New Britain herald., 1927-03-29
Disgruntled Listeners-In Should Take Their Con- plaints to Offending Sta ti0n Declares This Ex- pert.

pert.
 New York, March 9 Pp-The ills of radio. on which the new federal radio commission begins holding public hearings in Washington today could be cured in short order by the radio public itself, and would have been before now but for a general .misapprchension among listeners as to where the responsibility lies. l.. S. Baker. executive secretary of the National Association Of Broadcasters. told the Associated Press today.
 The radio listeners are the real radio commission" he said They've got the power that cant be ignored. They've got the gun 10 shoot trouble with, but they don't pick the right target. Either they shoot up in the air or they shoot in the wrong direction. Once they get strengthened out and correct their aim there won't be any radio troubles except technical matters that the commission can regulate without any difficulty.
 The listeners cant seem to get over the idea that when they buy a set they are buying programs. This IS no more reasonable than for an automobilist to hold the dealer he bought his car from responsible for the condition Of the roads over which he wants to drive"
 Baker. whose organization is q cooperative association Of more than 200 of the older esta blished broadcasters. said that only 12 per cent of the broadcastins stations In the country have any connection whatever with the manufacturing end of the business.
 Except for these few instances" he said, the manufacturers have no more control over the broadcast proera ms that come in on the sets they make than a hardware man has over the mice that may or may not enter the mouse traps he sells. When to Complain
 But the listeners somehow got q wrong idea to start with and it's hard to change them. When they don't like the programs they get they complain to the manufac- turer. who has no possible remedy, when they should go direct to the source of their grievance. the broadcasting station in question" Baker pointed out that no broad casting station can exist unless it iS being tuned in on by large num- hers and that 1t will remedy any error it is committing very quick l ly if the listeners notify it Of its | offcnsc. The complaint and applause /, mail is the only guide q station has in it's attempt to please, he said, and If listeners would write their reactions. both favorable and un- favorable. to the stations they ls- ten in on, evil practices. which are often uuntcntional. would soon cease to exist.
 There is no greater regulating power possible" he said, than the power every listener has of cutting a station off his set. That twist of the wrist has the ability to change the whole course Of radio broad casting, provided the stations are notified of it. But to tell the firm that made a set that it is being cut off the air for this or that reason does no good at all. And that's , where the public is falling down on it's job as radios court of last appeal
 l He said that q group of 6o lis teners in western district recent ; ly became offended by practises Of a local station and forwarded pc tition Of protest 10 manufac- turcr. The manufacturer didn't
 know what to do about 1t. having no control over or connection with the station, and so. after letting the petition lie around for awhile.
 he finally sent it on to the National
 Association Of Broadcasters in New
 York. In the meantime the petition
 CTS had probably become incensed at the lack of response 10 their
 complaint and had possibly per-
 mancntly cut out the offending sta
 tion.
 If they had written direct 10
 the station," Baker said. they
 would have got action in jig time. The station could not have afford
 ed to ignore them even if 1t had
 wanted to. and as matter of fact it would probably have welcomed
 the suggestion for change
 Baker listed several radio evils
 occasionally known to have offend
 cd listeners which were not cor
 rected because the complaint was
 made to manufacturer instead of
 the station itself. Some stations. he
 said, sprinkle their programs too
 thickly with advertising talk and
 so alienate their listeners atten-
 ton, some use direct advertising
 when their listeners would prefer no advertising but sponsored pro 1 grams, some sharpen their wave
 like a knife to get distance and
 please the DE fans and in this way
 lose quality of tone for nearer lis l I ho,