Dee Campo
Homework Seven

From 1937 to 1945, the radio was one of the most important objects of the time. The radio was not only a break in technology but an alternative to the conventional means of communication, entertainment and news. This lead to a major change in society. Literacy was not a requirement to find out news on politics, foreign affairs or national news. Reading was also not required for entertainment purposes, there were many quiz shows, mystery programs, dance music and comedy programs. If you did not have money to go see plays or concerts, they were now on the radio for free. The radio also made it more convenient to get access to these programs, you did not have to leave your house for any reason. Family time around the radio became a tradition and overall, America had stumbled upon a great invention (Halper, 1996).


Now that we know the radio was and important part of the average American's life, the question arises, "What did people listen to and who?" Many studies have been done on the percents of people who listened to what types of programs. Radios were affordable but not cheap. Most families from all social classes could afford to buy one but only one for the whole house hold. Not too many families owned more than one. Although these different people all had radios, what they listened to varied greatly. Stephanie Lungociu discribes the many different programs offered on the radio during the 30s and 40s. With a great variety in the programs on the radio, people had a large selection of what shows they choose to listen to. A major study was done by Columbia University in 1948 based on a questionaire given to Americans to find out what these programs were.


This survey suggests that different people listen to different programs. Based on education, listening interests varied greatly. In a sample group consisting of 21 to 29 year olds, the highest percent of listeners perfered news broadcasts. Groups such as religious programs and mystery programs also had very similar percents of listeners. Interestingly, some groups differed greatly, the musical interest is a strong example of this difference. For classical music programs, 47% of college educated people 21 to 29 years old prefered to listen to them while 15% of only grade school educated people of the same age agreed. On the other end of the spectrum, 42% of the uneducated people liked cowboy and western music whereas only 10% of the educated people agreed. There are other significant difference between the groups, 59% of educated people enjoy discussions of public issues over the radio while only 21% of uneducated people listened to these at all. These figures are important in understanding that one reason why people listened to different radio programs was based on their different education levels.

In understanding the importance and use of the radio in a community such as Greenbelt, Maryland, we must take into consideration that the housing was intended for the lower middle class family. Most of these people would be considered blue-collar and probably did not attend college. This would suggest that based on these facts, the residents of Greenbelt would listen to certain radio programs. In this catagory of people, the survey suggests that the most popular programs were the news, comedy, quiz, audience participation and mysteries shows.(Kendall and Lazarsfeld,136)


Another aspect to consider would be the difference in preference based on gender. In 1945, the Columbia questionnaire showed that men and woman have some similar preferences but some very different ones as well. Thiry-five percent of women enjoyed listening to popular music while only 15% of men agreed. Even more differently is that nine to one women over men prefered homemaking shows and seven to one woman over men prefered serial dramas. The only main difference where the male outweighed the female is the sports programs were men double women in listening crowds. These figures are drawn from the daytime listening audience. The difference in woman listeners to men listeners may be due to the fact that more men work during the day while generally woman stay home. (Kendall and Lazarsfeld, 21-22)

In another survey done based on evening listening, the difference in figures are not as drastic. As Michela Amatucci states, the evening was usually family time around the radio and more family oriented programs would be listened to. Because most families only had one radio, this would suggest that the whole family would be listening to the same program. Most of the figures are with in ten percent of female and male listenership due to the fact that they would be listening to the same program. (Kendall and Lazarsfeld, 137)

In relation to the Greenbelt community, most woman did not work and stayed home through out the day. Statistically, we can assume that most of the prefered programs would be homemaking shows, serial dramas, and the news. Later in the evening when the husband and children were all home, the most popular shows are the news and the comedy shows followed by the quiz and audience participation shows. There is a very clear difference in prefered shows based on sex, gender role and the time of day.

Sources

Amatucci, Michela "The Focus of Evening Radio Programs"

Halper, Donna "Radio in 1931"

Kendell, Patricia L. and Lazarfeld, Paul F. "Radio Listening in America"

Lungociu,Stephanie "Entertainmentand Comunication between 1937 and 1945 - A look at the Radio"