Radio: Destiny

Norman Corwin, 35, radio’s wonder-boy writer-producer, this week took a vicious bite at the hand that feeds and pets him. In a new book, While You Were Gone (Simon & Schuster; $3.50), Scripter Corwin charged radio with “dreadful mediocrity. . . . The average sponsor and agency … borrow, imitate, plagiarize, and perpetuate formulas . . . and become fast slaves to ratings. Originality and experimentation are . . . firmly rejected. I believe . . . radio has a higher destiny than merely to sell soup and soap.”