcasting. Ben waxed prophetic in the last chapter of the book and predicted, among other things, the coming of educational television.

From his early vantage point, Darrow saw these factors in influencing the future of educational broadcasting: 137

(a) Further awakening o f professional In te re s t.

(b) The organization of a definite articulated system of national, regional and local broadcasts.

(c) Continued avoidance o f propaganda.

(d) Steady building on the present foundation of success­ ful experience.36

Darrow's formula for educational broadcasting's continued

health was hardly original. Though it was perhaps an exercise in

good logic, his predictions were remarkably accurate. Of particular

note was Darrow's concern over the broadcast o f propaganda.

From the earliest days of radio, educators had been worried about the immense impact of the new mass medium. I t was clear that anything broadcast could have tremendous influence upon those a t the receiving end and educators were particularly disturbed about the broadcast o f "propaganda" to child ren.

"Propaganda" meant special pleading. Darrow acknowledged that, indeed, the United States had become "a nation of special p l e a d e r s , "37 but he drew a d is tin c tio n between good and bad propa­ ganda. Obviously, any type o f advocacy would tend to accrue to the benefit of special interest groups. Darrow's chief concern was over what he called "dangerous or doubtful subjects," and he urged the exclusion of these from educational broadcasts on grounds that limited broadcast time provided only for "material of unusual and proven value ."38

The concern of Darrow and other educators over the power of broadcast propaganda was rooted in substance. The Thirties were a period when the strong power of radio was evidenced in a number of 138 dramatic ways through the broadcasts of Huey Long, Father Coughlin and the famous "War of the Worlds" program.

The publication of Darrow's book further enhanced the stature o f Ben and the Ohio School o f the A ir. Secretary o f the

Interior Wilbur, who wrote the forward, classed the book in the pioneer category but warned th a t much work yet needed to be done in educational broadcasting.39 Darrow, of course, was well aware of the fact and directed his efforts toward that end through the OSA.

At the beginning o f the 1932-33 school broadcasting season, financial conditions at the School of the Air were s till strained.

The plight of the OSA was underscored in an autumn Courier article by the new state education director, B. 0. Skinner. Skinner noted tha t the School o f the A ir operated on a budget th a t would scarcely support a six-room school. To Depression-weary teachers he pointed out that the state's program of educational broadcasting amounted to perhaps the most economical education possible.^® This was the economical education offered during the 1932-33 school year:

Monday 2:00 - 2:20 Current Events 2:20 - 2:40 Learn to Sing 2:40 - 3:00 Nature Study

Tuesday 2:00 - 2:30 Literature and English 2:30 - 3:00 Peeps Into the Lives of People o f Genius

Wednesday 2:00 - 2:20 Botany 2:20 - 2:40 H istory Dramalog 2:40 - 3:00 Art Appreciation

Thursday 2:00 - 2:20 Stories 2:20 - 3:00 Geography 139

Friday 2:00 - 2:20 Health 2:20 - 2:40 Story Plays and Rhythmics 2:40 - 3:00 Stories from the School of Life

Major changes in the program schedule were the addition of

"Peeps Into the Lives of People of Genius" and "Stories from the

School of Life." The former feature was hosted by Dr. Roscoe G.

Stott, president of the Cincinnati Stott Institute of Speech. During the segment, Stott gave biographical accounts of famous persons he had known. Stories from the "School of Life" was a vaguely philoso­ phical feature for older students. The series was hosted by Judson

J. McKim and Charles E. Lee, both o fficia ls of the Cincinnati YMCA.

Darrow recalled the period from July 1, 1933, to June 30,

1935, as one of continuing economic hardship fo r the OSA. As a cost- cu ttin g measure throughout the period, many programs originated from

WLW. On certain days, though, programs originated at WEAO were re­ broadcast by the Cincinnati station.

The School made it a practice to pay honorariums to radio teachers, but because of the economic crunch, some substitutes were brought in to work without a fee. Darrow was able to trim other fin a n cia l burdens through employment o f c le ric a l help through the

Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA).

The FERA program was an emergency plan to provide employment for persons thrown out of work by the Depression. During the period,

Darrow became involved w ith FERA in other respects through two Radio

Workshops conducted in Columbus and C incinnati. The FERA radio work­ shops employed eight persons whose job i t was to produce educational 140 radio s c rip ts and programs. Darrow spent considerable time w ith the workshop employees, teaching them how to produce professional q u a lity work. M aterial produced by the workshop was u ltim a te ly aired over

Columbus stations WAIU and WCOL as well as W8XAL and WSAI in

Cincinnati.^

Throughout the period from 1933-35, new program features were added to the broadcast schedule. This was the offering for autumn 1933:

Monday 2:00 - 2:15 Modern Problems 2:15 - 2:30 Learn to Sing 2:30 - 2:45 Inventors and Inventions 2:45 - 3:00 Little Visits to Great Industries

Tuesday 2:00 2:15 C iv il Government 2:15 _ 2:30 Stories 2:30 - 2:45 Nature 2:45 - 3:00 Mound Builders

Wednesday 2:00 • 2:15 H istory Dramalogs 2:15 - 2:30 Story Drama 2:30 - 2:45 Touring America by Plane 2:45 - 3:00 Know Ohio

Thursday 2:00 2:15 Botany 2:15 - 2:30 Stories 2:30 - 3:00 Geography

Friday 2:00 2:30 L ite ra tu re 2:30 - 2:45 Story Plays and Rhythmics 2:45 - 3:00 Art Appreciation*^

New features for the year included "Modern Problem," Touring

America by Airplane," and "L ittle Visits to Great Industries."

"Modern Problems" was a current events discussion based upon booklets distributed prior to the broadcast. Many early features dealt with problems o f the Depression.

"Inventors and Inventions" was hosted by Darrow him self. The 141

program segment was an h is to ric a l sketch about famous innovations

and the persons responsible for their development.

"L ittle Visits to Great Industries" was led by Dr. Edgar

Dale o f the Ohio State U niversity. Dale's program dealt w ith discus­

sion of various major industries in the United States. A Courier

article describing the series indicated the program was designed to

acquaint students with problems brought on by increased industriali­

zation o f American lif e .

Broadcasts fo r 1934-35 were s im ila r to the previous year's

schedule though some new courses were added to the program sla te .

New features included "Enjoying Your Leisure Time," also hosted by

Dale. As the name implied, the feature was designed to offer hints

for constructive use of students' "off" hours. Former Education

D irector John L. C lifto n rejoined the Ohio School o f the A ir team with the autumn of 1934. Clifton, who by this time was professor of education at Ohio State, served as host for the "Civil Government"

series.

"Uncle Sam at Work" was added to the autumn program schedule to better acquaint pupils with the myriad workings of government.

Various government o ffic ia ls were called upon to give ta lk s about their various agencies. Not surprisingly, many of the talks dealt with offices which had been created in response to the Depression.

A series on "Contemporary Writers" was begun in January 1935.

The segment was hosted by Paul H. T. Noon, lib ra ria n fo r the State of Ohio. Noon dealt with all categories of modern literature; humor, 142

biography, novels, etc. Darrow noted that the series had such enormous impact that librarians in some states reported a parallel

between book requests and works discussed during the "Contemporary

Writers" program.^

Audience losses which had begun to plague the School of the

A ir e a rlie r in the Depression began afresh during the 1934-35 school year. In attempts to pinpoint the problem, the OSA staff discovered that in 90 percent of the drop-out cases, schools were using old or unsatisfactory receiving equipment.

Other reasons were also given for the defections. Some schools in northeastern Ohio reportedly could not receive WLW's signal uniformly. Other educational institutions complained that teacher cuts brought on by the Depression had made it impossible for them to use the OSA programs. A few schools simply said their attempts to utilize radio in the curriculum had brought unsatisfac­ tory results.

Notwithstanding the losses in 1istenership, Darrow, the eternal optimist, later recalled the period in a positive vein. The

OSA's annual report predicted that with the Depression beginning to subside, the Ohio School of the Air could, in the near future, expect a more rapid rate of growth than the School had experienced in its fledgling year. The optimism was apparently spurred by the fact that toward the end of the school year early drop outs began to return to the OSA fold. A new type o f OSA lis te n e r had emerged by mid-Depression. The 143 economic situation has prevented many high school grads from continu­ ing on to college but educational broadcasting in Ohio had a plan to help remedy the s itu a tio n . Through combined forces o f the Ohio

School o f the A ir, the Emergency Schools Adm inistration and the Ohio

State University, the Ohio Emergency Junior College of the Air emerged.

The Radio Junior College was a more sophisticated version of lewer level School o f the A ir broadcasts. Courses such as psychology,

French, art and philosophy were offered to more than 1,300 students.

The program was headed by Professor E. S. Burdell o f Ohio State. A.

Lee Henderson, then a graduate student a t OSU, served as promoter o f the program. P a rticip a tio n in the Radio Junior College was secured

1n 70 of Ohio's 88 counties.^

The Radio Junior College was one o f many attempts by Darrow and his staff to deal with the pressing problems brought on by the economic collapse o f the country. With Ben a t the helm, the School of the Air had made a real contribution toward solving the national dilemma even though the School it s e lf had suffered through the econo­ mic hardship. Problem a fte r problem had been met and solved but as mid-decade arrived, new troubles lurked around the corner with the election of Martin L. Davey as Ohio Governor. FOOTNOTES FOR CHAPTER VI

^Letter from B. H. Darrow to H. M. Clymer, January 2, 1930, Payne Fund F ile s.

^Frank Ernest H ill, Tune in For Education (New York: National Committee on Education by Radio, 1942), p. 10.

3Ib id ., pp. 10-11.

4Ib id ., pp. 12-13.

^Letter from B. H. Darrow to E. P. Crandall, March 17, 1930, Payne Fund F ile s.

^Letter from B. H. Darrow to E. P. Crandall, A p ril 23, 1930, Payne Fund F ile s.

^Letter from B. H. Darrow to E. P. Crandall, A p ril 24, 1930, Payne Fund F ile s.

^Letter from E. P. Crandall to B. H. Darrow, April 28, 1930, Payne Fune F ile s.

^Letter from B. H. Darrow to E. P. Crandall, May 1, 1930, Payne Fund F ile s.

lORobert Darrow, personal interview a t Darrow Employment Agency, Zanesville, Ohio, August 22, 1973.

^Ben H. Darrow, Radio, The Assistant Teacher (Columbus, Ohio: R. G. Adams and Co., 1932), p. 20f>.

h. Darrow, "H istory of the Ohio School o f the A ir ," from Darrow's personal papers, pp. 16-17. (Typed Manuscript.)

l3Ib1d., p. 17.

144 145

^ L e tte r from B. H. Darrow to Armstrong Perry, September 19, 1930, Payne Fund F ile s.

^Harlow Lindley, Ohio in the Twentieth Century (Columbus, Ohio: Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society, 1942), pp. 60-61.

16Ib id ., pp. 61-62

^"National Chain of Educational Broadcasters to Reach M illio n s in Schools and Homes," The NEA Service, September 23, 1930.

18H ill, p. 14.

19Ib id ,, p. 15.

20Ib id ., pp. 14-19.

2^Roy D. W illey and Helen A. Young, Radio in Elementary Education (Boston: D. C. Heath and Co., 1948), p. 386.

22Ib id . , pp. 30-31.

^ L e tte r from B. H. Darrow to E. P. Crandall, December 19, 1930, Payne Fund F ile s.

^ D a r r o w , "H istory o f the Ohio School o f the A ir ," pp. 17-19.

25B. H. Darrow, "Plans for Ohio's School of the A ir," U. S. D a ily, July 28, 1931, from Darrow's personal papers. (Newsclipping.)

^Darrow, "History of the Ohio School of the A ir," pp. 20-22.

27"The Ohio School o f the Air C ourier," (Columbus, Ohio: Ohio Department o f Education), Vol. I l l , No. 1, October, 1931, p. 5.

28Ben H. Darrow, Radio T ra ilb la zin g (Columbus, Ohio: College Book Co., 1940), pp. 60-63.

29Darrow, "H istory o f the Ohio School o f the A ir ," p. 23.

30"The Ohio School o f the Air C ourier," (Columbus, Ohio: Ohio Department o f Education), Vol. I l l , No. 2, January, 1932, p. 33. 146

^Darrow, "H istory o f the Ohio School o f the A ir," p. 24.

32Ib id .

33Ben H. Darrow, "Classroom Radio," in Radio and English Teachinq, by Max J. Herzberq (New York: D. Appleton-Century Co., 1941), pp. 66-68.

34Ib id .

b e tte r from E. P. Crandall to B. H. Darrow, April 38, 1930, Payne Fund F ile s.

36oarrow, Radio, The Assistant Teacher, p. 242.

37Ib id ., p. 245.

38Ib id ., pp. 246-247.

39J b id ., Forward.

4®"The Ohio School o f the A ir C ourier," (Columbus, Ohio: Ohio Department o f Education), Vol. IV, No. 1, September, 1932, p. 1.

41 Ibid., p. 7.

4^Darrow, Radio T ra ilb la z in q , pp. 71-73.

43"The Ohio School o f the A ir C ourier," (Columbus, Ohio: Ohio Department o f Education), Vol. V, No. 1, September, 1933, p. 7.

44Darrow, Radio T ra ilb la z in q , pp. 78-80.

45Ib id ., pp. 80-84. CHAPTER V II

THE END OF AN ERA

By 1935, the worst of the Depression was thought to be over

though the suffering of the period persisted. Martin L. Davey of

Kent came to the o ffic e of Ohio governor faced w ith the problem of

meeting the welfare needs of the state. When he took office, almost

300,000 Ohio families and more than 60,000 single individuals s till

depended upon government funds fo r th e ir very existence.

Davey took over the governor's chair after defeating

Republican Secretary of State Clarence J. Brown by more than 160,000

votes. The new governor entered office with a strong desire to effect

economies and improvements in state government.

Early in his administration, Davey launched an investigation o f various state government o ffic e s . The new governor named a panel of 130 business executives and professionals to an Ohio Government

Survey Committee, headed by Colonel C. 0. S herrill, former city manager of Cincinnati. Over a period of several months, more than

140 state operations were studied. Among them was the Ohio School of the A irJ

As had been the tradition, the School of the Air broadcast the inauguration ceremonies when Davey took office. Right from the start, though, the OSA began to encounter d ifficu ltie s with the new governor.

147 148

Both the 1935 and 1936 OSA budgets were lower than the 1934

budget o f $13,320. In 1936 the appropriation o f the School dipped to

an a ll time low of less than $9,000. Davey's cost cutting was drama­

tica lly reflected in the veto of a $4,000 per year item the OSA had

requested for talent fees. To top it off, Davey had asked for a

study of schools to determine their attitudes toward radio education.

Fortunately for Darrow, responses to the survey indicated that

Ohio schools were la rg e ly in favor o f educational broadcasting though

Ben later admitted that a minority of educators had not then accepted

the possibilities of broadcast instruction. With the majority in

favor o f the School of the A ir 's e ffo rts , Darrow and his s ta ff could

breathe a sigh of relief. For the time being, at least, another

stumbling block had been hurdled.

Pending completion o f the study, the new Ohio Education

Director, E. L. Bowsher, had requested that all autumn plans of the

Ohio School be suspended u n til re su lts o f the survey were in . Darrow

held up publication of the "Courier" though later accounts indicate

he kept busy laying plans for fa ll broadcasts, obviously anticipating a favorable result. To make up for monies lost by the Governor's veto, Darrow s o lic ite d funds to cover ta le n t costs fo r the biennium.

More than $4,500 was provided by the Ohio Promotion Fund with which

Director Bowsher was connected.

The Governor gave the School the go-ahead a fte r i t became obvious Darrow*s project was widely accepted throughout the state.

Delay in publishing the "C ourier," however, had caused some schools 149 to strike the School of the Air from their curricular plans for fa ll.

The School o f the A ir began the 1935-36 broadcasting season w ith these programs:

Learn to Sing Art Appreciation Music o f the Masters C iv il Government Natures Contemporary W riters Nature Stories Current Events Story Drama Geography of Our Country Story Plays and Rhythmics Geography o f Foreign Lands Vocational Agriculture Health When They Were Young History Dramalogs Home Economics H istory o f Music^

Economic pressures forced several changes mid-way in the school year and three popular features were dropped - - Story plays and Rhythmics, Geography and When They Were Young. These features were replaced with a Shakespearean series, a new history series and

"Trial Flight," a feature on student creativity. Dr. I. Keith Tyler o f Ohio State U niversity joined the programming regulars w ith two student roundtable programs called "High School Students Look a t the

World" and "High School Students Talk It Over." In another forced economy move, Joseph Ries of the WLW staff took over the "Current

Events" feature.^

As Darrow and the Ohio School o f the A ir struggled through the Depression, important events had been taking place on the national scene. Throughout the early part of the decade, the National Committee on Education by Radio had been active in promoting the interests of educational broadcasting. 'In 1934 the organization had conducted a

"Conference on the Uses of Radio as a Cultural Agency." The idea of the meeting had generally been to review the radio field and, hope­ 150 f u lly , formulate some actionable recommendations. Out o f a committee, headed by Arthur G. Crane, president of the University of Wyoming, the follow ing recommendations emerged from the meeting:

1. The wholesome needs and desires o f liste n e rs should help to determine the types of programs presented by broadcasters, and the emphasis put upon various types. "The present operation o f commercial s ta ­ tions," the committee declared, "secures neither a genuine expression of listeners' choice nor an effective fulfillm ent of that choice."

2. Responsible groups, even the minorities, should not be debarred from broadcasting privileges...for radio is but the amplification and extension of the indi­ vidual's free speech and discussion.

3. Positive, wholesome broadcasts for youth at home and In schools should be provided.

4. The control and support of broadcasting should be such as to provide the best obtainable of culture, entertainment, information, and state craft for all the people.

5. Discussion of live, controversial issues of general public concern should be encouraged as an aspect of democratic practice.

6. Adequate fin a n c ia l support must be provided fo r the above objectives.

7. Thorough and im partial studies should be made w ith the purpose of providing information on which future plans for the control of radio in the interests of national culture can be developed. Such studies should include an examination of present values in broadcasting, of the means for preventing abuses, of public services rendered by foreign broadcasting systems, and of relationships in international broad­ casting.

8. The conference should authorize the appointment of a committee to wait upon the President of the United States "to urge that the recommendations o f the Conference be put into effect by the President. 151

The NCER worked a c tiv e ly to carry the recommendations to

fr u itio n and fo r more than a month Committee o ffic ia ls trie d to

secure an appointment with President Roosevelt. Shortly after the

NCER conference, though, an event took place which obviated the need

to pursue the Committee's plan of attack. The event was the creation

o f the Federal Communications Commission by the Communications Act o f

1934.

Creation o f the government body had been recommended by

President Roosevelt earlier in the year in a Congressional address.

The major thrust of the legislation was to place more Federal a u th o rity over communications ^nd as a consequence replace the much c ritic iz e d Federal Radio Commission.

Congress had been under great pressure to make legislative coimritments which would assure the stature of education in the nation's system of broadcasting. One b ill submitted before the legislative body even demanded that a quarter of all radio channels be reserved exclusively for educational institutions.

Congressional response to the pressure had been to include this feature in the legislation which established the FCC:

The Commission shall study the proposal tha t Congress by statute allocate fixed percentages of radio broadcasting facilities to particular types or kinds of non-profit radio programs, or to persons identified with particular types or kinds of non-profit activities, and it shall report to Congress, not la te r than February 1, 1935, its recommenda­ tions together w ith it s reason fo r the same.°

The Commission, once established, responded quickly to the

Congressional charge. Over a period of 24 days, hearings were held 152 in which testimony from both profit and non-profit interests was received.

The Commission reported back to Congress in la te January of

1935. Though a system o f fixed percentage radio frequency a llo ca ­ tio n s had been advocated by many, the FCC report opposed th is pro­ posal. The ra tio n a le fo r the recommendation had, in p a rt, been that education was not the only non-profit element with rights to the electro-magnetic spectrum. Civic groups, labor organizations, and organized religion all had an interest in radio broadcasting. But, the Commission noted, the la tte r two groups had not recommended fixed percentage allocations. The thrust of the Commission's re­ commendation was th a t a system o f greater cooperation amongst competing forces would be the set-up most likely to effect the greatest good fo r the greatest number. The FCC also declared tha t commercial broad­ casts must provide educational broadcasting w ith adequate f a c ilit ie s and a ir time.

In deference to the schoolmen, the Commission said: "We expect actively to assist in the determination of the rightful place of broadcasting in education and to see that it is used in that place."7 Translated into action, the FCC's statement was manifested in a move to hold a national conference to encourage cooperation among varying groups to promote education by radio. What emerged from the meeting was an instrument o f the national government which became known as Federal Radio Education Committee. With the FCC as the parent group, the purpose of FREC was: 153

1. To work for the elimination of controversy and misunderstanding between educators and broad­ casters, and

2. To bring about active cooperative efforts between the two groups.8

The group was composed of 40 members representing education, broad­

casting, labor, government and c iv ic in te re sts . Projects developed

by FREC included a script exchange service, research projects and

the publication of two monthly house organs. By the end of 1935,

FREC was a recognized part of the educational broadcasting estab­ lishment.

Darrow must have been comforted by the fa c t th a t by the

year's end three national groups were operating in the interests of

radio education after FREC joined NACRE and NCER. Clearly, on a

national level, radio education had come into it own. But for

Darrow, the troubles were just beginning. In April, 1936 Governor

Davey again raised questions about the continuance of the Ohio School

of the Air.

In a surprise move on April 6th, Education Director Bowsher,

In the midst of an OSA broadcast, point blank asked his listeners

what they thought of the School's efforts. Responses to the question

poured in .

Again, liste n e rs indicated that the Ohio School o f the A ir ought to be continued. A scrapbook was kept of the responses and

Darrow claimed the testimonies represented in excess of 75,000 people who were favorably disposed toward his project. Other positive indi­

cators came from a contest conducted by Crosley which indicated the 154

OSA was the le ast objectionable program on WLW.®

During the summer of 1936, the School of the A ir broadcast a series o f programs from the Great Lakes Exposition which was being held 1n Cleveland. The broadcasts were carried nationwide over the

Mutual Network. This was the second year in a row th a t Darrow and his staff had broadcast during the summer months. A year earlier, the OSA had responded to requests fo r a "Summer School o f the A ir" by broadcasting a number of features which had been popular during the normal school year. Programs broadcast included "When They Were

Young," "Nature Study," and "Inventors and Invention." FERA staff members were u tiliz e d to s ta ff the programs which were broadcast over sta tio n WAIU and WCOL in Colum bus JO

By the fa ll of 1936, free talent was used for almost all fea­ tures broadcast by the OSA. At the beginning of the School year, the Crosley Players provided thespians for the "Men Who Made History" series, which had been inaugurated a year earlier.

Through this particularly lean period, the Payne Fund pro­ vided funds to help s ta rt a radio workshop under jo in t management of the Ohio Department o f Education and the Ohio State U n ive rsity Bureau o f Educational Research. The workshop was placed under the d ire ctio n of Meredith Page whose responsibility was to train special students and upperclassmen at OSU in preparing professional scripts.

Monies provided by the Ohio Promotion Fund made i t possible for Darrow to increase his staff for the beginning of the autumn

1936 broadcasts.11 With two new script writers and a new steno­ 155

grapher on board, the School of the Air began broadcasts with a slate

which included these features:

Men Who Made H istory Story Plays and Rhythmics Learn to Sing Art Appreciation Vocational Agriculture Drama Classics Health Ventures in Verse Story Dramas Stories Learn to See Nature Music Appreciation Travelogs Y Territory Dramatic Rise of the Northwestl2

Problems w ith the Governor again hounded the School o f the

Air as it began what was to be its last year of operation under

Darrow. In later recollections, Ben claimed Davey had again kept the

School in suspense over its authorization to go ahead with fa ll broad­

casts. This, Darrow recalled, prevented the "Courier" from reaching

schools in time. As a consequence, schools again shied away from

using OSA in their curricular plans.

Another factor compounded the scheduling problems according

to Darrow. In years past, Darrow had always scheduled the beginning

of broadcasts after World Series fever had had time to cool. WLW

had exclusively reserved the right to pre-empt the School of the Air

to broadcast the games. But a foul-up in scheduling landed the OSA

in the middle of the ta il end of the Series. Consequently, even more schools were discouraged from u tilizin g School of the Air broad­ casts. Nonetheless, Darrow estimated that close to three-fourths of

the listening schools remained faithful to the OSA during this un­ certain period.13

Real trouble with Davey apparently began to materialize in 156

early 1937. When the legislature met in the spring, Davey and his

budget committee had submitted a lis t of projected expenditures which

contained no funds fo r the Ohio School o f the A ir.

Darrow's recollections of the period were bitter. In a typed

manuscript from his personal papers, Ben depicted Davey as an a ll

powerful demagogue who thwarted efforts to keep the OSA in the

budget. As a consequence of the governor's power, several groups

were stayed from making anything more than perfunctory objections to

Davey's action. Pleas to the governor came from representatives of

the PTA, Grange, Ohio Education Association and other in flu e n tia l

groups asking Davey to reconsider.

As all this was going on, Davey had one of his secretaries make what Darrow called a "sketchy study" to determine what educators

thought o f radio and in p a rtic u la r, the Ohio School o f the A ir broad­ casts. Respondents reacted both pro and con. Listening schools in general were s till favorable to the OSA though some voiced complaints over the hold-up in receiving lesson materials. Non-listening schools generally responded w ith apathy toward the broadcasts.

According to Darrow, only a small share of his audience was represented in the survey. Even though the study yielded both posi­

tive and negative reaction, Davey's secretary recommended the School's continuance as long as the project wasn't draining state coffers.

Darrow speculated th a t the Governor probably thought the OSA was costing Ohio between $75,000 and $100,000 a year. When i t was

learned the actual cost to the state for 1936 had been less than 157

$12,000, Darrow related th a t the Governor's secretary f e lt I t would

be foolhardy to invite the criticism that would come if the School

were discontinued.

According to Darrow's recollections, Davey sat on the matter

fo r several months, holding the School o f the A ir in suspense.

Director of Education Bowsher had apparently kept up a stream of

requests for a decision from the Governor. Davey's move fin a lly was

to grant the OSA a small budget but only after specifying that the

School was to become the adm inistrative re s p o n s ib ility o f the Ohio

State University.

In the midst of dickering back and forth, the following tele­

gram had been sent Davey:

Our respective memberships stand solidly in favor of continuing the Ohio School of the Air. They know that it has been kept out of the state budget at your request and feel that it should be put back there by you personally. We w ill advise our membership of your service in this matter and know they w ill deeply appreciate it.

Signed by: Ohio Education Association, Walton B. Bliss, Secretary Ohio Congress o f Parents and Teachers, Mrs. W. D. Williams, Radio Chairman Ohio Farm Bureau Federation Murry Lincoln, Secretary Ohio State Grange, W. F. K irk, Master Ohio League of Woman Voters, Mrs. C. C. Shivley, Legislative Chairman!5

The School of the Air had already been skipped over in the

budget passed by the Ohio House. As a consequence, the only hope o f fin a n c ia l resurrection lay in the Senate Finance Committee. The 158

OSA budget request made It through committee but was thrown out In floor debate.

In an apparent move to transfer OSA responsibility from the

Department o f Education to Ohio State U n ive rsity, $19,000 had been added to the OSU budget by the Conference Committee. The Committee's report was rejected on the floor of the Senate and at the end of the legislative session, funding for the School of the Air was scheduled to run out after July 1, 1937.

Darrow and his s ta ff had been n o tifie d as fa r back as

Christmas of 1936 that the Governor's intention was that the School of the Air would not be continued. In later recollections, Darrow recalled that Education Director Bowsher had tried valiantly to re­ verse the Governor's decision. At one point, Bowsher categorically asked Davey if he intended to stick by his guns. Davey replied that he wanted to hold o ff fo r awhile and, as a consequence, Darrow and the OSA s ta ff were put back on the p a yro ll.

OSA s ta ffe rs got one paycheck and then, according to Ben,

"something mysterious happened again behind the scenes." Salaries were once more held in abeyance. For two months the s ta ff went without pay except for funds lent by the OSU Bureau of Educational

Research. Bowsher's intensive hounding apparently stayed the governor's decision again and finally the staff was paid all back salaries and the OSU loan was repaid.

Davey's decision to pay the back salaries was in no way a stay o f execution. Salary monies were made available only through 159

May 1st. Ben's friend, the Payne Fund, picked up the tab for Ben's final OSA salary check as they had done years earlier during the

School's early struggles. The monies funneled through the Bureau of

Educational Research also paid Darrow's secretary through May and

June o f 1937.

During the School's final semester under Darrow, the finan­ cial ping pong game with the governor had severely crippled the

OSA's capability to operate effectively. Under normal circumstances, the "Courier" for February, March and April would have been sent to teachers in December or January. But because of the dry-up of funds, the "Courier" never reached the schools until February 8th, long after

Christmas vacation was over.16 These were the programs lis te d in the

"Courier" fo r the School's fin a l semester under Darrow:

Drama Classics Shakespearean Drama Learn to Sing Vocational Agriculture Active Citizenship Story Drama A rt Appreciation Story Plays and Rhythmics Dramatic Rise of the Men Who Made America Northwest Territory Stories Health & Physical Education Musical Appreciation Travelogs Modern Problems o f Seniors

The final "Courier's" for 1937 were all mailed late in spite of over-time efforts on the part of the OSA staff. Because of the lack of funds, the "C ourier's" were mimeographed, though a four page printed introduction was included through funds made available through the Bureau of Educational Research.

According to Darrow, many of the listening schools were aware of the infighting with Davey even though they had not been o fficia lly apprised of the situation. As a consequence, many of the schools 160 overlooked the tardiness of "Courier" mailings.

By the beginning of June, Darrow's dream had come to an end.

Early in the month he was finishing a manuscript about his experiences.

The work never reached publication u n til 1940, nearly three years a fte r the Ohio School o f the A ir and Benjamin Harris Darrow went th e ir IQ separate ways. The break for Ben led directly to a summer teaching s tin t in Texas.

I t was clear tha t the demise o f the School under Darrow had,

1n large part, resulted from a personal clash between Ben and

Governor Davey. A news story in the "Columbus C itizen" gave the official reason for Darrow's ouster as "lack of funds." The report acknowledged, however, th a t Darrow's removal "culminated a long stand­ ing feud between the ousted director and Governor Davey.

There are conflicting stories as to what really happened between Darrow and Davey. Some said Davey saw the Ohio School of the Air as a vehicle for promoting his 1936 re-election to the gover­ norship. According to this account, Davey fe lt that in addition to the School broadcasts, an occasional plug on his behalf might be in 20 order i f the School wished the State to smile upon i t in the future .

Another version of the story has it that Darrow had been asked to contribute to a fund which was to be used to help re-elect

Davey.^ When Darrow refused, he was regarded as something o f an administration enemy.

Another viewpoint offered is th a t Darrow simply backed the wrong man in the 1936 gubernatorial race. Davey ran against John 161

Bricker who later became United States Senator from Ohio. Darrow and Bricker had been classmates and friends during their college days at Ohio State University.^ It seems plausible that the latter

story might have been close to the truth and, at least, played a part in the fr ic tio n between Darrow and Davey.

In the published memoirs o f his days a t the OSA, Darrow never struck at the heart of the conflict, though he clearly acknow­ ledged that the strife was politically motivated.^

This was Darrow's official reaction in Radio Trailblazinq —

Ben's historical account of his years at the OSA:

There is a danger tha t broadcasts supported from public funds may become involved in politics, even tho (sic) the broadcaster plays no politics. This was true of the Ohio School of the Air. It was punished because it refused to become a tool of an administration.24

Any grudges Darrow may have harbored were borne under the hot Texas sun during the summer of 1937. Darrow spent the season there teach­ ing at Southern Methodist University and the University of Texas.

During his tenure in Texas, Ben participated in a radio institute held at SMU. Aims of the conference included the promotion of radio education and the establishment of a state radio council .^ By 1939,

Texas had i t own School o f the A ir, modeled a fte r the Darrow version in Ohio.26

Back in Columbus, plans were being la id to resurrect the

Ohio School o f the A ir under new management. At a special session of the legislature a few months after Darrow's departure, law makers appropriated $13,000 to operate the OSA as the administrative respon­ sib ility of the Ohio State University. Out of the appropriation, 162

$7,500 was apportioned to improve studio and office fa cilitie s at the campus radio station which by then had been using the call letters WOSU for about four years. The balance of the monies set aside for talent and administrative expenses. Gordon G. Humbert was named to succeed Darrow as head o f the reorganized version of the OSA. Though Ohio State had become the t it u la r parent body of the OSA, the Ohio Department of Education continued to cooperate with the School, primarily in the area of policy-making. Finances for the OSA, after Darrow's departure, were administered by a special advisory board.

When Darrow le ft for Texas, many of the old OSA talent and production workers opted to continue their work with the Crosley organization. With much of the Darrow organization s till intact,

WLW continued school broadcasting for two years under the name of the

Nation's School o f the A ir. Joseph Ries, educational d ire c to r of

WLW headed the program u n til i t was ended by Crosley in 1939.

The ups and downs Darrow had experienced a t the Ohio School of the Air seemed to persist even after he was long gone. In the summer o f 1939, the School was again forced to suspend operations due to a lack of funds. Both the Ohio State U niversity and the State administration had not included a request for funds to operate the school for the 1939-41 beinnium. One account hinted that personality conflicts somewhere in the hierarchy may have influenced the move.

Though financial problems again put a damper on the School, some of the series originated under OSA auspicies were continued as

WOSU program features under Humbert. A fte r Humbert le f t the s ta tio n , 163

Friel Heimlich administered broadcasting of the few remaining fea­

tures. During World War II, Heimlich was granted leave from WOSU to enter service. Later, Margaret Tyler became director of the

OSA. Under her ad m inistration, a more formalized School o f the

Air emerged. Mrs. Tyler progressively built up the schedule of pro­ gram features until the OSA occupied a one-hour daily time slot over

WOSU. Programs originated during th is period were s t i l l being broad­ cast occasionally as late as the early 1960's.^ The School of the

Air apparently never died officia lly. It simply faded slowly away.

Darrow's disassociation with the School came long before its final passage from the airwaves. It was clear the cleavage had wounded him deeply, but there was little time to brood over past disappointments, however severe. Darrow s t i l l had to earn a liv in g .

While Ben was in Texas he received a phone c a ll from a

Buffalo, New York, radio station asking if he could recommend any­ one for a post as the station's educational director. Ben became interested himself. When the autumn of 1937 rolled around, he was o ff on a new venture w ith s ta tio n WBEN, which was owned by the

"B uffalo Evening News."29

Newspaper accounts of Ben's appointment indicate the position was to be similar to the post he had held in Ohio. Although the bulk o f programming v/as o rig in a lly planned fo r a d ults, Darrow o p tim is tic ­ a lly predicted th a t young and old a lik e would lis te n to the WBEN educational programming.

Ben was given a fifteen minute time slot from 7:45 to 8:00 p.m. three nights a week. Later the program sla te was extended to four 164

evenings. Programming in many respects seemed to copy Darrow's

efforts in Ohio. His Ohio series on inventors and inventions was

transformed into a storytelling session narrated by "Grandpa Grimes."

"Dramas of Daily Living," broadcast over WBEN, bore a title similar to "Stories from the School of Life." Ben also initiated a "Better

Speech" program as well as a series o f interviews w ith famous persons who were visiting Buffalo.

These are indications that in his second year at WBEN, Ben had begun to c a ll his program the "Western New York School o f the

Air" patterened after the Ohio model. A news account of the broad­ casts indicated the School was limited to the Greater Buffalo area. « Programming by 1938 apparently included stories and dramas fo r younger students, health and geography for the middle grades and historical and vocational dramas for pupils in the upper grades.30

It is clear that for all of his life , Darrow's jewel of ac­ complishment lay set in Ohio. There are indications th a t WBEN never intended fo r Darrow to transplant the Ohio School o f the A ir to

Western New York. Moreover, evidence seems to indicate that manage­ ment of the Buffalo station saw Darrow's position largely as a public relations function. Indeed, Darrow himself labeled the job as

"public relations director" in a later resume of his experience.3^

I n it ia lly , Darrow must have perceived his job d iffe re n tly from his employer. I t is clear he wanted to pursue the work he had begun in Ohio but WBEN apparently had d iffe re n t ideas and chose to use Darrow p a rtia lly as an a ttra c tio n to promote th a t sta tio n and as 165

a consequence, the newspaper which owned i t . The c o n flic t o f per­

ceptions was never reconciled and ultimately led to Ben's resigna­

tion from the station.

In spite of the differences at the station, the time Ben

spent in Buffalo was pleasant in other respects. Over the years,

Darrow had acquired a reputation as something o f a spellbinder in

public speaking. He had given talks at numerous civic and educational

events and was a noted speaker at high school commencements. The

Darrow gregariousness spread over in to the Buffalo sojourn and Ben con­

tinued his oratories. He was also active in the Buffalo Quality Club and took an active part in public speaking organizations. His inter- est in public speaking also manifested its e lf in speech courses he taught along with script writing at the University of Buffalo and

Buffalo State Teachers' College.^2

It was in Buffalo that Ben marked the passing of the tenth anniversary o f the Ohio School of the A ir. Radio and Darrow had come a long way since that ch illy January back in 1929 when it all began.

The importance of th a t decade was brought back to Darrow in th is touching tribute from his wife.

This tenth anniversary o f the Ohio School o f the A ir is one which means much to all of us--your family. To me, your w ife , tha t memorable day, January 7, 1929, perhaps marks a turning point of more than usual significance because the months o f worry and sa crifice s which preceded i t were not easy to bear. To you who is responsible for the beginning of what has proved to be not only a project of national but international acclaim I pay this tribute. Nothing but your unbounded efforts and courage and de­ termination to carry out the idea which had struggled so long and fiercely for a chance to be magnified and proved 166

could have withstood the scorn, criticism and doubts of those who had i t w ith in th e ir power to support and promote your plan.

Your memorial is already erected and w ill s ig n ify fo r for the years to come that you are a pioneer in a great project which has marked a decided turning point in the field of education for the generations to come.

It w ill make of this and future generations better citizens; better schools and colleges and w ill have proved to the whole world that once more the seemingly impossible has been accomplished.

May you liv e to hear, see and enjoy many, many years of the fruits of your personal sacrifices and devoted efforts which w ill go down in history as a definite contri­ bution to the boys and girls of America and the world.

With all my love

Frances33

A w ife who had remained p re tty much in the background during

Darrow's public life had eloquently captured the essence of Darrow's period of personal glory. But by 1939 the apogee of the glory had long passed. Ben was in Buffalo now and though the memories o f his

OSA days must have been a comfort, the frictio n at WBEN, while never serious, s t i l l confronted Darrow every day.

Ben might have been able to resolve the differences at the station had it not been for the prodding of an old friend from the days in Chicago. Sam Guard, who had been with Ben a t WLS showed up in East Aurora, New York, with plans to revitalize the Roycroft Inn, a former communal enterprise founded by Elbert Hubbard. Guard wanted

Ben's help and by late 1940 or early 1941 Darrow found himself with a new jo b .34 167

Guard's plan was to use the East Aurora compound as an ex­ pansion of other publishing enterprises he had begun in his print­ ing plant in Spencer, Indiana. For a number of years Guard had been a ctive in publishing ch ild re n 's magazines and farm publications, in ­ cluding his own "Breeder's Gazette."3® It is unclear what role Ben played in the Roycroft venture. Darrow skipped mention of his tenure at East Aurora in a later resume of his activity. In any event,

Ben's professional reunion with Guard lasted little more than a year.

By 1941 Darrow was in public re la tio n s work fo r the O ffice of C iv il

Defense (OCD). He was assigned to c iv il service rating of Senior

Information Specialist.3®

Ben worked a t the O ffice o f C iv il Defense under Roger R.

Clouse, d ire c to r of the OCD F ifth Region.3? The Darrow drive and enthusiasm shone again in this position. Ben was so successful in obtaining radio and newspaper publicity for OCD that other govern­ ment offices reportedly complained.3® In 1943, Ben switched to public relations work with the Office of Price Administration (OPA) where he worked under Forrest C. Hindley, inform ation executive fo r the Cleveland regional office of the OPA.

During the war years, Ben reportedly spent most of his time away from his home in Columbus where the fam ily had moved in 1934.

Both the OPA and OCD jobs apparently called for a division of his time between Cleveland and Cincinnati.^®

L ittle solid record of Ben's life during World War II remains in his personal records though it is clear he was successful as a 168 public relations executive. The radio experience he had acquired over the years paid dividends for his government employers. During his stay a t OCD, one Darrow-originated program was broadcast by 66 stations. Another was aired by more than forty. While Ben worked for the Office of Price Administration he succeeded in arranging for some 400 free broadcasts.41

Darrow worked fo r the OPA u n til 1946 a fte r which he went to work fo r the Ohio Public Expenditures Council, a watchdog over public spending. Ben continued working in public relations at the OPEC in what was to be the last job he held during his life .4^

During the period, Darrow became intensely interested in te le v is io n and came up w ith several program ideas, none o f which developed. He also did a great deal of writing which he submitted to "Reader's Digest." It was never accepted for publication.

At some point during the period, Darrow's sp irit of inven­ tion surfaced again and he developed a device he called the Maka-

Globe. Maka-Globe was a geography k it designed fo r assembly by students.A brochure describing the device indicated it was to be put together by a group of pupils, each student taking responsibility for one or more quadrilaterals. The kit came complete with paints to complete the project. The unique feature of the globe was that it had a retractable measuring cord which measured the distance from various points on the globe.

Darrow's personal records indicate he had developed a proto­ type of Maka-Globe and had attempted to in te re s t others in marketing 169 the device. Apparently the globe never got beyond the developmental stage.44

The creative Darrow mind kept busy on a v a rie ty o f inventive projects even though his star invention, the Ohio School o f the A ir was l i t t l e more than a memory. Though he performed well on the various jobs he held, the old enthusiasm that had marked his days at the school had begun to soften and it seemed apparent to those who knew him that his heart never le ft the School of the Air.

By 1947, Ben was 58 years o ld , an age when many people begin to look forward to retirem ent. For Benjamin Harrison Darrow, radio pioneer, there was

The symptoms of cancer firs t started to surface that year.

Ben knew what he had even before doctors had completed their diag­ nosis.45 He'd been in and out of the library and done a great deal of reading about the disease. Even after it was clear his days were numbered, Ben continued his research about cancer.

Though he accepted his condition, there are indications he continued to hope that somehow the disease might be arrested even if he had to serve as a "guniea pig" for some experimental cure. At some point though, Darrow grudgingly resigned himself and thought for a time that The Sloan Kettering Foundation might be interested in using his remains fo r medical research.

Darrow was in pain a greater part of the last three years of his life . For a period, he even had to take several months off from 170 work. But for a time thereafter, his condition seemed to improve and he was back on the job with the Public Expenditures Council.

Toward the end of his life , Darrow became pensive. His talk mirrored virtu e s he'd honored throughout his li f e . He spoke of decency, fa ir play, fortitude, giving the other guy a chance. Over the radio, thousands had been exposed to the Darrow philosophy. In his final days the audience was reduced to a small circle of family and friends.

Death came to Darrow in his home on January 28, 1950. A special closeness had permeated the fam ily during Darrow's fin a l days, a closeness th a t shone b rig h tly between Darrow and his w ife .46

A photograph taken during his prime shows Ben sitting around a campfire, surrounded by smiling children. It could be his epitaph.

Brightness, warmth, fellowship with the young, the words all described

Ben Darrow, a man aflame with life .

The analogy o f f ir e was used to remember Ben in the sad moments following his death. Not long after he passed away, his daughter, Betty, penned this touching, "Sermon to Myself:"

...If you have a light within you, let it shine upon some darkened stairway or a dismal place where someone just as you have done, gropes for re lie f and stumbles over rocks he sees not with his blinded eyes.

To light the past, the agony that tore your soul, is useless; but it could be that you may find it within you just one spark to give away; a spark can kindle flame—-a great bright flame that, cared for, can dispel the cold, change dark to lig h t, ease pain when pain must be to bring a quiet peace, to someone else and y o u .47 FOOTNOTES FOR CHAPTER V II

^Harlow Lindley, Ohio in the Twentieth Century (Columbus, Ohio: Ohio State Archaelogical and Historical Society, 1942), pp. 77-79.

2Ben H. Darrow, Radio T ra ilb la zin g (Columbus, Ohio: College Book Co., 1940), pp. 85-871

^B. H. Darrow, "H istory o f the Ohio School of the A ir ," from Darrow's personal papers, p. 32. (Typed Manuscript.)

^Darrow, Radio T ra ilb la z in g , pp. 91-92.

^Frank Ernest H ill, Tune In for Education (New York: National Committee on Education by Radio, 1942), pp. 64-65.

6Ibid., p. 67.

7Ib id ., p. 72.

^C arroll Atkinson, Development of Radio Education P olicies in American Public School Systems (Edinboro, Pa.: Edinboro Educational Press, 1939), p. 27.

^Darrow, Radio T ra ilb la z in g , pp. 96-97.

^^Darrow, "H istory o f the Ohio School o f the A ir ," pp. 32-33.

111bid. , p. 37.

12Ib id .

13Ib id ., pp. 38-39.

14Ib id ., pp. 39-41.

15I b ld ., p. 41.

171 172

16Ib id . , pp. 41-44.

17Ib1d., p. 44.

18lb ld . , pp. 43-44.

19 "Darrow is Ousted as A ir School Head," The Columbus C itiz e n , May 6, 1937.

20Norman Woelfel and I. Keith Tyler, Eds., Radio and the School (Yonkers-on-i udson, New York: World Book Co., 1945), p. 77.

^Richard Darrow, private interview held at his office, New York City, August 8, 1973.

^Senator John W. Bricker, personal le tte r, October 22, 1973.

23 Darrow, Radio T ra ilb la z in g , p. 5.

24Ib id ., p. 125.

25"Guard C h ild 's Radio Tastes, Parents Told," The Dallas Journal, July 7, 1937.

26john W. Gunstream, "Texas School o f the A ir ," Texas Outlook, May, 1943, pp. 33-34.

27Carroll Atkinson, Broadcasting to the Classroom by Universi­ ties and Colleges (Boston: Meader Publishing Co., 1942), pp. 30-32.

28 Margaret Tyler, private interview held in her home, Columbus, Ohio, December 21, 1973.

29Helen Thornhill, private interview held in her home, Lima, Ohio, September 5, 1973.

88News c lip p in g , "Darrow Proclaimed Genius o f Radio Education Work," The Buffalo Evening News, September 9, 1938, from Buffalo Evening News. Morgue file s ^

"A Brief Biography of Ben H. Darrow," resume from Darrow's personal papers. (Typewritten.) ^Thornhill, op. c it.

^ L e tte r from Frances Darrow to B. H. Darrow, January 7, 1939. 34 Richard Darrow, private interview held in his office, New York C ity , August 8, 1973.

35News c lip p in g , "Court Approves Transfer of Roycroft Shops and In n ," The Buffalo Evening News, A p ril 11, 1939, from Darrow's personal papers.

36" a Brief Biography of Ben H. Darrow," op. c it.

37”A Brief Biography of Ben H. Darrow," op. c it.

38 Richard Darrow, op. c it.

33"A Brief Biography of Ben H. Darrow," op. c it.

4°Richard Darrow, op. c it.

^"A Brief Biography of Ben H. Darrow," op. c it.

^Robert Darrow, private interview held in his office, Zanesville, Ohio, August 22, 1973.

^Richard Darrow, op. c it.

^"Some D is tin c t Virtues o f This New Maka-Globe Approach to the Teaching of Geography," brochure from Darrow's personal papers. (Typewritten.)

^^Richard Darrow, op. c it.

^Richard Darrow, Robert Darrow, Helen Thornhill, op. c it.

^7Betty Darrow, "Sermon to Myself," Richard Darrow's personal papers. (Handwritten Manuscript.) CHAPTER V III

ANALYSIS AND COMMENTARY

The death o f Darrow marked the end o f a Great American

Fireball. Throughout his life he heralded the positivism of his

homeland. L ife was a marathon pep meeting fo r the eth ic o f middle

America and Ben gave voice to its slogans. "Damn the torpedoes.

Full speed ahead." "Onward and upward." Darrow originated neither

of the sayings and yet he was an integral part of them.

What was the driving force that plucked this farm boy from

the co rn fie ld s o f Ohio and fire d an enthusiasm th a t would set him

square on the edge of the electronic age? In many respects his life mirrored that of his peers. He'd whiffed the aroma of the mid- western farmlands and broiled in the Ohio sun as the work sweat of agriculture seeped into the brown earth that sustained him. There was nothing unusual in th a t. For many Americans at the turn o f the century the admonitions of Ecclesiastes had become a country credo.

The sun rose. The sun set. L ittle else was changeable.

The country life style had had a clear influence on Ben and his forebears all the way back to his great-grandfather James. In

fa c t, i t was James' settlement on the Darrow homestead that v/as to determine the milieu in which Ben was to be reared.

174 175

It was a milieu that had changed little in the eighty years between the time James settled in central Ohio and the time Ben was born. Country life was the legacy he'd been le ft by his ancestors and part of Ben's generational heritage could be counted on the callouses on his hands.

The fa m ily 's life s ty le had remained almost unchanged even to their mode of shelter and Ben slept under the same roof his grand­ father had in earlier decades. He tille d the same land, raised the same crops and perhaps carried with him the same fears that had been the lot of the Darrow's and others whose lives found root in the pioneer ethic.

During his formative years, the people Ben associated with were farmers. He went to school w ith rural ch ild re n , took part in the just-clean-fun country recreation that often took to the woods and fie ld s o f the American heartland. There is l i t t l e doubt th a t most of the people who crossed his early path wore the proud heri­ tage o f farm mud on th e ir shoes.

I t was in th is environment th a t Darrow la id the cornerstone of the philosophy he was to follow. Hard work, drive and idealism were qualities cemented to his character. For a person raised so close to nature they were entities as natural as the dandelions that punctuate the fields.

Much of Darrow's idealism undoubtedly stemmed from a r e li­ gious philosophy he had begun formulating in country churches.

Nominally, Ben had been a Methodist and as a youth he had gone to 176 church re g u la rly. As a young a d u lt, Ben even taught Sunday School

though la te r In l i f e , regular church attendance was dropped from his weekly routine.

The moral ism th a t was central to his personality remained with him and in later life was manifested in Darrow's numerous public speaking engagements. High school commencements in p a rtic u la r were occasions when Ben spoke of liv in g the good l i f e and how doing so would contribute to personal success. In many respects, Darrow's vision of theology embraced the Puritan ethic.

Darrow's religion was personal and informal. The country background clearly played a part in developing his simplistic religious outlook. Ben was a man in awe of the handiwork of his God.

It is difficult to label Darrow politically. In some re­ spects his thinking reflected classic Republican conservatism. He was an apostle of the work ethic and opposed the "giveaway" programs that characterized much of life during the DepressionJ But the hard times he him self had endured perhaps softened th is aspect of his thinking. The family homestead was a popular calling place for vagagonds during the 1930's and no one le ft the Darrow place with an empty stomach.

Ben's p o litic s were perhaps best classed as m iddle-of-the road. He was not a party line voter and he cast his ballot for

Republican and Democrat a lik e . Issues were more important than parties and indications are that he voted for people who's political s ty le squared w ith the Darrow progressivism. 177

It 1s tempting to say that Darrow's corn-pone, red cheeked

upbringing was the marrow of a life outlook characterized as a ll-

American. It is also true. The rural mystique lived in him. He

was part and parcel of a life style that has all but le ft the soul

of the United States. His youth was a time historians revel as the

good old days, when l i f e was hard but slow and always tempered by

the lazy sunshine.

At the turn of the century, conscience was measured by

adherence to the Puritan/Victorian rulebook. Hard work, ambition,

decency and honor. They were by-words heralded in schoolrooms and

pulpits across the continent.

For many the guidelines seemed to work. It was possible to

succeed i f you re a lly worked a t i t . The brass rin g on the merry-go-

round was an a tta in a b le goal and even i f i t forever remained out o f

reach, the thought that it was there could mellow, the reality of

squalor.

This 1s what worked fo r Darrow and in large measure accounted

for his upwardly mobile lift. He believed in the American dream.

The desire to better himself led him to go on to college, a move

th a t was a f i r s t fo r the Darrow fam ily.

Darrow's resourcefulness and penchant for organization began

to surface while he was a student at Ohio State. It was here his a b ilitie s as a salesman started to blossom, and his gregarious nature was given fu ll exposure.

Many o f the q u a litie s which would become marks o f the Darrow character seemed to begin crystalizing at the University. Though he 178

was a joiner of organizations, his scorn for formalism and exclusiv­

it y manifested it s e lf in Darrow's contempt fo r the fra te rn ity system.

One of his chief extracurricular activities, the YMCA, later provided

his living for a number of years.

A quenchless parching for learning was a marked character­

istic of Darrow's. He was hopelessly addicted to reading and as an

adult his home brimmed with various types of literature. Ben's

reading interests ran the gamut from Mein Kampf to "National

Geographic" magazine.^

It was the love of things scholastic that led Ben to a teaching job shortly after high school. After college he was moved to return to the profession and throughout his life he either involved

him self in the mainstream of academe or perched w ith in te re s t on its periphery.

There is nothing to indicate tha t as an educator Darrow had been exposed to much in the way of sophisticated educational theory.

He had not studied education as a young man at Ohio State and it is apparent that what he did understand in the way of educational theory had been picked up by osmosis from teachers under whom he had studied.

It seems likely that Darrow's gregariousness and love of people were firm ly entrenched by the time he entered YMCA work. It was at this stage of life his social philosophy apparently began to gel. His entry into "Y" work was a logical extension of his work as a teacher. The organization was committed to self-improvement and character building and the YMCA's philosophy squared e a sily w ith 179

Ben's. It is possible he le ft formal education to escape the firm

strictures of the methodology imposed by the times. The YMCA clearly

offered Darrow more la titu d e to pursue his own approaches to teach­

ing.

Key features to Darrow's approach to YMCA work were to ­

getherness and sharing. The numerous tours, banquets and other

events he planned were geared toward getting people to ta lk w ith one

another--mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, friends and neigh­

bors. His hope was that through this interaction individuals would

share their hopes and aspirations. Learning would take place.

While he was engaged in YMCA work, Ben met a man who was to

have a profound influence on his philosophy. The man was J. J.

(Daddy) Jackson, of G arrettsville with whom Ben came in contact dur­

ing his sojourn in Portage County. He became Darrow's best friend.

Jackson figured prominently in the political and social life

in the county, taking part in road improvements, YMCA work and the

Boy Scouts. In addition to involving himself in community work,

Jackson had been active in opposing local liquor option in Portage

County. It is clear he was capable of arrousing strong emotions.

At one point a group favoring liq u o r sales hanged Jackson

in effigy. He invoked the wrathe of other Portage Countians by work­

ing to increase taxes that would improve community roads. But the

Jackson persistence paid of-f and in la te r years Darrow would remark that it had been largely through his friend’s efforts that Portage

County had the best road system in the state. 180

The strain of activity cost Jackson several years of his l i f e . In la te r years Darrow would remark th a t "Daddy" had spent himself out with too much work and too little rest, but the tenacious­ ness o f his frie n d was obviously a q u a lity Darrow held in high esteem.

To Ben, Jackson had been a paragon o f the q u a litie s he admired most in a leader.3

Darrow's admiration for tenacity and self-reliance was no doubt sown early in his life as a farm youth. The qualities were honed to perfection within himself during his years with the YMCA, a period when Ben had to raise most of his program operating expenses.

His marked a b ility to create funds out of thin air was something in which he prided himself in later years.

By the time Darrow had reached the peak o f his career w ith the YMCA, he had already established himself as an acclaimed figure in rural work. No doubt it was his ability in this field that led to the position with the Boys' and G irls' Division of the Sears-

Roebuck Agricultural Foundation. For Darrow, this was to mark a major turning point in his life , a turning point that would lead to his first job in radio.

There are indications Ben took an early interest in broad­ casting. Family sources recall that the Darrows were among the firs t people in Portage County to purchase a radio re ce ive r.4 Once Darrow reached Chicago, though, he had to make a quick transition from listener to broadcaster. 181

Inmersion into educational broadcasting as early as 1924

places Ben in the category of the firs t radio pioneers, especially

since his " L it t le Red School house" broadcasts from WLS were numbered

among the firs t early experiments.

Darrow's longtime enthusiasm for radio obviously developed

during the Chicago sojourn. I t was here he made contact with

Armstrong Perry and perhaps Judith Waller, both radio pioneers. The

contact must have had a profound influence on developing his fire-fed

philosophy about the unique educational possibilities of radio.

I t is unclear why Darrow le f t WLS. At the tim e, i t was one

of the country's major broadcast outlets and in retrospect would seem

to have been a more promising location as the birthplace for the

n a tion 's f i r s t wide-spread system o f school broadcasting.

We can only speculate as to what might have been Darrow's

reason for leaving. In 1925, when he quite WLS, he was 36 years old.

For years he had been preaching the Puritan ethic of hard work and

initiative. And while Darrow had plenty of both qualities, as he

approached middle age, he had l i t t l e to show m a te ria lly fo r his

e ffo r t. For Ben, the American Dream had not yet come true.

TABL-TUB offered a way out and Darrow was se lf-co n fid e n t

enough to think that his invention might bring him a fortune. In the

boom period of the 1920's it is easy to envision Ben rationalizing

his decision. Vast sums were being accumulated by so called "common" men every day. Darrow's self-concept by this time was one of almost total

self-reliance. He was w illing to make intensive sacrifices for both 182

himself and his family simply to see a project through to completion.

The lean months he spent trying to market TABL-TUB were hot thrust

upon him. The course he pursued was one o f his own choosing.

The long period o f unemployment in Woodstock gave Darrow

plenty of time to think and evaluate his life and the forces which were shaping i t . The co rn fie ld s o f Ohio, w hile harsh on the body, were a Waldenesque re tre a t fo r the mind. When i t became obvious his

invention was not going to provide the returns he had hoped for, he

reacted the only way he could. He conceived of another invention.

This one was a plan for a National School of the Air.

Darrow was desperately poor at the time he set out on this new project but for him there was no shame in his condition. He s till had influential connections and he took advantage of them.

Gifford Pinchot provided seed money for Darrow's new plan and it was another old friend, Armstrong Perry, who put Ben into fateful contact with the Payne Fund. Without these influential friends, Darrow's dreams might have died in infancy.

But i t was Darrow the salesman who provided real spark fo r the project. Other than an idea and some strong indications it might succeed, Ben had l i t t l e else to s e ll. Darrow drew upon his previous marketing experience to hawk the project with enthusiasm.

Unquestionably, Darrow's association with the Payne Fund opened many doors for him. His ties with a recognized philanthropic organization cloaked his idea with the robes of respectability. His links with nationally prominent figures and his ability selectively to drop names was another factor that gained entry to the offices of 183

top decision makers. And, y e t, there is l i t t l e doubt th a t Darrow

would have pursued the project even i f he had not obtained the

identity with the Payne Fund. Early correspondence clearly indi- > • cates Ben was ready to go ahead f u ll steam as a concerned c itiz e n who

had an idea to sell.

This was the kind of fortitude needed for the job. There

were no guarantees the National School o f the A ir would become a

reality and ultimately it never did materialize. Darrow's driving

ambition seems to have been a key fa cto r in keeping the program

a liv e .

Ben's resiliency played another important role. He'd just

come from one fresh failure, yet was w illing to plunge right into

another speculative venture. What possibly could have motivated him

other than a large measure of self confidence girded by an optimis­

tic outlook?

It was this ab ility to bounce back in the face of seeming defeat that was a marked characteristic of Darrow throughout his working life . Walking a tightrope of uncertainty was an environment

he thrived in and to Ben, Quixotic flirts with the unknown were a road to self-actualization.

Darrow's marked a b ility to rebound was amply illu s tra te d in

his reaction after the National School of the Air plan fe ll through.

Instead o f sulking and looking around fo r safe employment, Ben jumped

right into another experimental venture. This time it was the Ohio

School o f the A ir. 184

The Ohio School of the Air was the nadir of Ben Darrow's

career. It was here he spent his happiest years and it was the OSA

which provided the vehicle for the fu ll flowering of the Darrow

philosophy.

Ben's go-get'em Americanism was the core o f OSA programming.

The concepts and people who were the warp and woof of broadcasts had

one thing in common. They were winners.

Radio speakers in the nidwestern afternoon carried forth the

same message day a fte r day. Success was something to be desired and

hard work and study were the means of achieving that end. There was

nothing grossly materialistic in this. Throughout the years of the

Darrow continuum the goal o f success was always tempered by an under­ current of moralism. To prosper was the ordained reward of the just.

Darrow's idealogy as manifested in his program schedule was the logos of the time and embodied precedents set in the Puritan ethic, and the manifest destiny that had become the mythopoeic American guide.

Exceptions had become the rule. Never mind percentages; everyone had an equal chance to reap the rewards o f American somnol­ ence. If the dream cloud evaporated, the fault lay not in the society but within the individual. Such was the myopia of the period.

Even the Depression seemed a temporary pin prick which, while capable of deflating, could never burst Darrow's balloon of optimism which floated precariously above the center of the contin­ ent. Deprivation while acknowledged and endured was seen as anomaly and not anomie. Darrow's infectuous optimism insisted that things 185

would turn out in the end.

Demagogues (p o ltico s that they were) were banned from OSA

broadcasts. There was danger they might in fe c t the minds o f children.

Those annointed with the OSA imprimatur spoke to the corn-fed with

throaty optimism.

The day-to-day practice of the in fa n t Ohio School o f the

Air emerged as a standard for other educational broadcasters. Darrow

and his project were at the top of the heap professionally and un­

avoidably, Ben became a major shaper of the policies and practice of

his a rt.

One way this happened was through Armstrong Perry's book,

Radio in Education, the chronicle of Darrow's early efforts. It was a signal work in the fledgling industry and as such served as a guide and a stimulus to early thinking in the field. Other Darrow influence came through the annual Radio In s titu te which was begun in 1930.

Throughout Ben's tenure at the OSA, the meeting was attended by many major figures of the early days of broadcasting. Few could have escaped the impact of Darrow's inventive personality.

Ben wrote a great deal and there is little question that he influenced others with his writings. How much he was influenced by others is hard to measure. Doubtlessly some o f his ideas derived from what he read and it is clear that some of the literature he exposed himself to had profound influences upon him.

Once in a Chicago hotel room, Ben recounted to his colleague,

Edgar Dale, how much The Grapes of Wrath had moved him.^ The classic o f ru ra l misery was something Darrow could e a sily id e n tify w ith. 186

He'd liv e d the hard l i f e him self.

Which o f his ideas were Darrow o rig in a ls were secrets Ben

carried with him to his grave. While he was an inventor in his own

right, he could adapt ideas just as well. His mind operated in so many different directions at once that it is likely Darrow himself

never bothered to categorize.

Darrow's energy and enthusiasm were boundless. He had the

kind of personality that made people anxious to work for and with

him. He was an inventor supreme and during a typical day his active mind came up w ith dozens o f new ideas, some of which were m eritless, but many of which worked.

The Darrow drive and enthusiasm were im patient w ith red tape and matters of detail. Ben liked to steamroller his way into projects and preferred action and results over drab administrative routine.

The impatience with detail often manifested its e lf in absentmind- ness, a tra it for which Ben was noted.® Anecdotes te ll the tale.

Once Ben paid a call on his friend John Bricker, hoping to get him to speak on an opening day broadcast for the School of the

A ir. No sooner had he entered Bricker*s o ffic e than he began re ­ moving his tie and stuffing it in bis coat pocket. Next, his shoes came o ff as Ben plunged into the conversation, headlong. He seemed about ready to remove his socks when Bricker interrupted with, “Why sure, Ben, make you rself at home." A surprised Darrow re p lie d , "Oh

Lordy, I forgot where I was so maybe you stopped me ju s t in tim e."

The Columbus Police Department and Darrow's forgetfulness 187

clashed on several occasions. The crime? Overdue parking tickets

fo r which Ben was famous. Oftentimes, Darrow was conveniently "out

of the office" when police officers came to prod him into paying the

tardy fines. This usually prompted him to square accounts and he'd >

amble off to city hall to pay up. Once, after accumulating eight

tickets, he reluctantly drove downtown to get them out of the way.

In a rush, as usual, he parked outside c ity ha ll in a no parking zone.

As surely as the postman delivers on Mondays, when he came out o f the building there was another parking ticket on his windshield.

Darrow had a keen sense of humor and was a noted raconteur.

Many of the stories he had lived. Once after work he stopped in a grocery store, collected the items his wife had asked for but lacked

35 cents to pay for the total order. To a man who had raised thou­ sands over the years, such a small amount was a puny challenge. Ben walked up to the store manager and boldly asked, "Do you like my tie ? " The manager assured Ben he d id . Soon part o f Darrow's neck wear and the 35 cent debt had been bartered and before the manager could reconsider, Ben was out of the store.

Darrow was a person who could laugh at him self. When he lunched with his secretary, he had an unconscious habit of taking her soup crackers and crunching them into his own bowl. Mrs. Williams rarely complained. Once at a National Education Association banquet, however, he purloined the crackers of the man seated next to him.

Mrs. Williams secretly tried to warn Ben against the social oversight but Darrow was engrossed in a conversation and missed the signal. 188

When Mrs. W illiams reminded him o f the incident la te r he said, "Why d id n 't you t e ll me?" "Because I d id n 't have a megaphone," came the response. Darrow was delighted w ith the spoof and re to ld the story many times.^

Ben's sense of humor was part of an aura of gaiety that surrounded him. He smiled a lo t and had a self-confident way of being at ease with many different types of people. Generally, he q was well liked and well regarded.

As an educational philosopher, Darrow was c le a rly a prag­ matist. Some of his ideas seemed aligned with those of John Dewey, especially those that embraced the democratic ideal. Other Dewey-

111ce concepts came through in Darrow's belief that learning could, indeed, be fun. Ben was a progressive and fe lt that much could be done to improve the delivery of education in the United States. The

Inherent importance of learning and its manifest benefits were cen- tral to his educational philosophy.9

Darrow's yea saying about education came through numerous times in various speeches and lectures. Oftentimes the Ohio School of the Air was used as a platform for his Horatio Alger notions tha t hard work and learning were the keys tha t unlocked the doors to personal success.

Darrow's major theme contained the elements of the major flaw of his philosophy. Generally, he found no fault with the core of

American education and his thought system provided no mechanism fo r reform. Radio simply increased the number of soapboxes and the 189

speakers who perched on them remained e sse n tia lly the same. As fa r

as content was concerned, Ben was steeled to a Nineteenth Century

view of education. Things were fine as they were.

Darrow straddled the centuries and i t was th is aspect o f h is '

personality th a t made him an enigma. On the one hand, he was committed

to a future rooted in technology. On the other, he reveled in the

virtu e s o f a V ictorian age. Darrow had a rig h t to the enigma. He

was a man in the midst of great changes in the society that existed

around him and as a consequence, he was shaped by the times in which

he liv e d .

Darrow's major argument w ith American education centered not on its content but on the way in which it was delivered. Ben de­

plored wasteful spending and fe lt it was rampant throughout the educational establishment. He believed radio and other media were a means of ending some of the waste.

Darrow saw education being strangled because too many teachers embraced textbooks as the core of their teaching efforts. In a radio address he delivered in 1930, he alleged that teachers, texts, schoolrooms and the daily routine of learning were not ends in them­ selves but only means to an end.

Even though radio was his fo rte , Darrow denied i t was the ultimate tool of education. It was a supplement to instruction, he fe lt, in no way designed to supplant the classroom teacher. "The radio is just one more contact of the school with the world," he once had said but c le a rly to Darrow i t was a wonderous contact. 190

One o f the major advantages Darrow saw in radio as an educa­ tional tool was that it could bring master teachers to the classrooms.

Thus, prominent educators in various disciplines could share their expertise with a far greater number of pupils. Darrow saw this as being helpful not only to students but to their teachers as well.

Another prominent benefit o f radio, Darrow f e lt , was that i t provided students with exposure to major world figures. The strength of this belief manifested itse lf many times in Darrow's invitations to celebrities to speak over Ohio School of the Air broadcasts

"Greatness" was the key qualification for an educational broadcaster. One senses a single-step flow theory of communication emergent in Darrow's th in kin g. I t seemed he viewed the lis te n in g audience as one that was plugged into "prominence." Electronic com­ munication was largely a one-way affair to him, at least to the extent that listeners participated in deciding what was to be broad­ cast. "Greatness" was something learned at the foot of the masters and Ben re a lly never argued much w ith the warp and woof th a t made up the content o f American education.

This is not to say th a t Darrow had no sympathy fo r his audience. Indeed, he often spoke of the need to keep listeners at the focus of the educational broadcaster's attention. Much of his concern here seemed to center on the importance of reaching the audience at understandable levels. This was particularly true of young children. Darrow was more concerned w ith d e live ry than w ith the content o f broadcasts. In Radio T ra ilb la zin g he remarked: 191

(It 1s a) fatal...m i stake for a broadcaster to be too much concerned about what teachers or professional c r itic s may think of his broadcast rather than being concerned with holding the interest of the boys and girls who comprise his audience. Naturalness, sincerity, intimacy, kindliness, good humor—these far outweigh precision, nicety and finesse.

Darrow's concept of the curricular content of broadcast in­

struction was sim plistic. To him, radio curriculum embodied two major objectives:

1. To provide worthy materials that are not available to the average classroom.

2. To provide those materials which can be more drama­ tica lly presented in a well-equipped studio than they can in the average c la s s r o o m J 2

Current events and contact with great leaders f it neatly

Into the f i r s t category. In the second, Darrow emphasized the unique ability of radio to stimulate the imagination. It was in this area he fe lt that drama, music and sound effects could be used to their f u lle s t J 3

Ben fe lt radio had a distinct advantage of putting students closer to history as it was being made. The school of the air throughout the Darrow tenure was in the vanguard in providing listeners with instant current events coverage.

Beyond its own unique features, Ben fe lt radio also helped sharpen some neglected tools of teaching. These included dramatiza­ tion which Darrow believed had largely been neglected. In addition, 9 electronic voice communication provided a channel for the broadcast stimulation of dialog and debate. A by-product of this was a reunion of home and school in the educational process. Because radio instruc- 192

tlo n reached the home as well as the classroom, Darrow f e lt fam ilie s would be stimulated to further discussion of what had been broadcast.^

Darrow d id n 't ru le out the potential radio offered in the teaching o f s k ills and d r i ll subjects but he de-emphasized th e ir im­

portance. He fe lt though that smaller stations were in a better posi­ tion to offer instruction in this area. Because they served smaller listening areas, he believed they could offer more interaction between broadcasters and their a u d ie n c e s J 5

While Darrow recognized a number o f unique q u a litie s o f class­ room radio, he f e lt its effectiveness could be handicapped i f i t were not utilized properly. In the main, Ben fe lt that the responsibility for effective use rested equally upon the broadcaster and the listener.

Central to Darrow's philosophy of radio instruction was the

Idea that schools should listen enthusiastically to educational broadcasts or not use them at a ll. This meant a three-step approach to listening.

Darrow recommended advanced preparation fo r broadcasts which included thorough teacher knowledge o f programs in order to rouse expectation and prepare pupils for the broadcast. In addition, he f e lt reading or discussion o f scheduled topics in advance would arouse the curiosity and interest of students.

Purposeful listening was the next step and to accomplish this,

Darrow voiced the need to maintain good classroom d is c ip lin e . Beyond this, though, Ben recommended that pupil attention could be improved if teachers centered class attention on visual objects being discussed 193

during broadcasts. This might include maps, art prints, etc.

The final phase of Ben's formula included a follow-up pro­

cedure so that students would re ta in what they had learned through \ the broadcasts. In large part, this meant testing students on

rete ntio n o f program m aterial J®

C h a ra c te ris tic a lly , Darrow saw radio as a key vehicle fo r

promoting character education. Concern for responsible citizenship

and leading the good life was a central thread of the Darrow philo­

sophy. He fe lt that exposing students to international figures was

catalytic to developing character.

In praise of world leaders, Ben said, "They bring w ith them

Inspiration. They arouse ambition; they induce clear thinking in the

boy and g irl and set for them goals which unquestionably make for the

happiness of the individual and welfare of the nation." The idea,

Ben knew, had worked before in the parks and parade grounds of

American v illa g e s . His was the theme o f Chautauqua gone e le c tro n ic .^

Darrow's Chautauquae-like notions extended far beyond the classroom; he viewed radio as a primary medium fo r extending the re­

sources o f education in to the home and community. He was c r itic a l o f what to him was a heavy concentration o f commercial programming.

He favored broadening the diet of national programming to include broadcasts which would enrich the American lis te n e r.

Ben was intensely conscious o f ra d io 's power. " I t is a source of new viewpoints and attitudes, of new tastes and new habits,"^® he had said. Darrow f e lt tha t proper channeling would g re atly improve the character and q u a lity o f community lif e . 194

Recognizing the market economy character of the American

broadcasting industry, Ben urged listeners to insist on better pro­

gramming through pressure on broadcasting statio ns. He encouraged

concerned groups to bring about an improved standard o f programming.

Through these e ffo rts he hoped the American audience would be reached

w ith programs tha t stimulated the s p ir it.

Throughout his l i f e Darrow never lo s t sight o f the core of

his philosophy. Radio was magic which worked wonders.

Seemingly, the marvel never waned. Ben's amazement at

radio's potential was the key to understanding his philosophy. In

Radio, The Assistant Teacher, he wrote:

Who can vision the significance of the fact that distance for the ear has been annihilated; that by voice the world be­ comes one neighborhood; that no matter what the size of the school or where it is located, the great of all the earth may visit the pupil in his own classroom. So far as those in­ fluences that may be made effective through the voice are con­ cerned, the roof of the classroom has been blown off and the walls have been set on the circumference of the globe.20

To finance the wonderous tool Darrow favored broadbased

public support from local, state and federal governments. No doubt

influenced by his experience at the OSA, Ben recognized the inherent

danger of publicly supported broadcasting becoming enmeshed in

politics. Programs about civil government, he noted, by their very

nature exclude candidates striving for office while incumbents are

given exposure. To counter this problem, Darrow favored increased

endowments and subsidies by private foundations. He fe lt that in

this way, the taint of the political label could be removed from civil government programming.^ 195

That educators should have control over the broadcast curri­

culum was a major theme of Darrow's. Though it's possible the idea

may have occurred to him spontaneously, it seems more like ly that

Darrow's past exposure to education had convinced him that the pro­

fession was the best arbiter of curriculum. The idea was part of

the determinism of the time. To Ben, it was simply a philosophic

transference between media. The concept in no way ran counter to

the prevailing thought of the period.

Darrow's biggest problem lay in convincing the profession

that it ought to be making any curricular decisions about radio. By

the late 1920's, the educational establishment was not convinced

radio had a future in the schoolrooms of America and in the beginning

1t was th is idea Darrow had to s e ll.

The early sales efforts manifested themselves in Ben's

attempts to found a National School of the Air and it was here Darrow

had a catalytic effort upon educational broadcasting. His insis­

tence on educator control of curriculum was a major ingredient in

the sales pitch and though he missed acquiring the NEA as an in itia l

customer, the idea was bought by other groups in later years.

One can see th is in the founding of NACRE, NCER and FREC.

Each group embraced Darrow's basic concept and in varying degrees

they a ll agreed educators were mainliners in determining broadcast curriculum.

This was Darrow's key contribution to policy formulation.

It was a simple notion. Put education on the air. Let educators 196 determine the content of broadcasts. Whether or not Ben was the firs t to conceive of the idea, few would deny he was its chief ex­ ponent.

It would be inaccurate to say that Darrow's philosophy of radio education matured a great deal over time. In the main, he saw radio as a platform for the extension of excellence. He was a pro­ phet who worked to bring a vision to r e a lity and in th is regard seemed more at home promoting his philo’sophy than measuring i t against objective standards. The benefits of radio education were patently obvious to Darrow and he was impatient with obstacles that ran counter to the realization of his dream.

That is not to say tha t Darrow was hidebound or set in his ways. His experience as a radio educator clearly wrought changes in his thinking, but mostly to the extent to which they were pragmatic.

I f i t worked, Ben was in favor o f i t . I f i t d id n 't, Darrow could easily discard it.

Darrow thrived in an atmosphere o f pragmatism. In the main, he was regarded as a practical person, a man to be admired for his tenanciousness, hard work and charm. He was a cracker barrel p h ilo ­ sopher who exuded a folksiness that found its logos in the ideal of

Christian living.

The philosophy he espoused publicly carried over into family l i f e and the Darrow children were often lectured on the need fo r hard work and study to lead successful lives. Church attendance among the children was encouraged and the m o ra lis tic Darrow urged along the 197 development of personal integrity in the lives of each of his off­ spring.^ Ben's midwestern country-fed philosophy of child rearing worked. All of the children went off to college and became reason­ ably solid and successful citizens in later life . The eldest son,

Richard, went on to become chairman of the board o f a large New York public relations firm.

The relationship within the family was a close one though there were occasional c o n flic ts between son, Richard, and his fa th e r.

D1ck was aggressive, and had his own ideas about how he wanted to pursue his li f e . He chose to attend Ohio Wesleyan U niveristy a fte r high school, against his father's wishes. Ben had wanted him to go to Ohio State. In another move at independence, Dick joined a frater­ nity 1n college and a philosophical sp lit was inevitable between the two. Ben had been a leader of anti-fraternity forces at OSU. Dick was on an intellectual level with his father and any frictions that developed between the two was probably nothing more than like poles repelling one another.23

D ick's independence may have fueled occasional spats between

Darrow and his w ife. Beyond th is , Darrow's continued absence from home possibly sparked other fueds that cropped up between Ben and

Frances from time to time.

Ben's absences le ft much of the child raising chores to

Frances though Ben trie d to get back to the fam ily homestead as often as he could. Most weekends were spent at the farm and usually during the week he would return home at least once from Columbus. 198

Though both Ben and Frances were farm-reared, they were mis­ matched in some respects. Ben, of course, was college educated while his w ife was not. She remained p re tty much a farm g ir l w ith a parochial perspective, while Ben's outlook broadened considerably over the years.24

Ben and Frances were on different intellectual levels but in spite of this, Darrow's wife showed a great deal of interest in his work. He was proud of this interest and also of the understanding

Frances showed for his projects. He relied a great deal on her judgment.25

Ben's family life was an embellishment to a largely public career. He seemed most a t home promoting his dreams than he did spending time with his wife and family.

It is hard to fault him for this, for the intensely human

Darrow was a unique personality w ith unique needs fo r expression.

He was at once an inventor, a raconteur, a carnival barker and a visionary. He was, as the saying goes, many things to many people.

As a consequence, he was constantly shifting roles.

Darrow no doubt thought of himself as something o f an American fo lk hero. No less than the roughshod people who hacked th e ir way across the plains, Ben lusted after the role of the pioneer. His independent sp irit and zest for adventure were characteristics that branded him w ith the marks of the t r a il blazer. To him and to many of his contemporaries, Darrow's life was reassurance that one man can accomplish seemingly impossible things he sets out to do. He posses­ sed an unrelenting enthusiasm that could withstand pressures, poverty, 199 despair and failure. Without that quality Ben never could have grabbed the s lic e o f histo ry he so fe rv e n tly sought.

What do we learn from him? What value do we gain from the fact that he lived? There are no memorials erected to his name. No

Darrow Hall in academe re ca lls his memory. Even some o f the people he once knew must pause for awhile to recall the details of his life .

But w ith in the memories o f Darrow and the scattered memor­ a b ilia th a t document his l i f e lie the gemstones o f an epoch. I t is

• here we learn how the heraldry of an era influenced an individual to influence others and thereby, to some degree, influence the course of events.

Darrow was exemplar supreme o f middle American ambitiousness and reform spirit. He cast his lot with the likes of Teddy Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson, cheering on the system posited by people's capitalism. Material rewards did inure to the winners, he fe lt and i t was th is almost to ta l b e lie f in the righteousness of the American way that set Ben on a track toward progress for himself and the educational system o f the United States.

On balance i t is unimportant th a t the America Darrow believed

In probably never existed for the vast majority of Americans. He believed that it did.

Ben's ethos grew from the paling notions that are Rotary,

Kiwanis and the Chamber of .Commerce. He was a clubby "old boy" who reached after the American dream and all that it promised. Like those who have survived him, when the dream threatened to fa lte r, Darrow 200 kept 1t afloat with rhetoric and for him the friction inched its way onward.

The fiction was Ben's staff of life and it sustained him as surely as the corn he once picked from his homestead. The ethic of his time had engulfed him and there was no way to turn against it.

The honey dipped philosophy one publicly espoused raised its e lf in every corner of his life —in the country schools and churches, in the

YMCA, in the sensible shoe existence that was his America.

It was a dichotomous situation for Darrow, for there was a double standard sw irlin g around him between what people said and what they were. It was a double standard that allowed for stasis in an unreal milieu. Darrow's own material condition was a striking example.

It is enigmatic that Ben's driving force never paid off for him in the end. Throughout his life he was a public servant and virtually all of his income derived from the non-profit sector.

Though he ultimately achieved comfortable middle-class status, his salary was no measure of the fame he achieved. Materially, Darrow was not what he asked others to be.

But to say tha t Darrow was a marionette o f business moguls would detract from the complexity of his character. Ben was too dynamic and independent to be manipulated and it is possible he con­ sidered fame alone fa ir exchange for his work.

Darrow was a product of his culture. If he criticized the culture at all it was not cirticism of its substance but rather the 201

Inefficiency with which it reinforced its theme.

I t is u n lik e ly tha t Darrow could have achieved what he did had

he approached his task as an apostate o f the society in which he liv e d .

Funds to support his ideas had to come from the private sector.

Federal involvement in education was anathema to the prevailing

thought of the period. Moreover, the political climate of the time

favored the growth o f big business and Darrow would lik e ly have been

at a loss for financial backing had he offered counterpoise to the

re a lity .

But Darrow had paid his dues to the establishment and in the

process had acquired for himself a number of powerful friends. He

had had previous experience in both radio and education and possessed

the necessary stamina and fo rtitu d e to see a job through to comple­

tio n . The job q u a lific a tio n s to synergize broadbased educational

radio emerged from the demands o f the s itu a tio n . Only someone o f

Darrow's make-up could f ill the role.

So i t was th a t Benjamin Harrison Darrow reached his nexus with history. He was the right man for the right job at the right time. Because he possessed unique ingredients of character and per­ sonality, he was able to be in the front line of a revolution without having to appear revolutionary.

He was propelled by the cu ltu re th a t dominated him, a c u l­ ture he embraced warmly. In th is regard, he stood as an example of the timeless character in history who makes good because he rocks only one side of the boat. 202

Darrow was a shaper of change but he was a cautious one.

The risks he took were personal and in no way threatened the forces which make major policy shifts in history.

Without question, Ben had profound influences upon one slice of American history but in the last analysis, he was more of a great promoter than a great thinker. As a consequence, to be sure, he did make waves, but he moved along w ith the tid e . FOOTNOTES FOR CHAPTER V I II

^Robert Darrow, private interview held in his office, Zanesville, Ohio, August 22, 1973.

O Helen Thornhill, private interview held in her home, Lima, Ohio, September 5, 1973.

3B. H. Darrow, "The Qualities of a Leader," December 6, 1935, from Darrow's personal papers. (Typed Manuscript.)

^Richard Darrow, private interview held in his office, New York City, August 8, 1973.

®Edgar Dale, private interview held in his office, Columbus, Ohio, November 2, 1973.

^Personal le tte r from Mrs. Margaret D. Williams, September 11, 1973.

^Personal le tte r from Mrs. Margaret D. Williams, September 21, 1973. o Edgar Dale, op. c it.

q ^Robert Darrow, op. c it.

10"The Wise Use o f Radio," s c rip t o f parent/teacher program, dated March 10, 1933, probably written by B. H. Darrow, from Darrow's personal papers.

^Ben H. Darrow, Radio T ra ilb la zin q (Columbus, Ohio: College Book Col, 1940), p. 122.

12Ib id ., p. 123.

13Ib id ., pp. 125-126.

203 204

^"The Wise Use of Radio," op. c it .

H a rro w , Radio T ra ilb la z in q , pp. 125-126.

16"A Short Sketch o f Mr. B. H. Darrow's A .'tic le 'Radio Education1 to be Given During the Educational Conference, April 7, 1933, a t the Ohio State U n ive rsity," from Darrow's personal papers.

^B . H. Darrow, "Radio as a Means of Character Education," from Darrow's personal papers, dated June 15, 1931. (Typed Manuscript.)

18B. h. Darrow, "Radio as a Source o f Home and Conmunity Education, " from Darrow's personal papers, dated November 28, 1936. (Typed Manuscript.)

19Ib id .

^Ben H. Darrow, Radio, the Assistant Teacher (Columbus, Ohio: R. G. Adams and Co., 1932), p. 266. I

21 Darrow, Radio T ra ilb la z in q , pp. 125-126.

^Robert Darrow, op. c it.

^Helen Thornhill, o p . c i t .

^Robert Darrow, op. c it.

^Personal letter from Mrs. Margaret D. Williams, September 21, 1973. CHAPTER IX

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

This dissertation is a biographical, historical and descrip­ tiv e study re la tin g the personality of Benjamin Harrison Darrow to the success of the Ohio School of the Air for the period from January,

1929 through June, 1937. In addition to focusing on Darrow's experiment, the study centers attention on development of other educational broadcasting of the period.

The study is an historical investigation into the important role played by Darrow as a pioneer educational broadcaster. In addition, the dissertation weighs the impact of Darrow's personality, initiative and drive in relation to the success of the School. The paper also reveals items that contributed to Darrow's unique style of lif e .

In particular, the dissertation examines the period of time

Darrow spent with the School. The study reveals how Darrow's philosophy reached it s nadir a t the School o f the A ir and how i t influenced programming policy of the project.

The study is concerned with people and events which influenced

Darrow's philosophy and personality and investigates the entire span of Darrow's lif e . His ru ra l background is given special emphasis as

205 206

a force which helped shape the man's li f e .

The study also investigages Darrow's impact upon development

of early policy and practice in the art of educational broadcasting.

In this respect, the historical development of four communications

agencies is examined:

jaj National Advisory Council for Radio in Education (b) National Committee on Education by Radio fc) Federal Radio Education Committee (d) Federal Communications Commission

Research fo r the project was approached three ways. F irs t,

a biographical study was undertaken to assess personality factors

th a t led Darrow to undertake the highly speculative project which

was the Ohio School of the Air. The next aspect of the paper dealt

w ith development and operation o f the School under Darrow. F in a lly ,

Qther early programs of educational broadcasting were analyzed to

provide perspective to the dissertation.

Two major techniques of historical investigation were employed

in the dissertation:

1. Analysis of primary and secondary data relative to Darrow and the Ohio School o f the A ir.

2. Oral history interview with surviving individuals who had important contact w ith Darrow.

Tape recordings were made of the oral history interviews.

Where interviews were not possible, correspondence was initiated with various individuals who had important contact with Darrow.

Darrow's surviving personal papers were used extensively as primary data sources. In addition, extensive files of the Payne 207

Fund were analyzed and employed in the study.

Other major reference sources included Darrow's two books,

Radio Trailblazinq and Radio, The Assistant Teacher. Works of two

of Darrow's colleagues also proved valuable in the study—Appraisal

o f Classroom In stru ctio n by Cline M. Koon and Radio in Education by

Armstrong Perry.

Other primary and secondary sources were also employed in

the study. These included various officia l documents, magazine

a rtic le s , manuscripts and newspapers.

MAJOR FINDINGS

Before the founding of the Ohio School of the Air, radio

education in the United States lacked organization, proper funding

and professionalism. Over a period of several years, a number of

experimental school broadcasts had been attempted. All met with

lim ite d degrees of success.

One of the early experiments was "The L ittle Red School house," a series broadcast over station WLS in Chicago. The organizer of the

series was Benjamin Harrison Darrow, a farm-reared former educator and youth worker. Darrow came to the job with outstanding ingredients of character marked by his creativity, drive and initiative. After he

le f t WLS, these q u a litie s moved Darrow to an ill- fa te d attempt at mar­

keting TABL-TUB, a device he had invented. As the name im plied, TABL-

TUB was a kitchen table that turned into a bathing tub when the unit was turned on its side. Darrow had hoped his invention would be 208

particularly useful to farm families who had no plumbing.

While Darrow was try in g to market his invention, he live d at

the fam ily homestead in Woodstock, Ohio. F in a n cia lly, the period

was a lean one for Darrow and his family. At the same time, the re­

lative isolation allowed Darrow a period for introspection and

creative thought. It was while he was in Woodstock that he con­

ceived of a plan for a National School of the Air.

Contacts Darrow had made earlier in his professional life

proved useful to himin funding and promoting the National School of

the A ir plan. Early in the NSA promotional campaign, Ben made con­

tact with the Payne Fund. The organization would prove to be his

staunchest ally throughout the bulk of Darrow's radio career.

Darrow's plans for a National School of the A ir gained momen­

tum a fte r he made contact w ith the Payne Fund. With his salary and expenses paid by the Fund, Ben was in good position to contact key

influential s. As it developed, the NSA strategy was to secure backing for the program from leadership of the National Education Association.

The plan was that the NEA would provide curricular input into the program. Operating funds, Darrow hoped, would come from the Common­ wealth Fund with whom Ben had been in contact. In order to gain NEA support, he embarked on an extensive fact-finding and promotion campaign to secure tangible data which could be presented to the NEA leadership.

A cautionary climate within the NEA executive committee forced delay in the NSA program when th is board referred the plan to the NEA 209

proper at its 1928 Minneapolis meeting. The Executive Committee

explained that the plan was of such considerable import that the

matter could not be decided by committee.

After learning of the Executive Committee's turn-down,

Darrow apparently approached the NEA Department o f Superintendence

for support. This group urged its new president to appoint a radio

committee. Ultimately, though, the matter was referred to the depart­

ment's Lay Relations Committee.

While the NSA idea was passed from committee to committee,

Darrow laid plans for securing NEA support at the Minneapolis

meeting which was scheduled for July, 1928. Nationally prominent

figure, Gifford Pinchot, offered to finance Darrow in the interim.

I t was a repeat o f the help Pinchot had given Darrow when he f i r s t

fomented plans fo r the National School o f the A ir .' As Darrow moved

about the country seeking NEA support, he also sought backing from

philanthropic organizations as well as the National Broadcasting

Company.

Darrow's efforts to Influence the NEA proved fruitless. At

the July meeting of the NEA the plan for a National School of the

A ir was referred to the organization's Lay Relations Committee which

was scheduled to meet in la te October, 1928. Darrow had been unable

to attend the conference and there are indications that the NSA plan was not dealt with more substantially because of Darrow's absence

and lack of a formal presentation to the NEA.

Darrow and the Payne Fund regarded the NEA's inaction as 210

another setback for wide-scale school broadcasting. For Darrow, the

setback was also a personal one. For months he had been liv in g hand-

to-mouth and his personal finances were strained.

At some point in mid-summer 1928, Darrow made contact w ith

Ohio Education Director Dr. J. L. Clifton in hopes of forming an

Ohio School of the Air. Clifton was enthusiastic about the proposal

and by October Darrow was ready to launch the OSA.

The Payne Fund provided in itia l funds to get the OSA moving, and funneled monies through the Ohio Department o f Education to pay

Darrow's salary as the nation's firs t State Director of Educational

Broadcasting. With the NEA Lay Relations Committee scheduled to meet

1n late October, Darrow's task was two-fold:

1. Plan and organize the fledgling OSA,

2. Plot an aggressive course that would move the Lay Relations Committee to action.

When the Lay Relations Committee met in Cleveland, the group moved to study further the matter of radio education. The action proved to be yet another NEA hold-up from synergizing national school broadcasts.

A fte r the th ird NEA s t a ll, Darrow turned the bulk of his attention to organizing the new Ohio School of the Air. The firs t broadcast was scheduled for January 7, 1929. Broadcasts were to o rig in a te from WEAO (la te r WOSU) owned and operated by Ohio State

University.

A fte r a fa lse s ta rt w ith another s ta tio n , Darrow fin a lly secured free broadcast time from Crosley station WLW in Cincinnati. 211

This was a big step for the OSA since Crosley was the nation's most powerful station and by virtue of this, the School's scope of opera­ tions would extend fa r beyond Ohio. WLW was connected with WEAO by telephone cable.

The firs t broadcasts of the OSA met with almost instant favor.

The enthusiastic response prompted Darrow to a ir a number o f innova­ tive broadcasts early in the School's history. These included live broadcasts of the Ohio House and Senate as well as talks by prominent political figures.

The OSA's favor was underscored when the Ohio Legislature provided funds to support the School for a two-year period. It was the f i r s t time in h isto ry a state government has given broad fin a n cia l backing to radio education.

OSA programming, from the s ta rt, refle cted what Darrow thought were program preferences o f educators. Though programs covered a broad range of to p ics, an undercurrent o f moral ism seemed to run through the core of programming. In large p a rt, the content of broadcasts was reflective of the educational philosophy of the period.

The Payne Fund continued its interest in the OSA throughout

Darrow's tenure at the School. To underscore this interest, Payne commissioned Ohio State U niversity researcher W. W. Charters to make a throughgoing study of the effectiveness of the school. Charter's appointment caused some concern for Darrow. As a practical person,

Ben was more concerned with day-to-day operations of the school than he was w ith it s long range impact. I n it ia lly , Darrow thought Charters' 212 research might Interfere with the School's progress. Darrow's own research about the OSA tended to dwell on practical matters such as the q u a lity o f program reception in lis te n in g schools.

In a short time the Ohio School o f the A ir became the nation's showcase for educational broadcasting. The OSA was studied and discussed in a number o f forums and as a consequence, became a model for other educational broadcasters. There is little doubt that the OSA helped generate and maintain interest in the field.

The NEA continued to have nominal in te re s t in educational radio throughout the Ohio School of the Air's firs t year. In February,

1929, the NEA Executive Committee passed a resolution commending the

Ohio School o f the A ir and c a llin g upon the NEA Lay Relations Committee to support appointment of a committee on radio.

Throughout the early part of 1929 it became apparent that CBS and NBC were strongly considering formulation of their own systems of school broadcasting. Concerned that the networks might take over educational broadcasting, Darrow and the Payne Fund kept pressure on the NEA to take resolute action on the question of radio education.

The Payne/OSA a llia n ce had hopes tha t i f they could influence the NEA,

Ohio would have a strong foothold in a national educational broad­ casting system.

The NEA continued its cautious posture and referred the matter to the U. S. Government. At a May, 1929 meeting o f the

Executive Committee o f the Department o f Superintendence, the group called on the U. S. Secretary of the Interior to organize a meeting 213 at which the matter of radio education could be discussed. Secretary o f the In te rio r, Ray Lyman W ilbur, responded to the request and called a meeting for late May. Out of the meeting, a fact-finding body was appointed to study the state of the art of radio education. Wilbur called on the committee to file a final report by early 1930. When the report was made public, i t became obvious th a t much needed to be done to protect the broadcasting rights of educators. Key recommenda­ tions in the report included a call for federal support and partial federal funding of educational radio as well as cooperation among educators, commercial broadcasters and the general public. The com­ m itte e 's recommendations le f t unresolved a clash which had developed between certain educators and network broadcasters. The networks fe lt that radio practice by 1930 contained enough safeguards to pro­ te c t the rig h ts o f educators. Some concerned educators, however, f e lt that more safeguards ought to be implemented.

Not a ll educators were at odds with the networks and this group was seemingly satisfied with the report of Wilbur's commis­ sion. This group f e lt tha t a working relationships w ith commercial interests could be formed by establishing a cooperative agency. Such an agency u ltim a te ly was formed and began operations in Ju ly, 1930 as the National Advisory Council for Radio in Education.

Not a ll schoolmen were s a tis fie d w ith NACRE's formation and this group opted for educators taking a more m ilitant stance on educa­ tio n a l broadcasting. The group's major concern was that commercial

Interests might monopolize broadcasting before educators could 214

decide what they were going to do with the nation's airwaves. U. S.

Education Commissioner Cooper favored th is po sitio n and called a

conference for October, 1930 to deal with questions raised by the

m ilita n t educators. Recommendations which emerged from the meeting

favored legislation which would vouchsafe the rights of educators to

the radio spectrum.

Those who had attended the Cooper meeting also favored fo r­ mation of a group which would more strongly represent and promote education's radio interests. The group was launched in late

December, 1930 under the name o f the National Committee on Education by Radio.

Directly and indirectly, the Ohio School of the Air had input into the formation of both NACRE and NCER. After the two groups began operating in the interests of national educational radio, Darrow was able to devote fu ll energy to development of the

Ohio School o f the A ir. Soon, though, the Depression began to create new problems fo r Darrow.

Darrow's two-year appropriation from the Ohio Legislature came to an end in January, 1931 just as the Depression was reaching full force.

Through combined budget ju g g lin g and philanthropy o f numer­ ous groups, Darrow managed to keep the OSA a going concern throughout the Depression. The Ohio Legislature continued nominal support even though the OSA was youngest of a ll departments within the state educational system. Though his budget was repeatedly slashed, the 215

Innovative Darrow managed to continue high q u a lity service to lis te n ­

ing schools.

The Crosley corporation was one of the OSA's major benefac­

tors, throughout the financial crunch. During the Depression, the

company increased its free service and also discovered a way of

eliminating telephone line charges by picking up WEAO's signal and

rebroadcasting it over WLW. Previously, programs had been trans­

mitted from Columbus by line to the WLW transmitter in Cincinnati.

Throughout the Depression, Darrow continued to add new programs to

the OSA broadcast schedule and to drop segments that had lost popu­

la rity. In spite of this, some schools discontinued use of broadcasts,

largely for reasons brought on by the nation's economic collapse.

Darrow and the School o f the A ir fought the Depression on

many fronts. One way was through establishment of several radio

workshop programs sponsored by the Federal Emergency R e lie f Adminis­

tra tio n . At the FERA workshops Darrow taught s c rip t w ritin g and

production processes to teachers thrown out of work by the Depression.

A number of the scripts were broadcast by radio stations in Columbus

and Cincinnati. The School of the Air also helped establish a

Radio Junior College to provide post-secondary education for persons

financially unable to attend college.

By mid-Depression, Darrow and the Ohio School o f the A ir

began to experience other difficulties with the election of Martin L.

Davey as Ohio Governor. Davey commissioned several studies o f the OSA

in apparent hopes of uncovering dissatisfactions with the School. 216

Davey also resorted to severe budget cutting and several times

Darrow's project was threatened with extinction. Each time he was

able to rally support.

As Darrow was dealing with his problems, nationally important

events had been taking place in radio. NCER had been active through­ out the Depression in attempting to secure a stronger foothold for educational radio in the nation's system o f broadcasting. In 1934, the group had held a conference on Radio as a Cultural Agency.

Recommendations emerging from the meeting continued to c a ll fo r stricter federal pressure to assure the position of educational broadcasting. Many of NCER's objectives later materialized by crea­ tio n o f the Federal Communications Commission by the Communications

Act o f 1934.

Ultimately, the FCC instituted programs which dealt fa irly with educational broadcasters. The Commission declared that commercial broadcasters must provide education w ith adequate f a c i l i ­ ties and a ir time. To coordinate cooperation between broadcasters and educators, the FCC established the Federal Radio Education

Comnittee. Over a period of several years, FREC engaged in a variety of projects beneficial to educational broadcasting.

Ironically, just at the time educational radio was gaining ground on a national level, Darrow was beginning to lose his grip in Ohio. In A p ril, 1936, Ohio Governor Davey began earnest e ffo rt to unseat Darrow at the OSA. Several times Davey requested more studies o f the School to determine it s po pu la rity. Darrow regarded Davey's 217

actions as unadulterated harrassment.

I t 1s clear th a t personal fr ic tio n existed between Darrow

and Davey and Indications are that most of it was politically moti­

vated. Though various theories exist, it seems likely that Darrow's

feud with Davey came about because of Darrow's support of John

Brlcker, Davey's political foe. Whatever the story, Darrow's dis­

agreements w ith Davey u ltim a te ly cost him his job.

In June, 1937, Darrow and the Ohio School o f the A ir parted ways. Ben spent the summer teaching in Texas and then accepted a

position with radio station WBEN in Buffalo. The Buffalo job was

s im ila r to the post Darrow held in Ohio though i t was on a much

smaller scale. Ben spent three years with the station and then quit to accept a job w ith an old frie n d named Sam Guard. Guard had bought the old Roycroft Inn in East Aurora, New York which had been formerly operated by communalist Elbert Hubbard. Guard intended to use the Inn as an expansion of the publishing business he had begun in Indiana. Darrow's role with the firm is unclear and in any event, the jo b lasted l i t t l e more than a year. By 1941 Darrow had begun a second career in public relations work, a vocation he was to follow until his death.

From 1941 u n til his death in 1950, Darrow successively worked in public relations posts with the Office of Price Administration, the

O ffice o f C iv il Defense and, f in a lly , the Ohio Public Expenditures

Council, a p riv a te ly funded watchdog over government spending. 218

After Darrow's departure from the Ohio School of the A ir, the

OSA became the administrative responsibility of Ohio State University.

The School's scope was drastically reduced after Darrow's departure, particularly since the new administration arrangement made no pro­ vision fo r continuing tie s w ith WLW in C incin na ti. A fte r Darrow le f t the School, the OSA experienced a variety of ups and downs until the program was taken over by Mrs. Margaret Tyler during World War I I .

Programs originated under her direction continued to be broadcast as late as the early I960's.

CONCLUSIONS

This study examined five major questions:

1. What impact did Darrow's ru ra l background have upon the shaping of his philosophy?

2. In what ways did Darrow's education and early employ­ ment e ffe c t the development o f his philosophy?

3. What impact did Darrow's drive and initiative have upon his professional life?

4. How did Darrow's personal and educational philoso­ phy a ffe c t the development o f the Ohio School o f the Air?

5. What influences did Darrow have upon the development of educational broadcasting?

Impact o f Rural Background

I t is clear -that Darrow's rura l background had profound in ­ fluences upon the development of his philosophy. Ben's roots in the soil were a family heritage*that could be traced through three generations of forbears.

As far back as the early Nineteenth Century a plot in central 219

Ohio had been home to the Darrows. Agriculture was the family's

life b lo o d and fo r nearly a century th e ir life s ty le remained a con­

stant.

Just as his ancestors had done before him, Ben followed the

rural ethic. It was a way of life that had become a tradition of

the American heartland.

It was a practical tradition to be sure. Hard work, drive

and initia tive—the qualities were survival tools as essential as

plow and furrow. Beyond the practical value there was more—the

tr a its were something to be proud o f.

The value of the qualities was underscored in the schools

and churches o f the countryside. The Protestant e th ic fo r Darrow and

his peers was a theme they repeatedly heard.

Darrow's ties with the country were further solidified dur­

ing his early years of employment. For a time before and a fte r

attending Ohio State, Ben worked as a rural educator. Later, he

joined the YMCA and worked largely in rural areas. The drive and

Initiative he had learned as a youth paid off for him in the "Y."

During th is period, Darrow had to raise most of his operating funds

and his self-sufficiency was reinforced.

By the time he le f t fo r Chicago, Darrow had earned a repu­

tation as a leading rural sociologist. There is little doubt this

led to his appointment w ith the Sears-Roebuck A g ricu ltu ra l Foundation and Darrow's firs t job in radio.

Darrow's self-sufficiency and pioneering sp irit helped sustain 220

him during the lean years when he tried to market TABL-TUB and launch

a National School of the Air. His country-bred ambitiousness stayed

with him at the Ohio School of the Air. Throughout his tenure at

the OSA, Ben's tenacity was tested time and again by challenges

which threatened the School's existence. Each tim e, Darrow sprang

back with vigor.

The philosophy Darrow had lived became an integral part of

OSA programming. S elf-sufficiency.and apsiration to excellence were

themes frequently stressed. Darrow girded the themes in his w ritin g s

and public speeches.

Darrow retained a folksy charm about him throughout his lif e .

The s p irit of the country was ingrained in him and remained, for

Darrow, a prominent character tra it.

Impact o f Education and Early Employment

Darrow held a lifelong respect for learning and from the time

• he was a small boy, Ben had been an enthusiastic consumer o f informa­

tion. Though little record remains of his childhood education,

Darrow's personal recollections indicate he was at ease in the

classroom.

His early education was of the three "R's" variety, a genre

characterized hy the authoritarian figure of the teacher. For Darrow,

the early school years most likely were an exercise in acceptance

rather than questioning.

His objection to education was that there was not more of it.

From his e a rlie s t day as a student, Darrow sensed a manifest r ig h t- 221 eousness in education. To him i t was another tool to be packed in his kit along with the self-sufficiency and drive he had inherited from his ancestors.

I f he had wanted to , Darrow could have chosen farming as his life 's work, in keeping with the tradition of his ancestors. Instead, he opted for teaching, albeit in rural schools. The choice allowed movement in his two favorite worlds—education and the righteous simplicity of the country.

Darrow's drive to improve himself led to his enrollment in

Ohio State University. Here, the qualities he had acquired as a youth would become fu rth e r entrenched in his character.

Darrow's gregariousness became patently obvious in his extra­ c u rric u la r a c tiv itie s at Ohio State. His OSU memberships, though, seemed to reflect a serious side of his personality. Virtually all the clubs he joined were geared toward self-improvement. Darrow re ­ jected the largely social character of the fraternity system and all the exclusivity it implied.

Darrow lik e d the "down home" approach o f the campus YMCA and the organization's committment to helping others help themselves.

It was one of his chief activities as a college student and in later years the "Y" would provide his liv in g .

Even as a college student, Darrow re lie d on his own in it ia - tiv e to support him self. The jobs he chose were appropriate to his character and for Ben proved to be another learning experience. As a student/salesman, Darrow was to acquire promotional skills that would 222

serve him well in the future.

After his father's death forced him to leave Ohio State,

Darrow returned fo r a time to the l i f e o f a country educator. His

exposure to higher education apparently had not changed his occupa­

tional interests. When he le ft formal education for the YMCA, there

was no defection from his profession. It was simply a trade-off

between one brand o f education and another.

Darrow may have le f t the schoolroom to escape the formal

s tric tu re s imposed by the tim e. The YMCA offered Ben more la titu d e

to tr y out new ideas and approaches to learning. In a d d itio n , the

"Y" dealt with people from a variety of age groups.

Throughout much of his professional l i f e , Darrow voiced im­

patience with the American educational establishment's over-reliance

on textbook learning. While he was w ith the YMCA, Darrow attacked

the problem head-on and it was during this time his skills as an

innovator began to emerge.

It is d ifficu lt to say whether Darrow's innovations at the

YMCA were true educational “firs ts ." Ben entered the educational fie ld when a s p ir it o f reform was ju s t beginning to permeate the profession. There is l i t t l e question though, th a t Darrow was at least among the firs t to depart from the textbook. The community tours he organized for YMCA patrons were an example of Ben's innova­ tive sp irit. His notion that learning could be made fun was another idea th a t surely earned him a progressive la b e l. 223

Throughout his tenure with the YMCA, Darrow had to raise almost all his operating capital. This squared easily with Darrow's love fo r independence and the experience helped s o lid ify Darrow's self-sufficient streak.

Darrow's innovative spirit was well fired by the time he le ft the YMCA to jo in the Sears-Roebuck A g ricu ltu ra l Foundation. Ben's

Chicago-based " L it tle Red School house" broadcasts were a natural fo r the inventive Darrow.

By the time Darrow reached middle-age, his s e lf-s u ffic ie n c y and creativity were central to his character. There is little doubt these qualities are what moved him toward the abortive attempt to market TABL-TUB. After the TABL-TUB failure, Darrow's resiliency rose to the surface and he was ready to try another experimental project. His life experience had forged in him a pioneering spirit.

By 1927, Darrow was ready to attempt the founding o f a National

School o f the A ir.

Impact of Drive and Initiative

Had Darrow not possessed his flaming drive and in it ia tiv e , i t seems u n lik e ly he would have accomplished what he did. Darrow worked well in situations where he was his own boss and could set his own schedule. With this kind of mobility he gave his work everything he had. Throughout much of his professional life , Ben set his own pace

* and i t was a fa s t one.

Darrow'.s brand o f ambition was needed in the early days of educational broadcasting. At the time, many separate forces were 224 operating against one another and an agent was needed to act as catalyst and coordinator.

By themselves, Darrow's drive and in itia tive were not enough.

To get wide-scale educational broadcasting o ff the ground, there were many people and institutions to be influenced. This took a f f a b ility and promotional s k ill and Ben possessed them both.

As was later proven, school broadcasting's catalyst had to have strength of s p irit. Many delays and dissappointments plagued the early days of educational radio and only an individual of strong mettle could withstand the pressures of defeat. Darrow could do i t —he'd been defeated before but had bounced right back again for another challenge.

Darrow accepted a basic premise—"there is no free lunch."

A person had to work hard fo r what he wanted. The b e lie f had been a part of his make-up dating back to his youth. By adulthood, it had become a credo steeled to Darrow's character.

Darrow's ambition was tested many times over before he succeeded in establishing an Ohio system o f school broadcasting.

Even here there was to be no let up from the tirin g pace. The OSA would become a showcase to the rest of the world and for this to happen, a rigorous work schedule was needed.

Somehow, Darrow managed. He could go through hours o f grueling routine yet appear fresh for a night time speaking engage­ ment. Even when the economy fa lte re d during the Depression, Darrow redoubled his efforts and refused to let financial losses affect the 225

quality of his project.

Darrow's blue-streak lifestyle had an infectuous quality.

As a consequence, he was able to move others beyond th e ir lim its .

There is little doubt that Darrow's good example influenced others

in the further development of educational broadcasting.

Impact o f Personal and Educational Philosophy

Darrow's strong personality had profound influences on pro­ gramming o f the Ohio School o f the A ir. The impact was unavoidable for by the time the OSA had become a re a lity, Darrow's personality constructs were firm ly entrenched. He had become the epitome of ambitious Americanism.

Darrow had made a name fo r himself and now i t was up to him to help others do the same. The rules were simply--study hard, work hard; success w ill come in time. Underneath i t a l l , Darrow's moralism gave OSA programming its logos. Success was the re s u lt o f follow ing the rulebook; the reward ordained for principled living.

A theme of "greatness” ran through the programs. Under

Darrow's tutelage, numerous prominent citizens were invited to speak during OSA broadcasts. Directly or indirectly, they conveyed to students their own formula for success. The "greatness" theme was p a rtic u la rly evident in such program segments as "When They Were

Young," "Peeps Into the Live o f People o f Genius," and "S tories from the School o f L ife ." These and s im ila r programs presented famous per­ sonages as "ideals" that students could follow. 226

There was nothing original in Darrow's philosophy. The

principle of "greatness" had been voiced before in public forums

throughout the country and few questioned the premise. Ben's guide

for living had been echoed thousands of times across the land; the

only difference was that Darrow wanned up the American dream over

vacuum tubes.

Ben was consistent in his philosophy. Even when the

Depression threatened to send his ideals packing, Darrow voiced them

with vigor. The nation's economic collapse was an historic accident,

perhaps he thought. In no way could i t have been caused by unchecked

b e lie f in the notion the American dream made winners o f everyone.

Darrow's personal philosophy was tied closely to his philos­

ophy of education. Ben relied heavily upon prominent individuals as

arbiters of truth. By virtue of this, he viewed distinctive educators

as rightful determiners of curriculum. Ben held an almost priori

belief in the righteousness of education and it was this viewpoint

th a t perhaps clouded his vision .

Darrow found nothing fundamentally wrong w ith the content

o f American education. His argument w ith educators came not w ith what

they said but with the medium in which they said it.

Thus, as an .educatinal tool, Darrow saw radio as a way of

putting students into closer contact with "prominence." Those who

had not achieved distinctiveness did not f it the mold.

Darrow's authoritarian belief system might be considered chauvinistic but it reflected the temper of educational thought of 227 his period. Like most people, Ben was shaped by the society in which he lived and he accepted the mores it served up. His authoritarian­ ism was simply reaction to the way things were at the time.

Impact on Educational Radio

Darrow's impact upon the development of educational radio was largely catalytic. The basic concept and the technology to effect a national system o f school broadcasting existed long before Darrow took it upon himself to attempt development of a National School of the Air. The largest stumbling block to the plan seemed to be the conservative notions of the American educational establishment toward radio. Moreover, to gain access to the necessary technology, commercial broadcasters would have to be convinced o f the value o f a national educational broadcasting system. The problem as Ben per­ ceived it was one of persuasion.

When Darrow took the problem on as his own, he grappled w ith

1t much as a salesman would grapple with reluctant customers. When he approached broadcasters fo r support, he stressed the value the NSA would have for the broadcaster. When he spoke with educators, he underscored the benefits th e ir profession would receive.

In the process of seeking support for the National School of the Air, Darrow made a lot of noise about radio education. If nothing more, Ben's actions prompted educators and broadcasters to begin thinking seriously about developing national policy for educa­ tional broadcasting.

Ben's Ohio experiment wound up having national impact even 228

though he failed to develop a National School of the Air. Shortly

after its birth, the OSA became a model to be emulated by other

experimenters. Later school broadcasting programs such as the

American School o f the A ir, the Texas School o f the A ir, and others

bore s trik in g resemblances to Darrow's Ohio pro je ct.

Darrow's writing and public speaking were other ways in

which his influence reached out beyond the confines o f Ohio. Three

signal reference works sprang from his experiment. Radio in

Education by Armstrong Perry was a chronicle of the OSA's early days

and served as a guide to other would-be educational broadcasters. By

1932, Darrow's own Radio, The Assistant Teacher emerged as one of

the firs t "how-to" books in radio education. After Darrow le ft the

Ohio School o f the A ir , he wrote Radio T ra ilb la zin g which served as

a retrospective of his experiment.

Darrow influenced his a rt in other ways. He was a recognized figure in his field and was often called upon to participate in

national meetings where development of radio education p o licy was discussed. The annual Radio In s titu te s begun in 1930 a t Ohio State

U niversity were an example o f the forums he was party to . These meetings were attended by most educational radio leaders of the period and it seems unlikely they could have escaped Darrow's impact.

It Is d ifficu lt to pinpoint where Darrow's impact was trans­ lated Into policy. One th’ing we know for certain is that Ben was

intimately involved in the thick of policy development and that ideas he espoused ultimately found their way into law or practice. Chief 229 among these was Darrow's belief that educators ought to have control of the curricular content of school broadcasts. Ben had begun promoting the idea as early as 1927 when he began selling the notion for a National School of the Air. The concept later was articulated in the p o licy platforms o f NACRE, NCER and FREC.

By implication and in practice, Darrow's notion was given further weight in legislation which established the Federal

Communications Commission. This was the s ta rt o f continuing federal involvement which assured a reasonably stable future for educational broadcasting.

Darrow's distinctive qualifications and personality made him uniquely qualified to fu lfill the role as catalyst of educational broadcasting. His philosophy squared w ith th a t of the dominant culture and for him this was a distinct advantage. He was thus able to act as an agent of change without having to appear revolutionary.

Darrow helped force technological change in education. His

Impact upon the history of his art in no way suggested a major policy shift away from the chauvinism that dominated the educational thought of the period. Darrow's influence was strong, to be sure, but in the la s t analysis i t must be said tha t his impact was tempered by the society which dominated him.

IMPLICATIONS OF DARROW'S PROJECT FOR TODAY

Darrow's Ohio School of the Air seems to have three major implications for modern educational broadcasting practice:

1. The problem o f resistance to innovation in educa­ tio n , 230

2. The problem of financing educational broadcasting,

3. The role of educational broadcasters as critics of the educational establishment.

Darrow wrestled w ith these matters during the fle d g lin g days o f the

broadcasting era. The questions raised by the issues continue to have

relevence today.

Resistance to Innovation

In the ea rly days o f his venture, Darrow encountered the con­

tinuing phenomenon of resistence to innovation in education. The

conservatism he faced with the educational establishment's attitude

toward radio was not unlike the rig id ity encountered when educational

television was launched in the 1950's. The same barriers have been

erected with other media including instructional films and computer assisted teaching.

Darrow entered the educational fie ld at a time when a major

shift was beginning to take place away from print-oriented media.

He faced a centuries-old tradition of book learning that was d iffi­ cult to penetrate. Though the value of mediated instruction has today become generally accepted, modern practitioners s till encounter the problem of change resistance.

In practice,. Darrow hinted at the need for professional change agents in education. The diffusion of innovation process, he realized was one that had to penetrate all levels of the educational hierarchy.

Darrow promoted the concept o f radio in s tru c tio n at every opportunity.

In speeches, in writing and over the airways, Ben directed his message 231 to teachers, administrators, students, parents, politicians and the general public. Each time, the message was tailored to reach re­ ceivers at understandable levels. Radio instruction was presented as something th a t would be of benefit to the in d iv id u a l.

There are parallels between Darrow's efforts and those of the modern change agent in educational systems throughout the United

States. A number of institutions of higher learning today employ sp e cia lists in the improvement of in s tru c tio n . The same is true of public and private elementary and secondary school systems.

The task of these change agents is to identify innovation and assist in its diffusion at all levels of the instructional process. In this regard, they face problems similar to those faced by Darrow. Today, however, the problem o f resistance to change is more widely recognized. As a consequence, the task must be approached with increasing sophistication.

Financing of Educational Broadcasting

The fin a n cia l woes tha t plagued Darrow a t the Ohio School o f the Air are s till a problem for modern educational broadcasters.

While much improvement has been made over the years, the question of how to finance broadcast instruction continues to be a topic of concern.

In practice, today, there are a wide variety of ways in which educational broadcasts are funded. Some systems are financed largely through state appropriations. In other cases, monies come through foundation grants, individual donations and audience subscription. 232

The diversity of funding helps eliminate the threat of centralized control. At the same time, lack of a uniform method of obtaining funds results in varying quality of service.

Formation of the federally supported Corporation for Public

Broadcasting and the Public Broadcasting Service helped raise the sophistication o f televised educational programming. The organiza­ tion of National Public Radio was a step toward improving the nation's educational radio service. S till, these organizations do not deal adequately with the problem of individual educational radio and television stations obtaining capital and operating funds.

Darrow recognized th a t adequacy o f funding was the key to the quality of educational broadcasts. His success in obtaining partial state funding for the Ohio School of the Air helped set the stage for other states such as Wisconsin and Texas that in later years were to operate their own effective educational broadcasting systems. Not all states have been so fortunate.

The element of politics seems to have been one of the major roadblocks to establishment of a uniform method of funding educa­ tional broadcasting. Individual states differ in their plans for funding education itse lf. Beyond this, not all legislators have been convinced o f the value o f educational broadcasting. As a consequence, legislative appropriations vary from state to state.

Individual politicians can s till create immense funding problems fo r educational broadcasters. There are p a ra lle ls between

Darrow's feud with Ohio Governor Davey and the more recent confron­ tation between the Nixon Administration and the Corporation for 233

Public Broadcasting.

The Communications Act o f 1934 does not deal d ire c tly w ith the problem of funding for educational broadcasts. Moreover, the Public

Broadcasting Act o f 1967 addresses the matter only p a r tia lly . There continues to be a need for uniformity in funding for educational broadcasting. Until the political questions can be resolved, the matter, seemingly, w ill remain in limbo much as it did in Darrow's day, nearly a half century ago.

Role of Educational Broadcasters as C ritic s

Darrow's unwillingness to fault with the American educational system ought to give pause to modern educational broadcasters. Ben became involved in educational radio a t a time when numerous ques­ tions were beginning to be raised by such educational philosophers as,Dewey. Nonetheless, Darrow's concept o f education ran p a ra lle l to the prevailing thought of the day. In large part, he saw radio simply as a means for extending what was already being practiced in school­ rooms across the country. Education was institutionalized "talking down" by "authorities."

Given the immense power o f radio, Darrow was in a position to e ffe c t changes other than technological ones. He chose not to.

Modern educational broadcasters find themselves in a sim ilar position.

What is their role in the face of shifting philosophical change? Do they serve as promoters of the educational status quo or do they act as critics, prodding the teaching profession to modify itself?

In the midst of the controversy, educational broadcasters 234 must face the re a lity of providing service w ith in the system as i t exists. In order for change to come about, there must be a climate for it and this requires credibility on the part of the educational broadcaster.

How should educational broadcasters present the radical notions of Illic h , Kozol, Postman and Weingartner? In view of the challenges these thinkers advance to teachers, might not the broad­ caster's credibility be compromised if he becomes identified with movements that threaten the mainstream of educational practice?

The questions are not easy to answer yet they must be dealt with if educational broadcasting is to be considered more than just another promotional tool of the dominant culture. The experiences of production groups such as the Children's Television Workshop have dramatically shown how broadcasting can be used to bring about funda­ mental changes in educational technique. Whether or not the media can be used to bring about fundamental changes of substance is a matter yet to be resolved by educational broadcasters.

SUGGESTIONS FOR ADDITIONAL RESEARCH

1. How might educational broadcasting have been different without the influence of Benjamin Harrison Darrow?

2. In what sp e cific ways did the Ohio School o f the A ir a ffe c t the development o f other state systems of educational broadcasting?

3. What factors caused Oarrow to lose his prominence as a major force in educational broadcasting after he le ft the Ohio School of the Air?

4. What other educational innovations have reached fruition through the catalytic actions of a single individual? 235

5. What has been the historic role of educational broadcasters as critics of the educational establishment?

6. Over tim e, what differences have occurred in the ways in which states have appropriated monies for educational broadcasting?

7. Over tim e, what p o litic a l factors have impeded development o f a uniform method for funding educational broadcasting in the United States?

8. What has been the collective influence of philanthropic organi­ zations upon the development of educational broadcasting in the United States?

9. What personalities influenced the development o f educational broadcasting in other countries?

10. How important was the factor of personality in relation to the Impact of other major figures in the development of educational broadcasting in the United States? PLEASE NOTE:

This page not Included 1n material received from the Graduate School. Filmed as received.

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"Biographical Sketch of B. H. Darrow." Benjamin Darrow's personal papers, maintained by his daughter, Mrs. Helen T h o rn h ill, Lima, Ohio. (Typewritten.)

Bloch, Marc. The Historian's Craft. Translated by Peter Putnam. New York! A lfred A, Knoph, 1959. 238

Bolton, Mrs. C. C. Telegram to B. H. Darrow. Payne Fund F ile s , Dec. 15, 1928.

Borland, Hal G. "Radioizinq the Country School." Radio News, Feb., 1924, pp. 1071, 1132

Bouck, Zeh. Letter to B. H. Darrow. Payne Fund F ile s , Nov. 21, 1928.

Bricker, John W., Senator. Personal letter. Oct. 22, 1973.

"A B rie f Biography o f Ben H. Darrow." Resume. Benjamin Darrow's personal papers, maintained by his daughter Mrs. Helen Thornhill, Lima, Ohio. (Typewritten.)

"Broadcasters Cling to University." The New York Times. Feb. 5, 1933.

Bullard, W. H. G. Letter to Barry Smith. Payne Fund Files, Nov. 18, 1927.

"Can the School Teach Discrimination in Radio Listening?" Educational Method, Mar., 1935, pp. 311-315.

Charters, W. W. Letter to H. M. Clymer. Payne Fund Files, Feb. 5, 1929

Clark, M. G. Letter to B. H. Darrow. Payne Fund Files, Oct. 39, 1928.

. Le tte r to Dr. Uel W. L. Lamkin. Payne Fund F ile s , Sept. 24, 1928.

C lifto n , J. L. Form le tte r. Payne Fund F ile s , Feb. 15, 1929.

______. Form le tte r . Payne Fund F ile s , Nov. 7, 1928.

______. "Possibilities of the School of the Air." Ohio Schools, May, 1929, pp. 185, 188.

Clymer, H. M. Letter to B. H. Darrow. Payne Fund Files, Apr. 18, 1929.

______, L e tte r to B. H. Darrow. Payne Fund F ile s , Aug. 1, 1928.

. L e tte r to B. H. Darrow. Payne Fund F ile s , Dec. 24, 1927.

. L e tte r to B. H. Darrow. Payne Fund F ile s , Feb. 1, 1928.

. L e tte r to B. H. Darrow. Payne Fund F ile s , Feb. 28, 1928. 239

L e tte r to B. H. Darrow. Payne Fund F ile s , Jan. 1, 1928.

Letter to B. H. Darrow. Payne Fund Files, Jan. 29, 1929.

Letter to B. H. Darrow. Payne Fund Files, Jan. 30, 1929.

L e tte r to B. H. Darrow. Payne Fund F ile s , July 31, 1928.

L e tte r to B. H. Darrow. Payne Fund F ile s , June 8, 1929.

L e tte r to B. H. Darrow. Payne Fund F ile s , Mar. 7, 1928.

L e tte r to B. H. Darrow. Payne Fund F ile s , May 15, 1929.

Le tte r to B. H. Darrow. Payne Fund F ile s , May 31, 1929.

Letter to B. H. Darrow. Payne Fund Files, Oct. 11, 1928.

Telegram to B. H. Darrow. Payne Fund F ile s , Mar. 9, 1928.

Telegram to B. H. Darrow. Payne Fund F ile s , Mar. 25, 1929.

"The College of the A ir ." Radio News. Nov., 1924, pp. 677, 846.

Columbus C itiz e n . Jan. 30, 1949.

Columbus Dispatch. Oct. 29, 1948.

"The Conference on Education By Radio." School and Soceity, Apr. 27, 1935, pp. 567-568.

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"Court Approves Transfer of Roycroft Shops and Inn." The Buffalo Evening News. A p ril 11, 1939. Newsclipping. Benjamin Darrow's personal papers, maintained by his daughter, Mrs. Helen T h o rn h ill, Lima, Ohio.

Crandall, E. P. Letter to B. H. Darrow. Payne Fund Files, Apr. 28, 1930.

______, Letter to B. H. Darrow. Payne Fund Files, July 18, 1928.

______. Letter to B. H. Darrow. Payne Fund Files, Sept. 29, 1929.

______. Telegram to B. H. Darrow. Payne Fund F ile s , Mar. 1, 1928.

Dale, Edgar. Private interview held in his o ffic e . Columbus, Ohio: Nov. 2, 1973. 240

Darrow, B. H. Form le tte r . Payne Fund F ile s , Dec. 8, 1928.

“ H istory o f the Ohio School o f the A ir . ” Benjamin □arrow's personal papers, maintained by his daughter, Mrs. Helen Thornhill, Lima, Ohio. (Typed Manuscript.)

_. Le tte r to A. C. Johnson. Payne Fund F ile s , Dec. 20, 1928.

Letter to Armstrong Perry. Payne Fund Files, Dec. 15, 1927.

Letter to Armstrong Perry. Payne Fund Files, Sept. 19, 1930.

Le tte r to Barbara S. Quin. Payne Fund F ile s , Dec. 15, 1927.

Letter to Barry Smith. Payne Fund Files, Dec. 3, 1927.

Letter to Mrs. C. C. Bolton. Payne Fund Files, Nov. 9, 1928.

Letter to E. P. Crandall. Payne Fund Files, Apr. 23, 1930.

Letter to E. P. Crandall. Payne Fund Files, Apr. 24, 1930.

Letter to E. P. Crandall Payne Fund F ile s , Dec. 18, 1929.

Letter to E. P. Crandall Payne Fund F ile s , Dec. 19, 1930.

Letter to E. P. Crandall Payne Fund F ile s , Jan. 30, 1929.

Letter to E. P. Crandall Payne Fund F ile s , July 2, 1928.

Letter to E. P. Crandall Payne Fund F ile s , Mar. 17, 1930.

Letter to E. P. Crandall Payne Fund F ile s , May 1, 1930.

Letter to E. P. Crandall. Payne Fund F ile s , Nov. 14, 1928.

Letter to Gifford Pinchot. Payne Fund Files, Jan 9, 1928.

L e tte r to H. M. Clymer. Payne Fund F ile s , Aug. 2, 1928.

Le tte r to H. M. Clymer. Payne Fund F ile s , Aug. 7, 1928.

Le tte r to H. M. Clymer. Payne Fund F ile s , Feb. 13, 1929.

L e tte r to H. M. Clymer, Payne Fund F ile s , Feb. 13, 1929.

L e tte r to H. M. Clymer. Payne Fund F ile s , Feb. 27, 1928. 241

L e tte r to H. M. Clymer. Payne Fund F ile s , Feb. 29, 1928.

Letter to H. M. Clymer. Payne Fund Files, Jan. 2, 1930.

Letter apparently to H. M. Clymer. Payne Fund Files, Jan. 9, 1929.

L e tte r to H. M. Clymer. Payne Fund F ile s , June 8, 1929.

L e tte r to H. M. Clymer. Payne Fund Fle s , Mar. 2, 1929.

L e tte r to H. M. Clymer. Payne Fund Fle s , May 23, 1929.

L e tte r to H. M. Clymer. Payne Fund Fle s , May 29, 1929.

L e tte r to H. M. Clymer. Payne Fund Fles, Oct. 2, 1928.

L e tte r to H. M. Clymer. Payne Fund Fle s , Oct. 10, 1928.

L e tte r to H. M. Clymer. Payne Fund Fle s, Oct. 15, 1928.

Le tte r to H. M. Clymer. Payne Fund Fles, Oct. 22, 1928.

L e tte r to H. M. Clymer. Payne Fund Fle s , Oct. 25, 1928.

L e tte r to H. M. Clymer. Payne Fund Fle s , Sept. 12, 1929.

Letter to H. M. Clymer. Payne Fund Files, undated (replv indicates letter was written the latter part of Feb., 1929.)

Le tte r to Martin L. Davey. Payne Fund F ile s , Dec. 15, 1927.

Le tte r apparently authored by Darrow to Martin L. Davey. Payne Fund F ile s , Jan. 9, 1928.

Letter to Olive Jones. Payne Fund Files, Oct. 11, 1928.

L e tte r apparently to Payne Fund. Payne Fund F ile s , June , 1928.

Le tte r to Payne Fund. Payne Fund F ile s , Mar. 10, 1928.

L e tte r apparently authored by Darrow to Mr. Swartz. Payne Fund F ile s , Nov. 30, 1927.

"The L it t le Red-School House Comes to Market," Radio Broadcasting. Sept., 1929, pp. 263-265, 292. 242

______. "Needed Economies." Radio ta lk scheduled fo r delivery Feb. 18, 1930. Benjamin Darrow's personal papers, maintained by his daughter, Mrs. Helen T h o rn h ill, Lima, Ohio. (Type­ w ritte n .)

______. "Plans for Ohio's School of the Air." U. S. Daily, July 28, 1931. Newsclipping. Benjamin Darrow's personal papers, maintained by his daughter, Mrs. Helen T h o rn h ill, Lima, Ohio.

"The Q ualities o f a Leader." Benjamin Darrow's personal papers, maintained by his daughter, Mrs. Helen T h o rn h ill, Lima, Ohio. (Typed Manuscript.)

. "Radio as a Means o f Character Education." Benjamin Darrow's personal papers, maintained by his daughter, Mrs. Helen T h o rn h ill, Lima, Ohio, June 15, 1931. (Typed Manuscript.)

. “ Radio as a Source of Home and Community Education." benjamin Darrow's personal papers, maintained by his daughter, Mrs. Helen T h o rn h ill, Lima, Ohio, Nov. 28, 1936. (Typed Manuscript.)

______. Telegram to H. M. Clymer. Payne Fund Files, Jan. 23, 1928.

______. Telegram to H. M. Clymer. Payne Fund F ile s , Mar. 9, 1928.

Darrow, Ben H. "Guidebook to the Radio Journeys of the School o f the A ir ." Payne Fund F ile s , Dec. 1, 1928. (Typed Manuscript.)

______. "Ohio School of the Air Grows." Ohio Schools, Sept., 1929, p. 381.

______. Radio, The Assistant Teacher. Columbus, Ohio: R. G. Adams and Co., 1932.

. Radio T ra ilb la zin g . Columbus, Ohio: College Book Co., 1940.

Darrow, Benjamin. "Radio Reaches the Classroom." Personal notes fo r use in radio s c rip t. Benjamin Darrow's personal papers, maintained by his daughter, Mrs. Helen T h o rn h ill, Lima, Ohio.

______. "'Y' Report fo r Last Half of January, February and March, 1924." Benjamin Darrow's personal papers, maintained by his daughter, Mrs. Helen Thornhill, Lima, Ohio. (Typewritten.)

Darrow, Betty. "Sermon to Myself." Richard Darrow's personal papers. (Handwritten Manuscript.) 243

Darrow, Frances. Letter to B. H. Darrow. Benjamin Darrow's personal papers, maintained by his daughter, Mrs. Helen T h o rn h ill, Lima, Ohio, January 7, 1939.

"Darrow is Ousted as A ir School Head." The Columbus C itize n , May 6, 1937.

"Darrow Proclaimed Genius o f Radio Education Work." The Buffalo Evening News, Sept. 9, 1938. Newsclipping from Morgue file s .

Darrow, Richard. Private tape recorded interview held in his office. New York City: August 8, 1973.

Darrow, Robert. Private interview held in his office. Zanesville, Ohio: August 22, 1973.

______. Telephone interview from Youngstown, Ohio to Zanesville, Ohio, March 23, 1973.

Demause, Lloyd. "The Evolution of Childhood." History of Childhood Quarterly, The Journal of Psychohistory. 1 (Spring, 1974).

Dunlap, Orrin E., Jr. "Radio-The Flash Educator." The New York Times, Feb. 5, 1933.

"Educational Broadcasting from the Ohio State University." School and Society, Sept. 22, 1934, p. 378.

"Fan Letters A rrive D aily to Commend and C ritic iz e WEAO's School o f the A ir." The Ohio State Lantern, May 3, 1929.

Federal Radio Education Committee. Radio in Education. Washington D. C.: Federal Radio Education Committee, 1941.

Fischer, David Hackett. Historians's Fallacies. New York: Harper and Row, 1970.

Glass, J. P. "Tremendous Possibilities of Radio." Radio News, Feb., 1924, p. 944. :

Gleason, Archer. Radio H istory. New York: American H isto rica l Society, In c ., 1938.

Gowen, Robert F. "The F irst-C ollege Radio Club." Radio News, Sept., 1923, pp. 224-45, 296.

"Guard C h ild 's Radio Tasts, Parents Told." The Dallas Journal, July 7, 1937. 244

Gunstream, John W. "Texas School o f the A ir ." Texas Outlook. May, 1943, pp. 33-34.

Harper, Florence T. "What Radio Can Do fo r the Country." Radio News, August, 1923, pp. 135, 176, 181-82.

Harrison, Margaret. Radio in the Classroom: Objectives, Principles. and Practices^ New York: Prentice^Hall, Inc., 1938.

Herzberg, M. J., ed. Radio and English Teaching. New York: D. Appleton Century Co., 1941,

H ill, Frank Ernest. Radio in Education. New York: The Payne Fund, 1929

______. Tune in for Education. New York: National Committee on Education by Radio, f942.

Institute for Education by Radio. Education on the A ir. Washington, D. C.: Institute for Education by Radio, 1930.

Institute for Education by Radio. Education on the A ir. Washington, D. C.: Institute for Education by Radio, 1931.

"In Quest o f Leadership." Time, July 15, 1974, p. 23.

Johnson, Allen. The Historian and Historical Evidence. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1926.

Jones, Olive M. L e tte r to D. R. Coombs. Payne Fund F ile s , Jan. 10, 1928.

Jusserand, Jean Jules; Abbott, Wilbur Cortex; Colby, Charles W.; Bassett, John Spencer. The W riting o f H isto ry. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1926.

Jordan, Philip D. The Nature and Practice of State and Local History. Washington, D. C.: The American H isto rica l Association, 1958.

Tyler, Keith I. and Margaret. Private interview held in their home. Columbus, Ohio: Dec. 21, 1973.

Koon, Cline M. "Development and Appraisal o f Classroom Instructio n by Radio." Unpublished Ph.D. d is s e rta tio n , The Ohio State University, 1931.

Levenson, W illiam B. Teaching Through Radio. New York: Farrar and Rinehart, Inc., 1945. 245

______, and Stasheff, Edward. Teaching through Radio and Television. New York: Rinehart and Company, In c ., 1945.

Lindley, Harlow, comp. Ohio in the Twentieth Century: 1900-1938, planned and compiled by Harlow Lindley, w ith chapter by fifteen different contributors. Vol. VI of The History of the State o f Ohio" Edited by Carl W ittke. 6 vols. United States of America: The Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society, 1942.

"Memorandum-Discussion between H. M. C. and Mr. Darrow on D etails o f agreement—January 1 to February 29, 1928." Payne Fund F ile s.

M itc h e ll, C u rtis. Cavalcade o f Broadcasting. Chicago: F o lle tt Publishing Co., 1970.

Muller, Helen M., comp. Education by Radio. The Reference Shelf, Vol. VIII. New York: The H. W. Wilson Company, 1932.

"National Chain of Educational Broadcasts to Reach Millions in Schools and Homes." The NEA Service, Sept. 23, 1930.

Newsclipping from Benjamin Darrow*s personal papers, maintained by his daughter, Mrs. Helen T h o rn h ill, Lima, Ohio. (While the name of the paper is not identified, it seems likely that it was published in Portage County, Ohio.)

"Ohio Discovers Novel Use for Radio: A School of the Air Report." The New York Times, Aug. 30, 1931.

"The Ohio School o f the A ir ." Benjamin Darrow*s personal papers, maintained by his daughter, Mrs. Helen T h o rn h ill, Lima, Ohio. (Typed Manuscript.)

"The Ohio School o f the A ir ." Education by Radio, Oct. 22, 1931, pp. 119-121.

"The Ohio School o f the A ir ." School and Society, Oct. 11, 1930, p. 486.

The Ohio School o f the A ir Courier. Columbus, Ohio: Ohio Department of Education, III (Oct., 1931), 5, 33.

The Ohio School o f the A ir Courier. Columbus, Ohio: Ohio Department of Education, IV (Sept., 1932), 7.

The Ohio School o f the A ir Courier. Columbus, Ohio: Ohio Department of Education, V (Sept., 1933), 7. 246

"Ohio Senate Broadcasts Over WLW." The Crosley Broadcaster, Apr. 1, 1929, p. 1.

"Ohio State Broadcasts for Children." Publisher's Weekly, Oct. 22, 1938, p. 1528.

Ohio State U niversity o ffic ia l tra n s c rip t o f Benjamin Darrow.

"An Opportunity." Promotional brochure apparently used by CBS to promote a National School o f the A ir. Payne Fund F ile s.

Perry, Armstrong. Letter to B. H. Darrow. Payne Fund Files, Dec. 22, 1927.

______. Radio in Education. New York: The Payne Fund F ile s , 1929.

Porter, Russell B. "Davey Row Hurts Roosevelt in Ohio." The New York Times, Dec. 13, 1935.

Quin, Barbara S. Letter to B. H. Darrow. Payne Fund Files, Dec. 12, 1927.

Radio and Education: Proceedings of the F irs t Assembly o f the National Advisory Council on Radio in Education, 1931. Chicago, I llin o is : The U niversity o f Chicago Rress, 1931.

"Radio and Newspaper Urged fo r Colleges." The New York Times, May 3, 1935.

"Radio School is S trictly for Children." The Columbus Dispatch. Oct. 29, 1948.

Ranke, Leopold van. The Theory and Practice of History. New York: Bobbs-Merriit Co., Inc., 1975.

"Report o f the Ohio School o f the A ir Conference." Benjamin Darrow's personal papers, maintained by his daughter, Mrs. Helen T h o rn h ill, Lima, Ohio. (Typed Report.)

Riasanovsky, Alexander V., and Riznik, Barnes, eds. Generalizations in Historical Writing. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1963.

"A Short Sketch of Mr. B. H. Darrow's Article, 'Radio Education to be Given During the Educational Conference, April 7, 1933 a t the Ohio State U n iv e rsity." Benjamin Darrow's personal papers, maintained by his daughter, Mrs. Helen Thornhill, Lima, Ohio. 247

Smith, Roscoe. "Radio in Chicago Schools." Radio News, June, 1922, pp. 1071, 1126-27.

Social Science Research Council. Theory and Practice in Historical Study. New York: Social Science Research Council, date not indicated but text indicates it has been since 1942.

"Some D is tin c t Virtues of This New Maka-Globe Approach to the Teaching o f Geography." Brochure. Benjamin Darrow's per­ sonal papers, maintained by his daughter, Mrs. Helen Thornhill, Lima, Ohio. (Typewritten.)

Stolz, Ralph E. Letter to H. M. Clymer. Payne Fund Files, Aug. 30, 1928.

Streeter, Carroll P. "Marvels Ahead for the Rural School." The Farmer's W ife, A pr., 1930, pp. 7-8.

"Study o f Radio Broadcasts fo r School Use a t the Ohio State U n ive rsity." School and Society, Dec. IV, 1937, pp. 749-750.

"A Survey o f the Ohio School o f the A ir ." Prepared fo r the National Committee on Education by Radio. (Typed Report.)

Tabl-Tub Advertising Brochure. Benjamin Darrow's personal papers, maintained by his daughter, Mrs. Helen Thornhill, Lima, Ohio.

"Teaching by Radio." Radio News, June, 1922, p. 1094.

Thornhill, Helen, Mrs. Private interview held in her home. Lima, Ohio: September 5, 1973.

Tyler, Margaret. Private tape recorded interview held in her home. Columbus, Ohio: Dec. 21, 1973.

Tyler, Tracy F. An Appraisal of Radio Broadcasting in Land Grant Colleges and Universities. Washington, D.C.: National Committee on Education by Radio, 1933.

Tyson, Levering, and MacLatchy, Josephine, eds. Education on the A ir...a n d Radio and Education 1935: Proceedings or the Sixth Annual institute tor tducationDy K amo.. .Combined witn the M tth Annual Assembly of the National Advisory touncil on kadio in Education. Chicago, Illino is: TTTe U nivdfsfty of Chicago rress, 1935.

"The Uses o f Oral H isto ry." Public Relations Journal, Feb., 1971, p. 27. 248

U. S. Department o f A g ricu ltu re . Weather Bureau Records, Jan. 7, 1929.

Waller, Judith C. Radio: The Fifth Estate. New York: Houghton M ifflin Company, 194ET

"Why the Crosley School of the Air w ill be a Paying Investment." Promotional le a fle t apparently authored by B. H. Darrow. Payne Fund Files. (Typewritten.)

W ille y, Roy DeVerl, and Young, Helen Ann. Radio in Elementary Education. Boston: D. C. Heath and Company, 1948.

W illiam s, Mrs. N. R. Personal le tte r . Sept. 11, 1973.

______. Personal letter. Sept. 21 , 1973.

"The Wise Use o f Radio." S cript o f parent/teacher program dated Mar. 10, 1933. Probably w ritte n by B. H. Darrow. Benjamin Darrow's personal papers, maintained by his daughter, Mrs. Helen T h o rn h ill, Lima, Ohio.

WLW. News Release. Payne Fund F ile s, Jan. 7, 1929.

Woefel, Norman, and Tyler, I. Keith, eds. Radio and the School: A Guidebook fo r Teachers and Adm inistratorsi Yonkers-on- Hudson, New York: World Book Company, 1945.