"In
1949, along with members of the National Association of Educational Broadcasters, WNYC assisted in the preparation of a special study with an inventory of non-commercial radio programming in the United States. Under the supervision of Mr. Dallas Smythe,* formerly Economic Consultant for the Federal Communications Commission and now Director of Studies at the Institute of Communications Research of the University of Illinois, the study showed that in virtually all classifications which were applicable to a municipally-operated non-commercial station....
WNYC LED THE WAY.
"Out of 37 stations and 33 educational program-producing activities covered in the study WNYC had:
"1) More time on air than any other station...
2) Presented more classical music...
3) Devoted more time to discussion of public issues on a percentage basis..."
Souirce: WNYC-WNYC-FM
Annual Report 1949, pg. 3.
Editors Note: The Smythe report came out of a Rockefeller Foundation sponsored seminar on educational radio (the first of two) held at the University of Illinois Allerton House Conference Center in June and July of 1949. Twenty-two educational broadcasters attended (including WNYC's
Seymour N. Siegel) and its conclusions became the philosophical cornerstone of public broadcasting in America.
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