Fresh Country Air

Any farmer can find at least three things wrong with a typical early morning farm program: 1) its broadcast of yesterday's prices is no help on tomorrow's market; 2) the program is on the air at a time when he is out doing his chores; 3) it can hardly be heard anyway, what with static and fading caused by his distance from the big-city transmitter.

But New York State farmers have a network of their own--the Rural Radio Network. Its six stations and two affiliates blanket the state with a clear FM voice and programs tailored to the rural taste. The latest issue of FM and Television concludes that RRN is a boon not only to farmers, but also to the future of FM broadcasting. The network does a job of coverage with its eight stations that an AM hookup of 30 could not match.

RRN, which was set up by ten farm organizations with headquarters in Ithaca, has begun cooperative sales (at $87.50 each) of FM receivers specially designed on the inside for good reception and on the outside for kicking around by farm animals.

The network wants to make its programs not only easier to hear but easier to listen to. Most U.S. radio programs, planned in Manhattan and Hollywood, ignore the fact that 48% of the U.S. lives in towns of 5,000 or smaller. The farmers' hookup is interested in its listeners' interests. Some of its rural wrinkles:

P: Early morning and late evening programs are out. The day's broadcasting starts 15 minutes before noon and ends at 9:15 p.m.--with a prayer at each end of the schedule. There is not one comedian or giveaway show in between.

P: Farm women do not have to be told how to can food. Home economics programs must deal in such subtleties as whether blanching peas for ten seconds longer will spoil them for freezing.

P: News broadcasts contain local items with a country-weekly flavor. Market prices are flashed like war bulletins. Weather reports are local, detailed and pertinent. Special public events are mostly such things as County Fairs.

P: On Sundays, emphasis is on music, with such features as the Chautauqua Symphony and the community sings.

P: Soap opera, which whips up its lather with crocodile tears, is replaced by readings of continued stories that stress humor and happiness in U.S. home life.

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