NAB reports (Mar-Dec 1933)

The National Association of Broadcasters NATIONAL PRESS BUILDING ***** WASHINGTON, D. C. PHILIP G. LOUCKS, Managing Director NAB REPORTS * Copyright 1933, The National Association of Broadcasters Vol. 1 No. 30 SEPT. 16, 1933 PREPARATIONS FOR CODE HEARING Preparations for the hearing on the broadcasters’ code are being completed under the direction of the NAB Code Committee. The hearing will be held at 10 a. m. on Wednesday, September 20, in the Caucus Room of the new House Office Building, Washing¬ ton, D. C. The committee consisting of Alfred J. McCosker, president of the NAB ; Philip G. Loucks, managing director of the NAB, and John W. Guider, counsel, has been busy with plans for the prepa¬ ration and presentation of the broadcasters’ case. The NAB Code Committee, authorized by the Board of Directors to act for the Association, will hold meetings at Hotel Washington, beginning at 10 a. m., Monday, September 18, for the purpose of hearing last minute suggestions for modifications in the code. Deputy Administrator Sol A. Rosenblatt will preside at the hearing. The NRA Industrial Advisory Board this week named James W. Baldwin, former Secretary of the Federal Radio Commission, as industrial advisor for the broadcasters’ code. The NRA Labor Advisory Board this week named Edward Nockels of the Chiicago Federation of Labor as labor advisor for the broadcasters’ code. The third advisor, to be named by the Consumers’ Advisory Board, has not yet been appointed. The duties of the advisors are to advise with the Deputy Ad¬ ministrator on changes in the code following the public hearing. There have been but few requests for opportunity to be heard up to the time this goes to press. Representatives of the musicians’ and electricians’ unions have asked to be heard and the Actors’ Equity also has sent in a request. Immediately after the Wednesday hearing, a conference will be held during which evidence submitted will be considered. The code will then go to the President for approval and will become effective ten days after official approval. NRA NEWS AND TRANSCRIPTIONS Following recommendations from the NAB, the National Re¬ covery Administration has created a daily news service which for the present will be available to stations which are not favored with network broadcasts of NRA activities. In response to a circular sent by the Managing Director to all non-network stations, nearly 150 stations have already indicated a desire for the service and upon the basis of this report the service was established with approval of the NRA. The news service was started this week. It is the plan of W. B. Dolph, director of radio activities of the NRA, and Harry R. Daniel, continuity writer, to make the service as valuable as possible both to the stations and the NRA. Plans for the “BUY NOW” campaign now being worked out at NRA Headquarters embrace both radio and newspaper advertising campaigns. Twenty-four full-page newspaper advertisements are being sent to newspapers of the country, the space for which may be sold to advertisers. The Radio Division, upon the recommen¬ dation of the NAB, is planning a series of 24 electrical transcrip¬ tions which will be sent out to radio stations simultaneously with the newspaper ads. The NRA has no funds for the turning out of transcriptions and the stations will be asked to pay the produc¬ tion cost with the understanding that the series may be sponsored by as many advertisers who desire to sponsor the series. The series will be adapted to sponsorship and will include dra¬ matic skits performed by some of the country’s most famous radio and stage stars. Stations will be queried on the subject by the NRA within the next few days. The “BUY NOW” campaign commences on October 1 and will run through November and December. WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS Revision of the Constitution and By-Laws of the NAB, provided for under a resolution adopted at the St. Louis convention last November, will be one of the important subjects slated for dis¬ cussion at the Eleventh Annual Convention of the NAB to be held at White Sulphur Springs, W. Va., October 8, 9, 10 and 11. A committee consisting of William S. Hedges, chairman, Walter J. Damm and Harry Shaw, all past presidents of the NAB, has completed its work of drafting revisions to the Constitution and By-Laws and copies will be sent to all members within the next few days. Indications are that a record crowd will attend this year’s con¬ vention. The program being developed by the Convention Com¬ mittee under the direction of Edwin M. Spence will have discussion of business problems as its keynote. Important committee reports are now being prepared and there will be many far-reaching recom¬ mendations laid before the meeting. H. K. Carpenter, chairman of the Commercial Committee, has called a meeting of his committee at White Sulphur Springs for Sunday morning, October 8, at which time the Commercial Com¬ mittee report will be whipped into final draft. COMMISSION RESCINDS RULE 118 The Commission this week adopted a motion, made by Com¬ missioner LaFount, rescinding Paragraph 118 of its Rules and Regulations, which limited the number of 50 kw. stations to four per zone. Commissioner LaFount, in presenting his motion, said “Such limitations of power do not provide equal facilities of efficient use of frequencies.” He said the Commission should consider the merits of each application for increased power on cleared channels. FRC ON “TELEVISION” “The Commission has recently received inquiries from individuals who are interested in the development of television. In addition, a considerable amount of newspaper publicity on television has been observed. “In this connection, the following statement concerning tele¬ vision, which appears in the Commission’s Sixth Annual Report to Congress for the fiscal year 1932, adequately expresses the attitude of the Commission toward television at this time: “ ‘While no startling inventions have come to fight in television during the past year, the progress that has been made has been marked by a steady improvement in the detail of pictures trans¬ mitted. This improvement has been made possible through in¬ creased attention to technical details in the optical pick-up system, in the photo-electric cell and amplifying systems, and in the actual modulation of thg radio waves emitted. This development has in a general way paralleled the progress that was made in the early stages of sound broadcasting. ‘Much attention has been given to the part of the spectrum in which television emissions will best fit. Although there are at the present time four 100-kilocycle bands between 2,000 and 3,000 kilo¬ cycles assigned to television, it has been evident for a considerable time that this space is not sufficient to meet the requirements of this new and growing art to furnish entertainment to the public. The experimenters have turned to the unexplored regions above 30,000 kilocycles. The work at these frequencies has shown signs of real promise as a future locus for this service, and the Federal Radio Commission has assigned wide frequency bands in this region for experimental work in television. Proposals have been received by the Commission from the industry to increase the space in this band in order to protect the future of television. ‘Although considerable progress has been made in scanning methods, using both the mechanical type of scanning and the elec¬ trical or so-called cathode-ray type of scanning, it appears that •Page 135*