An experiment in broadcasting

The Vocational Aspect of Education

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An experiment in broadcasting Leon Crickmore To cite this article: Leon Crickmore (1967) An experiment in broadcasting, The Vocational Aspect of Education, 19:42, 50-58, DOI: 10.1080/03057876780000061 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03057876780000061

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Date: 17 October 2016, At: 08:15

The VocationalAspect (Spring 1967) Volume XIX No. 42, pp. 50--58

AN EXPERIMENT

IN BROADCASTING

By LEON CRICKMORE Lecturer in Liberal Studies, Bilston College of Further Education THISPAPERdescribes an experiment in broadcasting introduced at Bilston College of Further Education in 1963. The experiment was the idea of the principal, Mr. H. Lamb. Eager to make the fullest possible use in further education of modern media of communication, he planned the new building of Bilston College to include an internal broadcasting system with a loudspeaker in every classroom. That such a system could be used--and has been used--to make contact with the whole college in the event of an emergency, or to relay B.B.C. educational programmes to all students, were to be considered amenities secondary to the basic purpose for which the system was installed: homeproduced broadcasting. In 1963, when the present writer was appointed to be responsible for the development of liberal studies at the college, Mr. Lamb had already 'put as many fine paintings on the walls of the college as financial resources (would) permit'A Thus, as far as visual education was concerned, there was no fear that students would become "starved of beauty, and aesthetically stunted'. One of the original intentions behind the broadcasting experiment was to provide comparable aural experience for the students, to make the sound of music and poetry a normal part of the environment. The principal's idea was that there should be a broadcast to the whole college in the last five minutes of each morning. A bell would ring at 12.20 p.m. to warn members of staffto draw their lessons to a conclusion; then from 12.25 until the final bell at 12.30 there would follow a liberal studies broadcast. (The first of these bells has now been discontinued, and broadcasts begin either with music or with a signal of four notes derived from the initials of the college: B.C.F.E.--but this is a detail.) It seemed unlikely that so short a time could seriously interrupt the students' vocational work, while in terms of the enrichment of personality and the creation of a 'liberal' college, the possibilities were considerable. A studio was set up in a storeroom, equipped with a wireless unit, record reproducers, tape-recorders and microphones. It was decided that the broadcasts should be pre-recorded on tape.t~l Most of these tapes are catalogued and stored in the college library. By now there must be over 300 such recordings: some, of a universal nature, can be repeated from year to year; others, produced for specific occasions, are sometimes useful as audio-aids in class. So it was that in the autumn term of 1963 a beginning was made. In the first year of the experiment several teething problems had to be faced: apathy among some of the listeners, and technical difficulties concerning the (a) The'writer is aware o f the copyright problems involved in the re-recording, even for educational purposes, o f extracts from records. Nothing in this article is to be interpreted as a n i n v i t a t i o n t o infringe the 1965 Copyright A c t

L. C R I C K M O R E

51

selection, recording and transmission of relevant material. By last session, however, the broadcasts had become an accepted part of the normal daily life of the college. A full cycle of 140 five-minute broadcasts was presented--every day, that is, except during the time of examinations, amounting to about 12 hours of broadcasting in all. During this process of acceptance the character of the broadcasts has naturally developed and to a certain extent changed. Perhaps we have achieved a better balance between the aesthetic and other sides of liberal studies to be included. Perhaps we have faced up to the danger of seeming to impose music or literature in alien and outdated styles on an uninterested student population, while still ensuring that no student passes through the college without being confronted by some part at least of our musical and literary heritage. Certainly the whole project has become more democratic. And in doing so, it seems to have acquired a new function. For, while the broadcasts still remain primarily an impact on the individual, a stimulus to the process of self-education, they have also developed a distinctive social function. They have become a means of fostering a corporate spirit--a matter so much easier to accomplish in a school than in a college of further education--by providing a forum for bringing together the views of each of the departments in the college, and at the same time bridging the gap between full and part-time students. The type of broadcast most likely to achieve this end, and also the most popular with the students, is the informal discussion of topical matters relevant to teenagers. A student, commenting on the daily broadcasts, wrote: The most enjoyable ones are those made by the students to express their views; this is perhaps because they are related to situations and experiences that we ourselves have faced. Clearly, discussion tapes of such a kind can conveniently be made in class during a liberal studies period. However, simply to leave a tape-recorder running during a class discussion is unlikely to produce a stylish discussion programme. It is true that occasionally it is possible to capture a moment of spontaneity unequalled by anything scripted or rehearsed, but in general ordinary conversation contains so much hesitation, padding, repetition and truncated grammar that unless one has access to the highest quality equipment and professional technicians to the extent of the B.B.C., the problems of editing are enormous. My usual practice therefore has been to provide each student in the class with half a sheet of paper, and then to read some controversial statement from the press or a student's own writing to stimulate discussion. Whenever anyone makes what seems a new and valuable point, he (or she) is asked to write it down while the rest continue the discussion--this technique has an added advantage in that the writing prevents certain extroverts from dominating the conversation! After a while, perhaps 15 minutes, each person who has anything written on his paper is asked to read it out in turn. The best comments are then numbered in some kind of logical order, and material is invented where required to link the remarks and

52

An Experiment in Broadcasting

provide continuity. The resulting script is then recorded by its authors. At the end of one, or possibly two periods, up to two and a half minutes of discussion is likely to be recorded. This recording is next played to another group of students, if possible to a group of quite a different kind: for instance, in a discussion about pocket money in which the participants have been full-time students, I should choose to play it to a part-time day release class, the members of which are already earning their own living. In this way one makes sure that a variety of viewpoints will emerge. The integrative value of such discussions will be self-evident: all who have taken part, and many of their friends, will be eager to hear the finished broadcast. (Incidentally, wherever part-time day release students assist in the making of a broadcast, it is important to see that the transmission be timed for a day on which those students are in college. Also, in the interest of part-time day release students, one must try to avoid planning the same kind of broadcast on the same day each week.) After one of these discussion broadcasts has been heard, extensive enquiries may begin among the students to find out who was the girl or boy who said . . . . since such details are not usually disclosed. Once the students have started talking among themselves about a broadcast, replies, other points of view, ideas for further broadcasts are quickly forthcoming. There is, in fact, a special pigeon-hole in which such comments, criticisms, scripts or ideas for scripts may be placed. From time to time a special 'Any Questions ?' box is placed outside the main hall; selected questions are dealt with later by a group of staff and students in a live broadcast. This interesting development--especially welcome among those students who had found some of the scripted broadcasts a little too stiff and formal--took place as a result of a request from the students for permission to use the broadcasting system in connection with a full mock election organized in the college to coincide with the General Election of October, 1964. College societies, in addition to using the broadcasting system for publicity, have also contributed specialist broadcasts: for instance, the S.C.M. prepared a discussion on Church Unity during the deliberations of the Second Vatican Council. Students who have made college trips have reported on them in broadcasts planned to coincide with displays of photographs and slides. Broadcasts relating to displays by the art section have also been presented: one in particular, a display of sea pictures, was arranged to coincide not only with the broadcast of music from Mendelssohn's Hebrides Overture and Britten's Peter Grimes, but also with a display of appropriate books in the college library. Staff can usually be persuaded to prepare five-minute talks on their hobbies, or to share some aspect of their specialism with the whole college; students can be encouraged to present the conclusions of their project work in a form suitable for broadcasting, a tape-recording replacing the formal essay. Classes thoroughly enjoy producing their own broadcasts; we have some interesting sketches written and recorded in this way, and suggestions have been received for a weekly serial, though this has not in fact come to fruition! If short stories and poems composed by the students are not only printed in the college magazine but also broadcast to the college--the winning entries for our college literary prize spring readily to mind


53

as an example of this--then a creative atmosphere is fostered in which the students become quite naturally more responsive to art. Thus a circle is complete; we have returned to the point from which the entire experiment began. Of course, this brief account of the experiment in broadcasting at Bilston College is written from the point of view of the lecturer organising the experiment. It is possible that the staff and students of the college, who, according to their various dispositions, enjoy, tolerate or suffer the daily broadcasts might have a different tale to tell. The only proper basis for the reader to judge the experiment would be the hearing of several of these programmes in the environmental situation that has created them. The best that a paper such as this can offer is a complete list of the daily programmes broadcast in the autumn term of the 1965-6 session. This list, which forms Appendix A, will offer some idea of the scope and range of the material used. It will be noted that on the Friday of Week ten, mindful of the need for consumer research, we distributed a questionnaire concerning the broadcasts to all the staff and students who were listening on that day. Appendix B contains a copy of it. A table of the main results appears in Appendix C. The reader is invited to draw his own conclusions, but to assist him a few generalisations are added. Only 5 per cent thought that the broadcasts were a waste of time, and even less (3 per cent) that they took time needed for vocational work--a criticism voiced quite loudly by a minority in the early days of the experiment. Fifty-six per cent felt ' they could be worthwhile if more subjects of interest to the students were chosen'; 24 per cent found that ' they make a pleasant break in the middle of a hard d a y ' - - a point of view that should not too readily be dismissed as a form of latent serimshanking, but recognised as the expression of a real need for variety and an education which can provide emotional as well as intellectual satisfaction. Twelve per cent described the broadcasts as 'interesting and well presented'. The results also reveal a tendency for girls to show their interest more readily than boys. On the other hand, there does not appear to be any relationship between the interest the students show, and either the number of broadcasts they hear, or the number of years they have been at the eoUege. It is pleasing to note that 20 per cent of those who completed the questionnaire had taken part in one or more of the broadcasts. The opportunities for student participation are likely to be considered among the main advantages of an internal broadcasting system, and every effort will be made to increase the number of staff and students who take part in the next session. One could suppose that the influence of the broadcasts would be the greater in proportion to any increase in the number of participants, the variety of subjects, and the diversity of presentation. As has already been mentioned, the most popular kind of programme has been the 'discussion of teenage topics by the students'. Forty-eight per cent named this kind of broadcast as their first choice. It is interesting that only 34 per cent gave the first place t o ' pop' music. Serious music and poetry were rated highest (not surprisingly) by less than 4 per cent. It was neither of these, however, that appeared most frequently in the fifth place: politics and current affairs were


54

placed last by 41 per cent--including a high percentage of girls--and first by only a little more than 10 per cent. Perhaps the students feel they have already suffered from a surfeit of these topics on television and radio, where presentation is likely to be more accomplished in any case. Nevertheless in interpreting educational statistics one must avoid a nab'vet6 which assumes that what a person wants is necessarily (though it may be) what is best for him. The number of staff who completed the questionnaire was not great enough to justify a separate analysis. With regard to the kind of programmes preferred, however, it is probably safe to say that members o f staff favour politics and current affairs more, a n d ' p o p ' music less than their students; on the other hand they appear to be in agreement with those they teach about the value and popularity of broadcasts in which teenage topics are discussed. As witness to the healthy atmosphere of frank discussion and criticism which the broadcasts have engendered in the college, the following comment on the broadcasts by a member of staff is quoted: They are held at a most unfortunate time; no following discussion is possible, students are waiting to dash into the long dinner queue, there is no opportunity for audience reaction. The same material used for recognised liberal studies periods within the time-table could be infinitely more valuable. In reply, while acknowledging that the time of presentation is dictated by practical rather than idealistic considerations, I would not agree that the lack of opportunity for a follow-up is as serious as my colleague supposes. In the circumstances described, one may be certain that such 'audience reaction' as there is, is a spontaneous and authentic expression of the students' needs. We shall continue, therefore, in the hope that the cumulative effect of our daily broadcasts--which are not, in the final analysis, lessons, and often operate, as does advertising, at a ' subliminal' level--may help to unite us all into a lively and liberal college.

REFERENCE 1. LAMB, H. (1963). 'Tutorial and Aesthetic Aspects of General Education', The Vocational Aspect, No. 31, Vol. XV, pp. 113-8.

APPENDIX A LISTOF DAILYBROADCASTSFORTHEAUTUMNTERM, 1965

Week one Mort. Tues. Wed. Thurs. Fri.

Alternative introduction to the series of liberal studies broadcasts. Morning from Peer Gynt (Grieg). 'Are the older generation down on the teenagers ?'--student discussion. A ' do-it-yourself' factory. ' The string quartet in " p o p " music'.

L. CR1CKMORE Week two Mon. Tues. Wed. Thurs. Fri.

55

Training for industry (I). As I walked out (Auden) read by Dylan Thomas with music by Dave Brubeck. Fine kleine beat& music (Mozart and Spiegel). 'Is it necessary to have pictures in the college?'--discussion. 'A tribute to Albert Schweitzer'.

Week three ' Bob Dylan and the folk music revival'. Mon. Training for industry (lI). Tues. ' Mountain incident '. Wed. Thurs. Dvorak's Slavonic Dance in B flat. 'Social change: the teenage revolution'. Fri. Week four Mon. Tues. Wed. Thurs.

Fri.

Terry--' pop' song (Twinkle) with verse by Thorn Gunn and David Holbrook. Edith Piaf--a tribute by a G.C.E. student. Training for industry (III). 'The war drags on'--readings from The Ugly American with music by Donovan. Overture to The Magic Flute (Mozart) with parody by Victor Borge.

Week five Mon. Tues. Wed. Thurs. Fri.

' Tea and the English'. ' Songs of protest' (Donovan and McGuire). 'The Ramble'--sketch by pre-nursing students. 'Pocket Money'--a student discussion. Liberal Party Conference.

Week six Mon. Tues. Wed. Thurs. Fri.

Modem comic verse. Labour Party Conference. Some third year students discuss personal relationships. Training for nursing. Changing attitudes to food.

Week seven Mon. United Nations Organisation. Tues. 'Alice's Wonderland '--reading for the centenary of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland with music by Bert Jansch. Wed. ' Help ! '--hairdressing students discuss the Beatles' film. Thurs. Conservative Party Conference. Fri. Verse by students. Week eight Mon. Training for industry (IV). Tues. 'All life is a stage' (Max Adrian reading Shakespeare with a parody by Helen Riddick). Wed. ' The college trip to Austria' (film during lunch hour). Thurs. ' Introduction to fugue' (Bach and Les Swingles Singers). Fri. 'Etiquette and manners '--student discussion.

56


Week nine Mon. Extracts from The Mikado (Gilbert and Sullivan) with parody by Anna Russell. Trade Unions. Tues. Mrs. or Miss ?--students discuss the role of women in society. Wed. Thurs. "Attending Church'--a sketch by domestic science students. Commentary on an imaginary boxing match (script by G.C,E. students). Fri, Week ten Mon. "Coventry Cathedral'----discussion by students. Tues. "The times are a changing'--comments on the modern world by G.C.E. students. Folk songs about Bilston by students of the college. Wed. Thurs. ' The Sea" (music by Mendelssohn and Bdtten to supplement an art display). Special questionnaire about the daily broadcasts, Fri. Week eleven Mon. ' Is money the most important aspect of work 9., Tues. The statue of Christ the King in Lisbon--a visit by students. Wed. ' Painting as a pastime' (Churchill). Thurs. Advertising (meek commercials by students). Fri. Report on the results of the questionnaire (Friday, week ten). Week twelve Mon. t;arandole (Bizet). Tues. Drug addiction (I). Wed. ' My generation '--an assessment of The Who. Thurs. "What is love ?' Fri. 'Any Questions ? ' - - a live broadcast, unscripted. Week thirteen Mon. General Election in France. Tues. Sibelius Centenary. Wed. Drug addiction (II), Thurs. Outward Bound Schools. Fri. 'Is Christmas becoming too commercialised ?' Week fourteen Mon. Interview with a footballer. Tues. "Abstract art '--spontaneous discussion by art students. Wed. The Dance (Reading from J. Salinger). Thurs. The story of Christmas. Fri. Sugar Plum Fairy (Tschaikovsky) and Sugar Rum Cherry (Duke Ellington),


57

APPENDIX B QUESTIONNAIREABOUT THE DAILY BROADCASTS Please m a r k y o u r answers with a cross

1. 2. 3. 4.

I am (Member of Staff/Student). I attend the college (Part-time/Full-time). This is my (lst/2nd/3rd/4th and above) year at the college. I belong to the (Commerce and General Studies/Engineering and Science/Domestic Science and Art/Nursery Nursing) Department. 5. I am (Male/Female). 6. I hear (1/2/3/4/5) broadcasts each week. 7. Which of the following reasons best sums up your feelings about the broadcasts ? Mark one only. 1. They are a complete waste of time ( ) 2. They are interesting but take up time that is really needed for class work

(

)

3. They could be worthwhile if more subjects of interest to the students were chosen ( ) 4. They make a pleasant break in the middle of a hard day ( ). 5. They are interesting and well presented ( ). 8.

Here is a list of the main types of broadcasts. Please number them from I to 5 in order of your preference. A B C D E

9.

10.

Discussion of teenage topics by students ( ). Serious music ( ). Poetry (including verse written by students) ( ). ' P o p ' music, etc. ( ). Politics and current affairs ( ).

Mention any broadcasts that you have particularly enjoyed.

Mention any broadcasts you have particularly disliked.

11. Have you ever taken part in one of these broadcasts ? (Yes/No). 12. Has anything that you have written been used as part of a broadcast? (Yes/No). Add any other comments or suggestions for improving the broadcasts:


58

APPENDIX C DISTRIBUTIONOF ArmODES (The five main columns in this table refer to the categories 1-5 in question 7) 1

2

Staff Students

2 12

0 8

Pan-time Full-time

8 6

lstyear 2nd year 3rdyear 4th year + Commerce Engineering D.S. and Art Nursery/Nursing

4

5

TOTAL

8 150

0 67

6 27

16 264

6 2

28 130

ll 56

6 27

57 223

3 3 5 3

1 1 1 5

62 67 15 14

41 17 6 3

18 10 1 4

125 98 28 29

5 9 0 0

3 5 0 0

54 34 52 18

22 18 16 11

10 2 13 8

94 68 81 37

12 2

6 2

61 97

20 47

7 26

105 175

Broadca~s heard each week: 1 2 3 4 5

9 1 0 3 1

6 1 0 1 0

36 7 13 66 36

12 3 17 18 17

6 1 6 5 15

69 13 36 93 69

Fir~choice: A B C D E

4 0 0 8 2

4 0 0 1 3

82 4 2 55 15

25 4 4 28 6

19 2 4 4 4

134 10 10 96 30

Taken part Written material

1 0

1 1

43 18

6 4

6 6

57 29

14

8

158

67

33

280

5

3

56 i 24

12

100

Male Female

TOTAL Percentage of Total

3 !

(Script received: August 6, 1966)