Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-01-27
MOST RADIO FANS
PREFER ORCHESTRA
City and Rural Listeners
Have Much the Same Pro-
gram Preferences.
BY MARTIN CODEL.


Whether they live in city or hamlet
or on the farm, people like orchestra
music most on the radio. Invariably,
they like popular entertainers next.
then their tastes vary according to the
places where they reside. On the
whole, however city and rural listen
ers have the same preferences in radio
programs.
Attention was attracted to this fea-
ture of radio in the concluding testi-
mony Of M. H. Aylesworth, president of
the National Broadcasting Co., before
the House committee considering radio
legislation. Mr.. Aylesworth did not
cite the Daniel Starch report prepared
for the chain by the Harvard research
consultant and large staff, but it was
plain that his remarks were based upon
its conclusions.
DR.. Starch found that preferences
for most of the different types of radio
programs are practically the same on
the part of farm, town and city fami-
lies. He judges this from a canvass Of
some $1,000 representative families of
varying economic status, residing in IL
large cities, 81 medium sized cities, 70
small towns and 68 farm counties east
of the Rockies. Among them about
$500 owned radio sets and IL 400 did
not.
Taste Varies Slightly.
While general preferences and predi-
lectionS were. found to be much the
same, some significant dlf1erences
were revealed with respect to different
types of programs. Semi-classical and
classical music and grand opera, for
example, are preferred less by farm and
small town families than by city fami-
lies. Religious services, crop and mar
ket reports and cilildren'S programs are
liked better by farm than by city
families.
Except in a few instances, the range
of difference in taste, however, does
not vary widely among the several
classes of listeners. Nearly three
fourths of the farmers and one-third
of the families in small towns stated
they enjoy talks on agricultural sub
jects. But only one-fourth Of the
families in medium-siZed cities and one
listen to farm talks From AZ to 81
per cent of city listeners like dance
music, but 38 to AZ per cent of rural
listeners also like jazz.
The least popular OF all radio pro-
grams seem to be the domestic science
services, drama and physical exercises
among all classes of listeners. Three
fourths say they listen about equally
on all evenings The other fourth ap-
parently listens to more on particular
evenings, especially Saturday and Sun
day nights. About three-fourths listen
regularly to one or two favorite sta
tions and only about 20 per cent said
they generally seek distant stations.
Farmers Like Radio.
Farmers do not evince the same pref
udice toward the radio that they held
against the automobile when 1t was
first introduced. They first complained
they could not afford to buy cars and
feared they would have to build the
roads for city folk to travel. But radio
presents no such problems.
There is no such thing as national
broadcasting station covering the
whole country. Mr.. Aylesworth told the
House committee. in reiterating his de-
Tense of cleared channels and high
power as the best way to reduce hetero-
dyne whistles and improve reception.
Long distances attained by some Of the
higher powered stations were said to be
an unusual phenomena, changeable
with the changing seasons.
Inc question: Ol power, Ile Sdlu, OC~
ponds on peculiar conditions and the
location of a transmitter. Some Sec
tons of the country need 5000 to
$4,000 watt stations to serve a 100-mile
radius consistently Others can be
served with less. He urged Congress
not to curtail powers at the present
stage of radio, suggesting that technical
advances like synchronization will prob
ably soon solve the problem of the in
reference caused by high-powered
stations.
c. E. Horn of the Westinghouse Co.,
consulting engineer for the National
Broadcasting Co, told the committee
that the high frequencies at the lower
end of the average receiving set dial
are not considered as efficient as the in
termediate wave lengths and those at
the upper end of the dial. The reason
is that the "low waves" suffer great
absorption by steel structures and the
like. Some sets, he said are more eff
ficient on one end of the dial or the
other. He declared the most desirable
feature of the receiving set is its selec-
tivity.
Copyright, 1929. by the North American
Newspaper Alliance)