SOME ASPECTS OF POLITICAL BROADCAST POLICIES OF RADIO AND TELEVISION STATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES

309 Pages·13.651 MB·English

by  MALL, RICHARD MERRILL

SOME ASPECTS OF
. * / 'POLITICAL BROADCAST POLICIES OF
Ka DIO AND TELEVISION STATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES
DISSERTATION
Presented in Partial -Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the
Graduate School of The Ohio State
University
By
■ , i
richard Merrill m a l l , b .s ., m .a .
The- Ohio State University
1952
• •
Adviser
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CnAFTER PAGE
I. THE PROBLEM OF POLITICAL BROADCASTING . . . . 1
II. LEGAL AND REGULATORY PROVISIONS AFFECTING
POLITICAL BROADCASTS IN THE UNITED STATES . 37
III. POLITICAL rOLlCIES OF NATIONAL RADIO AND
TELEVISION NETWORKS........................ 105
IV. A oTUDY OF POLITICAL POLICIES OF REPRE­
SENTATIVE STATIONS...................... 117
V. TILE BASES ON WHICH RADIO AND TELEVISION
STATIONS MAKE TIMS AVAILABLE P'OR POLITICAL
BROADCASTS............. 137
VI. TEE POLICIES OF RADIO AND TELEVISION
STATIONS TOWARD POLITICAL SPEAKERS AND
TYPES OF POLITICAL MATERIALS........... 174
VII. THE POLICIES OF RADIO AND TELEVISION
STATIONS TOWARD THE HANDLING OF POLITICAL
SCRIPTS AND THEIR CONTENT ................ 212
VIII. MISCELLANEOUS EXPRESSIONS OF POLITICAL
BROADCAST POLICY INCLUDING THOSE RELATING
TO COMMUNISTS.............................. 242
IX. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS..................... 264
SloLIO j-RAPHY......................................... 283
APPENDIX 292
ii
2.1744
£>
LIST OP TABLES
TABLE NO. PAGE
I. CHARACTERISTICS OP THE SAMPLE OP AM RADIO
STATIONS WHICH REPLIED TO THE POLITICAL
BROADCAST POLICY QUESTIONNAIRE ......... 132
II. CHARACTERISTICS OP THE SAMPLE OP TELEVISION
STATIONS WHICH REPLIED TO THE POLITICAL
BROADCAST POLICY QUESTIONNAIRE .......... 123
III. RADIO AND TELEVISION STATION EXECUTIVE
POSITIONS OP RESPONDENTS WHO ANSWERED
QUESTIONNAIRES ........................... 136
IV. PROPORTION OP RADIO AND TELEVISION STATIONS
WHICH DO SELL TIME FOR POLITICAL
BROADCASTS................................ 140
V. PROPORTION OF RADIO AND TELEVISION STATIONS
WHICH DO GIVE FREE TIME FOR POLITICAL
BROADCASTS . . . . . . . . .............. 144
VI. PROPORTION OP RADIO AND TELEVISION STATIONS
WHICH RESTRICT TOTAL AMOUNT OF AVAILABLE
POLITICAL T I M E ........................... 146
VII. PROPORTION OF RADIO AND TELEVISION STATIONS
WHICH DO CANCEL REGULAR COMMERCIALS IN
FAVOR OP POLITICAL BROADCASTS......... 158
VIII. PROGRAM TYPES WHICH RADIO AND TELEVISION
STATIONS WILL NOT CANCEL FOR PRESENTA­
TION OP POLITICAL BROADCASTS ......... 163
ill
LIST OF TABLES (continued) iv
ABJjE w o . page
IX. SALES PRACTICES OF RADIO AND TELEVISION
STATIONS WHICH SELL TIME FOR POLITICAL
BROADCASTS............................... 168
X. INDIVIDUALS OR GROUPS TO WHOM RADIO AND
TELEVISION STATIONS WILL SELL POLITICAL
BROADCAST TIME DURING CAMPAIGNS . . . . 177
XI. INDIVIDUALS OR GROUPS TO WHOM RADIO AND
TELEVISION STATIONS WILL SELL POLITICAL
BROADCAST TIME BETWEEN CAMPAIGNS . . . . 178
XII. TIIE BROADCAST OF FORUM DISCUSSIONS ON
POLITICAL ISSUES BY RADIO AND TELEVISION
STATIONS.................................. 188
XIII. THE POLICIES OF RADIO AND TELEVISION STATIONS
TOWARD THE BROADCAST OF "REPORTS" BY
PUBLIC OFFICIALS DURING CAMPAIGNS . . . 194
XIV. THE POLICIES OF iiADIO AND TELEVISION
STATIONS TOWARD THE BROADCAST OF "REPORTS *'
BY PUBLIC OFFICIALS BETWEEN CAMPAIGNS . 195
XV. THE POLICIES OF RADIO AND TELEVISION
STATIONS TOWARD THE BROADCAST OF CERTAIN
POLITICAL MATERIALS DURING CAMPAIGNS . 200
XVI. THE POLICIES OF RAiXEO AND TELEVISION
STATIONS DURING CAMPAIGNS TOWARD
POLITICAL STANDS BY NEWS COMMENTATORS
AND RELIGIOUS SPEAKERS .................. 207
LIST OF TABLES (continued) v
C”after page
XVII. THE POLICIES OF RADIO AND TELEVISION
STATIONS TOWARD THE ADVANCE SUBMISSION
OF POLITICAL SCRIPTS ..................... 215
XVIII. THE POLICIES OF RADIO AND TELEVISION
STATIONS TOWARD REQUESTING CONTENT
ChANGES IN POLITICAL SCRIPTS DURING
CAMPAIGNS............................... 221
XIX. THE EFFECTS OF STATION AGE ON THE POLICIES
OF FULL-TIME STATIONS TOWARD REQUESTING
CONTENT CHANGES IN POLITICAL SCRIPTS
DURING CAMPAIGNS ......................... 224
XX. THE ACTIONS TAKEN BY RADIO AND TELEVISION
STATIONS DURING CAMPAIGNS WHEN A
POLITICAL SPEAKER REFUSES TO MAKE oCRIPT
CHANGES.......................................230
XXI. PROPORTION OF n^DlO AND TELEVISION STATIONS
vVKICH CARRY POLITICAL LIABILITY INSURANCE 233
XXII. PROPORTION OF RADIO AND TELEVISION STATIONS
WHICH USE DISCLAIMERS PITH LOCAL
POLITICAL BROADCASTS .................... 237
XXIII. THE POLICIES OF AFFILIATES TOWARD CERTAIN
NETWORK POLITICAL BROADCAST SITUATIONS
DURING CAMPAIGNS ......................... 250
aXIV. THE POLICIES OF RADIO AND TELEVISION
STATIONS TO'WARD POLITICAL BROADCASTS BY
COMMUNISTS DURING CAMPAIGNS.............. 253
CHAPTER I
THE PROBLEM OF POLITICAL BROADCASTING
Broadcasting in the United States is usually con­
sidered to date from November 2, 1920, when Station KDKA,
Pittsburgh, broadcast ■‘■he Harding-Cox election returns.
The only receiving sets in the hands of the public in
those days were largely confined to amateur telegraph
operators. The audience for this first broadcast was
probably limited to fewer than five hundred or a thousand
persons.
Both sides in the election had predicted victory,
but everyone knew either candidate mlgfcit win and public
interest was at fever pitch. As the returns were reported
that night, they were flashed across the country by tele­
graph. Crowds stood for hours before outdoor bulletin
boards to see the returns, many of them forced to endure
driving rains.
In Pittsburgh, however, Station KDKA had a man read
the telegraph reports into a microphone and his voice was
transmitted over a radius of hundreds of miles. While
most of the anxious population had to endure relative dis­
comfort to get the election returns, many pioneer radio
fans were hearing the same returns in the cozy climate
of their own homes. Unlike the millions who depended on
bulletin boards and successive editions of newspapers,
1
the small audience of radio listeners knew what was happen­
ing as it happened.
The KDKA experiment was Tar from a national sensa­
tion, but it did receive some attention from the press and
stirred an interest in radio among the people. It marked
the beginning of a type of regularly scheduled programming.
Prom three stations In 1920, the number rose to over
500 In 1923, and the sales of radio receivers rose from
$2,000,000 to $136,000,000 in the same three-year period.^-
In 1923, half of the stations were less than 100 watts in
power and very few were more than 500 watts. The number
2
of receiving sets had grown to 1,500,000.
Within a little over three decades, radio broad­
casting and receiving grew from a plaything of amateurs
into a giant industry and a most significant vehicle of
communication. It grew so much that Brigadier General
David Sarnoff, chairman of the board of the Radio Corpora­
tion of America, In his year-end statement for 1951, de­
clared:
^"Giraud Chester and Garnet R. Garrison, Radio and
Television. (New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, Inc.,
1 9 5 0 p. 22.
^Herman S* Hettinger, "Broadcasting in the United
States," The Annals of the American Academy of Political
and Social^Science. T^7:l, January, l6&>.
By election’ day ... in 1952 ... there will be
approximately 18 million television sets in the
Uni*ted States -with a potefhtial audience of more
than 60. million persons - exceeding the total popula­
tion of the United States when Grrover Cleveland cam­
paigned f or *'the presidency in 1884. For the first
time coast-to-coast* network facilities will be
available for the national campaigns ....
** ? * •
Today there are 2,400 AM and 680 FM stations in
the United States. ^aily broadcasts cover 95^> of
the country. . Approximately 12 million new radio
sets were sold by the industry in 1951, lifting the
total in this country close to the 100 million mark,
including About 24 million automobile radios. There
are’ 43 million radio equipped homes ...
On -the threshold of 1952, it is difficult to
imagine a .world without radio, or homes without
broadcast receivers and television sets . ...^
Thus in a little more than thirty years, radio has
.become a tremendous industry and its companion, television,
is just beginning a career which seems likely to show a
comparable expansion. The next few years will unques­
tionably see a growth in the number of television stations
- some say as many as two or three thousand.
The number of stations and people engaged in the
transmission of radio and television programs is powerful
evidence of the important role broadcasting plays in our
society.
Broadcasting, by giving new force to the spoken
3 "Sarnoff,a Broadcasting. 38:47, December 24, 1951
word, has become an uncommonly powerful medium to do good
or evil In American society. Radio'a persistent command
of our attentions tends to make it an Important creator
of our values, desires, and tensions, . Radio achieves its
* •
greatest Intact on the public as a'source of,information,
persuasion, and entertainment.
For public speakers, radio and television broad­
casting has magnified the potential audience enormously ■
and personalized the communicative bond. A single speaker
and a great audience, spread over vast areas, divided into
family units, yet intimately affected by the sound of the
human voice, is the essence of the broadcast situation.
It allows one individual to bring to bear, in a. single
moment, the full force of his vocal persuasiveness upon a
nation of listeners.
In enslaved countries, radio Is an arm of govern­
mental policy. In many free countries,. It Is often a re­
spectable narrow-meshed sieve whicji permits only occasional
accents of political controversy to reach listeners. By
contrast, the system of broadcasting in the United States
can be considered an open public forum. The search of the
American broadcaster Is not to guard and guide the
political tendencies of the country.* It Is to get broad­
casts on the*air. ■ •
The program service offered by American broadcast- .
Ing is unusually complete. It is adapted to national
conditions and psychology. It Is a democratically con-
*
trolled service, the broadcaster giving those pro'grams
« * •
which constant research and direct expression ox" opinion.
*
■ * *
Indicate to be the most popular. /It.is necessary that he
do this IT he Is to build* station circulation with which
to attract advertisers.
In the span of years since the broadcasting of the-
Hardlng-Cox election returns at Pittsburgh In-.1920, radio
and television broadcasting have become agencies of mass
communication comparable to the press. The broadcasting
station has become the public platform as the forum for
debate of current issues,, for presenting the- claims of
rival candidates for public office, and for dissemination
of opinions and ideas over the entire* range of human
Interests.
In a word, broadcasting is at present far and away
the most Impressive claimant for the protection under the
constitutional guaranty of the freedom of speech, just
as the newspaper Is the principal claimant for protec­
tion under the sister guaranty of the freedom of the press.
Broadcasting Is used for political persuasion In
election campaigning and in building up political causes
and personalities. Experienced political candidates plan
their radio and television campaigns with care. Political
parties now assign progressively larger.portions of their