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12 J. Broad. 327 (1967-1968)
The Short Unhappy Life of Transit Radio

handle is hein.journals/jbem12 and id is 337 raw text is: RICHARD L BEARD The Short Unhappy Life of Transit Radio This past spring, the Mayor of New York vetoed a proposition to permit the broadcasting of commercials in subways saying: The broadcasting of commercials in subways, even short ones, would be an unconscionable invasion of privacy that could not be justified as a revenue measure. This was but the latest chapter in the story of an advertising medium that was hailed at one time as the savior of FM, but foundered on the dislike of its involuntary audience. Richard L. Beard is associate professor of business administration at the University of Alberta, Edmonton. He earned his Ph.D. in Communication from the University of Illinois, and previously taught at the Universty of Texas. Introduction N UMEROUS events have been discussed in terms of their effects on public opinion, and vice versa, but seldom has there been an instance where the public opinion was so clearly observable, and so demonstrative of its power, as in the case of transit radio. A significant portion of the American public quickly formed an opinion of transit radio, and the voicing of that opin- ion caused an early demise of the industry. When it existed in the United States, transit radio was the broadcast of commercial FM radio programming in vehicles used for public transportation. The Federal Communications Commis- sion writes: The transitcasting operation closely resembles storecasting except that its programs are designed to reach transit passengers in pub- lic vehicles. This programming is also similar to that utilized in storecasting and may be generally characterized as consisting of background music interrupted at fairly short intervals by short @JOURNAL OF BROADCASTING, Vol. XII, No. 4 (FaIl 1968)