Program 2 of 3; Wingspread Conference

Our technical capabilities go beyond our common practices. Multiplexing makes it possible for one channel to do the work of two or three so that separate audio services can be provided two way radio communication has been a successful procedure for postgraduate medical instruction. But it is hardly widespread. There are other disciplines even radio vision combining an audio channel the control channel and locally shown slides is feasible but has not been fully realized. Educational broadcasters know about these techniques which technological advances make possible. But then I was able to take advantage of their development. And whether we espouse and encourage such uses as these bears directly on what is to become of educational radio. Now radio is not in complete television. It is a medium with some different characteristics and many similarities. It is not an inferior communication device. It is a partial one. Two weeks ago a broadcasting magazine reported that

commercial radio was being bought at the fastest rate in years so it's probably safe to assume that the medium has no congenital defects. But the growth of educational radio as a bonafide be part of our educational structure in this country will depend upon our ability to take advantage of radio strengths in the context of a systems approach to educational technology. There is growing recognition in education today that not only must equipment be selected to achieve specific educational objectives but that software must be developed to fit the hardware and that what is needed are complete functioning systems for conveying knowledge. And in the tremendous expansion in fact explosion of educational communications technology educational television closed circuit television and fixed instructional service television and communication satellites and a host of devices for. Storing recreating

emanating information electronically educational radio must find its appropriate place. And what is its appropriate place. Who knows the answers what are the strengths of educational radio. How does it integrate with other educational media. Who has the answers to back up emotional assertions. 15 or 20 years ago there was a tremendous amount of research going on on the applications to radio to education but to the best of my knowledge only two radio research projects have ever been funded in the entire history of Title 7 of the National Defense Education Act. Millions and millions of dollars worth of television research have been funded. A few hundred dollars have gone into research in educational radio.

And yet administrators of the United States Office of Education tell me that they have money available but no one is requesting it. It's almost as though everything had already been found out about the application for radio to educational problems and therefore no more research is necessary. This of course is nonsense. Any corporation president will tell you that he must continue to support of vigorous program of research and development or go out of business. Radio research is not kept up. And educational broadcasters have failed to maintain. The sort of continuing study needed. To provide answers. To problems about educational radio's effectiveness. It's appropriate role in conjunction with newer technology in education and new findings in learning theory and most of all its cost effectiveness in various educational jobs. Which it does well.

Last Thursday I spent. The morning. As an advisor to a group from the Committee on Economic Development. The C E D as you know is a sort of group of captains of industry who have on their own voluntarily organized themselves to provide studies in depth of major issues and to make recommendations. Recommendations which often have great influence upon national policy and decision. The subcommittee with which I met. Is labelled efficiency and innovation in education title which reflects the businessman's concern for realizing the maximum productivity from the investment of public dollars. Applied to education this means a concern for providing more effective education that serves our national expectations. A more efficient education that maximizes the resources needed to satisfy these expectations. Now the CDC committee

is studying innovations in education especially technological innovations as a means of improving productivity and teaching bringing about. Greater efficiency and effectiveness by appropriate and large scale applications of technology to the educational process. This group is looking hard at this matter and what they have to say about educational media will be persuasive at the highest levels in our society. The point I want to make is that educational radio backed up by some real hard evidence had better be folded into such a consideration now if it is to have the kind of powerful backing required to lift it to a new level of support and use. And if it is to be built into any sort of national innovation strategy that may be devised but for radio to be counted. It's got to stand up.

Here's what I think needs to be done. I propose neither an exclusive nor a definitive list but topics that I hope you will discuss and review during the course of this conference. This meeting must result in some action toward improving the relationship between educational radio as a service instrument and those areas of our daily lives where it should serve that objective cannot be reached by maintaining the status quo. First the potential services of educational radio can provide must be called to the attention of individuals at the highest levels of our social educational and cultural structures college presidents school superintendents civic leaders social workers labor leaders must be persuaded that educational radio is not a problem to be solved but a resource to be exploited. This conference can be one of the best ways to reach such leaders. I believe it is also necessary to convene a meeting of the highest officials representatives of the

licensees of educational radio stations who so far in history have never met together. This will involve the heads of many colleges the mayors of certain cities the presidents of many school boards and so on. And this is more than just a power play. It is a means of informing these individuals who are the legal public trustees for educational radio stations in this country of their responsibilities responsibilities that they may not even though they have until they are persuaded that educational radio is an important part of their activities. Nothing really significant can be moved. My plea is that you consider mechanisms and techniques for moving educational radio out into a larger sphere of public awareness. Recognizing that it is not enough to leave its welfare solely to the loving custody of us operators. This Wingspread meeting as a first step. But there must be others. That make a

deliberate attempt to establish. Broader involvement. People must be aware of educational radio what it is. And what it needs to become what it has within it to be. Second there is this whole matter of research about educational radio. Former research needs to be updated in the light of new circumstances new inquiries need to be undertaken to validate its unique qualities and communication research specialists need to be encouraged to take advantage of federal programs to undertake studies of importance to educational radio. One such study that is badly needed is the matter of assessing community needs. We speak easily of the responsibility of a station to deal with issues and needs of a community. But how does one determine these needs. Where does one start. Whom do you meet with. What do you ask. What do you want to find out. Proposals out to

be developed for a pilot studies that will develop techniques for assessing community needs in answering such questions such studies should be undertaken in various parts of the country and should deal with metropolitan areas as well as rural and regional areas and the outcome of the study should be methods that can be used by any radio station manager anywhere to study what needs must be done and what services can be abided by means of educational radio in his community. Hopefully this will not dwell on educational radio exclusively but will identify the needs that can be uniquely served by both educational radio and television. This approach is not only feasible but has already been implemented in a recent and a study. We determined that a series of educational radio and television stations not one or the other but both. Was the most economical means of meeting a variety of educational requirements in elementary secondary and higher education in the state of Iowa. The study also

related to vocational technical professional education and covered a spectrum of specific instructional and educational needs. And while we were not asked in this study to pursue many of the interesting and worthwhile cultural objectives and Public Affairs possibilities of these services it is clear that these will be important by products of a system that is specifically tailored to educational needs and is comprehensive in its view of the appropriate technology that can be marshaled to meet them. Such comprehensive study should be launched elsewhere. They should specify a comparative cost and educational efficiency of various educational media and when a state agency undertakes to review the potential of educational television it should include radio. And it should include radio from the very outset the people in this room can help to make this happen. It is a matter of policy not a matter of money. And it doesn't cost anything to maintain a broad perspective. Third it may be useful to

determine what in the forthcoming year will be the central issues on which educational radio might well focus. For example educational radio could make a determination that over the next 12 months it wants to be known for calling attention to the following issues. Water pollution air pollution the growing crime rate in the city's urban renewal unemployment or whatever the topic is they would serve as an agenda of nationwide priorities for educational radio and represent the social themes which educational radio leaders feel should occupy at least a portion of our broadcast day throughout the 12 month period. Such a focus would have been a cumulative national impact derived from the programming of individual radio stations. It seems a practical means of giving educational radio significance an identity. Furthermore it would give prospective audiences something to expect from educational radio or in the selection of themes and then the development of the programs there is ample opportunity to stimulate

appropriate public support and interest. Such a topical orientation to developing a nationwide programme service for educational radio also suggests the possibility of developing support from funding agencies private or government. And of course it also suggests the advisability of a national production center to implement such a nationwide programme development. Fourth on the legislative front it is clear that educational radio has already received at least a potential amount of federal support through some of its existing education programs. But the matter of legislative support does not end with what is presently available because in some respects what is presently available cannot be spent for a lack of facilities and availability of resources to develop good programmes and lessons. A natural tendency of course is to expect that the educational television facilities Act which provides money on a matching basis for the development and expansion of educational television stations should be augmented by an educational radio facilities act with the same purpose.

There are instances where educational radio has been neglected because television could be financed through federal assistance programs and radio could not. We think this is a gross imbalance that should be redressed. This conference could call attention to it at a high level. It could very well make a difference between the continuing a mission of radio and a facilities program that supports both radio and television jointly. Radio is too often an afterthought. And to the extent that it remains so educational television will be used in many situations where educational radio would be more economical and just as effective. Well. There are. Some proposals. By any means an exhaustive list. But I hope that they may have forward perhaps a useful beginning. The start of a meeting such as this I suppose is inevitably negative.

As I said at the outset. Because it is a set of negative conditions that draws us together. But it is also a set of common aspirations that keep us here. We have confidence in what educational radio can help us do. We are firmly committed to the concept. That media of communication which reach people is near in nearly every conceivable place must be used to advance worthy social purposes and objectives. This conference is an earnest of this conviction is successful full fulfillment. Can effectively move educational radio to a new position of strength from which it can begin to achieve the full usefulness of which it is capable in the service of it. Education of our society. Thank you. For the hour.

You have heard an address by William G Harley president of the National Association of educational broadcasters recorded at the Wingspread conference on educational radio as a national resource. The conference was sponsored jointly by the Johnson Foundation and by national educational radio the radio division of the third in this series of three programs recorded at the plenary sessions of the conference will present communications critic and columnist for the Saturday Review. Robert Louis Shea and this is the national educational radio network.