-
11. The Political Education Forum
- University of Wisconsin Press
- Chapter
- Additional Information
C 1 1 The Political Education Forum The success of a democracy depends upon an informed and enlightened citizenry. Early in the history of WHA, the staff wanted to present political material over the air. The university leadership was nervous about this and delayed implementation of the ideas for many years. Still, WHA and WLBL were pioneers in developing radio as a tool to keep the electorate informed about the workings of government, and innovators in using radio during election campaigns. As early as 1928 members of the university’s political science department were appearing over WHA with a “political review of the month.”1 Local election results were broadcast over WLBL that fall, in cooperation with the Stevens Point Daily Journal.2 One of the earliest attempts at regular programming of political material was the news analysis program What’s Back of the News, which debuted in 1929. In 1930 University of Wisconsin president Glenn Frank envisioned using radio “to revive the town meeting in this machine age.” In a statement to the Federal Radio Commission Frank said: “Through an adequate broadcasting service, such as the station has sought, the town meeting similar to that held in New England in the Puritan days, could be revived. Debates over political issues could be revived so that an interest similar to that which greeted the Lincoln– Douglas engagement could be aroused.”3 More political programming came to WHA in March 1931, with the debut of the weekly Radio Forum hour. In it, numerous controversial issues were discussed and different views argued for by those who held the position.4 In October 1931 a permanent broadcast line was installed between WHA and the State Capitol, and elected officials and other government employees occasionally used it for speeches. Its existence led to the development of the 124 regular State Capitol Program, which debuted right after the Homemakers’ Program at 10:45 a.m. on March 21, 1932.5 Initially, the program featured government officials such as the highway and insurance commissioners. All these efforts led to a series of broadcasts collectively known as the Political Education Forum. During the primary and general election campaigns of 1932, the stations offered half-hour time slots to all state parties and all statewide candidates at no cost. Managers from WHA and WLBL met with representatives of the five major political parties in Wisconsin on August 12, 1932, to draw up an agreement, which the parties signed. It outlined their hope for the series: We, the representatives of stations WHA and WLBL and of the various political parties and groups, heartily endorse the use of Wisconsin’s state-owned radio stations for political campaigns. We believe that one of our truest platitudes is that the success of a democracy depends on an informed and enlightened citizenry. At present, many of our voters get only one point of view; they read only one newspaper; and they attend, when they go at all, only the meetings of one political party. But if each party or group is allowed an equal opportunity to present its case over the state stations , the voter can get a much more adequate understanding of the issues and can cast a much more intelligent ballot. Another consideration touches the use of money in political campaigns. The state sets limits to the amount that can properly be spent. The charge is often made that parties without large financial resources are handicapped because they cannot get their argument before the voters. If the state places its radio facilities without charge at the disposal of each party or group, a step will be taken towards meeting both of these situations. We are aware that, unless political uses of the radio are properly safeguarded, unpleasant situations may arise. Some feel the danger of friction is so great that the attempts to use the radio in political campaigns should not be made. However , we do not take this position. The process of avoiding danger often results in avoiding programs of any sort. Wisconsin has a real opportunity to lead the way in taking problems of government to the people by radio.6 Members of the Democratic, Prohibition, Republican, Progressive Republican , and Socialist parties agreed to the proposal and were assigned their time periods by lot, with a half-hour each weekday and an hour late each afternoon beginning August 22 and running through September 21, 1932. WHA managers said that if they could find the...