Since the Federal Communications Commission is to be a regulation service in the public interest, several studies investigated what several Midwestern American groups would consider "in public interest." The study began in 1991 with an examination of college students' attitudes. A second part of the study (in 1992) administered questionnaires to adults (age 53 to 92) in retirement communities and senior activity centers; and to 125 church members in a college town of 20,000. Researchers for the study used factor analysis because it focuses attention on commonalities among a broad spectrum of participants. Some of the results of the three studies are as follows: (1) all but the senior citizens think that society should be careful about sex and violence in programs; (2) the question of censorship did not appear in the pooled groups' factors; (3) crossownership and the consequent diminishing of the number of voices in the community is a concern to all these groups, not surprisingly since the town these groups live in was not one the FCC grandfathered; (4) the participants do not like broadcast campaigns and particularly commercials; (5) all groups recognize the importance of broadcasting and cable as both entertainment and issue/public service media; (6) all groups think the media should cover local events. (Contains five appendixes of data, the questionnaire, and 21 references.) (TB)