RADIO'S SOCIAL DUTIES STRESSED

Deploring the ineffectualness of "soap opera" programs put on for the benefit of housewives in the afternoon, Charles Siepmann, former Director of Program Planning for the British Broadcasting Company, stated in a lecture last night that "in the future radio must concern itself with the real rather than the superficial needs of the masses.

"The problem of radio is primarily one of interpretation." The general public cannot or will not digest abstract social ideas, but can appreciate them only through illustration and in terms of their own experience, Siepmann stated. "In a democracy radio must serve as the interpreter of ideas to the masses."

Describes Slums Program

As an example of how a social idea can be borne forcibly to the masses, Siepmann cited a series of programs put on by the BBC during which a very popular sports announcer described what he saw at first hand in the slums of England.

"The program conveyed to the public the living facts, the realities in terms of personal experience," Siepmann said. Public recognition of the evils of bad housing was instrumental in putting through a Housing Bill four weeks later.

Siepmann emphasized the fact that radio must not attempt to argue particular solutions to problems, such as unemployment, but has a social duty to present the facts in a vivid way to the masses, which only radio can reach. The public must be taught that "unemployment is not a static; it is a human experience," Siepmann pointed out.