Commercial versus public television audiences: Public activities and the Watergate hearings

An after‐the‐fact telephone survey in the Lexington, Kentucky, Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area assessed the audience for the summer 1973 Public Broadcasting System coverage of the Watergate Hearings. Responses from 480 households showed the PBS audience for hearing coverage to he roughly six times the audience for regularly scheduled PBS programming. In addition, the PBS audience for the hearings included more households whose members were involved in public activities: three out of four PBS households included a member who had delivered a public address.