On the Beam

Two steps toward harnessing the frisky short waves that dart day & night from U.S. transmitters were considered in Washington last week. One step was calculated to give the programs more listeners; the other would direct them to better effect-maybe.

For Unity. Since last summer all U.S. short-wavers have been shepherded by the Office of the Coordinator of Information (Colonel William J. Donovan) and the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs (Nelson Rockefeller). War put a strain on this rather informal system--a strain at first overcome by mutual hard work and good will (TIME, Jan. 26). By last week, however, formality was badly needed

As radio businessmen, the broadcasters had been haunted all along by a spectre of the Government "taking over" radio. This made them touchy. As short-wave professionals, they had been skeptical of the quality of material sent to them by OCI and OCIAA. In some cases their skepticism was justified. OCI, in particular, made propaganda mistakes. There were failures of coordination. There was a general failure to hold fast to the essential work in hand, which is:

To so arrange matters that smart, courteous and genuine news analyses are broadcast every day in various idioms to various parts of the world; to entrust such work to imaginative men with a sense of who their auditors are, and to give these men full data on the propaganda of the enemy.

As one thoughtful professional said last week: "OCI will not get it out of their heads that there is no such thing as 'Europe,' but rather specific Europeans. And the company executives, interested in company prestige, have never really believed they have an audience, never really believed they have an enemy."

Last week a plan was submitted to the Director of the Budget for the short-wave time and facilities of all U.S. companies to be "leased" by the Government for the duration. Whatever else this might mean, it would certainly carry with it real and responsible program authority for OCI and OCIAA. Would short-wave propaganda then take a kicking around from shortsighted, over-zealous appointees? Or would the best brains of companies and Government get together for a wise and unified short-wave program?

For Latins. The other step, toward getting more listeners, was up to the War Production Board. The plan, hatched last year by promoters of Pan American amity: manufacture of half a million standardized short-and-long-wave receivers to be sold cheaply (as low as $15) in Latin America. If WPB should approve, the sets would be made this spring and summer on a pro rata basis by U.S. manufacturers, who will soon be through making sets for U.S. civilians (TIME, Feb. 23).

Since there are not more than 3,300,000 sets in the whole Western Hemisphere south of Key West, this was a timely project. It was also a pat on the back for U.S. broadcasters who have been reaching out to Latin America. It betokened confidence that, if & when they buy sets, Good Neighbors will hear something useful.

Best established on short-wave work in South America is NBC, which sends out much news, several sustainers (including the NBC Symphony) and five commercials, never being quite sure which or how many of its 124 Latin American "affiliates" are taking them. Freshest momentum belongs to CBS, which is ambitiously tying up its 70-odd exclusive "affiliates" for a regular daily bill of fare.

CBS short wave has an ambitious boss in bantamweight, round-eyed Edmund Chester, who used to circulate in South America for the Associated Press. Aware that no Latin American station was going to rebroadcast CBS short-wave programs regularly unless they were 1) powerfully transmitted and 2) clearly received, Chester & Co. not only moved heaven & earth to install two new 50-kw. transmitters; they sent Engineer Guy Hutcheson south to advise CBS's prospective stations on proper receiving equipment.

Every Saturday at 6:15 p.m. (E.W.T.), CBS's Calling Pan America program presents entertainment from a Latin American capital (this week from Rio de Janeiro). CBS, whose employes are now rushing to study Spanish and Portuguese at company expense, hopes to add other such reciprocal programs. "You have to ease into these things," says Ed Chester. "We feel we are as much pioneers as the '49ers." But the '49ers never had to worry about alphabetical agencies in Washington.

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