Nicholas Johnson and Mason Williams on the Virginia Graham Show, July 16, 1970

Speaker 1: Nicholas Johnson. That was my quartet playing and that's something very good. The LA Frankel quartet to listen to. You said something about commercials that you wanted to say something when I rudely interrupted you. Nick: Oh, not at all. Just there's a book published by historian Eric Barnell on the history of broadcasting and in the last volume, which is now out, Deals With Television, he describes ply the good drama that was on in 1953 and 1954 was runoff and he quotes from Paddy Chayefsky, who wrote Marty, that was first shown on television and then became a movie, one of the first television programs to do that, who had discovered what Chayefsky calls the marvelous world of the ordinary. That is to say the drama that is in the lives of each of us in our day to day problems and drama that can help us address those problems and deal with them. And Barnell asks, why was this drama taken off? And he concludes that it was basically taken off because of the commercial pressures from advertisers and networks who found that they also were dealing in drama with their commercials, but their dramas always had simple solutions. You could solve all of life's problems by taking a chemical of some kind into your body, purchasing a product or spraying something on you. The problems can be very simply and easily solved. And Chyefsky was taking the same dramas the dissatisfaction people have in love and business and so forth, and making them very complicated, talking about what the problems really are and how people need to work out of their problems. And that this was basically inconsistent with a commercial emphasis that tries to make people always reach beyond economically, where they are, which has the effect of driving them backwards emotionally. Speaker 1: All right, now that is very true and I have to say there's some truth, not complete truth, but truth is that no matter who you are, gorgeous music, wonderful music is appreciated by everybody and that is what we are going to hear now because Mason Williams is going to give a marvelous rendition of Carnival. Band playing Carnival Mason: Let's do a song called The Exciting Accident and it's a song I wrote one time. I wrote in 1965 but nobody liked it then. But now since I have the power now I'm going to force it on everybody. Actually it talks about the thing we've been talking about in television. It's a song that makes a whole lot of racket but, you might say a lot of it, it blows a great wind, but nothing comes out of the horn, I guess you could say it that way. Speaker 4: One, two, one two, one two three four. Mason: Music Plays Late one night, a bunch of us were hungry for a snack. We stopped at a Nightery set way in the back. We all ordered stuff to drink some coffee and milk and Cokes. And conversed on worldly things and told some dirty jokes. We weren't causing trouble, but suddenly a man jumped up from his counter seat and pointing with his hand, said to us with narrow eyes. His voice was like a hiss. Sadness, he said, is the mortar between our happiness. Then he turned and ran but accidentally careened and knocked over with a crash, the gumball machine. Gumballs spilled all over the sidewalk, some rolled off the curb. Nobody seemed to care about that. Nobody said a word. What the heck was eating him? We wondered in the law, this is not a true tale, but who needs truth if it's dope? [Music Plays 00:10:14]. Oh, what the heck was eating him, we wondered in the law. This is not a true tale, but who needs truth if its dope? [Music Resumes 00:11:16] Speaker 1: Before I forget, I just want to say that we saw a clip, of Mason Williams, appearance before the FCC, but the entire transcript is in a book form, which is called The Mason Williams FCC report and if you want to get it also by Nicholas Johnson, a book on how to talk back to your television set, not a commercial endeavor because the money from this goes to citizens groups that are trying to promote. Mason: That's the same, I didn't put that in mine, but yeah, I don't get any money out of it. Speaker 1: No. Well anyhow, this is for better television. All right boys, what do we do? How do we get better television? What are the solutions? Mason: You want to take it. Nick: Okay. The citizens groups you mentioned are one Avenue. There are things that the individual can do and I think it's important that they know that the stations are not owned by the local station owner. They are operating public property, that they have licenses that expire every three years. When the license expires, that is in effect an election time when the people of that community should determine who they think are the best people to operate the stations in their community. These elections have been going on every three years, but nobody votes because nobody's been told... Speaker 1: How do you vote? Nick: By participating at the FCC and indicating in a letter that you would like to participate in a license renewal hearing. Many citizens groups are discovering that once they indicate that interest, it's not necessary to actually go through the hearing, that the station operators are perfectly prepared to sit down and talk with them about their demands. This has happened in Texarkana, Rochester, New York, Atlanta, Georgia. Many other cities around the country. Individual citizens can also file fairness complaints if they feel a station is not dealt fairly with an issue on the air. They can propose rulemaking as a group of women in Boston have done, called Action for Children's Television. They believe that the commercials are in especially invidious influence when they try to contaminate young children in their very early age and turn them into consumers from the first years. These are some of the things that you can do and then you've got some help from new technology coming along. Cable television offers a much greater range of choice of programming, possibly if you open it up on a common carrier principle to anyone who wants to put a program out over the cable television system, subscription television, the public broadcasting corporation, and the strength and the growth in public broadcasting, Sesame street programs of that kind. Speaker 1: You know what bothers me? I must say big daddy, the network centers, cuts out stuff that we say on the program, which is insulting to our adult audience and yet on an educational station, you see and hear four letter words that you would never see. Why is it permissible in soap operas or in something like this that is called an intellectual pursuit, and yet when we use a certain word, I'm sure maybe one of the words you use today will be cut from this. I mean, is this sponsor censorship or the station? Who gave you your problem? The sponsor or the station? Mason: It's just the people. You know what I mean? The people that run it, they're like a used car lot salesman. And their flavor is they just don't like life. They don't like fun and... Speaker 1: Are they afraid, are they terribly afraid of the numbers? Mason: Sure, well, we suffer from a bad circus experience in America. We still poke things with a stick to watch them move. And we're trying to get over a little of that, television in the car, the automobile have really isolated us from each other and we're not familiar with each other anymore. So people wouldn't be afraid of the dark if they would sit in the dark a little bit. Speaker 1: Of course. That's right. Because you sit, not seeing what's ahead. Mason: Whatever experience you lose touch with, you become afraid of. And we used to pass each other on the streets, see and television, the flavor of television is, it's a broadcast emptiness. It's like, to watch television for the most part, it's like going down to the store, buying an empty, no deposit, no return, bottle, bringing it home, open it up and looking at it and then throwing it away. Speaker 1: Mason for the lonely. It's the most wonderful thing, for the person who was in the house. I get up in morning and I put that television set on... Mason: What about the other hundred 90 million people. Speaker 1: It gives me companionship, I find [crosstalk] programs that I love. Mason: Aside from providing a sound. Speaker 1: I can give you twenty programs that I love. That I simply [inaudible 00:16:08]. Mason: Well, aside from providing a sound, which I appreciate as a welcome relief. Speaker 1: No, I like what I'm listening to. Mason: What is television? What is television doing to help people who are lonely to lead more full lives? Speaker 1: I think by example, they can learn. For instance, right now, don't be lonely. We're going to wave goodbye to all of you and thank you Mason, and thank you, Nick very much. Speaker 5: Promotional assistance and accommodations provided by Quality Motels, the motels with the sunny disposition. There are over 400 quality motels in the U S and Canada ready to serve you for business or pleasure. Transportation and promotional consideration provided by Hertz, where you don't just rent a car, you rent a company. Speaker 6: You [inaudible] that interesting people. You always see the bright side up. It's nice because someone understanding, can keep us landing right side up. Virginia, Virginia, Virginia, there's always something new. In everything you do. Virginia, Virginia, Virginia.