To listen to classical music you have to be quiet and attentive: jazz and conversation are unequal competition, and conversation always loses out. So unless your guests request to hear your records, don't suggest it.

the radio
The radio as a means of entertaining guests is in the same category with the phonograph. Favorite radio programs, like favorite records, can be shared only with a few friends of the same mind. In mixed groups, where guests want to dance, turn on a good jazz orchestra. Otherwise, it too can spoil a party.

For the guests at a party who ask to listen to a given program, there are two alternatives. If you're a small party, tune it in and listen with them; if you're a large group, take them and the radio into another room, and let them listen without interrupting everyone else.

Even when you're listening to the radio program which keeps you home in your easy chair once a week, you turn it off if you have unex­pected guests. It's obviously not their favorite, or they wouldn't be calling, which is adequate reason for turning it off.

incidental music
If you think it adds to your parties to have soft, incidental music in the background at dinner, or during the evening, tune in such a pro­gram on the radio-but keep it low and definitely incidental. Many people refuse to eat in a restaurant where there's music, often because they like to concentrate solely on the food. Some people talk more readily if music cuts off the edge of silence. On the whole, it is probably better not to have it, but this is for you to decide.

television
Like many new phenomena, television has presented us with a whole mass of new social problems. Fortunately, as more people come to own television sets, the problem begins to solve itself, and on the whole it can be treated in the same way as radio. There is, however, one major difference: when people come to see television, or when you turn it on at the request of guests, there is less likely to be conversation. With television as with radio or the phonograph, if you entertain a great deal and want to avoid any question of entertainment through these instru­ments, don't have them in the living room, or, if there is no other convenient place for them, arrange for their temporary removal to another room during the party.

good television parties
In spite of all these precautions about the use of television for the entertainment of guests, it has its place, just as the phonograph and the radio have. You can, for instance, give delightful television parties for adults as well as children.