Rope or Medal?

The man who is primarily to blame for audience-participation shows in radio is Parks (Vox Pop) Johnson. He started it all in 1932 when he set up a microphone in front of Houston's Rice Hotel and started to question passers-by while he threw in commercial plugs for a local clothing store. But now that audience shows are grabbing the biggest single slice of radio time, Parks Johnson, like many a listener, has his doubts about it all. Said he last week:

"It's a question of whether I should be hanged or given a medal. If people hadn't copied, it would have proved that the idea was no good. I still think it is good. But the idea has been sold short.

"Everybody has a story to tell. If you get it the right way, the average man is more interesting than any celebrity. That's the big basic reason for the success of audience shows.

"Of course you have to make concessions to the sponsor--and to showmanship. But the insincerity of most of these shows! They're insulting the public, the way they talk down. The average participation-show M.C. plays to the studio audience; if the listener doesn't get half of what goes on, so what?

"Then take this gift business. Giving an intelligent, personalized gift adds to the program, certainly for the participant. But nowadays it's just a race to see who can give the biggest gifts. That sort of thing is killing whatever good there is in the idea.

"Maybe there'll be so many participation shows this fall that it'll kill the whole business. But I doubt it."

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