EDUCATION'S OWN STATIONS THE HISTORY OF BROADCAST LICENSES ISSUED TO EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS S. E. FROST, JR., Ph.D. Associate, National Advisory Council on Radio in Education and Assistant Prcfessor of Education, Adelphi College The University of Chicago Press Chicago Illinois www.americanradiohistory.com COPYRIGHT 1937 BY THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO ALL RIGHTS RESERVED PUBLISHED NOVEMBER 1937 COMPOSED AND PRINTED BY THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS CHICAGO ILLINOIS U.S.A. www.americanradiohistory.com PREFACE SOON after Mr. Franklin D. Roosevelt was inaugurated Presi- dent in March, 1933, he requested that a specially appointed interdepartmental committee of the government consider the possible advantages or disadvantages that might accrue if the federal government's interest in all communications in the United States should be consolidated in one regulatory authori- ty. This committee initiated an inquiry into the telephone, the telegraph, and the radio, embodying its findings in a report to the President. After the receipt of this report Mr. Roosevelt sent a special message to Congress proposing that legislation be enacted to effect such consolidation. The proposal, which pur- ported to meet suggestions contained in the President's mes- sage, was debated in both houses of the Congress and the result- ing legislation was the Communications Act of 1934, by which was created the Federal Communications Commission. When the measure as first presented to both houses of Con- gress was being debated, various amendments were proposed, some of which suggested that a certain portion or percentage of broadcasting frequencies available for use in the United States be set aside for specific, as opposed to general, purposes. If the merits of all these proposals had been debated thoroughly on the floor of Congress it is reasonable to suppose that the House and Senate would still be arguing over the bill. To settle this legisla- tive jam there was included in the Act as finally passed a man- date upon the Communications Commission that hearings on the merits of the various proposals should be held promptly; and furthermore that the findings of these hearings with recommen- dations thereon be reported to Congress by a specific date. The exact wording of this mandate is as follows: The Commission shall study the proposal that Congress by statute allo- cate 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 shall report to Congress, not later than February 1, 1935, its recommendations together with the reasons for the same. v www.americanradiohistory.com PREFACE On January 22, 1935, the Communications Commission made its report to Congress and the following sentences of that report are of interest in this connection: The Federal Communications Commission respectfully recommends that at this time no fixed percentages of radio broadcast facilities be allocated by statute to particular types or kinds of non -profit radio programs or to persons identified with particular types or kinds of non -profit activities. The Commission proposes to hold a national conference at an early date in Washington, at which time plans for mutual cooperation between broad- casters and non -profit organizations can be made, to the end of combining the educational experience of the educators with the program technique of the broadcasters, thereby better to serve the public interest. The Conference should also consider such specific complaints as might be made by non -profit groups against the actions of commercial broadcasters in order that remedial measures may be taken if necessary. The Commission intends also actively to encourage the best minds among broadcasters and educators alike in order to develop a satisfactory technique for presenting educational programs in an attractive manner to the radio listener. Cooperation with the United States Commissioner of Education and other governmental agencies already established to assist in building helpful radio programs will be sought to an even greater degree than it now exists. The Commission feels, in particular, that broadcasting has a much more important part in the educational program of the country than has yet been found for it. 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. The conference announced in this report to the Commission was duly held in Washington, beginning May 15, 1935, and it- self resulted in a decision on the part of the Communications Commission to form a Federal Radio Education Committee under the chairmanship of United States Commissioner of Edu- cation Dr. John W. Studebaker. The purpose of this Committee was to combine forces with the educators on the one hand and the broadcasters on the other, within the present American broadcasting structure, (1) to eliminate controversy and mis- understanding between groups of educators and between the industry and educators, and (2) to promote actual co- operative vi www.americanradiohistory.com PREFACE arrangements between educators and broadcasters on national, regional, and local bases. As members of this Committee forty individuals active in educational broadcasting and in the in- dustry itself were appointed. Organization of the Committee was announced in January of 1936 and its first meeting was held on February 17 and 18 of that year. Subcommittees have been at work ever since on various phases of problems referred by the Commission to the Committee. In general it has been agreed by the Committee that neither educators nor broadcasters be- lieve any proposal has as yet been presented which will solve the so- called problems of educational broadcasting and that, be- fore any recommendations in respect to educational broadcast- ing are proposed to the industry, to American education and the Federal Communications Commission, or to Congress, the prin- ciple should be established that certain fundamental inquiries must be undertaken and that certain controlled experimenta- tions with programs must be conducted. In other words it is admitted that even after more than ten years of activity in the educational broadcasting arena certain basic and fundamental facts about the subject have not yet been collected and are not being collected as a matter of routine so that they will constantly be available to the commissioner of education, to the broadcasting industry, to Congress, or to the public generally. That the information contained in the book, which Mr.Frost has prepared under conditions which he has described in his Introduction, makes an important contribution to the subject no one will attempt to deny. The wisdom of collecting it before it is irretrievably lost will be apparent immediately. Deductions to be made from the data collected in the manner described by Mr. Frost will remain the privilege of the individual who reads the material submitted.' The reader should guard himself against either too much optimism or too much pessimism in contemplating these statis- 1 In Is American Radio Democratic? (University of Chicago Press, 1937), chap. viii, Mr. Frost has suggested certain deductions which seem to him to be demanded by this data. vii www.americanradiohistory.com PREFACE tics. When we consider an aspect of American radio we must remember that we are dealing with intangible and imponderable matters which cannot always be recorded accurately no matter how elaborate the statistical machinery or the method of in- quiry. In this particular study we are concerned also with a large number of individual situations, in no two of which are conditions exactly alike. In one sense, therefore, comparisons or deductions are valueless. In the broad sense we must take into account characteristics of the radio itself, which is a product of the technological development of the early part of the twentieth century. We are concerned with an industry which in some re- spects admittedly has outrun its own anticipated goals. In American industrial development we have seen the amazing growth of industry's trafficking in material goods; the radio broadcasting industry, by reason of the fact that it derives its support and makes its profit by selling time to advertisers, is trafficking in human intelligence. An authority whereby those who sell goods are made to realize their public responsi- bility, if perchance they do not see it, admittedly is necessary, and the degree to which that authority is exercised depends upon the willingness of those in control of the industry to see and accept their public responsibility. In the early days of radio -and as we regard it today broad- casting started in 1920 -the acceptance of this responsibility was evident. Those who were most concerned with its develop- ment in their public utterances and actions had some inkling of its coming power as an instrument to reach the public and to raise or lower the level of national culture. It appears that not until broadcasting was injected into politics after the debates on the proposed Federal Radio Act of 1927 did a change occur in this basic philosophy. The writer has not discovered an adjec- tive that will describe accurately the regrettable situation which has since developed, for broadcasting has become a political football in Washington. Throughout all this checkered history the educator, tradi- tionally regarded as impractical and idealistic, has had a diffi- cult time. Suddenly there was placed in his hands a powerful viii www.americanradiohistory.com PREFACE weapon for the distribution of intelligence. In attempting to use it he found himself immersed in a new species of mud. So far no one has been able to discover a means for extricating him. One phase of this experience Mr. Frost has recorded. As might be expected it is not altogether a pretty picture and various interpretations of it that logically can be made are not pleasing.