Evening star., 1941-05-12

and commercial programs of
radio are scheduled for the discard.
The reason is that the F. c. c.
broadcasting as hitherto carried on
shall be abolished. This means that
networks which heretofore have
produced these cultural. religious
and musical programs of high order
will have no object hereafter in do
ing so. For there will be no pur-
pose in building up the prestige of
a particular network and develop
ing audiences for a network group
Of stations as in the past.
The order" of things in radio as
proclaimed by the five out of the
seven members of the F. c. C. re-
quires that each station arrange to
give its time to whatever programs
are offered for sale and that adver-
tisers hereafter may pick the
strongest stations in each city ir-
respective of network affiliation so
that the incentive to build circula-
ton by big audiences for a single
network will disappear.
Prestige Was Sought.
Up to now each major network
feeling a certain responsibility for
balanced program has endeavored
to secure as high a proportion as
possible of non-commercial fea-
lures so that the prestige of the
network in question would be en-
hanced. Hereafter cultural and re-
llgious groups will have to deal with
individual stations and will not be
able to assure themselves of chain
OF stations at specified hour be-
cause OF the hit or miss method by
which commercial programs will be
interspersed with other offerings
across rival networks and in no sys-
tematic way that can assure large
audiences at regular hours.
This confusion which the officials
Of the major broadcasting systems
describe as anarchy and chaos"
in radio is brought about by the
F. c. c. N. not intentially, of course,
but on the mistaken theory that
competition between stations will
be fostered by the new plan.
Actually. however, as happens so
often with New Deal experiments,
the result is to entrench favored
few and weaken the smaller units
struggling for business. Naturally
the sponsors of commercial pro-
grams will under the F.. c. c. plan
pick the strongest stations in each
city irrespective of network affilia-
ton. All the popular programs of
the past will go to the big stations
and the listener interest, built I'D
by these very programs among the
smaller stations fortunate to be tied
TO a particular network, which
helped build their audiences, will
now lose out and will have to be
content with secondary programs.
The weaker stations will lose rev.
enue and the bigger stations will
gain correspondingly "a typical
piece of New Dealism in reverse.
Called Sadistic Concept.
This taking away of business from
one company by the Government
and in effect handing it over to a
bigger competitor is a peculiarly
sadistic conception of how to foster
competition. The real competition
in the past has been between four
sets OF networks, each striving to
preserve its identity and offering
the advertisers big stations and
small stations together, but a list
which the commercial sponsor
bought as unit, realizing that he
was getting some stations of small
circulation along with the large
ones, yet content to do so because
audiences were constantly being
built through non-commercial as
well as commercial programs of
great popularity. The rivalry has
been clean-cut. The sponsors have
been satisfied. The stations them
selves have been satisfied. The net
works have been satisfied and the