Pattern for FM Profits:

2: ORGANIZATION
The Rural Radio Network, a Regional Broadcasting SystemTailored to
the Specific Interests of New York State's Farm Population

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BECAUSE so much of radio thinking and planning on radio program material and program distribution is done in New York City and Hollywood, there is undoubtedly a tendency to over look the fact that 48% of the people in the United States live in towns of 5,000 population or less.

For example, New York State has 1975 towns and cities, with a total (1940 census) population of 13,479,000. Of these, 9,582,000 live in cities of 25,000 or more, while 3,897,000 live in 1,954 towns and villages! These are vital statistics in planning radio service, or radio sales promotion, for there is a sharp distinction between the social and economic habits of rural and metropolitan residents. This distinction has been generally submerged in broadcasters’ statistics of total population and sales. Thus we have come to think of high-power AM stations, located in population centers, as mass media for communications and advertising. Although there has been a great increase in the number of local AM stations, they have had little effect on this situation, since limitations of power and co-channel interference restrict their service areas to a radius of only a few miles.

FM has changed this picture completely. The six stations can cover almost all rural New York State, and provide high-quality reception, free from static and fading, to a tremendous number of listeners who do not have satisfactory reception from even one of the ninety-eight AM transmitters within the state!

Now with the affiliates at Ogdensburg and New York City added to the six stations, this network, without a single wire-line interconnection except between Ithaca and New York City, covers virtually the entire rural and metropolitan population of the state. To give equal quality of reception to the same number of listeners by AM broadcasting would require a very much larger number of stations, and complete interconnection by wire lines, with correspondingly higher operating costs.

These possibilities were in the minds of a group of men representing the farm organizations of New York State when, more than two years ago, they began to study and explore the field of rural communications. Farm organizations have a legitimate and natural interest in this subject, and when such a group of men takes time to study and assemble facts on radio service to farmers and rural residents, a number of things quickly become apparent.

In the first place, it is clear that there are a number of radio stations in upper New York State which make a sincere effort to provide a real farm radio service; and seven have done an outstanding job in this respect. But it is equally clear that under present conditions it is not possible for the great majority of the farm and rural population to receive what, we might term ideal radio service all the time.

One reason for this is the geographical location of these stations; invariably they are located in relation to towns and, cities rather than rural areas. Consequently, while radio service is excellent in some localities, it is weak. and almost non-existent in others.

Another reason is that no single existing group of stations can be put together readily in a network that will serve all rural listeners simultaneously.

Finally, and possibly the most important, radio as we know it today has not yet developed the technique of serving specialized interests, in the printed medium there are newspapers and magazines for just about every need; but in radio the various listener groups have not had this specialized attention.

The study showed conclusively that there was a real place in New York State for the development of a farmer-owned radio service, equivalent to that provided by a good farm publication through the printed word, to supplement the existing broadcast stations.

This conclusion was the basis for the Rural Radio Network with the farm organizations, equally represented, in control. Organizationally, the set-up starts with the Rural Radio Foundation, a non-profit corporation, financed by the ten farm organizations. The Foundation, in turn, owns the Rural Radio Network, a normal tax-paying business operation, consisting of six FM stations, with affliated. stations in New York City and Ogdensburg.

These six RRN stations were located on, a geographic basis, so as to provide maximum coverage of the rural areas of the state. The transmitters are on hilltop sites, at elevations of 2,000 ft. or more.
They are at:
1. Wethersfield, Wyoming County
2. Bristol Center, Ontario County
3. Newfield (Ithica), Tompkins County
4. DeRuyter, Madison County
5. Cherry Valley, Otsego County
6. Turin, Lewis County

The affiliates are WGHF New York City, giving the network a New York City originating studio as well as coverage in the Long Island farm area, and WSLB-FM Ogdensburg, to provide coverage in the upper tip of the state along the Canadian border.

Now a word about the organizations behind the Rural Radio Network. Unless you are a farmer in your own right, you may not realize the extent and influence of these organizations.

First there is the Grange. Almost every one knows about this organization, few people outside the membership (146, 000 in New York State alone) know just what the Grange does. Here are excerpts from the Grange’s Declaration of Purposes as adopted at the national convention of 1874: “. . . to foster mutual understanding and cooperation... propose meeting together, talking together, working together, buying together, selling together and, in general acting together for our mutual protection and advancement.”

Then there is the New York State Farm Bureau Federation, a non-commercial organization dealing with the education and public problems of farming. Here an excerpt from the Federation’s charter, "...to improve facilities and conditions for economic and efficient production, conservation, marketing, transportation and distribution of farm products..."

The New York State Federation of Home Bureaus was organized "...to develop, strengthen and correlate the work of the . . . home bureaus . . in their efforts to assist women in promoting all interests pertaining to the higher standards of homes and communities."

The New York State Poultry Council is made up of nine poultry groups, representing everything from chicks to chickens, turkeys, ducks and eggs. The Council "...works for the betterment of poultry producer, devoting attention to problems of disease control, nutrition breeding, marketing, etc. One of the major programs . . . is the improvement and clarification of egg-grading standards.”

The New York State Vegetable Growers Association is principally devoted educating its members in improved methods of growing and marketing vegetable crops.

The Cooperative G.L.F. Exchange (Grange League Federation) is a farmers’ purchasing and marketing cooperative.

The New York State Horticultural Society devotes most of its work to the technical aspects of fruit growing, development of new varieties, control of diseases, harvesting and packing methods, and marketing practices.

The object of the New York Artificial Breeders’ Cooperative is to improve the productivity of dairy herds in the state through better breeding. The association produces semen from quality dairy bulls for shipment to local artificial breeding cooperatives in many parts of the state.

The Dairymen’s League Cooperative Association markets the milk of its more than 25,000 members who live in the New York Milkshed.

And finally there is the Empire Livestock Marketing Cooperative Association which operates five livestock auctions throughout the state.

So we see that the interests of the farmers and rural dwellers are many and varied, and probably more diversified than those of the urban radio audiences. Here, then, is the fundamental reason for the creation of the Rural Radio Network, i.e. to meet the needs of listeners who require a specialized type of radio service. And it is clear that a radio network, operated by these representative organizations, is in an ideal position to accomplish this purpose.

Overall cost figures of the network installation indicate the magnitude of this project. The investment in land and equipment for the six stations totaled $500,000. Of this, the cost of the Ithica headquarters studios, control equipment, and offices amounted to about $80,000, while each of the six transmitters represent an average investment of $70,000. Equipment at each transmitter accounted for some $20,000. The balance $50,000 was spent for roads. water supply power lines, building construction, the land. The latter was the smallest item, since land values are low on rural hilltops.

One important economy that kept down the initial investment and operating expense was the use of radio transmission for feeding programs from the Ithaca studio to the Newfield transmitter, for interstation program distribution, and for communications purposes. In the whole setup, no wire lines are employed. This will be explained in the subsequent section on RRN facilities.

Finally, there are AM stations at 45 cities in New York State. Still, it is doubtful that, if stations at each of these cities were connected by land wires into a single network, they would give high-quality day-and-night program distribution equal to that provided at much lower cost by the six basic RRN stations and the two affiliates.

FM and Television/September 1948 R.B. Gervan/General Manager, Rural Radio Network. Ithica, NY