RTV Theory and Practice - Special Issue
What community participation that did exist at this time was in the form of advisory committees and citizen monitoring councils which were formed to advise local stations about content of particular programs (the degree to which this ađvice was heeded by station management remains debatable) . Early listening groups , which derived f rom traditional civic organizations i were formed in the early 1920 Ј з to participate in the discussion of educational programs . There were approximately 15,000 such groups meeting together to hear radio programs throughout the United States , and their activities reached between 300,000 and 500,000 people (Guimary , 1975, pp . 19-22) The National Association of Broadcasters supported a Rađio Council on Children's Programs , which was formed due to great concern about the content of such radio fare . In general, their function was to "interpret the problems of radio broadcasting to the listeners and to bring to the radio industry the wishes of the public” (Lewis, 1942, p. 66). Ву 1942, the founđation for these councils was established in around 120 cities in the United States and Canada; by 1944, there were about 50. The Women's National Radio Committee also established listening councils from various organized women's dubs throughout the United States . Estimates of their support ranged to a 19 35-high of 10 million women interested in the reform of radio program content. Stations saw such committees as conduits for public support, both for the stations, and for the stations' sponsors (Guimary, 1975). Such councils арреаг to have been somewhat effective , especially in focusing attention on particularly objectionable programs . Offensive commercials and program content were attacKed, and, in one instance, the Columbia Broadcasting System agreed to censor children’s programs which w еге not acceptable to l an eminent child psychologist' (Guimary, 1975, pp. 26-29 ) . This local participation by people acting in groups was encouraged by the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) into the 1940s . The NAB saw such councils as vehicles to further legitimize privately-controlled commercial radio with the public , and also saw such councils as conduits for public concerns through channels deemeđ appropnate by the industry. In 1948, however, the NAB reversed its position, and withdrew its support of citizens councils . After the Second World War , members of the industry felt commercial radio was fully accepted by the public and needed no further legitimation from the citizen-participation councils . With NAB support withdrawn , the citizens movement essentially ceaseđ to exist (Guimary , 1975, pp. 32-42).
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