NAB reports (Mar-Dec 1933)

The National Association of Broadcasters NATIONAL PRESS BUILDING ***** WASHINGTON, D. C. PHILIP G. LOIJCKS, Managing Director NAB REPORTS Copyright, 1933, The National Association of Broadcasters ★ Vol. 1 No. 41 NOV. 4, 1933 BROADCASTERS CODE IN FINAL STAGES The Code of Fair Competition for the Broadcasting Industry, submitted by the NAB on August 31, and on which public hear¬ ings were held on September 27, is now receiving final considera¬ tion by the National Recovery Administration. It is understood that the Industrial, Labor and Consumer Advisory Boards and the Legal Division of the NRA are now prepared to make reports to General Johnson and that there is a possibility that the code may be approved by President Roosevelt within the next ten days. Differences which arose over the hours of w'ork and w’ages for operators and control men have been virtually settled during the past week. Under the code, as now drafted, President Roosevelt would be empowered to name a code authority consisting of nine broadcasters and three government representatives, the latter without vote, who would administer the code until such time as this temporary authority makes recommendations for a permanent set-up. NAB BOARD MEETING THURSDAY The new Board of Directors of the NAB will hold its reorgan¬ ization meeting in Washington, D. C., November 9, for the pur¬ pose of outlining a program for the next year. It is expected that President McCosker will announce committee assignments at the time of the meeting. McCOSKER NAMED WOR PRESIDENT Alfred J. McCosker, President of the NAB, last week was pro¬ moted from general manager to President of the Bamberger Broadcasting Service, Inc., which owns and operates WOR, Newark, N. J. President McCosker recently completed his tenth year of service with the eastern station. F. R. C. MAY MOVE TO P. O. BUILDING The government has condemned the building in which the Fed¬ eral Radio Commission is now housed. Therefore, it will soon be necessary for it to move again. Having this in mind the Radio Commission has asked for space in the new Post Office Department Building, which is nearing completion at Pennsylvania Avenue and 12th Street, N. W. Should the Commission be assigned space in this new building and move, it will be about the fifth time that the Commission has moved since its organization in 1927. It was first housed in one part of the old Department of Commerce building, then in another part of the same building. It then was moved to the Interior Department building, then to the National Press Building, back to the Interior Building, and then to its present location. In other words, it has been forced to move about every year of its existence. COPYRIGHT CONTRACTS ATTACHED The National Recovery Administration has been asked to brand as unfair competition the provision of the ASCAP broadcast copyright license contract which exacts a fixed percentage on the revenue from all programs regardless of whether they contain ASCAP music or not. This provision discriminates against inde¬ pendent composers and publishers by depriving them of an equal opportunity to have their works performed on the air. For the National Association of Broadcasters, Oswald F. Schuette, copyright director, asked the insertion of a clause in the Music Publishers’ Code that would stop this discrimination. The Code presented by the Music Publishers condemned the fol¬ lowing as “unfair competition”: “The paying, presenting or otherwise giving to any owner, lessee, manager, or other person in control of or interested in any talking machine company, radio broadcasting or television station, electrical transcription company, motion picture com¬ pany, or any place of public entertainment, of any money, service, favor or thing or act of value for the privilege of performing or having works performed in such place.” To this section, the NAB proposal would add the following lan¬ guage: “Or the granting of a license, directly or indirectly, or author¬ izing the granting of a license, for the public performance of copy¬ righted works, under terms, conditions, or agreements, the effect of which is to deny to other copyright owners the equal oppor¬ tunity to obtain the public performance of their works through the facilities of such talking machine company, radio broadcasting or television station, electrical transcription company, motion picture company or any place of public entertainment.” Inasmuch as the practice that would so be condemned is being carried on by a contract of a separate corporate organization — ASCAP — it was further proposed to bar from the “Code Author¬ ity” of the Music Publishers any publisher who participated in an organization that carried on such unfair competition. To do this, the NRA was asked to insert in the paragraph of the Music Publishers’ Code which set up the code committee, the following language: “No publisher shall be eligible for election as a member of the foregoing committee, or to participate in the election of such representative so long as he shall be a member, stockholder, associate, or participant, either directly or indirectly, or in any capacity, in any corporation, club, partnership or association com¬ posed of copyright owners and/or composers and/or publishers of music, the purpose, effect, or result of which is to engage in any of the practices condemned in Section 6 as constituting unfair competition in the production, manufacture, exploitation and/or sale of music.” In presenting the code for the Music Publishers, John G. Payne, president of the Music Publishers’ Protective Association, said: “The publishers do not regard themselves as in competition in the sale of their compositions. They are only in competition with each other in so far as getting their numbers exploited is concerned.” This seemed to pave the way for a discussion of the unfair competition practiced in the copyright license of ASCAP. Before this point in the hearing was reached, however, Deputy Adminis¬ trator Sol A. Rosenblatt announced that the code would have to be completely rewritten because it included sections concerning practices in the wholesale and retail field that should be turned over to other divisions of the NRA. No announcement was made concerning a date when the Publishers Code would again be con¬ sidered. Because the copyright situation was to be discussed, a representative of the Department of Justice attended the hearing. LAFOUNT RESOLUTION WITHDRAWN Commissioner LaFount this week withdrew a resolution seeking to bring about amendment of the Commission’s Rules and Regu¬ lations so as to require licensee corporations to report to the Com¬ mission the transfer of 10 per cent or more of its stock to any purchaser during any license period, together with the name of each such stockholder and the citizenship and residence of each said purchaser. The proposed resolution also sought to require a list of officers and stockholders holding 10 per cent or more of stock in licensee corporations to be a part of each license renewal application. COMMISSION TO STUDY QUOTA SYSTEM The Federal Radio Commission this week rejected, by a vote of 4 to 1, the proposal made by Commissioner LaFount that cer¬ tain low-power stations be removed from the list of quota charges. The resolution sought to provide that low-power stations might be licensed, under certain restrictions in areas not now receiving good broadcast service, without addition to the existing quota charges of the various states. • Page 2 1 T •