Evening star., 1924-12-10
NEWS BROADCASTS
PROVE UNPOPULAR
Midwest Papers Find Public
Wants Entertainment,
Not Information.
BY ROBERT r. SMALL.

ST. LOUIS, December 10.-Newspaper
broadcasting stations here in the
Middle West have discovered that the
radio audience doee not care for the
distribution of news over the air.
Radio fans demands amusement. The
day may come when the ether is used
for general and commercial trans
mission, but as matters stand at the
moment entertainment appears to be
the real reason and purpose of the
new art of broadcasting. Big news
events. such as the returns on the
election or the description of i'm
poTtant foot ball and base ball games,
are proper subjects for broadcasting
1t has been learned, because news OF
this sort becomes entertainment. The
description of foot ball game while
il is in progress is the next best
thing to seeing that game. As a
matter of fact. the radio audience
does see it through the eyes Of an
expert and interpreter. The man at
the receiving set learns more Of the
inside of the game than If he had
been one OF the $4,000 or 10000 spec
tators, tucked away somewhere in a
stadium under four or five blankets.
Action by Rickard.
Descriptions of prize fights have
been SO good over the radio that
many boxing fans in the Ea It have
remained at home rather tlan to
fight their way into some obscure
seat called a "ringside' reservation
and costing $3.50 or more. The re-
suit is that Tex Nckard, most
famous of the big promoters, has an
nounced that in the future he will
not permit broadcasting from the
Rickard arenas, no matter where they
may be located.
In the Middle West the newspapers
were the pioneers of the broadcast
ing game. The Detroit News, the Chi
cago Daily News and the St Louis Post
Dispatch were among the first Being
newspapers the thought naturally oc-
Cured to them that the radio audi
ence would expect something-per-
haps a great deal-from them in the
way of dissemination of the news of
the day, news from all over the world.
For quite a while some of the papers
persisted in putting a summary OF
the news on the air Then it was
noticed that In communications re-
ceived from the fans not a word ever
was said in praise of the news serv-
ice. A jazz orchestra might get hun
dreds of encomiums: the news of
the world apparently was left at the
post
Cut Down on News.
SO the experimenters began cut
ting down on the broadcast space de
voted TO the news and began to en-
large upon the entertainment pro-
grams. More encomiums came from
the fans Canvasses revealed that
there was no demand whatever for
the general run of news. When a
ma
Of events at home and abroad, the
radio bugs promptly began to tune
off and try for another station which
might have something III the way of
amusement to offer.
Clearly it has been demonstra ed
that the news reading public desires
to get it's news from the newspapers:
nothing apparently ever will take the
place OF the printed word in inn
pressing itself upon the human brain.
In the newspaper, Furthermore, the
reader gets the Interpretation of the
news which he always desires; gets
it in an understanding way through
the news and editorial columns. The
reason the radio fan likes to get his
sports events over the radio is be-
cause the man at the microphone in
terprets the play. In a broadcast Of
general news ii was found that in
depreciation was well night impossi-
BILE.
Radio is working out its own des-
tiny, its own place in the cosmic
scheme of things. 1t is following g
the usual course, and in order to
survive must give the people what
they want. Entertainment, amuse-
ment. with occasionally a serious talk
on some subject of general interest
these appear to be the essentials
of radio success.