Radio Broadcast - 1923, August - 86 Pages, 8.5 ... - VacuumTubeEra

30ORadio Broadcastthan he might reasonably expect to knowabout his new job for some time to come.Commenting upon this startling discovery, hesaid:"1 wasn't Mayor long when I found out I'dhave to learn a lot of things about the machineryof city government I'd never dreamed of.I was up against the proposition of learninga new business for the operation of a citygovernment is a business of the most intricatesort."The first morning Mayor Cromwell sat in hisnew office, he made the discovery that he wasboss of twenty-threedepartments,cityeach separate and distinctfrom the others,just as in any greatcorporation.Each department,he found, had a certainduty to performin giving service tothe public, and mustgive satisfactory serviceto its "customers"very much in thesame manner as astreet car company, a water and light company,or the grocer or baker around thecorner. And at the head of each of these departmentshe found a board, or an individual, incontrol.To this successful butter and egg merchantthe new mayor of a city of 350,000 people thejob of rightly comprehending, to say nothing ofintelligently directing this great municipal corporation,looked like a mighty big task. True,he was very familiar with the process of turningbutter and eggs into dollars and cents butthis was different! However, like a truebusiness man, he set about to learn this newexecutive job city government. He madeup his mind to discover "what made theand especially towatch tick "'in the city hall,ascertain the source of the "wherewithal,"and the close connection between the taxpayers'"outs" and Kansas City's "ins."Then followed tedious hours, days, and weeks,while the Mayor, surrounded by instructors,departmental heads and the like, bent over widetables and delved into great books amazingarrays of tabulated reports and totals strivingto gather something beyond a mere superficialknowledge of how and where the citySaid Mayor Frank H. Cromwell: "A year asMayor of Kansas City has revealed to me thatan astoundingly large number of our citizensare ignorant of the functions of the variouscity departments. Only a few persons find timeto attend public meetings.I believe that radiooffers a medium through which citizens of amunicipality who have little or no opportunityto learn the details of municipal government,can inform themselves of the work of thevarious departments."obtained the funds which are the lubricant oilcity government, and, more important, how toldirect the distribution of these millions of!dollars.After weeks of study along this line,]bringing gradual enlightenment, he came tolrealize that his own ignorance of the function-Jing of the municipal government was as nothing)compared with what the average voter knewof the conduct of his city's business.Here was a real problem and one of universalapplication. The merchant, to exist, reasonedthe mayor, must sell his wares, and to sellj'his wares he must advertise.The city, witha great stock of waresto sell, also shouldadvertise. The voterthe ultimate consumerat the city storemust know what ison the counters andshelves. He must beinformed of the " service"offered by hiscity.The mayor ponderedover this problem.How was he to " take the city governmentto the voter?" How was the voter "tobe sold" on the proposition of operating hiscity government?After compressing the problem into thisunderstandable form, Mayor Cromwell compileda list of prospective advertising mediums,jotting them down on a slip of paper." Printed publicity isgood, " he said " providingthat a sufficient number of people willread it." Public meetings will draw only a negligibleper cent, of the population. We might writeletters, but that would entail great expense,and perhaps only a few persons would pay anyattention to them."On Mayor Cromwell's desk, as he thus ponderedthis question, lay a magazine. The coverdesign caught his attention. It was of a womansinging before a microphone, her voicebeing broadcasted by radio to thousands oflisteners-in.Suddenly Mayor Cromwell saw a "greatlight." "That's it!" he shouted. " I'll broadcastmy lessons in city government to thevoter. We'll sayit with ether waves."Mayor Cromwell likes to make his dreams