A study of television preferences in low income homes

210 Pages·08.693 MB·English

by  McGrath, Robert Lee

A STUDY OF TELEVISION PREFERENCES
IN LOW INCOME HOMES
A Thesis
Presented to
the Faculty of the Department of Radio and T elevision
U n iversity of Southern C a lifo rn ia
In P a rtia l F ulfillm ent
of the Requirem ents fo r the Degree
M aster of A rts
fey
Robert Lee McGrath
May 1951
UMI Number: EP65343
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UMI EP65343
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This thesis, written by
......................R ob e r t .. Le e.. M c(xr a t h ..................
under the guidance of h%&...Faculty Committee,
and approved by all its members, has been
presented to and accepted by the Council on
Graduate Study and Research in partial fulfill­
ment of the requirements for the degree of
M aster of A rts
Date...
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. INTRODUCTION TO THE PROBLEM...................................... 1
The p r o b le m ...................................................- . . . . 3
Statem ent of the problem . ................................. 3
L im itations and scope of the problem . 4
Im portance of the problem . . . . . . . 7
R elated l i t e r a t u r e ................................................... . 10
Plan fo r the s t u d y ......................................................... 15
D efin itio n s of terms used . . .......................... 17
II, SETTING- AND METHOD............................................................... 19
S e t t i n g .................................................................. . . . 19
Local situ a tio n ............................... 19
Proposed program fo r study ............................... 21
Impact of the p ro g ra m .......................................... 23
M ethod .............................. 24
The p ilo t s t u d y ......................................................... 24
Dates of the s u r v e y ............................................. 26
The a p p ro a c h ................................................................... 27
Com pilation of data ......................................... 30
I I I . FINDING-S........................................................................................ 31
IV. INTERPRETATION OF THE FINDINGS................................. 87
C h aracterizatio n of fam ily groups . . . . 88
The movie f a m ily ......................................................... 88
i i i
CHAPTER PAGE
The v a rie ty f a m ily ............. 100
The sp o rts fam ily.......................... . ..................... 107
The w estern fam ily....................... * ..................... 118
The puppet f a m i l y .............. 132
The other f a m ily ................... 143
The unknown f a m ily .............. 149
A nalysis of responses by question . . . . 153
V. SUMMARY,. OBSERVATIONS, CONCLUSIONS, AND
RECOMMENDATIONS . . . . . . ............................... 177
S u m m ary ......................................................................................... 177
O bservations ................................................................... 183
E ducational programs . ............................................. 183
A d v e r ti s in g .......................................................................... 184
Conclusions .................................................... -188
R ecom m endations.................................................. 191
P ersonal evaluation .......................................................... 192
BIBLIOGRAPHY .............................................................................................. 195
APPENDIX A. The Survey Instrum ent (Q uestionnaire) 197
APPENDIX B. Responses to Q uestion re E ducational
Program Seen on T elevision . . . . 200
APPENDIX C. Product Groups Most Frequently Men­
tioned as Sponsors R ecalled from
T elevision ......................................... 202
APPENDIX D. Make of TV Set R e p o r te d ............. 203
LIST'OF TABLES
TABLE PAGE
I. Program Types Named as Family F avorites . . 37
I I . R acial D istrib u tio n of Fam ilies Interview ed 39
III* D uration of TV Set Possession by Family . . 41
IV. Respondent’s P ersonal F avorite Program Type 43
V. Member(s) of Family Who Most Enjoys TV . . 45
VI. Days Family Watches TV Norm ally,
Time Begin W atching, and
Time F inish Watching .......................... 47
V II. Days and Hours Family L istens to Radio . . 49
V III. TV Channel Tuned in Most by Family . . . . 51
IX. TV Channel Named by Respondent as
O ffering B est R eception ..................... 53
X. Fam ilies Subscribing to D aily Newspaper
and D istrib u tio n of Papers to Which
They Subscribe ......................................................... 55
XI. Fam ilies Subscribing to D aily Newspaper
P rio r to A cquiring a TV S e t ............................... 57
X II. Number o f Movies A ttended During Two
Weeks P rio r to I n t e r v i e w .................................... 59
X III. Number of Sporting Events and Type of
Event A ttended During Two Weeks
P rio r to Interview ....................................... 61
V
TABLE PAGE
XIV. Evenings Spent V isitin g Away from Home
During Two Weeks P rio r to Interview . . . 63
XV. Evenings Spent Riding in Family Gar During
Two Weeks P rio r to Interview ..................... 65
XVI. R espondents Source of World N ew s.................... 67
XVII. Respondents S tatin g They Had Seen an Educa­
tio n a l Program on TV, and A nalysis of Re­
c a ll of E ducational Program Seen . . . . 69
XVIII. Respondents Whose Household Schedule Was
Changed by TV, and Ways in Which Schedule
Was C hanged.............................. 71
XIX. New A cquaintances Made Because of TV
Set in H om e.............................. 73
XX. Program Types Respondent Would Like To See
More Of on T V ................................................................... 77
XXI. A b ility or W illingness To Give Example B est
A dvertising Seen on TV, and Number Giving
Reason fo r Liking the A dvertising . . . . 80
XXII. A b ility or W illingness To Give Example Worst
A dvertising Seen on TV, and Number Giving
Reason fo r D islik in g the A dvertising . . 82
X X III. Fam ilies Who S tate They Buy Products Because
Saw Them A dvertised, on T V .................................... 84
XXIV. Sponsors Remembered from T V ................................... 86
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION TO THE PRQHIEM
»Any person who has liv e d during the p ast decade may
w ell lay claim to.having w itnessed one of the most amazing
developm ents of a ll time In the realm of communication*
W ith th e advent of World War I I , radar was developed alm ost
overnight as a means of d etectio n of enemy movements*
Radio research which had been continuing fo r a score, of
years received an unexpected im petus, so th a t by the tim e
h o s tilitie s ceased, the world and the U nited S ta te s in
p a rtic u la r eagerly aw aited the new innovations th a t had
been vaguely hinted b u t were as yet v irtu a lly unseen and
unheard by the general public*
The previously used method of radio broadcasting—
by means of am plitude modulation-—mushroomed in to g re a te r
prominence than anyone had dared dream* New radio
sta tio n s were b u ilt in hundreds of c i t i e s , towns, and
-communities throughout the n atio n . E stab lish ed sta tio n s
sought power in creases, changes to more serv iceable
frequencies* And two new magic le tte r s — FM— were the ta lk
of the in d u stry . Frequency m odulation would mean s ta tic -
fre e radio-—and elim ination of s ta tic would mean th a t the
u ltim ate had been reached in radio broadcasting.
The unexpected occurred, however: another medium
2
forged to the fro n t, leaving .in i ts wake: the sc attere d
remnants of M "broadcasting th a t could never he the power
i t had been expected to "become. For the new-medium
combined not only the s ta tic - f re e sound wave that, had
been so eagerly welcomed, but also to supplement th a t
sound, a picture-—a p ictu re th a t could provide an on-the-
spot view of any a c tiv ity where a camera might be focused.
This was te le v isio n —only yesterday an in te re stin g ex p eri­
ment— today a force to be reckoned w ith in an ever-
changing w orldj Television-—a magic word w ith wondrous
im p licatio n s; and to those Americans liv in g near enough
to the m etropolitan cen ters to enjoy th is g re a t new
medium of communication and en tertainm ent, te le v isio n
suddenly became a r e a lity . The sto re on the corner
beckoned; for a sm all down payment, and a. few cen ts a
day> te le v isio n could come in to your home— every day of
the y ear. Hew v ista s of enlightenm ent-—yours fo r the
asking. New horizons-—yours w ith but a tw ist of a d ia l.
I t was a challenge of the type which Americans
have always faced w ith opened purses: " If Joe Sm ith down
the s tre e t there can have a te le v isio n s e t, th e re ’s no
reason why we c a n 't have one, toot" Such was the reactio n
of Mr. and.M rs. Average American, and w ithin a period of
le ss than th ree y ears, in many major c itie s , the house
w ithout a te le v isio n a e ria l extending crossed or curved
arms skyward was more of a novelty than*, the house, which
proudly proclaim ed te le v isio n In sid e.
To the person who v is ite d fo r the f i r s t time a
m etropolitan area-— to one who had not yet experienced the
phenomenal r is e to prominence of th is new medium— a look
a t the thousands of te le v isio n ^ a e ria ls gracing homes of
every d escrip tio n was alm ost unbelievable. T elevision
obviously was not a ric h man*s plaything-—rit belonged to
everyone. The incongruity of hundreds of te le v isio n
a e ria ls adorning the c o lo rle ss roofs of a lo w -ren tal war
emergency housing p ro je c t, fo r example, was a m anifesta­
tio n th a t demanded in v e stig a tio n . L ittle had been done to
determ ine what these people 1iked in the way of te le v isio n
entertainm ent; few exhaustive stu d ies had been attem pted
as means of discovering what these groups thought of te le -
v isio n a fte r I t had become p a rt of th e ir homes. And thus
a problem fo r study presented its e l f .
I . THE PROBLEM
Statem ent of th e p ro b lem . I t was the purpose of
th is study (1) to determ ine, if p o ssib le, the p a rtic u la r
elem ents of te le v isio n programming which fam ilies who were
obviously of low income p referred — any preference.w hich
might provide an in sig h t in to fam ily h a b its; and (2) to
In v estig ate personal h ab its of these fam ilies as affected