Radio daily (Oct-Dec 1949)

6 1ADIO DAILY Friday. December 2, 194! AGENCIES MARTIN J. MURPHY has become a senior time buyer with Young & Rubicam, Inc. He was formerly with Pedlar & Ryan and Ruthrauff and Ryan. C. H. KIBBEE has been appointed assistant treasurer and secretary of Philip Morris & Co. Kibbee has been assistant treasurer of the American Airlines for the last four years. He will assist the company's chief financial officer, L. G. Hanson. KANNENGIESSER & CO. has chosen Paris & Peart to promote Kanana banana flakes, a new syrup product, effective Jan. 1. CIBA COMPANY, INC., chemical producers, has named Briggs & Varley, Inc. Joseph Boland, Jr. is the account executive. Bojctngles Tribute Set WMCA will run a -tribute to Bill "Bojangles" Robinson this Sunday, December 4, from 4:30 to 5:00 p.m. Ed Sullivan will narrate the show which includes sequences from Robinson's life and tributes paid to him by Mayor O'Dwyer and Rev. Adam Clayton Powell. Bubbles, of the team of Buck and Bubbles, will portray Robinson in the dramatization. ^5 end i3irtlidai) December 2 Earl Glade Dorothy Andrews Bernice Judis Bill Perry Homer Smith Peter C. Goldmark Ed Burns Bob Convey , Linda Ellen Kessler December 3 Connie Boswell Rosaline Greene Kathleen Stewart Charlie Pittman Charles F. McCarthy December 4 Charlie Basch Helen Baylis Ann Morath Isabel Randolph Larry Rothman Bill Slater Charles G. Burke December 5 Archer Gibson Lyn Murray Ned Tufts Jean Sothern December 6 Ira Gershwin leannette Land Agnes Moorehead John Ravencrof Gertrude Gcrdon Sachs Ernest E. Stern I. L. Van Volkenburg December 7 Bob Brown Viola Philo Arch Oboler Al Schenkeim James Joseph McCann December 8 John Babb Mary Patton Frankie Basch Lionel Colton Howard Meighan Freedom With Responsibility' Stressed By Coy At Amherst (Continued with AM stations. In an address at Amherst College he said "It is entirely possible that the conditions in FM and television are sufficiently different from those in AM that other or additional regulations are needed to protect against monopoly." Coy spoke on the general subject of the First Amendment, and freedom of radio. He reviewed relent Commission history with relard to the network problem, the •'Mayflower" decision, newspaper ownership of radio stations, giveaway programs, the rights of labor unions to time on the air, and the blue book. 'It Is Human Nature" "It is human nature," Coy said, "to want freedom without responsibility." He stressed the importance of assumption of responsibility by broadcasters, and explained that the "Blue Book" represented the Commission's notice that it would expect broadcasters to exercise their responsibility for the public interest. The FCC leader added that "for these efforts to expand the public interest concept for the benefit of 150 million American people as opposed to the unbridled freedom of expression for broadcasters, the Commission was widely applauded by many elements in our society which had been gravely concerned with the increasing degradation of service. The president of the National Association of Broadcasters, however, promptly branded the Commissioners as violators of the First Amendment, stooges for the communists' 'obfuscators,' 'intellectual smart-alecks,' 'professional appeasers,' 'guileful men,' 'astigmatic perverters of society.' "The Commission has somehow managed to survive these characterizations." Likes Pennsylvania Decision Coy hailed the recent Pennsylvania decision holding that TV programs are not censorable by a state body before broadcast as a "clear and unmistakable" interpretation of the Communications Act as written. The issue here is similar, he said, to the issue involved in attempts by broadcasters to censor political speeches, and added: "The Act says there shall be no censorship; the Commission says there shall be no censorship; Judge Kirkpatrick (in Pennsylvania) says there shall be no censorship." Coy had praise for broadcasters for their able handling of the difficult problems arising over the allocation of time for political broadcasts. He said he thinks the industry has made its best record in this field, as it seeks to practice the equal treatment principle. "In the heated presidential campaign of 1948 the complaints reaching the FCC numbered less than from Page 1) six," he said. "And so far as I know all of them were adjusted during the progress of the campaign. "You must bear in mind that not only did the older political parties get equal time for their candidates, but the new political parties — the parties of Governor Thurmond of South Carolina and Henry Wallace of New York — likewise received equal treatment with the older political parties. Minority parties do not have to establish themselves before they have access to American radio." He pointed to the difference in operation between many violently partisan newspapers and the radio stations they own. This difference, he said, "is not due to any selfrestraint inherent in the operation of a radio station, but rather can be attributed almost entirely to the legislative mandate that radio stations must treat all political parties fairly. ' Clarifies "Restrictions" Coy said he "would of course be the first to agree that some of the Comr lission's actions restrict the licensee's freedom. They restrict his freedom to be unfair. They restrict his freedom to use his publicly-owned frequency for his own whims, or caprices. They abridge his freedom to use >a scarce frequency that belongs to all the people to dole out time to his pets or to use it for himself and his own 'nterests and to withhold it from :hose groups with whom he hapoens to differ. They abridge his freedom to dodge his responsibility to operate his station as an open forum for all the conflicting interasts of the community instead of as a private chattel to do with as he will. They abridge his freedom to evade his responsibilities as a trustee. "For my part, I conceive it my duty to make every effort to curtail the freedom of radio station licensees to be unfair or to use their licenses solely for their own private benefit rather than for the public interest." Coy declared, however, that "despite deviations and derelictions such as I have discussed, the total performance of American broadcasting has resulted in the presentation of a breadth and diversification of opposing viewpoints that has established it as a people's forum of high utility to the functioning of our Democracy." Wants Vigilance Against Abuse Turning to the problem of restrictions on freedom by Government, Coy said eternal vigilance is essential to guard against abuse of power by Government. But he added that it is not safe "to rely on the broadcasting industry alone to resist any tendency to undue control of access to radio facilities. In COAST-TO -COAST Labor Reports Aired Detroit, Mich— WDET airs summaries on the World Labor Conferences now being held in London to organize a new, free non-communist world labor organization. The reports on the meetings are aired Tuesday through Saturday, at 6:25 pm.. by Harold Hutchinson, labor editor of the "London Daily Mirror." The weekly resumes of the conference proceedings, also done in London, are also being broadcast on Sundays at 5 p.m., and are handled in the British capital by BBC's Labor Specialist, George Darling. KBON Signs Members Omaha, Neb.— Beverly Bush has joined the KBON staff in the publicity and promotion department, and Eric Ross has joined the sales department. "Over-Sixty Club" Parties Stamford, Conn.— Monthly birthday parties of the "Over-Sixty Club" are being scheduled by WSTC and WSTC-FM. The Stamford Home for the Aged sponsors the organization membership which is limited to all residents who are 60 or over. Birthday celebrants are special guests during each program. The club was designed to provide social contact for lonesome older people. KFH Lad With Heidt Wichita, Kan. — Larry Patterson, 21-year-old vocalist on the halfhour "Five O'Clock Date" heard over KFH and KFH-FM, five days a week, will appear with the Horace Heidt Christmas Night Show broadcasting from New York City. Larry appeared on the talent show several weeks ago in Memphis, Tenn., after tieing for first place in the local contest, and was paid tribute by Heidt, who booked him for the Christmas night broadcast. this industry, as in other enterprises, there always will be those who are willing to sacrifice principle 'for private advantage. "Further, the industry cannot be counted on to discipline itself or to see to it that its members do not impose arbitrary restrictions on free access to radio facilities. Only the Government can prevent such arbitrary restrictions. But it must have the aid of an enlightened public on this score. For the private pressure groups that exist are rarely interested in seeing that all sides are fairly treated — they are anxious to see that their own point of view is presented to the public. Thus, an organized and informed public is doubly necessary for a truly free radio — to make sure that the Government shows no tendency to utilize its licensing power as a means of controlling radio and to aid the Government in its efforts to remove any arbitrary restrictions on the free use of radio that may be advanced by the industry or pressure groups."