Eyestrain & Bunk

Educators missed the boat when radio was young, and they don't intend to be left on the dock by television. The National Association of Educational Broadcasters is currently asking FCC to set aside certain TV channels for educational use (TIME, Dec. 4). To make their point that even in its best and biggest area--New York City--commercial TV is doing a poor job, the N.A.E.B. last week submitted a report by Dr. Dallas W. Smythe of the University of Illinois and Dr. Donald Horton of the University of Chicago.

Under Dr. Smythe's supervision, 18 hardy viewers sat in relays in a Manhattan hotel room watching, for an entire week, all the shows telecast on seven TV sets tuned to each of the New York channels. Out of the seven-day ordeal, the viewers got 1) eyestrain, 2) recurrent headaches, 3) a low opinion of commercial television. Some of their findings:

P: In the week of President Truman's State of the Union message, TV gave just 1% of its time to public events,

P: Religious programs got less than 1%.

P: News was on 5% of the time, but almost a third of it (station WOR-TV's Telefax program) featured typed news bulletins accompanied by unrelated music (e.g., a gay waltz was played during the report of Sinclair Lewis' death).

P: Children's programs got 12% of TV's time, but many of the shows seemed to bear little relation to youngsters' tastes or needs. ("We knew that one film on a lady wrestler was for children only by the time of day it was put on and by the introduction.")

P: During the week, 2,723 commercial advertisements took up 55 hours (10%) of program time. Not counted by the viewers: slogans and product names sometimes displayed on signs throughout the entire show. On weekdays, commercials averaged up to 146 seconds, took up as much as 32.7% of the day's telecast.

P: No serious music was broadcast during the week, and no time was given to architecture, sculpture, economics, child care, American history. Dr. Horton did not think that "little snippets" from opera counted as an operatic program.

In Manhattan, the educators got surprising aid & comfort from TVmen themselves. In a poll, the trade journal Ross Reports found that many TV executives, creative personnel and performers believe TV is just "warmed-over" radio, and needs more original shows, better news programs, more adequate public service and education efforts. Said one writer: "Culture sunk, an increase of bunk." Complained an announcer: "The number of commercials is driving even me batty."

Spearheading the network counterattack, Dr. Kenneth H. Baker, research director of the National Association of Broadcasters, bluntly charged that educational TV would probably be even duller than the commercial variety, because 1) educators do not understand the sight-&-sound medium, nor are they willing to use it when they do; 2) their experiments with radio have so far been a "dismal failure"; and 3) as a group, educators have proved too incompetent to justify their using any part of the broadcast spectrum.

Under crossexamination, Dr. Baker backed down a little. He admitted that his judgments represented "personal" rather than "expert" opinion, and conceded that educational radio stations in New York City, Madison, Wis. and Columbus, Ohio are "exceptional." But he dusted his hands of most other educational stations for failing "to recognize the full potentialities of the media."

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