Television digest with electronic reports (Jan-Dec 1959)

6 elimination of “dropouts” in deals between contestants. (4) “Problem of option time agreements . . . and their relationship to the duty & responsibility of the individual licensee to control the programming of his station.” (5) “Solution must be found for the 25-year-old problem [of clear channels].” (6) Question of “whether or not networks should be licensed, since they provide a very considerable amount of the programs which stations themselves broadcast.” (7) “Problems of multiple ownership.” (8) “Centralization of economic power resulting from technical developments in the broadcast field.” Subcommittee also had some advice on how FCC should handle intra-office work. Samples: (1) “Quality & content of the annual report of the Commission should be improved” so that more than “minimum amount” of information is supplied. (2) FCC “should take effective action to investigate & consider all outstanding anti-trust matters.” (3) Technical standards should be reviewed to make sure they “are not tied in with a patent or other monopoly.” (4) Hearing rules should be reexamined and made consistent. (5) Technical qualifications of hearing examiners should be studied before assignments. (6) FCC should be on guard against unethical conduct by lawyers practicing before it. (7) Office filing systems leave much to be desired; “systematic, central filing system in this agency is a must.” Hai'ris told reporters he planned to introduce series of bills soon after Jan. 7 opening of 86th Congress to carry out recommendations of his subcommittee. He wouldn’t predict what chances they have for enactment. Following interim report last April by subcommittee (Vol. 14:14), he introduced bill calling for agency ethics code, forbidding ex parte communications unless part of record, providing for removal of Commissioners, cutting honorariums for speeches. Subcommittee approved his measure, but it never got past his own Commerce Committee (Vol. 14:34). Legislative and agency recommendations in subcommittee’s final report were unanimous. But narrative sections, dealing with FCC hearings and with SEC-FTC hearings which led to Bernard Goldfine-Sherman Adams sensation, were put into report over objections of Republican members who planned minority reports. Jfs ❖ ♦ ♦ Continuation of investigative activity could run on for years in Congress if all of report’s recommendations are accepted. If inquiries into FCC and 5 other regulatory agencies are completed, Harris suggests that investigators could go on through other agencies, running gamut from Weather Bureau to National Institutes of Health. Meanwhile, Dr. Bernard Schwartz, subcommittee’s first counsel who was fired soon after he began making headlines in early phases of hearings, was out to make some more. He took some subcommittee files with him when he went back to NYU (Harris has asked Justice Dept, to get after him for that) and has completed book. The Professor and the Commissions, which Knopf has scheduled for Feb. publication. ADVERTISING AGENCIES: Peter G. Levathes, media v.p. of Young & Rubicam, promoted to TV-radio v.p. in charge of network syndication timebuying in new lineup combining programming with timebuying; he takes over duties of Robert P. Mountain, now heading agency’s new business div. . . . Richard N. Heath, pres, of Leo Burnett, Chicago, named exec, committee chairman in top echelon realignment, succeeded as pres, by exec. v.p. W. T. Young Jr.; Leo Burnett continues as chairman; DeWitt O’KiefFe promoted to senior v.p.; Draper Daniels, to exec. v.p. . . . Richard Bean, ex-McCann-Erickson, named v.p. of Warwick & Legler, succeeding H. H. Dobberteen, resigned . . . John Doherty, Stewart P. Brown & Jules J. Dickely promoted to v.p.’s of Ted Bates Adv. . . . Clayton Huff promoted to v.p. of BBDO; Thomas C. Dillon, ex-Los Angeles mgr., promoted to treas., succeeding Fred B. Manchee, resigned . . . Hugh L. Lucas and Kensinger Jones promoted to v.p.’s of Campbell-Ewald . . . Kelso M. Taeger promoted to v.p. of McCann-Erickson Detroit office . . . Arnold E. Johnson, broadcast facilities director, elected v.p. of Needham, Louis & Brorby . . . Ellsworth L. Timberman and Andrew J. Shepard named v.p.’s of Kenyon & Eckhardt . . . Everett W. Hencke, Sherman E. Rogers, Murray C. Thomas and Edmund C. Ridley promoted to v.p.’s of Anderson & Cairns, N. Y. . . . Joe K. Hughes promoted to v.p. of Grant Adv. Dallas office . . . Peter Finney x’esigns as exec. v.p. of Southern Adv. to open own agency at 529 W. Flagler St., Miami. Dr. Edgar Dale, Ohio State U professor of education, elected to board of National Assn, for Better Radio & TV (NAFBRAT), filling vacancy caused by death of Mrs. Helen Rachford in Las Vegas plane crash last April. J. Davis Danforth, exec. v.j). of BBDO, is chairman of Advertising Federation of America jury of awards to be made at Minneapolis convention, June 7-10. More changes in law firms specializing in TV-radio, since publication of directory in TV Factbook No. 27, pp. 376-382: Victor Kramer, ex-chief of Justice Dept, litigation div., named partner in Arnold, Fortas & Porter, which also adds as an associate Robert Hertzstein, ex-Army Judge Advocate General’s office; Howard F. Roycroft, 1958 Georgetown graduate, joins Hogan & Hartson; Mitchell S. Cutler, 1958 George Washington U graduate, new associate of Welch, Mott & Morgan; Jack M. Merelman & Edward F. Kearney, resigned from Rhyne, Mullin, Connor & Rhyne. In N. Y., Irwin Schneiderman advances to membership in Cahill, Gordon, Reindel & Ohl. Queen Elizabeth’s honors list on New Year’s Day included awards of Companion of Honor to Sir Kenneth Clark, chairman of British Arts Council, and original chairman of the Independent TV Authority, set up to supervise commercial telecasting; O.B.E. (Order of the British Empire) to Mrs. Joyce Wright, director of British Information Services in N. Y., and to Stanley Rumsam, chief of BBC news; C.B.E. (Companion of the British Empire) to Geoffrey Cox, editor of ITA news. E. P. H. (Jimmy) James, A. C. Nielsen Co. v.p., onetime NBC & MBS v.p., reviews U. S. radio history & prospects in 2-part article in British trade journal AudioVisual Selling, which tries to answer questions curi’ently posed by British commercial TV operators: “Is there room for commercial radio? If so, how much?” He concludes that “addition of a new & effective advertising medium can hardly fail in the long run to be of benefit to all selling & advertising.” Wallace E. Johnson promoted to chief of broadcast facilities div., FCC Broadcast Bureau, succeeding Walther E. Guenther, named asst, chief of Office of Opinions & Review; in Safety & Special Radio Services Bureau, John J. McCue advances to succeed late George K. Hollins as chief of public safety & amateur div.