European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 5, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 letters the stars and stripes explanation offered on an. _ i Rit. N,.i, mandir in a replies an is overestimating Iho value of us Home grown programs namely Neucom Reposh in my mailbag travel passport evening news and american forces first let me explain what should be done with these programs and then i will explain Why. All of these Homegrown shows should be divided into five minute segments and shown Between the Reg ular programs. Gasthaus is a very successful example of his technique. It would be easy to Wpm Cal these Home grown programs since they Are All in the newspaper Story formal. It is difficult for an to fit in All of the programs their viewers would like to Walch. They have to juggle in All the news movies sports cartoons sitcoms and variety shows with Only one television Channel. My proposal would free up More time for More audience could look Forward to the commercial Breaks instead of dreading inc ions service announce ments and the be All you can Betl Ziatz. An finally got rid of the Boring Elsa Jensch but Tlell leaves the audience yawning during the Breaks. Think to exciting it would be to get some of the local news and travel info during the Breaks. This proposal would Cut Down on the moving around of the schedule. During the month of May i counted at least eight programs that had either a Varia ble time or a variable Day. Also where docs an get off moving what s Hap pening now from b . Thursday to 9 05 . Sun Day just to show passport Over the course of the year an makes Many sched ule changes making it very hard to watch every show in a biggest advantage of my proposal is that it would add room in an s programming schedule for All these programs they say they just Don t have he room for no. Freeing up the an evening new Slot would free up a prime Lime Slot. We would Slid get news from 4 to 6 30 . By watching the today show and can headline news and would have our local news and interest stories in the Breaks and on on Days when sports programs Are to be shown we would have another 30-Minutc Slot to show one of the non sports programs thai arc usually pushed to the late hours of the night. We could add other to minus shows the rest of the week. My proposal would allow an to add five to six new 30-Mmulc programs or two to three hour Long programs to our current schedule during prime Tim?.although these Home grown programs arc overestimated in their value to the viewing audience sorry to burst your Bubble but not too Many people set their Vars for american forces perspective we Don t need to do away with them. We be got plenty of Lime for them during the Breaks. Give it a try an. La will work. Name withheld Heidelberg Wesl Germany editor s note col. Druce r. Eaton com Mander he an Europe replies an is assigned the Mission to a. Broadcast radio and to information and entertainment programming to 1. Provide Dod personnel and their family Mem Bers a representative Sample of the radio and to pro Grams broadcast in the uj5.a. 2. Provide a free flow of information without censorship propagandizing or manipulation 3. Keep the audience informed and aware of what Ever is happening anywhere thai May have an effect on their lives and or careers. B. Support Dod military service and local internal command information themes through the production and broadcast of to radio programs and spot announcements. The method of operation suggested in your letter is already being used at an. Travel log 1 a five min Ute program presented throughout the broadcast schedule consists of segments originally presented in the passport program. Additional travel Opportunity spot announcements Are presented throughout the broadcast Day. Spot Lle another five minute program presents feature reports about people in Neucom that May have been presented As segments in other programs. We use this production format whenever possible. Your suggestion to Cut the an evening news program up nto Short segments for broadcast through out the night would be a disservice to the audience members who Are interested in receiving a consolidated report on regional news sports and weather at specific time. Your recommendation would require a viewer to watch the entire evening schedule to obtain the latest news and feature reports on regional events. An s primary Mission is to provide the oppor Tuimil to for the audience to receive news and command information in a format thai provides the Best Means of communication. While you May not be interested in Wal Chang a 30-Mlnute regional newscast research has shown that there it � significant number of viewer who do want to have the Opportunity to in in at a specific time for daily updates on regional news and a weekly summary report on Dod wide and regional news Neucom report and american forces perspective these factors also pertain to the 30-minute pass port program which is very popular with Many View ers since they can tune in on a specific Day and Lime to obtain a consolidated report on travel opportunities and tips on How to get the most out of a trip your suggestion also includes the erroneous supposition that the command information spot announce ments would be replaced by the Nve minute news and feature report segments. Dod has asked All arts stations a provide com Mand information through spot announcements since this format has proved to be a very effective communication Means. Since the spot announcements he eliminated the presentation of your proposed additional news and feature reports would i free up any Lime for additional entertainment programs. Programming an currently schedules All of the prime time entertainment programs distributed by arts the elimination of the 30-Mlnole regional news programs would not result in the presentation of any additional entertainment programs since arts is funded to provide a specific number of Honn of to programs each we. It is unlikely a fits would be provided any additional funds to distribute More programs Linn its budget and personnel authorizations Hare already been significantly proposal would not result in a significant reduction in program schedule changes especially for those programs that Are rescheduled due to life sports event an programming staff is fully aware of the audience s desire to have programs scheduled at the same time each week. Therefore every Effort it made to maintain a stable program schedule and changes armade Only after thorough evaluation of the associated Impact on the a prime time entertainment program a rescheduled due to a live sports event every Effort is made to present the program in a reasonable time period for the primary audience segment. However programs including adult oriented material will not be rescheduled in time periods where a significant num Ber of children May be to the audience. Feedback from command representatives and Audi ence members shows that there is a specific interest and value in the existing 30-minute regional news and feature report programs. There is every indication that he value of these programs has not been Overisti inaccuracy in your letter is the statement thai an got rid of Elsa audience feedback showed that some member of the audience were interested in the information presented in Elsa Tensch s reports. Others did t like her reports at All. As a result of audience comments an did t delete the report from the program sched ule but did reduce the number of times in is scheduled. The underlying message in your letter is that Yon Don t like the spot announcements or 30-Mlnute news audience surveys routinely show that a relatively Small segment of tie audience does not like to watch newscasts. The surveys also indicate thai most viewers who Don t like spot announcements understand Why they Are produced and the value of the information they volumes of research and techniques used by stateside to stations document the communicative effectiveness of these program formats. Therefore an proposal to eliminate these program formats must con Vince Dod the military services theater command Community organizations and Many viewers that there is no requirement for the information presented in in command information spot announcements and that there is no requirement for 30-minute regional news and information Hope this information provides you a better understanding of the an Mission requirements and the program services provided by an. Concerns about cafes and class i stores cafes conducted a study to determine who was better suited to manage the Sale of liquor spirits and wines to the armed services cafes or the army and air Force class i agencies. determined that cafes was much better suited to manage the class i activities. The Safe study revealed that cafes could better manage inventories facilities and in the end turn Over a larger Check to mar funds. Give me a break has anyone Ever heard of experimenter Bias in Case you Haven to experimenter Bias occurs when a study is conducted and the experimenter has a preconceived notion of How the reality will turn out and surprisingly his remits support keep up with old friends 1 would like to respond to a recent letter to the editor where the writer thanked an no for returning a lost Post card containing an address of an old Friend. 1 wish to thank the Wafier for the Opportunity to Tell All stars and stripes readers that they can keep friends up to Date on their whereabouts by filling out Chang of address cards each time a change of address occurs. A form 3955, change of address and directory card also May be used to notify publishers and professional business contacts. Your unit mail clerk or army Post office has change of address cards. Col. Arthurt Dean commander . Army postal group Europe his notion. Now i do have to admit i might be a bit biased myself because if class i conducted a study an determined that it was belter suited to manage cafes activities than cafes i d believe it. 1 have been constantly reminded when shopping that cafes has a hard time handling its current responsibilities of keeping Basic items available for the armed services in Europe i m talking real Basic. Children s socks slips dresses Normal size pantyhose Abr mom a conservative new shirt for dad in Bis size. Cafes i m not questioning whether you recognize the need for these items or that you Don t buy them i m criticizing your ability to keep these items on the shelf. In contrast when i shop in the class i the shelves Are Well stocked. Cafes please master your own area of retailing before expanding your horizons. Find and read a Basic guide to conducting valid studies before you attempt another one. Cathy m. Nicks Wiesbaden West Germany first of All we arc threatened with the possibility that cafes will assume responsibility for the class i stores in Europe now we learn that it propos Eslo assume the j28 million in assets that arc owned by the military soldiers not cafes. If cafes can pull this Ott it should be Selling silo the soviets which should be easy by comparison. Come on Wake up before cafes screws up again. Jerry w. Lerry Frankfurt West Germany editor s note col. Floyd d. Hem Don jr., Cal eff staff he cafes Dallas Texas Repuk cafes did not conduct a study to determine who was belter suited to Tun the package beverage stores. Cafes was asked by the army if the class a stores a turned Over to cafes How would cafes run them and what could the mar Arena expect in earnings. Not surprisingly cafes provided its Best estimate on both counts. The army has the data and is discussing the Situa Tion to determine the Best course of Cobon for the Soldier the commands and the army. The concerns expressed about giving mar asset to cafes show a Basic misunderstanding of what cafes is and does. Cafes is also an mar non appropriated fund instrumentality with All earnings returned to the army or the air Force mar funds or being used to enhance shopping facilities for soldiers and airmen around the the earning and assets of both cml i and cafes belong to their customers the Midler and airman. Cafes in the past 23 years has contributed $1.9 billion to army and air Force mar funds andean additional $759 million to constructing new shop Ping and services facilities
