Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1946-03-08

Washington, D. G.
When farm folk want to cut a
rug, via the radio, they'll do it to
the strains Of Turkey in the
Straw" not "Chickery Chick. I"
Farmers turn cold shoulder on hot
1--WE. However, both the musical
gobbler and the syncopated hen
play second fiddle as farm radio ia
vorites to the good old-fashioned
hymns, like Rock of Ages" and
Onward, Christian Soldiers" But,
down on the farm, the all-time top
favorite on the radio hit parade is
NEWS. The farmer and his wife
prefer the news broadcast to any
other type of radio program.
These interesting preferences
were brought to light recently by a
survey published by the department
OF Agricultural survey undertake
en- at the request Of the Federal
Communications commission to find
out if radio was important to rural
people, and why; and what pro-
grams rural people tuned in in hope,
and tuned out in despair.
Rural people are convinced radio
Is here to stay. When asked If he
would miss his radio set, should
something happen to it, nearly ev-
cry rural radio owner said some
thing like this:
1T would make an awful diff
ference. It would be Just like
going back to old-fashioned
lights"
1--WE need the radio very
much-we have a mile Of bad
road between the house and the
mailbox, and sometimes get the
mail only once week."
"That would be terrible! It'd
be just like having a corpse in
the house!'
OF course there were dissenters.
There always are. And the dissent
ers weren't backward about ex-
pressing their unfattering opinions
of radio.
For example:
IF it weren't for my family, I'd
throw the radio out. 1t wouldn't
bother me a Bit
Makes no difference whatsoev-
er. ALI you hear is junk and COM
mercials and murder mystery"
3 to I
For Radio!
But the radio enthusiasts among
farmers vastly outnumber the grip
ers. It's radio three to one as they
say in certain radio commercial.
Three out of every four rural radio
owners attach a great deal of i'm
portance to their radios and
only one in eight wouldn't care if
Junior took the thing apart and
never got it together again.
It appears, from this survey, that
radio performs special service for
rural people who may live some
distance from town and amuse-
ments, or even from the nearest
neighbor, and who may often be
without access to daily newspapers
or telephones.
Rural people have four very def
mite reasons to explain why radio
Is important to them: l. it's a
source of news; 2. source of in
formation, other than news; g. it
provides entertainment; and 4. it's
become habit to listen to the darn
thing.
Their comments are illustrative:
eve would feel terribly isolat-
ed without the news"
"WOuldn't know how the oc-
cupation in Germany is coming.
1 have son over there, and I
want to know what's happen.
ing"
"You get the news quicker on
the RADIO"
81 don't have much time to
read the papers or magazines"
Commentators, it appears, are
the apple of the farmers eye. Farm
audiences are proved by this survey
to be faithful to and enthusiastic
about news broadcasts and news
broadcasters. AS we mentioned
earlier, the radio announcement,
1--WE now bring you the news"
makes farmers sit up and take no
tice. Rural radio listeners rate
news tops as their favorite program,
and also say it's the type of pro-
gram they'd miss most.
Next comes religious music. Ru-
raj listeners. especially in the
. South, could use more of it. and
more radio sermons. too. The rea-
son may be that religious broad
casts provide a substitute for at
tending church for some inconveni-
emily located farmers.