NAB reports (Jan-Dec 1948)

Record Details:

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PUBLIC RELATIONS EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE; Robert Saudek, ABC; George Crandall, CBS; A. A. Schechter, MBS; and William Hedges, NBC. PROGRAM EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE: Charles C. Barry, ABC; William Fineshriber, CBS; an MBS member to be announced ; and Ken Dyke, NBC. LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE: Joseph McDonald, ABC; Joseph H. Ream, CBS; Robert D. Swezey, MBS; and Frank Russell, NBC. EMPLOYEE-EMPLOYER RELATIONS EXECUTIVE COM¬ MITTEE; Joseph McDonald, ABC; Howard Hausman, CBS; Robert D. Swezey, MBS; and John McDonald, NBC. RESEARCH COMMITTEE: Edward Evans, ABC; Elmo Wilson, CBS; E. P. H. James, MBS; and H. M. Beville, NBC. RepeaS of Radio Excise Tax Recommended Amendments providing for an exemption of commer¬ cial radio receiving sets and repeal of the Federal excise tax on component parts were suggested to the U. S. Treasury Department last week by the Radio Manufacturers Association, in a report reiterating RMA recommendations of repeal of the 10% excise tax on radios. RMA’s recommendations were contained in a memorandum compiled by the Association’s Excise Tax Committee, under the chairmanship of Joseph Geii, President of the Sonora Radio and Television Corp., of Chicago, III, and submitted to the Treasury in response to an invitation by the Tax Research Di¬ vision, which is preparing an analysis of the manu¬ facturers excise tax imposed on radios. “The RMA,’’ the report said, “stands firmly behind the principle that the 10% tax on radios should be repealed or reduced. Until the tax is repealed, the RMA recommends that the law be amended to permit its administration in accordance with the original in¬ tention of Congress, to wit: — that the tax be levied exclusively on radio sets designed and sold for the reception of standard broadcasts of an entertainment or educational nature. “To this end the RMA specifically recommends that the law be amended to provide an exemption for com¬ mercial-type receiving sets and also that the tax on parts be repealed,’’ the report concluded. Radio was undoubtedly a luxury in 1932 when “more than half the population had yet to own their first set’’ and when the excise tax on radios was enacted and generally described as a “luxury tax,” the report de¬ clared. “Today, with more than sixty million radio sets in use in well over 90% of the homes in the United States, the radio is no longer a luxury but a necessity,” the RMA Committee told the Treasury Department. The committee pointed out that more American homes have radios than such other common household neces¬ sities as electricity, telephones or plumbing. Legcil D@pcirtiii©iil Court Denies WiAL Declaratory Judgment For Withdrawal of Blue Book Statements In a decision of concern to broadcasters, restricting the right to judicial review of FCC action, the U. S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Mon¬ day (12) held that the District Court had properly refused to issue a declaratory judgment that Station WBAL was entitled to a withdrawal of statements made about WBAL in the FCC “Blue Book”. Treating as true the WBAL claim that the state¬ ments were unwarranted misrepresentations and libel¬ ous, the court said that the publication of them was a legal wrong, but that the station was without a remedy. This statement was made by the court under the established principle that “the public interest requires that officials be at liberty to exercise their functions without fear of consequences, and that this public in¬ terest outweighs any damage done an individual by a malicious act of a public official.” WBAL had relied on the provision of the new Ad¬ ministrative Procedure Act giving a right of review to any person suffering legal wrong because of any “agency action.” The court held, however, that the definition of agency action in the Act is not all-embracive and “obviously does not cover an act such as the publication of the ‘Blue Book’.” The court also noted that “it is obvious upon the face of the ‘Blue Book’ itself that the comparison from which the Commission drew an unfavorable con¬ clusion as to [WBAL’s] operation was unjustifiable. No sound conclusion can be drawn from a comparison between a promotional forecast by one person [the previous licensee] and the actual operation by another person [WBAL] for one selected week out of a period of eleven years.” This paragraph was last week the subject of ex¬ tended conjecture, but the NAB legal department pointed out that it was only obiter dictum, and insig¬ nificant beside the operative decision, which actually restricts the right to judicial review, and which is thus of real importance to broadcasters, no matter how gratifying the criticism of the “Blue Book”. Hesearch Pepartxneiit 1947 Radio Manufacture Tops All Records; Television and FM Included in Summaries Year-end figures released last week by the Radio Manufacturers Association showed that production of television and radio receivers, including FM, broke all (Continued on next page) JANUARY 19, 1948-48