The BMI Program Clinic Collection

With the advent of television, radio broadcasters, during the 1950's, were forced to re-define their roles in serving their audiences. These clinics addressed a wide range of issues affecting broadcasters including programming strategy, advertising sales, station promotion, public service, news and specialized audience programs. This recording collection reflects many of the trends affecting U.S. commercial radio during that decade.

Clinic speakers represented radio stations of all sizes and formats, ranging from small, rural communities served by a daytime-only 250-watt signal, to network-owned 50,000-watt clear-channel radio stations in New York. The bulk of the talks concerned radio broadcasting, but a few, particularly from 1951-1952, addressed such television-related issues as film purchasing, use of local live talent, and network-affiliate relations.

Where possible, each recording is identified by speaker, occupation, organization or broadcast station, date, location, speech title or topic, and subject. The collection is searchable on our web site's audio database. (See below). In the dialog box, simply enter BMI program clinic and the desired term. For example, BMI program clinic KCHA will bring up all talks concerning station KCHA in Charles City, Iowa. You may also locate talks concerning such subjects as sports, women's programming and advertising in this way. For more information, read our search tips page.

The BMI Program Clinic Collection was donated to the Library of American Broadcasting in 1969. Due to the time period in which the talks were recorded, the user is advised that some recordings may contain language considered offensive.

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