Since limited funds restrict advertising by Public Broadcasting System (PBS) stations, and since PBS serves a variety of audiences, the selection of appropriate advertising media for PBS programs is difficult. It is further complicated by conflicting research reports on the public use of the daily papers. Availability to the target audience should…

A three-part petition was filed in December 1974 with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) which presented the first serious threat to public broadcasters' exemption from the FCC's multiple-ownership rules. The petition requested a revision of the rules that permit multiple ownership of noncommercial educational stations within a single…

At the 1970 National Association of Educational Broadcasters convention, a minority affairs report showed that, although minorities constituted nearly 10 percent of public broadcasting employees, there was almost no minority representation at the management and professional levels. Recent statistics show little change in those employment…

The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) has developed a new means of financing a portion of PBS' national programing--the "Station Program Cooperative" (SPC). Established in April 1974, the SPC is the product of a multifaceted attack on three critical and interrelated problems: (1) an increasing scarcity of funds for national programing;…

In the current communications regulatory and policymaking environment there are several factors of crucial importance to public broadcasting, including (1) the system's increased visibility; (2) the impact of inflation on governmental budget decisions; (3) policymaker assumptions about new technologies, economic forces, and deregulation; and (4)…

Interviews with 900 people provided data about the impact of cable television on public television viewing. The subjects came from three matched samples, each containing 300 homes drawn from the same geographic area of Salt Lake City, Utah, differing primarily in their subscription/access to cable television (homes with cable television, homes…

A recent broadcast on the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) entitled "The Incredible Maching" showed that public television is capable of reaching a large audience. To further explore its potential to reach larger audiences, PBS has subscribed to public opinion polls to become more systematically aware of wants, desires, needs, and dreams…

For the fiscal year 1975-1976, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) funds were distributed as follows: 30% for syndicated data, 32% for commercial research firms, 15% for consultants, 12% for local research at stations, and 11% for university grants. The major area for research was in new program development and directed toward…

Analyzes 521 "TV Guide" cover stories from 1970-1979, examining their power to influence television audiences. Asserts that, although viewer options increased substantially throughout the 1970s, "TV Guide" failed to keep pace with those changes. (MM)

This paper offers a platform for reappraising British television during the period of 1950-1960 by identifying the inaccuracy and bias of three firmly entrenched assumptions that dominated the history of British television between the publication of the Beveridge Report (1951) and the Pilkington Report (1962): (1) British television in the period…

Noting that little theoretical work has been done on the processes of adapting novels for television viewing, and that what discussion there is tends to concentrate on judgments about "faithfulness" to the original, this paper suggests that more can be gained from approaching television adaptations in a less literal way, and shows how…

Having witnessed the success of public broadcasting series such as "Sesame Street," public health officials began to work toward the creation of a new series concerning health and aimed at a prime time, adult audience. A feasibility study showed that there was a potential audience, and discussion then focused on the topics and format…

Contending that public broadcasting has great potential to invigorate national discourses and to function as an agent of social change; at the beginning of the 21st century, many public television licensees are united solely by a core programming schedule and the need to raise funds at least four times a year. The paper traces the history of…

The originators of municipal radio station WNYC foresaw radio as a means of extending city government and an instrument to educate, inform, and entertain the citizens. Because the municipal radio concept emerged in the early 1920s, before the medium's industrial structure was entrenched, an opportunity existed to develop an innovative model of…

Noting that little has been said about "TV Guide's" performance in telling its readers about television, a study examined how the magazine presented television during the 1970s, a critical period in the development of American television. All "TV Guide" covers from the 1970s were examined, and each cover story was categorized…