...medium. Published reports the time and media histories were the major sources of information. Radio's depictions of health messages in entertainment and educational programming were examined. Implications are discussed for the use of radio by health educators in the 21st century.

**********

It is generally accepted that radio broadcasting began in the United States in 1920 (Miller, 2003; Potter, 2001; Hilliard Keith, 2001; Sterling & Kittross, 2002). This medium "made America into a land of listeners, entertaining and educating, angering and delighting, and joining every age and class into a common culture" (Lewis, 1992, p. 26). The purpose of this study is to describe radio coverage of health topics in the 20th century, focusing on radio programming from the 1920's through the 1950's, to provide insight into how radio educated (and sometimes angered) Americans about health topics.

HOW RADIO WAS USED TO DISSEMINATE HEALTH MESSAGES/PROMOTE HEALTH FROM THE 1920'S-1950'S

In the early 1920's, radio in general was said to benefit people's health because it helped hospitalized patients deal with loneliness and boredom (Seeley, 1922) and "radio entertainment provided for the drug addict inmates of Riker's Island ... had a beneficial effect upon the discipline of the institution" ("Radio helps drug addicts," 1925, p. 9). From the 1920's through the rest of the 20th-century, radio programs were developed for educational purposes (Sterling & Kittross, 2002). The New York Academy of Medicine stated in 1945 that "from the beginning, those especially interested in education saw in the radio a very potent instrument ... (a) means for 'spreading knowledge'. Educators began to broadcast as soon as 'live' microphones were open to them" (p. 4).

Radio programming designed to disseminate health information also began in the early 1920's (Laine, 1938; New York Academy of Medicine, 1945). Criticism of the paucity of health-related coverage began soon after the advent of radio broadcasting. According to one source, "one possibility in radio broadcasting which has not been developed nearly as much as is warranted by its importance is the dissemination of information regarding health" ("Broadcasting health," 1922, p. 7). The New York Academy of Medicine made a similar criticism in 1945 by pointing out that "the development of the commercial broadcast far outpaced that of the educational broadcast, and among the latter the health education program lagged behind all the rest" (p. 5).

In 1935, Turner, Drenckhahn and Bates reported that dramatization was the most popular type of radio broadcast when it came to presenting health information, especially among children (p. 594). The New York Academy of Medicine (1945), however, was critical of these attempts at drama:

It is in the utilization of this technique that radio health education miscarries most grievously. In most instances the so-called drama is not dramatic, but consists merely of a motley of situations represented in excited chatter. When, as rarely happens, the composition is truly dramatic, it is almost entirely devoid of health education (p. 26).

Willey and Young (1948) stated that, in terms of radio programming, "the responsibility of those sponsoring health education programs is to foster receptive attitudes and constructive health habits for a healthy individual and a healthy nation" (p. 308). While that may have been the goal, Galdston (1945) believed that the health-related programming of early radio generally fell short in these areas because objectives were not clearly identified, and that the broadcasts of the time were typically overloaded with information:

Our tendency has been to "throw the whole book" at the radio listener. We appear to labor in the belief that if we can pour into the ears of our listeners all that we know, say about cancer or tuberculosis or ... nutrition, we have done our best to educate the public (p. 43).

RADIO'S IMPACT UPON LISTENERS

One of the earliest reports of radio having an impact on individual behavior came in 1926, when an Alabama man entered a physician's office asking if anyone "'inspected the health of school-children'" ("Radiating health," 1926, p. 240). When the physician questioned the man to determine how he learned about the inspections, the man replied:

Well, some time ago I bought me one of these here radio outfits ... and I heard Mr. Herbert Hoover in Washington deliver a speech on medical inspection of schoolchildren. He said that every community ought to have some one in it to examine the health of their children, to find out if there was anything the matter with them This struck me as a pretty good idea; so I thought to myself, 'The next time I am in Andlusia I will find out if there's any of these here health doctors who examines school-children', and so I have come to invite you out (p. 142).

In 1939, 4,000 New York City junior high school students took part in a study to determine if radio seemed to aid in learning about health; half of that group served as a control group. According to a newspaper article, "the health broadcasts, sponsored by the American Medical Association and the National Broadcasting Company, included...

NOTE: All illustrations and photos have been removed from this article.



Looking for additional articles?
Search our database of over 3 million articles.

Looking for more in-depth information on this industry?
Search our complete database of Industry & Market reports by text, subject, publication name or publication date.

About Goliath
Whether you're looking for sales prospects, competitive information, company analysis or best practices in managing your organization, Goliath can help you meet your business needs.

Our extensive business information databases empower business professionals with both the breadth and depth of credible, authoritative information they need to support their business goals. Whether it be strategic planning, sales prospecting, company research or defining management best practices - Goliath is your leading source for accurate information.