The NBC Advisory Council and Radio Programming, 1926-1945

170 Pages·2009·2.07 MB·English

by  Professor Louise M Benjamin

The NBC Advisory Council and Radio Programming, 1926–1945
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The
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Southern Illinois University Press
Carbondale
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Copyright © 2009 by the Board of Trustees,
Southern Illinois University
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
12 11 10 09 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Benjamin, Louise Margaret.
The NBC Advisory Council and radio program-
ming, 1926–1945 / Louise M. Benjamin.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn-13: 978-0-8093-2919-9 (cloth : alk. paper)
isbn-10: 0-8093-2919-0 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. NBC Advisory Council. 2. Radio broadcasting
policy—United States—History—20th century.
3. Radio broadcasting—Social aspects—United
States. I. Title.
pn1991.3.u6b46 2009
384.540973—dc22 2008051363
Printed on recycled paper.
The paper used in this publication meets the mini-
mum requirements of American National Standard
for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for
Printed Library Materials, ansi z39.48-1992. ∞
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I dedicate this book to
all my teachers at Whiting Community School,
especially Mary Baker, Genevieve Baker,
and Dorothy Bridgford.
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Preface ix
1. An Overview: The Evolution of RCA and Radio Programming 1
2. An Advisory Council Is Formed 11
3. Sustaining Program Development 26
4. Religious Issues and the Advisory Council 48
5. The Council and Radio Coverage of Birth Control 65
6. The Council and Controversial Political Broadcasts 76
7. Controversial Issues of Public Importance 99
8. Epilogue 113
Notes 123
Bibliography 143
Index 149
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THIS BOOK’S BEGINNINGS CAN BE TRACED TO THE MID-1980s,
when I had the pleasure of interviewing Everett Needham Case and Jose-
phine Young Case. Then in his eighties, Case had been secretary to Owen
Young, CEO of General Electric and the Radio Corporation of America. He
also served as the recording secretary for NBC’s Advisory Council and had
married Young’s daughter, Josephine. I was talking with both of them about
Young’s contributions to radio in the 1920s, especially regulatory policies.
In the course of our conversation, I mentioned NBC’s Advisory Council
and the observation of other historians that the council’s mission was largely
ceremonial. Mr. Case smiled and said that perception was inaccurate. He
said he remembered discussions revolving around broadcast of a variety of
contentious issues led by Charles Evans Hughes and Elihu Root—“Why, he
was as old then as I am now,” he said as he smiled, then added, “and what
an intellect he had.” As we continued chatting about Owen Young, early
radio, and these long-ago controversial issues, I realized far more existed to
the story of early radio and the influence of NBC’s Advisory Council than
previous historians had noted. Thus the seeds for this book were planted
and now have come to fruition.
As I visited archives over the next decade, I located numerous materials
regarding the council and its activities. Since publication of my first book
on early radio, Freedom of the Air and the Public Interest: First Amend-
ment Rights in Broadcasting to 1935, in 2001, I began working in earnest to
compile the documentation for this manuscript. Archivists too numerous
to mention helped me locate resources used here. I especially thank the
ix
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