Variety (Dec 1940)

Wediiesday, December 4, 194© WOR Reacts to ,WOR, Newark, hai rjesclhded the cariceilatiori it gave Irving Caesar, conductor of th<e 'Soiigs of Safety' program,' and the latter will bie perr: mitted to continue the series until : his • presei)t.' contract expires ■which 1$ Dec. 29: Station had jpreyiously advised Caesiarj who is ah ASCAP direbtor aiicl a member of its radio inegotiating committee, that he, was through Dec. 8. The cancellation Mfrik^ • followed by roriie -newspaper columnar comment and the station's management a©reed:that the incident could, be .interpreted; as petty ,aad spiteful. . • Gaesar; will be asked that fpf; the balance, ■ of his run he, cut; off the singing of ASOAPrCbtitrolled pop tunes and cdinftne himself to the edur cational phase: of his program. WQR has also changed tack in. its; handling of - the ^ Mbrtpn ". Gould and ■ Robert - Russell; Betinett,: situations. Gould and Russell,,who conduct their; own programs' on the station, are , members of ASCAP..IWhea^^^ out- ■ let discovered tliait ther arrangements. Xn&de by, Gould and Bennett auto,- matically become part of the ASGAP : tepertpjre..it decided to drop the two-; . some's ; programs. Later: WOR'is management, reversed itsi^lf arid in- ; formed Gould arid Bennett that they V'cre to, continue on theijr shows un- til the end of this month. ■; ■ ASCAP Claims AH : Outstanding feature of the duo's programs is that they use their own compositions. Station's initial in- quiry of them last 'iVeek was whether they could confine their programs to public domain music with the 6r- rahgem.ents. turned out by them- selves. They passed the inquiry "along to their publishers and the latt.'",t on questioning! ASCAP ad- duced a written opinion by ASCAP's general, counsel, Schwartz & Froh- lich. which held that everything written by a member, regardless of whether It was an original composi- tion, or an arrangement; fell within the agency rights of the Society. Music . Continued from: pas*. ^ • Deal has been closed for the pur- chase of WMCA, N. Y., from Donald Flamm; Group that is financing the buy Is headed by Edward J. Noble, one of Wendell Willkie's leading backers in Connecticut and himself a recent candidate for the U. S. senate in chat state. Flamm asked for over $1,000,000 for the outlet in the past. Flamm declared yesterday after- ^n.obn (Tuesday) th?it he wouldnlt Issue any statement: while the .ap- proval petition is pending before the Federar epriimanications C9min.is- ■ sion. Agricultural College Station IJp to 1,000 W. College Station, Tex., Dec. 3. Station WTAW here, owned and operated by the Agricultural & Mechanical College of Texas was granted an incredse in power by this Federal Communications Commis- sion. Station heretofore operaited on, 1,120/kilpcyclesMvith a, power of 500 watts. ■ • , Increase is for 1,000 watts a day. Eobert Kaplan With Murray Providence, Dec. 3. Robert Kaplan» son of Ben Kaplan who writes *Por the Love o' Mikie'^ Evenirig Bulletin syndicated radio column, has been named asjsistant. to Lyn Murray, a. musical director of . t^yitolumbia iB*6adcastirig System, ^oung Kaplan, a pianist, first came to ihe .attention of Murray when the latter conducted the Community Fund presentation of 'Ballad for Ameridrtis* here and at whichvKap' Ian. played piano at xehearsala. file to refrain from any retaliatory tactics. Publishers claim that the dance music output of Broadcast Mu-. sic. Inc., to date contains manifold cas^s of Infringements ; works in their catalogs but. their lawyers have urged them to withhold action until there is no" longer any. hope of a settlement. I The controversy is bound tp 'be dragged Into the courts. ASCAP leaders assert that, thuj far they havei been inclined to resist the De- partment of Juistice's request forV co- operation in the latter's current probe of network broadcasting, but as sooh'as their miembers find them- selves barfed from the netyrprks and the- major radio interests cease to be an.ASCAP customer there will be no choice but to cut loose with a bom- t)ardment of litigation chargirig c6n- ^piracy arid combiriatipn in restraint of trade. :~EvideriG.e along this line, state ASCAP. pubs, has been dill-: gently gathered for the past six months.- ' --■ Newspiaiper. columnists, some of them already, showing a strong pre- dilectiori for ASCAP's side of the case, are expected to have a field day; - It V is anticipated that news- papfer publishers, excepting those who operate,stations, may : again yield to their competitive antagonism, toward radio and pour tons of cor- rosive Ink into the latter's ciamp. la a Spot , In .between radio and ASCAP are not only. the band leaders but the national advertisers and their agen- cies. The latter are still reluctant to take an overt stand, on the situation for fear that any such interference may be used to justliy a substantial increase in time rates after ■ settle- ment of the ASCAP imbroglior While the agencies feel that the commerr cial fees, for networks set by ASCAP is unreasonable and want to do everything they can to. aid the webs in shaving down this demand con- siderablyj they declare themselves as determined to protect, the entertain- ment standards of .their programs; As one piit it, he had no Intention of counselling a client to spend $3,000 on a singer and then, have the latter sing 'The Old Oaken Bucket.' ], This same agency official, whose program interests irates his organizar tion among the first two agencies in radio, declared Monday (2) that as he and his associates saw it the only issue between the networks and ASCAP was that of money and that 'everything else was just so much bunk.' At a recent conference. In his office, he said* an attempt was made to sift, the whole controversy do\yri to its essential, or basic philosophy and the following are the conclusions that he and his colleagues arrived at ASCAP has based its contract on the assumption that It should col lect in the gross radio audience and that each program unit merely iis part of an intergrated mass of daily entertainmentv and that' since miisic serves as the backbone and welding force of this , iritergrated: mass, ASCAP argues, it should be paid bri ah overall, or availability, basis. The radio interests contend that this is not so. That a day's schedule is composed of little units which are independent bf one another,' arid that 'tliey should be treaited' as Such by ASCAP in exercising its fee col- lecting opeiratioris. In other words, the. commercial fee should be paid only on progirams using ASCAP music. ■ '.-r^" ■ ; Each, of these arguments» added the agency official, hayp virtues of their own. ■ He: cited the circumstance of the. sprejad. in popularity aniong advertisers of the chalnbreak an- npuncement and the, premiurii. value given tliem. The latter, he pointed out,, would not prevail: we^^^ for the audience created by the net- work commercials on either side of the ; chainbreak announcement. It would be appropriate to apply the same line of reasoning to the qties-v tion of, riiusic vahies, the networks, he figured, had wieakened their own case; by letting the chainbreak an- nouncement iget out of hand. Also by ironically agreeing to let in or? ganization, in which they themselves have a joint 4a% interest, to apply a flat fee of VA-% on all network wmnnercial business. On the other band tha ASCAP NOBLE CANCELS WIRE Unable to Meet WCAE's BMI Stlpu- laUona on Tim* Pittsburgh, Dec. 3. At his own request, Leighton Noble's band, playing from. the William Penn Hotel's Chatterbox, went off the air at WCAE last week and will stay off until its BMI cata- log is more complete. Unable . to meet station's BMI requirements Without resorting to flock of hastily^ made arrangements. Noble asked Hearst station management to drop his Wire- claiming he didn't want to endanger his radio rep with, a patch- work ^repertoire. WCAE said Noble knew several weeks ago what the: musts would be as result of ASCAP-BMI battle and that he had done little to prepare himself for that contingjenCy.. Noble claimed very few. of the BMI num- bers fitted in with his style of music and that it would require services of several arrangers on his part to get tpgethbr a ; varied enough cata- log for steady air time. Doubtful if he'll go batk on WCAE since, he Winds up local run Xmas night, Lang Thompson foUpwihg him on Dec. 26. Croot Agency Encotthters Question; NBC May Go Into Junkpile Threatened break between the radio industry arid the Americari Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers has developed an emr barrassing' isituatibn within the Sarn-, uel C.;. Crobt agericy in :cpnriection With, "a transcription campaign for thor^sns Harnaonicas; The series had been, made by. NBC's-transcription division and the agency now finds that the discs which are loaded with ASCAP numbers may have to be shelved in the middle of the cam- paign. .■-. v^ ■ The .transcriptions . have been booked: on seven statioris. SOme of these have informed the agency that they will clear the platters after Jari. 1, while others have stated that they do not propose to renew wi th ASCAP as of that date. NBC, the agency declared Monday (2), has agreed to straighten out the dilemma as far as the. trahscriptiphs are concerned. ASCAP BAN INVOLVES YALE CHAPEL REMOTES San Of Plreparations to New Hiaveri, Dec. 8. . WICC ban on ASCAP product on sustainers hit Sunday service brbad-r cast from Battell Chapel, Yale Uni- versity. . • , Most of religious music bf service, a WICC feature for several years, is controlled by. ASCAP and chapel staff hasn't time to prepare public domain compositions. WICC's substituting pickup from NBC blue. publishers themselves are pretty much ; concerned by the. outlook of things arid are not anxious for a knockdown, drag-'em-out fight with the networks. They are riot so dis- turbed by a depreciation of income from ASCAP' as the disruption the; break would cause in the exploita- tion of their sheet music. A schi.sm With the networks, would reduire a jcomplete overhauling of their plugging system and general oper- ating economy. The change might result in a substantial loss -of incpme. or it might work the Other way and produce: a patent -renais^^^ tl^e business of sheet music, selling. The pubs in general, would prefer not to take the chance. They: hold no con- flict between business; intbrests has ever ended in any immediate mate- rial .: gppd, but recognition of this hasn't prevented them: from recon- ciling themselves to a,; tough fight; knd period of; economic ;. readjust- ment. ■;■ '' Committee of hamie band leaders that has beeri trying to bring abput mediation for the past; two mioriths Will meet this. Monday' (9) arid de-' ci.de on the; statement which will be Issued , to the present summarizing their efforts. Nothirig tangible has come out of their .conference* with spokeshien for ASCAP and the Na- tional Association of: Broadcasters. ASCAP has expressed a, willingness to sit down With radio and talk con- tract on any basis suggested by it, while Neville. Miller, NAB prez, .In his latest communication to the com- mittee stated that the ASCAP atti- tude didn't provide a aetisfactory basis for negotiation. . 8an Francisco, Dea. 3. Frisco'f radio .atationi^ already programmed 30% with non-ASCAP music, Wert patching up final iched* ule chinks In readiness for the ASCAP blackout which goes Into effect Dec. 15 on web and Jan. 1 on indie outlets. A survey by VAnnsxy revealed that • few existing local shows will require radical alteration although one at least will be com- pletely eliminated through with- drawal of the Society's melodies. No commercial shows are affected, hbWever, • Representative samples of policies being followed are as XolloWs: v KSAN, 24-hour juicer; 'We have almost completely eliminated ASCAI^ music from sustainers,' com- ments Lou Keplinger, manager. 'Dur- ing the past month, we have used 25% non-AiSCAP tunes; this week the average will be increased to 50% and within two Weeks it will be boosted to 75% in preparation for Jari. 1. A new library sie^ re- cently added, plus non-ASCAP discs now ■ being recorded by Victor, Bluebird and others, assures us of an ahiple music supply. We receive 125. to 150 requests daily on bur 'Re- quests by Wire' prbgrarii and a check of titieis shows 30 to 35% of the tunes asked for are non-ASCAPv KFRCi Mutual-Don - tee outlet: 'We are 25% riOn-ASCAP now and will be 100% by Dec. 15. " We; are switchirig over-graduaUy to give' our music library time to catch up, pri book-keeping. We' have amateur, programs arid the like where, tunes have been set weeks ahead of time and that makes an overnight switch inconvenient,' states manager Wilr^ liam Pabst. "This really isn't much differerit from the time. the .Wiarner catalog was pulled. We lost 40% of our popular music then and never missed it. This time we lose 80% so the problem is twice as great, but we won't have much trouble han- dling this one, either.. We have only one local band remote (Leon Mpjica frorij- El Patio ballroom) at present and if, any:! ASCAP music slips; through; bur engineer Will flip the switch and play 'a record.' KYA, Hearst outlet: 'We anticipate no difficulty at all,' although one pro- gram will have to be discontinued,, a sustaining .Gilbert & Sullivan hour Sunday afternoons,' reports, manager Harold H. Meyer. 'A midnight swing siession .will require revision but our major musical show, the nightly two-hoUi Evening. Concert^, will be virtually unaffected,' using as it does operas and symphonies.' ., • KSFO, CBS outlet; 'I set Dec. ■ 1 as my deadline for elimination of all ASCAp music from sustairters,' ex- plains program director Cliff Howell. 'By Dec. 15 we hope to have the purge complete, i do not anticipate any trouble. We have one or two small problems, such as one concert program which will require corisid- erable checking to make sure norie of the arrangements Is owned by ASCAP. Our only local band re- mote at present Is Bob Crosby's or- chestra from the Mark Hopkins. Crosby, of , course, will haVe: to scrap" his 'Suriinvertime' theme sPng for air puriwses.' KJBS, Ralph Brunton's indie; 'We have been using 25% BMI or a to- tal of 30% non-ASCAP and will 'be 100:%,' ibr-close to it^ by . Dec. 4.5,' sums up Ed Franklin, program boss. 'We use Langworth, McGregor and Standard trariscription libraries which gives us right now 4,500 tax- free tunes and by thd first, of the year we'll have all: anybody, needs.: It is' amazing how little difference there is between some of the ASCAP top tunes and the tax-free arrange- ments, which , shows that radio has learned. something: lay, digging into this copyright situation at last. . I thirik . the, . situatibn. this time is. simpler than it Was When Warner, tunes . Were pulled because we have learned a lot since then arid know our way around now.' .', ■./■■:; ■:■ • ;•',■■': ,•: ,. KPO-KGQ (NBC outlets): 'Our sustaining, shows have beien 100% non-ASCAP since Nov. 15, . With the exception of daricb band remotes, which have been about -50%,' sum- marizes Glenn Dpllberg, niusical di- rector> 'Our commercials are cb- pperating nicely also and we are in good shape. We have not had to dis- continue any programs: arid changes have been minor. 'Good Old Days' has been changed to 'Harmony Inn' to permit a wider choice (\mong ■available tunes and a few thiemes have been changed, Judy Deane dropping 'Good Man Is Hard to Find* for 'A Good Man Is What I Need,' by Glen Hurlbert of oiir staff.' NBC remotes . Include dance band pickups from the Palace. St. Francis, Sir Francis Dtake hotels and Bal Tab- arin nitery. Portion of the band which Will hit the boys the hardest, the sum- mary Indicatesi; Is loss of operetta show tunes, Carl E. Wienlnger Is new superin- tendent of the KGO-KPO thesaurus arid record department. Previously held NBC berths in Chicago and Denver. WOLfs AU-BMI Procriunii Washington, Dec. 8; Innovation of a new 'all-BMl' mu- sical program took place Sunday (II when WOL, In cooperation with Broadcast Music, Inc^, presented: the first of a three-a-week quarter-hour series that Will be devoted exclu- sively to Gilbert and Sullivan music. Another series of programs, entitled 'The Shining Hour,*. was jaunched Monday (2) through which Stephen Ebster times ..nd other familiar mu- ^iic of the 19th, Century WilVbe cast f'rbm the files of BMI. . Announcing that WOL's music di- vision,, under Frank Blair, is work- ing overtime In an effort tO; clear its ' schedule 'of all mUsic other, than BMI controlled selections after .Jan- uary 1, tije Mutual outlet praised BMI; as 'radio's oWh niusic publish- ing firm.' As the Washington trarismltter swung completely to BMI, the Na- tional Association of Broadcasters issued; 14-page blast against the rival copyright pool, ASCAP. under the title 'Portrait of a 'Protector'.' Booklet gave the history of AS<:AP's efforts to gain control over the mu-- sic industry and was profusely illus- trated With/cartooris showing ASCAP a.s typical business fat-cat in ia boiled shirt demanding more arid more dol- lars-from thef radio Industry, KTSA sets Up Checking • San Antonio, Dec. 3. . Station KTSA has completed plans for its music clearance after next Week. Lew Lacey assisted by a sec- retary will be In charge of the new setup ■ and in charge of the musical library.' .Station has added to Its present : Wbrld library that of the Langworth library. Each program that is local or regional will clear all m usic on a special blank prer pared for that purpose. Besides clearance foi" KTSA, La- cey" Will also give the nod on mu- ^iical prograims to be aired by station KRGV in Weslaco, which Is a mem- ber of the Lone Star Chain and op- erated by the same owners as KTSA. Station will be with BMI after the changeover. , KateSmith Cancelled From Four-H Sustainer; Can't Sing 'God Bless U. S. K! leather than permit Irving Ber- lin's 'God Bless America' to he sung over the netwbrk as an ex- ception tb its boycott of ASCAP tunes on sustaining shows, NBC caincellcd Kate Smith off a special Four-H- Clubs broadcast Monday afternoon (2). Program originated at the club's anniial meeting in. Chi-^ cago and. Miss Smith was to have been plugged ^in from New York. , . Her appearance, together with those of Mickey Ropney* and ; Judy Garland from Hollywood, had been at the virivitation of the Four-H or- ganizations. She had been requested - to make a bri6f talk , aric' then sing the Berlin anthem. ; , - WCWL Signs With ASGAP WCFL, which is owned arid oper- ated by the Chicago Fedeiration of Labor, signatured last week a new. five-year licensing agreement With the American Society of Compb^ers, Authors and Publishers. : Mikes;, the first Chicago outlet to renew with ASGAP. ;■ ■;■..■•:..; ' Maurice Lynchi, financial secretary of the Federation, and Mayriard Marquardt, canie to New. York to close the contract with Gene Buck and Jphri Paine, president and gen- eral, manager, respectively, of the Society. Gordon Souimers, free lance radio artist, plays Santa Claus at KWKj St. Louis, this year, the 13tb year of program* /y°--