Radio daily (Oct-Dec 1949)

The National Daily Newspaper of Commercial Radio and Television VOL. 49, NO. 33 NEW YORK, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 1949 TEN CENTS GOV'T PLANS SET FOR ANTI-TRUST SUIT Standing Committees Of NAB Cut To Nine Washington Bureau of RADIO DAILY Washington — Carrying forward the streamlining process which got under way earlier this year, the NAB board of directors last week voted to cut the number of standing committees to nine, with an overall total of 53 members. The following will have five members each: Association of Women Broadcasters Committee, Broadcast Advertising Committee, Employee(Continued on Page 2) Guy Named President Of The IRE For 1950 Raymond F. Guy, manager of radio and allocations engineering for NBC, has been elected president of the Institute of Radio Engineers, it was announced this week by the Institute's Board of Directors. Sir Robert Watson-Watt, governing director of Sir Watson-Watt & Partners. Ltd.. of London, was elected vice-president. Mr. Guy had been a broadcast engineer for thirty years, having started as a radio amateur in 1911. He joined WJZ in 1921 and has been with NBC since 1929. Sir Robert. 1947 I R E Fellow (Continued on Page 2) Lemmon Makes Comment On FCC Investigation Walter S. Lemmon, head of World Wide Broadcasting Corp., Friday, said that the proposed FCC inquiry into the operations and ownership of international radio stations WRUS, WRUX, WRUL, WRUW, and WRUA, all located at Scituate, Mass. was concerned with an application by (Continued on Page 2) Anniversary Parly George Frey, recently named director of television sales at NBC. was the guest of honor at a party celebrating the 25th anniversary of his association with the network, which was held Thursday night at the Rainbow room, RCA, building. Frey was presented with a watch by 50 of his NBC sales associates with Sid Eiges acting as emcee. .\i<«<» Gesture WTOP. Washington CBS affiliate, last Thursday night got an emergency call for a spot announcement asking for blood donations to save the life of an NBC television engineer ill at Gallinger Hospital. The CBS affiliate, canceling a station break, put the request on at 9:30 p.m., and within a matter of minutes received forty calls offering aid. One was from Connecticut. $3, Billings Rise; Is With the sale of three hours of new programs and renewals of two hours and forty-five minutes of commercial programming weekly. Mutual has added $3,800,000 in billings to the network, A. N. Hult. sales vice-president of MBS. announced Friday. The American Federation of Labor, new to Mutual, and Miles Laboratories, now in its fifth year of association with the net, will each spend more than a million dollars in 1950. The A. F. of L. begins sponsorship (Continued on Page 2) Stage Ready For Action Against Webs; Believe D. Of J. Will Prosecute In Spite Of FCC's Apathy Say Constitution Aids Religion-On-Radio Washington Bureau of RADIO DAILY Washington — The Constitution not only does not rule out, but it lends encouragement to, the establishment of a religious broadcasting service, the FCC was told Friday by the Southern Baptist Convention and the executive board of the Baptist General Convention of Texas. These (Continued on Page 8) Southwest Station Reps Form New Association Dallas — Newly formed Southwestern Association of Broadcast Representatives were hosts to over 100 advertisers, agency and station personnel at a special luncheon in the Baker Hotel last Thursday. Recently formed SABR is composed of George Harding, Branham (Continued on Page 2) 'Greatest Story" Honored Benson Leaves Mutual; By Freedom Foundations Was Nat. Sales Manager ■ Valley Forge, Pa. — A Freedom Foundations award for outstanding contribution to the American way of life went today to "The Greatest Story Ever Told," inspirational program sponsored by the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. on ABC. Second (Continued on Page 5) George Benson, national sales manager of Mutual, resigned on Friday. Benson has been with Mutual for the past four years. Prior to then he was sales manager of the ABC web. No successor at Mutual is contemplated with Ade Hult taking over the department's activities. BAB Study Reveals Similarity Of Radio, TV Rate Practices Shorter rate guarantee periods, higher charges for shorter program periods in relation to basic hourly rate and extra charges for studio use were among the major differences between TV and AM station rate practices revealed in a survey by the Broadcast Advertising Bureau and mailed to BAB members over the weekend. Made at the request of the BABTV Standardization group, the study covers discounts, time classifications, relationship of rates for various program and announcement lengths, facilities charges, rate protection, agency commissions and related subjects. It reported a large degree of similarity between AM and TV rate custorns. The shorter rate guarantee periods, BAB said, reflect "the constant and rapid increase in the number of(Continued on Page 7) Washington Bureau of RADIO DAILY Washington — With its investigative work already done, the Department of Justice now. is marking time before proceeding with an all-out antitrust battle against the three major networks. The FCC is reliably reported to have been cool to the idea of anti-trust action, but its own moves to (Continued on Page 5) Sedgwick Favors Can, Radio Changes Toronto — Declaring that the Canadian Broadcasting System should be free from limitations which commercialism imposes. Harry Sedgwick, president and general manager of CFRB, Toronto, in an appearance before the Royal Commission on National Development on Arts, Letters and Sciences, suggested that the government network be devoted to public service programming. Sedgwick's brief called for a di(Continued on Page 8) 'Whistler' Coast Rating Tops Nielsen Report "The Whistler" was again the leader in Pacific Nielsen Ratings for September, with 16.8. "Lux Radio Theater" was second with 16.2. followed by "People Are Funny." "Ad(Continued on Page 5' Thanksgiving Show Mrs. Ralph Bunche. wife of the United Nations mediator, related the story of the first Thanksgiving to a group of children from other lands, on the CBS-TV religious series. "Lamp Unto My Feet," Sunday. Nov. 20 at 4:30 5:00 p.m., EST. The first Thanksgiving was portrayed in a 15 minute drama, which included an authentic Indian prayer. ■