An American Right to an ‘Unannoyed Journey’? Transit Radio as a Contested Site of Public Space and Private Attention, 1949–1952

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Notes Notes 1 For the purposes of this article, when referring to the practice of broadcasting on buses I will use the term transitcasting and the term transit radio to refer to the particular practices and business strategies performed by Transit Radio, Inc. 2 William Osten, Letter to the Editor: Transit Radios, The Washington Post, February 19, 1949. 3 Editors Note, Transit Radio Poll, The Washington Post, March 6, 1949. 4 Albert Bard, The Right to an ‘Unannoyed Journey’, The American City, February 1950. 5 See for example James Hay, Locating the televisual, Television & New Media 2(3) (2001), 205–234. 6 Anna McCarthy, Ambient Television: visual culture and public space (Durham, NC, Duke University Press, 2001), 2. 7 McCarthy, 6. 8 See for example, Brett Gary, The Nervous Liberals: propaganda anxieties from World War I to the Cold War (New York, Columbia University Press, 1999), 199; Kathy M. Newman, Radio Active: advertising and consumer activism, 1935–1947 (Berkeley, CA, University of California Press, 2004); James Patterson, Grand Expectations: the United States, 1945–1974 (New York, Oxford University Press, 1996), 343–348; Stephen Whitfield, The Culture of the Cold War (Baltimore, MD, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1991). 9 Smith focuses on antebellum elites in the North and South who heard the cracking of their way of life by sectional divides and the development of industrial capitalism in the sounds of industry and slave revolts. Mark M. Smith, Listening to Nineteenth-Century America (Chapel Hill, NC, University of North Carolina Press, 2001). Thompson examines the circumstances whereby American society in the 1920s came to define itself via its noise. Emily Thompson, The Soundscape of Modernity: architectural acoustics and the culture of listening in America, 1900–1933 (Cambridge, MA, MIT Press, 2002). 10 The idea of transitcasting as a commercial enterprise has been attributed to Richard Evans, the owner of FM station WIZZ in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Evans’ search for an acceptable radio receiver sent him to Stromberg–Carlson in Indiana, who drew the attention of the Cincinnati group. FM Sets in Buses, Radio-Craft, July 1948, 18; Charles Rodecker, A survey of the first three years of transit radio. Master of Arts Thesis (University of Missouri, 1950), 6–7, Straphangers’ Radio, Saturday Evening Post, April 24, 1948, 12. On a separate note, this idea was uncannily prescient of that of Christopher Whittle's Channel One of the 1980s. 11 My account of the history of Transit Radio relies on Charles Rodecker's 1950 University of Missouri Master's thesis, ibid. In addition to being largely descriptive, Rodecker's research also had the unfortunate situation of ending in August 1950, when the possibilities for the future of Transit Radio looked bright leading him to conclude that ‘Transit Radio seems destined to join the ranks of the important American advertising media.’ Rodecker, 104. 12 The idea of combining public transit and radio was not new. The Canadian National Railway installed radio receivers in its trains beginning in 1923. Significantly, in the pre-network era the company used a carrier current system along the system's telegraph lines to provide programs across five time zones. Programming ranged from typical entertainment fare to new updates, stock market quotes and sports scores, all sent from one of 13 railway owned stations. Significantly, radio cars featured both loudspeakers and headsets to avoid disturbing fellow passengers. Radio News, April 1930, 918; Rose Meyer, Listening In Across Canada, Radio News, August 1930, 144–145. A number of regional lines in the USA had followed the Canadian's lead, including the Central Vermont, Chicago, Burlington, Quincy, Lehigh Valley and Grand Trunk lines. Radio News, Radio Broadcast, February 1930, 193. Radio News: Radio on Trains, Radio Broadcast, August 1928, 198, Radio Rides the Zephyr, Broadcast News, December 1934, 9. Radio also migrated to long distance bus travel in the late 1920s. As early 1927, the Birmingham–Montgomery Alabama line offered radio in its entire fleet. According to illustrations of the system, it consisted of a radio set and speaker mounted by the driver. George Wall, Radio News of the Month Illustrated, Radio News, June 1927, 1429. Radio Broadcast reported in April 1930 that it was becoming ‘quite common’ to find a Southern Kansas Stage Line bus equipped with a Crosley receiver. Review: Automobile Radio, Radio Broadcast, April 1930, 309. 13 NAB FM Executive Committee, Transit Radio, 1949, National Association of Broadcasters Records, 1938–1982, Box 113, Folder 3, State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Madison, WI. 14 If this was attempted with AM equipment the two signals would interfere with one another. For this reason, a number of long distance bus companies were experimenting with FM as part of two-way communications. In 1945, Greyhound Bus Lines used this kind of system for both dispatch transmissions and entertainment programs. With a central control station and relay receiving stations covering several lines in the Chicago vicinity, Greyhound could maintain contact between the bus drivers and the dispatchers, while providing small speakers mounted in seat headrest that permitted passengers a choice of two musical programs. However, Greyhound did not attempt to sell advertising time on this system. Spot News Notes: FM for Buses, FM and Television, September 1945, 22. FM Transport Radio, Radiocraft, June 1948, 19. 15 During this period, there were many prognostications about the unvarnished possibilities of FM broadcasting. Not the least of whom was Charles Siepmann, Radio's Second Chance (Boston, MA, Little, Brown and Company, 1946). 16 Lawrence Lessing, Man of High Fidelity: Edwin Howard Armstrong (New York, J. B. Lippincott Company, 1956), 256–278. In his treatment of FM reallocation, Hugh Slotten argues that two factors influenced the FCC decision: the availability of spectrum adapters and a feeling television was more important than FM. Hugh Slotten, Radio and Television Regulation: broadcast technology in the United States, 1920–1969 (Baltimore, MD, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000), 239. See also William Boddy, Fifties Television: the industry and its critics (Urbana, IL, University of Illinois Press, 1990), 35–36, Don V. Erickson, Armstrong's Fight for FM Broadcasting: one man's versus big business and bureaucracy (Birmingham, AL, University of Alabama Press, 1973); Lawrence Longley, The FM Shift in 1945, Journal of Broadcasting 12(Fall) (1968), 353–365. 17 FM and Television, March 1948, 48, Hugo Gernsback, The Rising Tide of FM, Radio-Craft, June 1948, 17, Sponsor Reports, Sponsor, June 1948, 2. Tim Anderson argues that many FM stations during this era chose to promote the superior tonal clarity offered by Frequency Modulation and programmed classical and other ‘highbrow’ music. See Tim J. Anderson, Making Easy Listening: material culture and postwar American recording (Minneapolis, MN, University of Minnesota Press, 2006). 18 Chet Thomas, Transit Radio's Case, Broadcasting, February 5, 1950, 22. As part of this rhetoric, Transit Radio President Chet Thomas sought to gain the endorsement of the National Association of Broadcasters. The NAB's Executive Committee had seen in Transit Radio an ideal opportunity to promote FM. NAB FM Executive Committee, Transit Radio. However, when the Washington controversy erupted this relationship became strained even as Miller ultimately gave public support to Thomas, see for example Chet Thomas, Letter to Justin Miller, May 20, 1950, Box 113 Folder 3, in National Association of Broadcasters Records, 1938–1982, Files of the National Association of Broadcasters, State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Madison, WI. 19 Paul Lazarsfeld and Patricia Kendall, Radio Listening in America: the people look at radio—again (New York, Prentice-Hall, 1948), 61. See also, Michael Socolow, Questioning advertising's influence over American radio: the Blue Book controversy of 1945–1947, Journal of Radio Studies, 9(2), 2002, 282–302; Newman, 37–50. 20 The literature on consumer culture in this era is voluminous. For two recent examples see Lizabeth Cohen, A Consumers’ Republic: the politics of mass consumption in postwar America (Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, 2003), and Charles McGovern, Sold American: consumption and citizenship, 1890–1945 (Chapel Hill, NC, The University of North Carolina Press, 2006). 21 For an excellent analysis of the relationship between the idea of commercial impressions and advertising philosophy and practice, see Newman, 45. 22 Transit Radio Inc., A New Advertising Medium in Cincinnati, Sponsor, June 1948, 51. For a discussion of the benefits of such an arrangement, see also Rodecker, 59–60. 23 McCarthy, 218–219. 24 Charles Hull Wolfe, Modern Radio Advertising (New York, Printer's Ink Publishing, 1949), 514. 25 Transit Radio Inc., Transit Radio … A New Idea … A New Voice … A New Medium! Sponsor, March 28, 1949, 6–7. This advertisement also appeared in the March 21, 1949 issue of Broadcasting. NAB FM Executive Committee, Transit Radio. 26 Wolfe, 514. 27 See Jennifer Hyland Wang, ‘The case of the radio-active housewife’: relocating radio in the age of television, in: Michele Hilmes and Jason Loviglio (eds) The Radio Reader: essays in the cultural history of radio (New York, Routledge, 2002) and Chapter Five of Alexander Russo, Points on the Dial: radio, space, attention (Durham, NC, Duke University Press, forthcoming). 28 How Terrific is Transitradio? An Analysis of an Important New Advertising Medium, Sponsor, September 1948, 84. 29 Rodecker, 52–58. 30 How Terrific is Transitradio?, 88. For an extensive discussion of ‘functional music’ like that offered by Muzak, see Keith Jones, Music in factories: a twentieth-century technique for control of the productive self, Social & Cultural Geography, 6(5) (2005), 723–44; Marek Korcyznski and Keith Jones, Instrumental music? The social origins of broadcast music in British factories, Popular Music 25 (2006), 145–164; Joseph Lanza, Elevator Music: a surreal history of Muzak, easy listening, and other moodsong (New York, St. Martin's Press, 1994). 31 How Terrific is Transitradio?, 84; NAB FM Executive Committee, Transit Radio, 6. Transit Radio utilized the services of Muzak to provide programming until the controversy surrounding forced listening caused the company to not renew its contracts with the company. Palmer, Letter to Justin Miller, Disc Company to Drop CTC Radio Contract, The Washington Post, January 19, 1950, 6. 32 NAB FM Executive Committee, Transit Radio, 1. 33 For example in St. Louis, Class A time, from 6:30 to 8:30 a.m. and 4:00 to 6:30 p.m. weekdays cost $22 for a single announcement. Class B time 6:00–6:30 a.m., 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. weekdays and 6:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday cost $14. Class C time 6:30 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. Saturday and Sunday cost $10. Discounts up to 25% off those rates were available with the purchase of multiple announcements. Ibid. Transit Radio Handbook for Affiliates, cited in Rodecker, 61, and How Terrific is Transitradio? 84, 88. For a discussion of the difference between daytime and night-time radio audience addresses and costs for advertisers as a general radio practice, see Michele Hilmes, Radio Voices: American broadcastingr, 1922–1952 (Minneapolis, MN, University of Minnesota Press, 1997), 138–139. 34 Pollack et al. v. Public Utilities Commission of the District of Columbia et al., 89 U.S. App. D.C. 94; 191 F. 2d 450; 1951 Lexis 3457, 1951. 35 Supreme Court of the United States, Transcript of Record For Franklin S. Pollack and Guy Martin v. Public Utilities Commission of the District of Columbia, Exhibit 10, 1951 Records and Briefs, Library of Congress Law Library, Washington, DC, 159–172. 36 Rodecker, 65. 37 See for example Hilmes, Radio Voices, and Jennifer Hyland Wang, Convenient fictions: the construction of the daytime broadcast audience, 1927–1960. Ph.D. dissertation (University of Wisconsin–Madison, 2006). 38 This addressed one of advertising's most difficult dilemmas, determining how exposure to the advertising message influenced consumer desire. On the indeterminate relationship between advertising and sales, see Michael Schudson, Advertising, The Uneasy Persuasion: its dubious impact on American society (New York, Basic Books, 1984), 14–44. 39 Administrative Committee of the Continuing Study of Transportation Advertising, The Continuing Study of Transportation Advertising (New York, Advertising Research Foundation, Inc., 1950), 11. 40 FM Broadcasting to Transit Field Opens New Medium to Advertising, Tea and Coffee Trade Journal, December 1948, 42, 44. 41 NAB FM Executive Committee, Transit Radio, 18. 42 Anna McCarthy's cultural history of out of home television traces how postwar department stores used closed circuit system in their stores as a type of point of purchase display. Whether playing a prerecorded film or a live demonstration, storecasting acted to draw potential shoppers in to engage with a product. McCarthy, 68. Likewise, Lizabeth Cohen notes how African-American consumers valued chain stores because of this anonymity. Lizabeth Cohen, Making a New Deal: industrial workers in Chicago, 1919–1939 (New York, Cambridge University Press, 1990), 152–154. 43 Rodecker, 80. NAB FM Executive Committee, Transit Radio, 18, 28–29. For example, household product giants Lever Brothers and Procter and Gamble both signed on as Transit Radio Clients. Arthur Stringer, Letter to John Elwood, August 3, 1949, Box 113 Folder 3, Papers of Justin Miller, Files of the National Association of Broadcasters State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Madison, WI. 44 Rodecker, 71–73, 80–81. 45 Bus Rides to Music: Multi Million FM Advertising Potential, Broadcasting, February 23, 1948, 17; How Terrific is Transitradio?, 90, Seek to Install FM in Washington Street Cars, Buses, Heinl Radio News Service, February 11, 1948, 4; Ed Keys, Transit FM: Bright Future Predicted by Taft, Broadcasting-Telecasting, October 4, 1948, 23, 66. In addition to these features, there were also repeated announcements in FM and Television, Sponsor, Broadcasting, Radio-Daily, and Radio-Electronics. For example, Agencies Feel that NAB should spread the gospel about radio's ‘captive audience’, Sponsor, April 11, 1949, 82; Capital Radio Music Buses Increased; Time 35% Sold, Heinl Radio-Television News Service, February, 16, 1949, 4; Despite Yowls, Test Shows Capital Favors Transit Radio 9–1, Heinl Radio-Television News Service, February 9, 1949, 7–9; Over 500 Advertisers Using New ‘Captive Audience’ Medium for Direct Results, Sponsor, July 18, 1949, 72; P.S. How Terrific is Transitradio?, Sponsor, January 17, 1949, 15; Spot News Notes: Transitcasting and Storecasting, FM and Television, October 1948, 22; Transit Radio Sponsors, FM and Television, July 1949, 22; Transitcasting in Boston Area, FM and Television, June 1949, 22; Transitradio and Storecasting Attacked, Sponsor, January 17, 1949, 2; Washington, DC Buses to Inaugurate Transit Radio Monday, Heinl Radio and Television News Service, February 2, 1949, 12. 46 Markets of the Move: Transit Radio, Currently in 19 Areas, Piles Up Exceptional Results, Sponsor, February 27, 1950, 30–31. 47 JWT News, Fanny Farmer Candy Shops—Running Two Test Campaigns—One in Transit Radio, Records of the J. Walter Thomson Advertising Agency (Durham, NC, Duke University Special Collections Library, 1949), 1; JWT News, Transit Radio—FM—A New and Adaptable Medium, Records of the J. Walter Thomson Advertising Agency (Durham, NC, Duke University Special Collections Library, 1949), 2. 48 JWT News, Swift & Transit Radio in Records of the J. Walter Thomson Advertising Agency (Durham, NC, Duke University Special Collections Library, 1949), 1; P.S. How Terrific is Transitradio?, P.S. How Terrific is Transitradio?, 15; Transit Radio New Sponsors, Sponsor, 1949, 1. Transit Radio in 18 National Markets Printer's 19, 1949, Rodecker, the of Transit Radio in Washington, DC, were from NAB FM Executive Committee, Transit Radio, Rodecker, in The Washington Post, and in the The Washington Post, January 1949, 12. Charles the Bus the The Washington Post, February 6, 1949, However, also in the were Transit ‘The District used the as a off point for about Capital advertising and radio in and life in See for example The District to ‘Transit The Washington Post, January 1949, The District The Washington Post, January 18, 1949, The District Transit Radio on Capital The Washington 1949, Editors Note, Transit Radio Poll, For a of the early see Palmer, Letter to the Editor: Transit Radios, The Washington Post, January 1949, Letter to the Editor: Transit Radios, The Washington Post, January 28, 1949, Letter to the Editor: Transit Radios, The Washington Post, January 1949, Letter to the Editor: Transit Radios, The Washington Post, February 28, 1949, Letter to the Editor: Transit Radios, The Washington Post, July 1949, Letter to the Editor: Transit Radios, The Washington Post, February 17, 1949, 12. For in see Letter to the Editor: Transit Radios, The Washington Post, February 6, 1949, Letter to the Editor: Transit Radios, The Washington Post, February 18, 1949, 22. and Transit and Transit Radio, 1949, Library of American Broadcasting, MD, Transit Radio, 23, 4, 1949, cited in Rodecker, to of Transit Radios, The Washington Post, September 20, 1949, According to The Washington Post, people had the by and to their on were in were on three for Transit Radio as as the endorsement of a of to Record of Public on Radio, The Washington Post, 3, 1949, 1. … the October 27, 1949, As Transit Broadcast The Washington Post, October 28, 1949, 1. Radio Transit Radio, Radio January 1950, 9, 1. Radio as in The New October 28, 1949, in Transit Radio Broadcast as The Washington Post, October 1949, 1; Transit Music May The Washington Post, October 1949, Transit Radio on who that by a in to the the Commission was the of Franklin a to and Bus Radio, The Washington Post, 2, 1949, 17; Radio Sponsor, 21, 1949, Transit Radio and at The Washington Post, 1949, 1. of this also addressed the of the Grand Central to broadcast music and in the Press, Radio 16, October 17, 1949, January 2, 1950, 15; Radio of Blue The New 1; The Washington Post, March 1934, 2; Gary, 199; The New August 9, See for example, in The New October Guy The Washington Post, October of The Washington Post, August 27, of Transit Radio, September 1949, Library of American Broadcasting, MD, and of Capital Transit Company Transit Radio, October 1949, Library of American Broadcasting, Capital Radio Music Buses Increased; Time 35% Sold, 4, and Transit and Transit Radio. the was one in as there … it is not the who a when for … who had the when the cars … and who for in a at both The and the 1950, John President of the of several with when the that were strained by the was to permitted to the 1. The that a small of that is being his the The Washington Post, October 27, 1949, in to and Bus Radio, The Washington Post, 1949, Mark Sunday on Radio in The Washington Post, 5, 1949, to Record 1. Transit Radio D.C. Utilities The Washington Post, December 20, 1949, 1. Letter to the had the time of the The Washington an of the not such a of the there a many as most of the who transit radio or not to those who being a audience for the programs to will The Editors of The Washington Post, December 21, 1949, Letter to the Editor: The Washington Post, December 24, 1949, 6. Letter to the Editor: The Washington Post, December 1949, For examples of Letter to the Editor: The Washington Post, January 5, 1950, James Letter to the Editor: Transit The Washington Post, January 1950, Letter to the Editor: Transit The Washington Post, January 1950, Palmer, Letter to Justin Miller, January 21, 1950, National Association of Broadcasters Records, 1938–1982, Box 113, Folder 3, State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Madison, WI. Justin Miller, Letter to of the NAB of January 1950, National Association of Broadcasters Records, 1938–1982, Box 113, Folder 3, State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Madison, WI. Justin Miller, Letter to Thomas, February 24, 1950, National Association of Broadcasters Records, 1938–1982, Box 113, Folder 3, State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Madison, WI. Justin Miller, Letter to Palmer, June National Association of Broadcasters Records, 1938–1982, Box 113, Folder 3, State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Madison, WI. The of the Notes and The New December 10, 1949, January 2, 1950, January 2, 1950. However, the on an by the of people to to there is in such as a Advertising February National Association of Broadcasters Records, 1938–1982, Box 113, Folder 3, State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Madison, WI. The of an in World War Boston Law March 20, Notes: Transit Radio, Journal of the 11 of Transit Radio, Journal of the 11 FCC to of Transit Radio The Washington Post, February 11, 1950, to Fight of Transit The Washington Post, January 1950, on Transit Radio, The Washington Post, February 16, 1950, CTC The Washington Post, February 9, 1950, 2. Franklin S. Pollack and Guy of Franklin S. Pollack and Guy Martin with to Transit Radio, February 10, 1950, Records of the Record National MD, Notes: Transit Radio, Journal of the 11 Transit Radio, Inc., Washington Transit Radio, Inc., Capital Broadcasting Company, to of S. March 1950, Records of the Record National MD, Transit of Capital broadcasting Company for of FM Broadcast August Records of the Record National MD, In August when those two years were the Transit Association the FCC for to in a the Commission that were not a in with to the J. that the for a one that was not by that to on a that the Commission a that were not by being to or this was not the for to For the the Transit as a of the audience that could not from other audience and of Capital broadcasting Company for of FM Broadcast August 20, Records of the Record National Joseph Transit Radio in by The Washington Post, June 2, 1950, 1; to Fight on Transit Radio, The Washington Post, June 3, 1950, 11. this point for Transit Radio, in part to by the case in Rodecker, As the the the about the and other For example, one June 1951 in of the Washington Transit Rides Association a in their one seems to who has been the that has to such an issue of this Spot News Notes: in June Likewise, the in September that kind of the of and that been in to The of this support has not been that is has not from the Spot News Notes: FM September Pollack v. The that possibilities for commercial the of The cited Transit Radio's advertising a as as by an in the of who that at its the not at its the a between and the of Press, Court out June 2, 1; Bard, The Right to an ‘Unannoyed Journey’, Don Court on Transit The Washington Post, June 2, 1; Pollack v. 22 Pollack v. 89 Joseph High Court to CTC The Washington Post, July 10, In an of Transit Radio and the that bus a of the public has listening as a to that would not of the Transit Radio The Washington Post, February 9, William addressed the between advertising and Paul the those to the the to to look at High Court In On Transit Radio The Washington Post, March 4, Radio, Journal of the 12 Press, Supreme Court on May High Court D.C. The Washington Post, May 27, 1; v. v. June 9, v. to The Washington Post, May 28, 12. This was because the company was to use advertisers to for costs and to provide the … May June Transit Radio … the in Cincinnati and Washington as of Public Advertising, June 6, Bus Radio, June Music to on D.C. The Washington Post, May 16, As one The Washington the of Transit Radio's how the feeling transit radio was and advertisers to the Transit Radio the May as The Washington Post, May 19, However, in one example, the of came by and and its to with In to its buses with a radio that and programming in for to the audience of that is and In to Transit Radio's support from a for The company the music the on the way to and from it did the to a of who to the its Bus Radio Music to The Washington Post, December 11, William Media in in and (eds) Media the of (Cambridge, MA, MIT Press, 2003), Transit Radio for Sponsor, June 18,

Fetched live from OpenAlex and de-inverted. Abstracts are not stored in this database: the inverted indexes are 8.6 GB of the frame’s 9.3 GB of text, and the host has 13 GB free.