Saturday Children's Television - A Report of TV Programming and Advertising on Boston Commercial Television - July,1971

Aug 25, 2026

Uploaded by Rowan

Saturday children's television programming in Boston was monitored and videotaped to analyze both content and commercial practices. Findings showed about 77% of time devoted to program content versus 23% to announcements, with commercial announcements accounting for nearly 19% of total time. Commercials appeared more within than between programs and were distributed across toys, cereals, candy, and other foods, while biases and limited product information were noted. Program segments revealed substantial violence in dramatic portions and strong emphasis on science and technology in non-dramatic segments.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages114

Reading Time4 h 47 min

AccessFree to download

Chapter

List of Tables

Brief Summary of the Findings

I. Introduction

II. An Overview of Program Material

III. Analysis of Program Content

IV. Nature of the Commercial Announcements

V. Commercial Practices

Appendix A: Monitoring Instructions

Appendix B: Study Codes

Appendix C: Monitoring Logs

Appendix D: List of Commercial Announcements, by Product Category

ED 055461 AUTHOR TITLE INSTITJTION SPONS AGENCY PUB DATE NOTE EDRS PRICE DESCRIPTORS ABSTRACT DOCO5ZRT &ESUME Barcus,P.Earle Saturday Children's Television;A Report of TVProgra值ing and Advertising on Boston CommercialTelevision. Action for Children's Television,Boston,Mass.John and Mary R.Markle Fou ndation,Neu York,N.Y.Jul 71112p. MF-$0.65 HC-$6,58 Cartoons;*Children;*Coamercial Television;*Programing(Broadcast);*Television Commercials;*Violence Saturday children's television programming in Bostonwas monitored and videotaped so that the content could be analyzedfor a study to gather data relevant to content and commercialpractices.Some of the major findings were that overall,about 77percent of time_is devote d to program content and 23 percent toannouncements of various kinds;that comnercial announcements (CA's)--product and progran promotion--account for almost 19 percentof total time;that there were more commercials within_prog rams thanbetveen programs;that CAs vere evenly divided among four majorcategories--toys,cereals,candy,and other foods;that CA's appearto have both sexual and racial biases;and that little productinformation is given in the CA's.Other findings vere that noncommercial announce ments were pcimarily either youth-oriented orfor medical or environmental causes,and some of these did not appearto be appropriate for children.Also,when individual cartoons andother program segments were studied in detail for subject matter,itwas found that 64 percent of the dramatic progranming was in somesense violent,whiie 67 percent of nondramatic_segments dealt_withscience and technologY,race_and nationality,literature and finearts,and nature,However,77 percent of total programming was drama,with only 12 percent informationa1.(SH) ED055461 SATURDAY CHILDRENS.TF EarleBarc8ERICT 30055461 u.S.DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH.EDUCATION,&WELFARETHIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN REPRO-OFFICE OF EDUCATIONDUCED EXACTLY AS FECEIVED FROMTHE PERSON OR ORGANIZATION ORIG·INATING IT.POINTS OF VIEW OR OPIN·IONS STATED DO NOT NECESSARILYREPRESENT OFFICIAL OFFICE OF.EDU·CATION POSITIONOR POLICY. SATURDAY CHILDREN'S TELEVISION A Report_of TV Programming_and AdvertisingOn Bostcn Commercial Television July,1971 Prepared forAction for Chilaren's Television by F、Earle Barcus Professor of Commuxication ResearchBoston University CONTENTS Page Chapter List of Tables…………………………………………………………………………………………………………ii Brief Summary of the Findings ……………………………………………………………………… I.INTRODUCTION ……………………………………………………………………………………………………1 AeNore oPr the Repo-tng or pata∵∵ ∵∵∵∵∵∵∵∵∵: 5 II。AN OVERVIEW OF PROGRAM MATERIAL ……………………………………………………………………………………… T14me Dis+…int.ion…………………………………………………………………………………………5 Tho Drmg………Origin.Format,andtheUseofAnimation·●5 913a Number and Time of Announcements……………………… Announcements Within and Between Programs Program Promotional Announcements(Promos) Non-Commercial Announcements(NCA's) …………… A₂ATcTc E DDMDAM cONTENT…………………………………………………………16 III。ANALYSIS OF PRUGRAM CUNTENT………………………………………………… 17 Format,Origin,and the Use of Animation ·Subject-Matter of the Program Segments ………………………………………………………22 22 Time and Place Settings ……………………………………………………………………………………………………24 Type of Characters in the Programs ……………………………………………………………………2 The Extent and Types of Violence in the Program Segments …………26 Other Progran Elements ……………………………………………………………………………………………………29 IV. NATURE OF THE COMMERCIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS …………………………………………………32 pe, eormotertna Dipiay styie of comiareiais:::: Place Settings of the CA's………………………………………………………………………………………………8 Composition of Characters in CA's ………………………………………………………………………38 V.COMMERCIAL PRACTICES .······· ············ 43444545475254 Appropriateness of Announcements to the Child Audience ···Program/Host/Character Tie-Ins"。··············Endorsements ···················-· ···。Special Devices in the Presentation of Commercial Me

FAQs

How was Saturday children's television programming studied in Boston?

Programming was monitored and videotaped so content could be analyzed for data relevant to both content and commercial practices.

What proportion of time was allocated to program content versus announcements?

About 77% of the time was devoted to program content, while 23% was devoted to announcements of various kinds.

What did the report find about violence and subject matter in program segments?

In detailed segment analysis, 64% of dramatic programming was violent, while 67% of non-dramatic segments addressed science and technology and other thematic areas such as race and nationality, literature and fine arts, and nature.

Aug 25, 2026

Uploaded by Rowan