Evening star., 1947-03-23


akin to the problem faced by all
newspapers. 1t boils down to this:
Should radio give the listeners what
1t thinks they want or should it give
them what radio thinks they should
have? The answer probably is that
1T should give them some of each.
Radio, of course, serves wide audi
ence, whose tastes are diverse. Radio
listeners like Henry Morgan and 1T
PAYS to Be Ignorant" the "Theater
Guild on the Air" and Life Can Be
Ecstatic for Young Widder Green" Z"
the New York Philharmonic and
Spike Jones and His City Slickers.
If radio gives its listeners what the
majority indicates 1t wants
through Hooper ratings and sundry
other polls-it will give them gen.
erous dose of comedy, some radio
versions of photoplays, bit of de-
tective fiction and a smattering OF
attacks on the dignity of man, such
as Truth or Consequences" 1t will
give them "It Pays to Be Ignorant"
soap operas and Spike Jones.
These thoughts were set under
way by a note in the latest issue Of
Variety, the weekly newspaper OF
show business, concerning a bro
chure pat out by CHS recently. The
brochure tells of an analysis of 5000
of the more than 250,000 letters
listeners have sent in regarding the
New York Philharmonic broadcasts.
The brochure claims, it seems, that
American listeners are capable of
"comprehending a program of sub
stantial intellectual content" and it
points especially to letter from a
Chinese laundryman, a Loo Tuo
Yung, who describes himself as a
regular listener.
Variety, discovering that the bulk
of the letters came from "archi-
tects, lawyers, doctors, dentists, pro-
fessors, jurists, students and clergy
men," concludes that the number
Of letters from those at Loo Tuo
Yung's level in the great mass Of
society must have been mot i'm
pressively high"
1t seems to us that Variety Is
missing the point. The point Is that
Mr.. Loo may be minority now, but
he will grow. Some Sunday after
noon, perhaps, he will have friend
in to tea. The friend may be a
New Orleans jazz enthusiast who
never heard a symphony orchestra,
who turns his radio off at o'clock
on Sunday afternoons to play rec
ords. But at Mr.. Loo's house he will
listen to the Philharmonic. He may
even like it and become regular
listener.
That's how appreciation grows.
Radio never should keep something
off the air because it is "highbrow, -
or "noncommercial," Or because its
audience has not set up an advance
demand. The man who never heard
anything funnier than Milton Berle
couldn't even dream of Henry Nor
gan, let alone clamor for him.
X X
Radio. fortunately, remains aware
Of It's minority listeners. 1t does not
Cdbc1 W 40 HULL 90 OIACy WOtiNi
like, or as much as those who deplore
the apparent tastes of the majority
would like. Radio people still are
aware, however, that the intellectual
level of much that Is broadcast is
below the intellectual level we'd like
to boast of as Nation. Whenever
they can, without too much COM
merciaI Vfrain, the radio people
sneak in a program they hope will
both appease the more discriminate
ing listeners and add zest to the
appreciation of others of the better
things of broadcasting
On the local scene, to name just
one example, is program called
The Inside of Music" conducted by
Richard Bales over VOL. This has
been on the air for number OF
weeks now, not at an off-hour when
time is cheap, but at 10 pm. on
Monday nights. The half hour is
devoted to discussion by Mr.. Bales
of various forms Of music and re-
corded illustrations Of the informa-
ton he has to pass along.
Knowing more about anything
drama, literature, art or music
naturally adds to your appreciation
of it. Mr.. Bales has set himself the
task of explaining musical forms, OF
clarifying the mysterious matter OF
so-called serious music. If you
don't know anything about music
but know what you like you will