Listener Reactions Research Articles

Sampling Listener Reactions to Short-Wave Broadcasts

THE IMPORTANCE of short-wave broadcasting is attested not only by the attention devoted to it by the belligerent countries and its increasing utilization by the United States, but also by the analyses of program contents by students of propaganda in neutral countries. In all psycho-social phenomena, however, the stimulus is one thing; the response is another. And the response to long distance SW (shortwave) broadcasts, while probably studied as thoroughly as possible by the broadcasting countries themselves, has very rarely been publicly reported on. There is need for adequate and impartial study of reactions within listening publics to complement the analyses of the broadcasts themselves. The present paper is concerned with a very limited attempt to fill in this great void in our understanding of the current war via SW. The public which was sampled and is reported on consists Of 556 residential telephone subscribers other than Negroes in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.