(Speaking of Edwin
Craig, President of the corporation that founded WSM
in Nashville and Jack DeWitt, the engineer who built
the station)
...Craig and De Witt had emerged
by the mid-1930's as not only important independent
broadcasters but leading advocates for the interests
of high-powered radio stations nationally. In May
1934, Craig invited representatives from his fellow
clear channel radio stations to a meeting in
Chicago. fourteen of them, including WLW and m:yor
stations in Atlanta (WSB), Chicago (WGN and WLS),
Los Angeles (KFI and KNX), Dallas/Fort Worth (WFAA
and WBAP), and New Orleans (WWL), established the
Clear Channel Group and elected Craig its chairman.
DeWitt would become its chief engineering
consultant.
The CCG's campaign in Washington to make 500,000-wtt
stations routine was ultimately unsuccessful but the
lobby did preserve their exclusive signals over many
years, in the face of constant pressure from
smaller broadcasters to end the clear channel
system. In 1937, Craig spearheaded a major
reorganization of the much larger National
Association of Broadcasters, further extending his
influence inside the radio world.
Craig pursued a public relations strategy as well,
including a consumer/listener magazine called Rural
Radio. Conceived and edited by Ed Kirby and written
by publicity agents from the CCG stations, the
inaugural issue, in February 1938, offered itself to
America's fifty million rural residents, "the back
hone and breadbasket of the nation." |
Craig pursued a public relations strategy as well,
including a consumer/listener magazine called
Rural Radio.
Conceived and edited by Ed Kirby and written by
publicity agents from the CCG stations, the
inaugural issue, in February 1938, offered itself to
America's fifty million rural residents, "the back
hone and breadbasket of the nation." Tailored for
the whole family, it offered a bit of technical
know-how, recipes. and tidbits for kids. A WSM
engineer wrote about "how to get more from your
radio set." Handy Annie advised homemakers to
periodically wash electric light bulbs, because
"clean bulbs give more light." Readers wrote back
with homespun admiration. "I think it is the
grandest little magazine I ever saw," raved a
Kentucky woman. A Georgia reader indicated he was
glad to see "not so much Hollywood stuff Keep it
that way!" Rural Radio
didn't last long, not because demand was weak, but
because Kirby, the magazine's mastermind, got an
offer that moved him along from
Nashville. The National Association of Broadcasters,
now sixteen years old and growing into a formidable
force in Washington, capped Kirby to direct its
public relations department. Neville Miller had gone
from the muddy mayor's office in Louisville to the
head of the NAB. so he'd already made a warm bond
with Kirby. For Kirby, the work was not far
from what he'd been doing at National Life, except
it was on a national stage, as radio continued to
grow in importance. Ed and Marjorie left
Rural Radio in the hands of its
printer, where it didn't stand much of a long-term
chance, and moved to Washington in the fall of 1938.
From "Air Castle of
the South" by Craig Havighurst |
