When television is good, nothing -- not the theater, not the magazines or newspapers -- is better. But when television is bad, nothing is worse. I invite you to sit down in front of your television set when your station goes on the air and stay there without a book, magazine, newspaper, profit and loss sheet or rating book to distract you and keep your eyes glued to that set until the station signs off. I can assure you that you will observe a vast wasteland. You will see a procession of shows, violence, audience participation shows, formula comedies about totally unbelievable families, blood and thunder, mayhem, violence, sadism (虐待狂), murder, Western bad men, Western good men, private eyes, gangsters and more violence, and cartoons. And, endlessly, commercials that scream, flatter and offend. And most of all, boredom. True, you will see a few things you will enjoy. But they are very, very few. And if you think I exaggerate, try it. Is there no room on television to teach, to inform, to uplift, to stretch, to enlarge the capacities of our children No room for programs to deepen the children’’s understanding of children in other lands No room for a children’’s news show explaining something about the world for them at their level of understanding No room for reading the great literature of the past, teaching them the great traditions of There are some fine children’’s shows, but they are drowned out in the vast sea of cartoons and violence. Must these be your trademarks Search your conscience and see whether you cannot offer more to our children whose future you guard so many hours each and every day. There are many people in this country, and you must serve all of us. You are right when you say that, given a choice between a Western and a symphony, more people will watch the Western. I like westerns and private eyes too, but a steady diet for the whole country is obviously not in the public interest. We all know that people would more often prefer to be entertained than stimulated or informed. But your duties are not satisfied if you look only to popularity as a test of what to broadcast. You are not only in show business; you are free to communicate ideas as well as to give relaxation. You must provide a wider range of choices, more diversity, more alternatives. It is not enough to serve the nation’’s whims(怪念头), you must also serve her needs. The people own the air. They own it as much in prime evening time as they do at 6 o’’clock in the morning. For every hour that the people give you -- you owe them something. I intend to see that your debt is paid with service. The statement that "The people own the air" implies that______.