This dissertation has been microfilmed exactly as received 69-15, 968 STEIS, W illiam Burton, 1912- AN ANALYSIS OF RAI-RADIOTELEVISIONE ITALIANA: THE ITALIAN BROADCASTING SYSTEM. The Ohio State U niversity, Ph.D., 1969 Mass Communications University Microfilms, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan Copyright by William Burton Steis 1969 AN ANALYSIS OF RAI-RAD IOTELEVI SI ONE UAL I ANA: THE ITALIAN BROADCASTING SYSTEM . DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of the Ohio State University By William Burton Steis, A.B., M.A. The Ohio State University 1969 Approved by Adv i ser Department of Speech VITA December 17, 1 9 1 2 .................................Born - Chicago, Illin o is 1935 ............................................................. A.B., University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana 1 9 3 5 -1 9 ^ ...................................................Commercial Broadcasting: Announcer; Sportscaster; Newscaster 1 9 ^ -1 9 ^ 5 ...................................................Red Cross Field Director, Italy 19^5-19^8 ................................................... Commercial Broadcasting 19^8-1951 ................................................... M.A. University of Florida, Gainesville Florida; Instructor of Broadcasting University of Florida 1951 - 1 96*+ ...................................................Commercial B roadcast i ng ; Executive I96 I+-I9 6 9 ...................................................General Manager, WOSU Radio, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio PUBLICATIONS "How to be a Radio Announcer", SIR. August, 1936. "A Conversation with Svetlana Aeliluyeva." A review of the PBL program. Educational Broadcasting Review, December, 1967. "Ita ly's Approach to Media Education." Educational Broadcasting Review, October, 1 9 6 8 . FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: Communications Studies in Radio and Television. Professor Richard M. Mall, Harrison B. Summers, and James E. Lynch Studies in Journalism. Professor William M. Drenten Studies in Communications Research. Professors Franklin H. Knower and Robert R. Monaghan i i CONTENTS fage VITA ............................................................................................................................. ii FOREWORD................................................................... .................................................... 1 Chapter 1. THE FORMATIVE YEARS............................................................................. 3 2. THE DEVELOPING YEARS............................................................................. 13 3. EIAR—THE YEARS 1928- 1 9 ^ 5 ............................................................... 24 k. RAI AND THE ITALIAN GOVERNMENT..................................................... 39 5. THE FINANCIAL STRUCTURE OF RAI..................................................... 55 6. RADIO FACILITIES ...................................................................................... 72 7. THE FACILITIES FOR TELEVISION..................................................... 88 8. THE STAFF AND DEPARTMENTS .................................................................... 104 9. PROMOTION AND AUDIENCE RESEARCH ................................................ 118 10. INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING ............................................................... 134 11. RADIO PROGRAMING...................................................................... 148 12. TELEVISION PROGRAMING ....................................................................... 166 13. RADIO AND TELEVISION ADVERTISING ................................................ 194 14. SCHOOL BROADCASTING ............................................................................. 208 15. TELESCUOLA..........................................................................................................219 16. TELESCUOLA AND ADULT EDUCATION ..................................................... 229 1 7 . ANCILLARY ACTIVITIES ........................................................................ 237 18. CONCLUSION ..........................................................................................................244 i i i Page APPENDIX A ................................................................................................................ 251 Original Italian Quotations BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................... 256 i v FOREWORD This study is an analysis of the Italian Broadcasting system. It is not intended as a comparative study between the Italian system and any other. However, for the sake of clarifying certain points this writer has made some comparision between the American system of broad­ casting and the Italian. Throughout this study the writer has made statements concerning Italian culture and mores based on his personal experience and study of the Italian people to support the fact that the Italian system of broadcasting satisfies the needs and interest of the Italian people. However, the reader may want to verify these statements by reading such a book as Barzini's, The Italians. Regarding the data, mention should be made of the difficulty in obtaining points of view other than that of RAI. This writer has spent a total of fourteen months in Italy, two of which were concen­ trated in Rome with some time spent in Milan and Naples interviewing RAI personnel and executives. RAI also allowed me to spend many hours in its large communications library in Rome. RAI personnel were most gracious in their assistance. Too many people at RAI were involved to mention them by name here. Most of the data had to be obtained from RAI because almost every attempt to obtain information from other sources always ended up at RAI. 1 2 Chapters Nine and Seventeen indicate where source material other than from RAI was obtained. Few books critical of RAI and few studies of radio and television have been made in Italy. A thorough search of the Rome library, the University of Rome Library, the American Embassy, and the American Information Library was made. The writer visited and interviewed foreign correspondents from the three American networks, and also from United Press International and Associated Press. Contact was also made with the Italian Ministry of Educat ion. A thorough search was made of data available in the United States. Ninety percent of the material for this work was in Italian and had to be translated. For the convenience of the reader quotations in Italian to substantiate translated statements made in the text have, with a few exceptions, been placed in Appendix A. Finally, the writer is deeply indebted to the inspiration and guidance of his advisor, Dr. Richard Mall. chapter one THE FORMATIVE YEARS Italy denied itself the historically significant opportunity of becoming the birthplace of broadcasting when the Italian Government turned down the invention of its native son, Guglielmo MarconiJ Guglielmo's beloved country rejected him when he was twenty. In refusing to underwrite his work, the ministry of Post and Telegraph drove him out of Italy. When the letter came from the Italian Government declining his offer, he was heavy with di sappointment. ^ Marconi then went to England where he met Sir William Preece, Engineer-In-Chief of the British Post Office, a man who was interested in the use of "signaling without wires".3 The inventor did not turn his back on his native country and reserved patent rights for Italy.** The Italian Government soon realized it had erred in refusing Marconi's wireless because of the success ^Otis B. Young, 'The Real Beginning of Radio", Saturday Review (March 7. 196*0, PP- 48-50. This article contends that Mahlon Loomis of the United States really discovered wireless before Marconi, c f., Orrin E. Dunlap, Marconi. The Man and His Wireless (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1937) P- 27 who states the Loomis did experimental work in wireless prior to Marconi. 2Degna Marconi, My Father Marconi (New York: McGraw H ill Book Company, Inc., 1962) p. 32. ^Dunlap, op. ci t .. p. 48 ^Marconi, op. c it ., p. 48 3 Marconi had in England. Reports went back to Italy, to the Government, to the Minister of Marine, to King Hymbert and Queen Margherita. Italy, the land that sent its native son Columbus away to beg support from a foreign country would never make that mistake again. Yet, it was on the verge of doing so. The Italians foresaw the agressiveness of the British and were quick to realize the fo lly of turning their backs to Marconi.5 Italy sent a representative to England to convince Marconi that Italy had faith in him and that dinners were being held in his honor. He was also presented with medals. Marconi returned to Italy when the Italian Minister of the Navy "extended a flattering invitation to con­ tinue his research under the auspices of the Italian Government at the Naval Arsenal of Spezia".^ The experiments at Spezia were somewhat erratic, but they were of sufficient quality to demonstrate to the Italian Government that Marconi had truly found a means of broadcasting without wires. An ovation was given him by the Italian Government and people. But over and above that, Italy, on the basis of the demonstrations of Marconi's invention in 1897, entered into the field of B r o a d c a s t ing.7 The history of Italian broadcasting is closely intertwined with the history of Marconi's life . Following recognition of Marconi, Italy was ever alert to